Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum
The ("Corpus of Semitic Inscriptions", abbreviated CIS) is a collection of ancient inscriptions in Semitic languages produced since the end of 2nd millennium BC until the rise of Islam. It was published in Latin. In a note recovered after his death, Ernest Renan stated that: "Of all I have done, it is the Corpus I like the most." The first part was published in 1881, fourteen years after the beginning of the project. Renan justified the fourteen year delay in the preface to the volume, pointing to the calamity of the Franco-Prussian war and the difficulties  that arose in the printing the Phoenician characters, whose first engraving was proven incorrect in light of the inscriptions discovered subsequently. A smaller collection – ("Repertory of Semitic Epigraphy", abbreviated RES) – was subsequently created to present the Semitic inscriptions without delay and in a deliberately concise way as they became known, and was published in French rather than Latin. The was for the what the was for the . The publication of the series continued until 1962. History. The project began on April 17, 1867 when the French accepted the proposal of a commission led by Ernest Renan to begin an initiative  similar to German corpora of ancient Latin and Greek ("CIG"), and ("CIL"). It was decided that the collection should contain all the ancient inscriptions written in "Semitic characters", excluding the Semitic cuneiform inscriptions. The original plan of the work to produce ten books: The program was then divided into five parts: The (abbreviated RES) published inscriptions during intermediate periods. Volumes. "Corpus Inscriptionum ab Academia Inscriptionum et Litterarum Humaniorum conditum atque Digestum". Parisiis: E Reipublicae Typographeo, 1881-1962 Part I. Phoenician, Punic and neo-Punic inscriptions. This series brought together the Phoenician inscriptions found in Phoenicia itself, in Cyprus, in Egypt , in Greece, in Malta, in Sicily, in Sardinia, in Italy, in Gaul, in Spain, and in particular the vast number of North African Punic inscriptions, particularly from Carthage. Renan continued to edit this series until his death in 1892. Part II. Aramaic, Palmyra, Nabatean inscriptions. Edited by Eugène-Melchior de Vogüé, this series began publication in 1889, covering the territory of the ancient Syrian kingdoms, as well as all the countries where Aramaic penetrated under the Persian empire, from Anatolia to the India, from the Caspian to Upper Egypt. Part III. Hebrew inscriptions; this series was not published. However, a  number of Hebrew inscriptions were systematically published in the Répertoire d'Épigraphie Sémitique. Part IV. Himyaritic, Sabaean. This volume, first published in 1889, was edited by Joseph Derenbourg. It covers the Arabian Peninsula, particularly the Himyarite and Sabean inscriptions. Part V. Saracen, Lihyan, Safaitic and Thamudic; this series was not published until 1950, by Répertoire d'Épigraphie Sémitique. Leadership. List of presidents of the "Commission du Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum":