# Cesnola Phoenician inscriptions

The Cesnola Phoenician inscriptions are 28 Phoenician inscriptions from Cyprus (primarily Kition) in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Cesnola Collection. They were discovered by Luigi Palma di Cesnola during his tenure as the United States Consul to Cyprus from 1865 to 1871. They were inscribed on votive bowls, two stelae, and on 18 different vases.
The Cesnola Collection was brought to public attention for the first time in 1870 when Emil Rödiger presented a report to the Prussian Academy of Sciences, and in 1872 Paul Schröder (Philologe) published facsimiles of the texts. The collection was acquired by New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1872. Many were then published in the 1880s in the Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum, although CIS inscriptions 24, 26 and 28 and RES 389, 1518 and 1519 are now missing - i.e. they are not in the museum and some were not in the collection when it was studied in 1885. One is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (72.129).
They were first systematically classified by John Myres in 1914, and then again by Javier Teixidor in 1976.

## Inscriptions

Details of the inscriptions are below, using Teixidor's numbering.

### Krater fragments

| No. | Object | Accession Number | Date | Inscription Summary | CIS / RÉS | Myres | Other ref |
| 1 | Rim fragments | 74.51.2275-77 | 392-362 BCE | Mentions Milkyaton, king of Citium and Idalium, and a religious dedication. | I 21, 17 ab, 20; RES 1531, 1528 | 1806-8 | Cyprus pls. 9:3, 10:13; Atlas III, pl. 122:5 abc |
| 2 | Rim fragment | 74.51.2281 | 392-362 BCE | Mentions Milkyaton, king of Citium and Idalium. | I 18 | 1812 | Cyprus pl. 10:12; Atlas III, pl. 122:9; Hall 2, IX |
| 3 | Rim fragment | 74.51.2274 | 392-362 BCE | Partial inscription mentioning "king of Citium and Idalium." | I 19 | 1805 | Cyprus pl. 10:11; Atlas III, pl. 122:4; Hall 2, IV |
| 4 | Handle fragment | 74.51.2289 | 5th-4th century BCE | Partial inscription, possibly "cup." | I 30 | 1820 | Atlas III, pl. 123:16; Hall 2, XVI |
| 5 | Rim fragment | 74.51.2286 | 5th-4th century BCE | Possible dedication mentioning "statue." | I 29 | 1817 | Cyprus pl. 11:20; Atlas III, pl. 123:14; Hall 2, XIV |
| 6 | Rim fragment | 74.51.2284 | 5th-4th century BCE | Possible votive gift dedication. | I 34, RES 1533 | 1815 | Cyprus pl. 11:16; Atlas III, pl. 123:12; Hall 2, XII |
| 7 | Rim fragments | 74.51.2287-88 | 5th-4th century BCE | Votive text with regnal year of the monarch. | I 31, 35 | 1818-19 | Cyprus pl. 11:18, 19; Atlas III, pl. 123:15 ab; Hall 2, XV ab |
| 8 | Fragment | 74.51.2293 | 5th-4th century BCE | Partial text, possibly a name, "son of ..." | I 36 | 1824 | Cyprus pl. 11:22; Atlas III, pl. 123:20; Hall 2, XX |
| 9 | Rim fragment | 74.51.2278 | 5th-4th century BCE | Title of the dedicator, possibly "interpreter of the thrones." | I 22ab | 1809 | Atlas III, pl. 122:6; Hall 2, VI |
| 10 | Bowl fragment | 74.51.2285 | 5th-4th century BCE | Dedication to "his Lord Esmun Melqart." | I 37 | 1816 | Cyprus pl. 11:23; Atlas III, pl. 123:13; Hall 2, XIII |
| 11 | Rim fragment | 74.51.2280 | 5th-4th century BCE | Dedication to Esmun and Melqart. | I 23 | 1811 | Cyprus pl. 10:10; Atlas III, pl. 122:8; Hall 2, VIII |
| 12 | Rim fragment | 74.51.2292 | 5th-4th century BCE | Dedication to Esmun Melqart. | I 28 | 1823 | Cyprus pl. 11:17; Atlas III, pl. 123:19; Hall 2, XIX |
| 13 | Rim and handle fragment | 74.51.2279 | 5th-4th century BCE | Dedication from the son of Abdmelqart to Esmun Melqart. | I 39, RES 1534 | 1810 | Atlas II, pl. 141, 1051; Hall 2, VII |
| 14 | Rim fragments | 74.51.2272-73 | 5th-4th century BCE | Dedication to Esmun Melqart. | I 16ab, RES 1530 | 1803-04 | Cyprus pls. 10:14, 9:1; Atlas III, pl. 122:3 ab; Hall 2, III ab |
| 15 | Rim and handle fragment | 74.51.2282 | 5th-4th century BCE | Dedication to Esmun Melqart. | I 25ab | 1813ab | Cyprus pls. 10:15, 12:30; Atlas III, pl. 122:10; Hall 2, X |
| 16 | Rim fragment | 74.51.2283 | 5th-4th century BCE | Dedication to Esmun Melqart. | I 27 | 1814 | Cyprus pl. 11:21; Atlas III, pl. 123:11; Hall 2, XI |
| 17 | Rim fragment | 74.51.2291 | 5th-4th century BCE | Possible end of a votive formula. | I 33 | 1822 | Cyprus pl. 9:5; Atlas III, pl. 123:18; Hall 2, XVIII |
| 18 | Rim fragment | 74.51.2290 | 5th-4th century BCE | Partial inscription, possibly "q' h t" (aleph and het uncertain). | I 32 | 1821 | Cyprus pl. 9:6; Atlas III, pl. 123:17; Hall 2, XVII |

