Phoenician language
The lid inscription was of great significance upon its discovery; it was the first Phoenician language inscription to be discovered in Phoenicia proper. Furthermore, this engraving forms longest and most detailed Phoenician inscription ever found anywhere up to that point, and is now the second longest extant Phoenician inscription after the Karatepe bilingual. French orientalist Jean-Joseph-Léandre Bargès wrote that the language of the inscription is "identical with Hebrew, except for the final inflections of a few words and certain expressions."