SINAI DESERT GARDENS

ANCIENT SINAI HORTICULTURE

SINAI INSCRIPTION 353

The inscription depicted here looks illegible, at first sight, but with the aid of my drawing we should be able to make a lot of sense out of it. Originally it was inscribed on the rock face near the entrance to Mine L, but a block of the stone broke away and it fell to the ground, together with other such stelas (or so it would appear, and presumably as the result of an earthquake).

First let us look for some familiar sequences. On the bottom half of the line that I have numbered as (1) we can discern the phrase "beloved of Ba`alat" (MHB`LT): M (water) H (jubilation) B (house) `ayin (eye) L (crook) T (cross). This is a simplified version of the expression, which in its proper form has two more letters: M'HB B`LT (as on the inscribed sphinx). The weak glottal stop (`aleph) has been swallowed, so to speak, and the double B has been reduced to one single B. However, it seems to have a dot in it to indicate doubling, as on the little sphinx from the temple (Sinai 345).

On the bottom half of the middle column (2) we can recognize the word for 'provisions' or 'rations', which we saw on inscription 375: 'RKhT (ox-head, human head, hank, cross).

At the top section of the same column (2) we can find the boomerang and snake combination that makes the word GN, meaning 'garden'; and there is another GN in the adjoining line (3).

At the top of column 3 (and also line 1) is an example of the two horizontal lines, representing Dh, the demonstrative pronoun, 'this'. So we have a sentence starting "This (is) a/the garden". Note that in the Bronze Age there was no definite article in Semitic languages (no equivalent of al in Arabic and ha in Hebrew).
My reading of the text gives us:
Dh GN ShMSh  (D GN SMS)
"This is the Shamash garden (or the garden of Shamash)".
Shamash is the Semitic sun-god, and the garden would be under his/her protection and nurture.
[16/5/2022] However, recent scrutiny of photographs reveals another snake and a cross, producing GNNT, Hebrew gannah (Numbers 24:6) an alternative word for 'garden'
The next letter I detect is D, a door. Many people have studied this text, and no one else has noticed it, so it has to be suspect. But if we allow its presence, then I would argue that we have the word ShD, meaning 'field' (known from Ugaritic, Phoenician, and Hebrew). To construct this word I have to assume that the final Sh of ShMSh doubles as the initial Sh of ShD; but we have already seen this phenomenon in the first column, in the expression MHB`LT, which should have been MHB B`LT.

The following two letters are B (house) and T (cross), which could be read as the word for 'house', but also 'daughter'. Then I find a faint but existent Sh (very flat, like the example on the Thebes proto-alphabetic ostrakon, bottom right), preceding a clear L.

Now we encounter a new letter. At first glance it looks like another B, a simple square; but it has a curved lower appendage. It is the same character as the one in the top left corner of the Thebes proto-alphabetic ostrakon, and it is obviously the original Hh, representing a dwelling with a courtyard (from hhassir, or h.as.ir, 'court'). Sometimes the house section of the character is divided into two rooms (inscriptions 361 and 380), but not here.

It came as a surprise to me that we are here confronted by an idiom known in Hebrew: ShD BT ShLHh, 'a field requiring irrigation', literally 'a field a house of a water-channel'. I presume the 'house' or 'home' is there because of its counterpart: ShD BT B`L, 'a rain-watered field', literally 'a field (that is) a home of Ba`al'. In the Hebrew usage the Ba`al ('Lord') would have been understood as the Lord Yahweh, not as the Semitic weather-god named Hadad, regularly known by the title Ba`al.

Actually, if my proposed D is not really there, the sentence could possibly function without the word for 'field': "This is the garden of Shamash, an irrigated place (a home of a water-channel)".

The remaining letters of this column, running horizontally to the left, are: L K N Sh. The L could be the preposition meaning 'to' or 'for', and the root K-N-Sh means 'gather' or 'collect' (attested in Phoenician and Aramaic, and as kns in Hebrew, in the word kneset, 'parliament').
So the phrase here would say: 'for gathering'.

The next column (2) clarifies the statement in this line (1). The root K-N-Sh can be be found there also, without much difficulty. There is a letter Dh (=) between the K and the N of GN. It is possible to find a B above the boomerang of GN. Others see M, which could say 'from'.

