The Osorkon Bust, also known as the Eliba'l Inscription, is a bust of Egyptian pharaoh Osorkon I, discovered in Byblos (in today's Lebanon) in the 19th century. Like the Tabnit sarcophagus from Sidon, it is decorated with two separate and unrelated inscriptions – one in Egyptian hieroglyphics and one in Phoenician script. It was created in the early 10th century BC, and was unearthed 1881, very likely in the Temple of Baalat Gebal.
The Egyptian writing is the prenomen of Osorkon, and the Phoenician is a dedication to Elibaal, the king of Byblos.
The details of the find were published in by French archaeologist René Dussaud in 1925.
The bust is made of quartzite, and is 60 cm × 36 cm × 37.5 cm.Louvre Osorkon Bust
Discovery
The first mention of the statue was by German archaeologist Alfred Wiedemann in 1884 in his Ägyptische Geschichte: In English: "two fragments of a large stone statue have also been preserved [owned by Mr. Meuricoffre at Naples.]"Ägyptische Geschichte, 1884, p. 553Dussaud, 1925, p. 101
In 1895, Weidemann published the Egyptian hieroglyphs: In English: "Almost 15 years ago I had the opportunity to visit the country house of the banker Meuricoffre of Naples to get to know a large statue made of hard sandstone of King Osorkon I. Two fragments were preserved from it. First the bust, on the chest of which stood at the front, on the belt there was the rest of the cartouches, and on the rock pillar. Then a part of the base with the foot."Recueil de travaux relatifs à la philologie et à l'archéologie égyptiennes et assyriennes; volume 17, 1895, p. 14
Phoenician inscription
Exhibition history The bust was part of the 2026 exhibition Byblos, cité millénaire at the Institut du monde arabe.
Notes
References
Editio princeps: René Dussaud, Dédicace dune stame d’Osorkon Ier par Elibaal, roi de Byblos, Syria 6 (1925): 101–117 Christopher Rollston, "The Dating of the Early Royal Byblian Phoenician Inscriptions: A Response to Benjamin Sass." MAARAV 15 (2008): 57–93. Benjamin Mazar, The Phoenician Inscriptions from Byblos and the Evolution of the Phoenician-Hebrew Alphabet, in The Early Biblical Period: Historical Studies (S. Ahituv and B. A. Levine, eds., Jerusalem: IES, 1986 [original publication: 1946]): 231–247. William F. Albright, The Phoenician Inscriptions of the Tenth Century B.C. from Byblus, JAOS 67 (1947): 153–154.