The Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions, also known as Northwest Semitic inscriptions, are the primary extra-Biblical sources for understanding of the societies and histories of Phoenicia, the Israelites, and the Arameans, which includes groups within the Northwest Semitic languages. Northwest Semitic contains the Aramaic and Canaanite languages; the latter groups includes Phoenician—Punic, the Ammonite language, and Hebrew.
Semitic inscriptions may occur on stone slabs, ostraca, and ornaments and range from simple names to full texts.
The oldest inscriptions form a dialect continuum that includes Canaanite languages and Aramaic, exemplified by writings which scholars have struggled to fit into either category, such as the Stele of Zakkur and the Deir Alla inscription.
Languages
The Old Aramaic period (850–612 BC) saw increased production and dispersal of inscriptions — not because the Arameans formed a dominant empire, but because their language was increasingly adopted as a regional lingua franca. Their language was adopted as an international language of diplomacy, particularly in the late Neo-Assyrian Empire when it spread throughout the Near East—including Egypt (in administration) and Mesopotamia (where it became natively spoken). The first known Aramaic inscription was the Carpentras Stele, found in southern France in 1704; it was considered to be Phoenician text at the time.
Only 10,000 inscriptions in Phoenician-Punic, a Canaanite language, are known, Quote: "Nearly two hundred years later the repertory of Phoenician-Punic epigraphy counts about 10.000 inscriptions from throughout the Mediterranean and its environs." such that "Phoenician probably remains the worst transmitted and least known of all Semitic languages." The only other substantial source for Phoenician-Punic are the excerpts in Poenulus, a play written by the Roman writer Plautus (see for an analysis). Within the corpus of inscriptions only 668 words have been attested, including 321 hapax legomena (words only attested a single time), per Wolfgang Röllig's analysis in 1983.: "The Phoenician-Punic vocabulary attested to date amounts to some 668 words, some of which occur frequently. Among these are 321 hapax legomena and about 15 foreign or loan words. In comparison with Hebrew with around 7000–8000 words and 1500 hapax legomena (8), the number is remarkable." This compares to the Bible's 7,000–8,000 words and 1,500 hapax legomena, in Biblical Hebrew. The first published Phoenician-Punic inscription was from the Cippi of Melqart, found in 1694 in Malta; the first published such inscription from the Phoenician "homeland" was the Sarcophagus of Eshmunazar II published in 1855.
Fewer than 2,000 inscriptions in Ancient Hebrew, another Canaanite language, are known, of which the vast majority comprise just a single letter or word. The first detailed Ancient Hebrew inscription published was the Royal Steward inscription, found in 1870.Clermont-Ganneau, 1899, Archaeological Researches In Palestine 1873–1874, Vol 1, p.305: "I may observe, by the way, that the discovery of these two texts was made long before that of the inscription in the tunnel, and therefore, though people in general do not seem to recognise this fact, it was the first which enabled us to behold an authentic specimen of Hebrew monumental epigraphy of the period of the Kings of Judah."
List of notable inscriptions
Corpora The inscriptions written in ancient Northwest Semitic script (Canaanite and Aramaic) have been catalogued into multiple corpora (i.e., lists) over the last two centuries. The primary corpora to have been produced are as follows:
Abbreviation Authors Date Title Description Ham. Hendrik Arent Hamaker 1828 Assessed 13 inscriptions Ges. Wilhelm Gesenius 1837 Scripturae Linguaeque Phoeniciae Only 80 inscriptions and 60 coins were known in the entire corpus Schr. Paul Schröder 1869 The first study of Phoenician grammar; listed 332 texts known at the time: "This increase of textual material can be easily appreciated when one looks at the first independent grammar of Phoenician, P.SCHRODER'S Die phonizische Sprache Entuurf einer Grammatik, Halle 1869, which appeared just over 110 years ago. There on pp. 47–72 all the texts known at the time are listed — 332 of them. Today, if we look at CIS Pars I, the incompleteness of which we scarcely need mention, we find 6068 texts." CIS — 1881–1962 Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum The first section focuses on Phoenician-Punic inscriptions (176 "Phoenician" inscriptions and 5982 "Punic" inscriptions) NE Mark Lidzbarski 1898 Handbuch der Nordsemitischen Epigraphik — KI Mark Lidzbarski 1907 — NSI George Albert Cooke 1903 — KAI , 1960–2002 Kanaanäische und Aramäische Inschriften Considered the "gold standard" for the last fifty years TSSI John Clark Love Gibson 1971–1982 — TAD Bezalel Porten, Ada Yardeni 1986–2000 Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt — HAE Johannes Renz, 1995 — HNPI Karel Jongeling 2008 — WSAI Benjamin Sass, Israel Finkelstein 2013 —
Inscriptions The inscriptions listed below include those which are mentioned in multiple editions of the corpora above (the numbers in the concordance column cross-refer to the works above), as well as newer inscriptions which have been published since the corpora above were published (references provided individually). They are ordered chronologically by date of their modern discovery, illustrating the development of the study of ancient Semitic epigraphy.