A Comment on Professor Giveon's Reading of the New Sahurēʿ Inscription

Author(s): Elmar Edel

Source: Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 232 (Autumn, 1978), pp. 77-
78
Published by: American Schools of Oriental Research
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1356704
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1978 SHORT NOTES 77

A Comment on Professor Giveon's Reading of the

New Sahur?c Inscription
ELMAR EDEL
Bonn University, Bonn, Germany

I should like to make a proposal concerning a We may conclude that the scribe intended the
detail of the reading of Prof. R. Giveon in his words d? (1, 2) stt (3-7), "Subduer of Asia," to be
publication and discussion of the very important read in the following order:
new historical inscription of Sahurec. Concerning
the arrangement of the signs at the end of the third
3
column, Giveon noted at the time: "Below the
determinative for the word 'ct, the knife, the third 4
column divides into two." It follows from his 52
further remarks that he reads the signs in this
sequence: LiW~
4I
This would give for syt (3-7) the usual writing:
4
1
5
2
It follows that at the end of the line there is no
6
3 split column with two short, vertical lines, 1-3 and
7 4-7, as Giveon suggests, but rather two short
horizontal lines, 1-5 and 6, 7. We have other
instances of short horizontal lines of this kind in
vertically written papyri of the Old Kingdom. See,
In this reading signs 1 and 2 equal dD, for example, in the midst of the vertical columns of
"subduer," and signs 3-7 equal stt, (of) "Asia." Pap. Berl. 9010 (Hierat. Pap. Kgl. Museen Berlin,
Following his order of signs 3-3, Giveon is forced Vol. III, pl. I) the short horizontal lines (vs. 3):
to accept for "Asia" the writing:

Note also (vs. 8):

However, this would be a very unusual arrange-

ment of signs. As Wb IV 348-49 shows, the
phonetic writing stt, if it is written fully at all,
stands before the word-sign of the "shoulder-
knot." Compare, for example, Sahure 11:72:

Or note PT 812:1116a.

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78 SHORT NOTES BASOR 232

Finally, we have a pertinent example in line 2. Here the signs are arranged not in the sequence
There we read:

2DE3
w
but rather in two horizontal lines

El
E,4
in order to obtain the reading m hmnw-f.

The Inscribed Late Bronze Jar Handle from Tell Halif

WILLIAMH. SHEA
Andrews University. Berrien Springs, MI 49103

An inscribed storagejar handle was recovered

from a Late Bronze Age context during the 1976
excavations at Tel Halif. In the preliminary
announcement of this find it was suggested that s: ?:?~

this inscription could be either paleo-Canaanite or P~kEt~s-7~8~;g~sssqr~ Lr~LB*~lkt4~c~c~a

Old South Arabic in origin (Seger 1977: 45). The a~
~:-c:
i:-~?;
-.-r=.-.
~ ?:?;~~s,-aanr~;-~ra~,---w~ ------
~;r~aunnn~,~arP~vv.;s~WF~w -s~gY~Y~q ~arii~-~:::
crossed character inscribed on this handle ~~Hz.:17
~,~Fv~p~:~~B~ "'?'~-
resembles the Canaanite taw (fig. 1). The figure to R:
~. ?~-? ?:,;?
''''
:::??:? .....; i-.s-.-
its right has the form of a figure-8 open at the top. ;?::i:~:~~~Z~'k~[g~jg
:?.?
?:~di-:'~:r~j';C~:;~BY'r;Pir~_~B6~V~4~U evr~p~p~4~:-:.:
Y y...?.F:?X?:.
Some curvilinear strokes appear beneath this ?,
~.
r.-l 1~
figure. ,?
??;-?' I:i:
--?a~?-?I~?-;--YY??:j

The key to this inscription is, in my opinion, its ?,;?.-;?c.

?.?.-.?.?r.-; :::::::: :'R
i?. -.-.--
;:?:::~
middle sign. Although the open figure-8 does not :::;!
,... ?.?.?. ::i
~ :?:-:
r e
correspond to any of the letters in the early West
Semitic alphabets, it is well known on later weights
:::::I-'?? .-
as the ss sign which was borrowed from Egyptian :?~rrac
?1?r?:-~?.
I
????-?-~;-;
(Gardiner 1969: 522) to represent the shekel (Scott
1959a: 128-34). A fairly complete set of weights
has been assembled from various excavations in :::~~
Palestine (Tufnell 1953: pl. 51; Scott 1965: 128-39;
I:i:i:l:l:::::::'
~?
Dever 1970: 139-204). Weights for fractions of a :~?;?.5?.:n:c;
-::::::::~i;l;::-~:';i
shekel were inscribed with words (bqc, pym, and r

nsp), while weights of a shekel or more were

marked with a numeral to the left of the shekel
sign. 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 24, and 40 shekel weights are Fig. 1. The inscribed Late Bronze Age jar handle from Tel Halif
now known (Aharoni 1966: 19; idem 1971: 35; (IEJ 27 [1977]: pl. 5B).

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