### Marble blocks

| No. | Image | Object | Accession Number | Date | Inscription Summary | CIS / RÉS | Myres | Other ref |
| 19 | | Block of white marble | 74.51.2271 | 5th-4th century BCE | Traditional reading with the name Hannibal and a dedication formula. | I 15 | 1802 | Cyprus pl. 9:4; Atlas III, pl. 122:2; Hall 2, II |
| 20 | | Block of white marble | 74.51.2294 | 4th century BCE | Inscription mentions Pumiyaton, king of Citium and Idalium, and two offerings. | I 14, RES 1529 | 1801 | Cyprus pl. 9:2; Atlas III, pl. 122:1; Hall 1, 25–26; Hall 2, 7 |

### Vases

| No. | Object | Accession Number | Date | Inscription Summary | CIS / RÉS | Myres | Other ref |
| 21 | Amphora of coarse white ware | 74.51.2298a, b | Late 7th century BCE | The name "Baalay," indicating ownership or dedication. | RES 1521 | 1826 | Cyprus pl. 9:7; Atlas III, pl. 123:26; Hall 2, XXVI; Peckham, 16–17 |
| 22 | Amphora of coarse ware | 74.51.2299 | 4th century BCE | The name "Baalazor," a well-known theophorous name, likely the owner's name. | RES 1526 | 1828 | Hall 2, XXVII; Peckham, 17 |
| 23 | Amphora of red earthenware | 74.51.2300 | Early 7th century BCE | Name "Baalpilles," "Yaton," and possibly title "inspector" or "inspected." | RES 1520 | 1827 | Cyprus pl. 10:8; Atlas II, 1049; Hall 2, XXV; Peckham, 16–17 |
| 24 | Alabastron | 74.51.2295a | 4th century BCE | Inscription reads "kly" with an unknown symbol, possibly indicating ownership or contents. | RES 1523 | 1825 | Cyprus pl. 12:25; Atlas II, 1048; Hall 2, XXII; Peckham, 17 |
| 25 | Jug of red-slip ware | 74.51.1401 | 8th century BCE | The name "'nts," unknown in both Phoenician and Greek. | RES 1524 | 479 | Cyprus pl. 12:26; Atlas II, pl. 141:1052; Hall 2, XXIII; Peckham, 105, 115 |
| 26 | Steatite vase | 74.51.5057a | 9th-10th century BCE | Three undeciphered signs, possibly "hhh," considered archaic. | RES 1525 | 1540 | Cyprus pl. 12:27; Atlas II, pl. 141:1050; Hall 2, XXIV; Peckham, 17 |
| 27 | Painted white ware vase | 74.51.1001 | 7th century BCE | Inscription with four letters, "d/r g m n," unknown in Phoenician. | RES 1522 | 775 | Cyprus p. 68, pl. 10:9; Atlas II, pl. 141:1047; Hall 2, XXI; Peckham, 17 |

### Other

| No. | Image | Object | Accession Number | Date | Inscription Summary | Bibliography |
| 28 | | Sarcophagus from Amathus | 74.51.2452 | 450-400 BCE | Single letter "shin" on the foot end of the lid. | Myres, 233–234 |