Putting it all together, we have what I think is a very credible reading:
(3) This (Dh) [is] the garden (GNNT) of Shamash (ShMSh), an irrigated field (ShD BT ShLHh). (2) In (B) this (Dh) garden (GN) gather (KNSh) provisions ('RKhT).

Remember that the document defining the daily rations ('RKhT) for the workers (inscription 375) stipulated three handfuls of grain, plus garden pickings (MS`T GN). This patch of ground, near Mine L, was the garden where the workers grew their vegetables.

The remaining column (1) speaks of the equipment they used for melting and moulding metal.

The sequence of signs is: Dh K B Sh N M Sh M H B ` L T
"This (Dh) is the melt-furnace (KBShN MSh) beloved of Ba`alat (MHB`LT)"

Details of this statement will be considered in our study of inscription 351.

The new letter in this inscription was Hh (hhassir, H.S.R, or earlier H.Z.R, house with courtyard); its related sound Kh (hank), which it replaced in Hebrew, is also in evidence here. In each line there is a K, all slightly different, but the example in the bottom left corner (as revealed in the photo, not as in my inexact drawing) shows how this character could turn into Greco-Roman K. There has been further confirmation of the boomerang (not just as a stick figure, but with its blade shown, as found twice here) as G, in the word gan ('garden'), in a context that is clearly horticultural.

SINAI INSCRIPTION 355

This piece of sandstone was also found near the entrance to Mine L, but is now lost. It may be the opper left corner of Sinai 350.

At the top we see a winged sun-disk (a symbol rather than a letter); below it is a boomerang (G), then a snake (N), and a hank (Kh, H); apparently the text continues upwards, with a head (R), a hank (Kh), and a house (B), producing GN KhRKhB. "Garden of Kharkhab" (known in Ugaritic literature as "God of summer fruit"). Kharkhab may be a solar deity, in view of the sun-symbol crowning this inscription. Also, an inscribed bowl from the ancient city of Lakish has the words: H.RH.B ... BYS.'H W ShBH, "Kharkhab ... at his going forth and his returning" (Colless, Abr-Nahrain 29 (1991) 36-38). So, at the time of one particular expedition, the garden at Mine L was dedicated to Shamash, and on another occasion its patron was Kharkhab.

More details on these documents (Sinai 353 and 356) can be found in my published article: Brian E. Colless, The proto-alphabetic inscriptions of Sinai, Abr-Nahrain 28 (1990) 1-52, particularly 31-34.

SINAI CAMP SITE

SINAI INSCRIPTION 365

Here is another inscription on a stone from the region of the ancient Egyptian turquoise mines on the Sinai Peninsula, more particularly from the camp site of the mining expeditions.

We can see that the writing is protoalphabetic, and we assume that the language will be (as in the four 'Asa inscriptions we have studied) Bronze-Age Canaanite, the West Semitic tongue that became Phoenician and Hebrew in the Iron Age. It is not possible to date the inscription precisely, but we can say that is from the 16th century BCE (Late Bronze Age) or earlier (Middle Bronze Age).

There is writing on each side. Starting from 365a, which has the most letters on it, we recognize a familiar name in the column that I have numbered as 3: "Ba`alat". Below a cross (T) is a square representing a house and thus B (bayt, Beth, Beta); then an eye (`ayin), an L, and a T. This is the goddess Ba`alat, the female counterpart of the god Ba`al.

On the inscribed sphinx we found her preceded by the word M'HB, "beloved", and this word can be found at the bottom of the stone. The wavy water sign for M and the ox-head for 'Aleph are at the end of column 1; the H is to the right of this, a person with arms upraised; the expected B is not easy to find on the photograph, but my drawing suggests a rectangle with its top side running obliquely.

With regard to the remaining letters, in line 1 there is an inverted version of another distorted B. Below it is a long curvy line, which is presumably a snake and therefore N; on the photograph it seems to have horns or a head.

Above the B is another curvy sign, which I understand as Sh (from shimsh, "sun"), representing the uraeus serpent that embraces the sun in Egyptian iconography (it is also hieroglyph N6). I suggest that the sun-disc has here dropped out of the character; there are cases in West Semitic inscriptions where the disc is still there, but not in the Sinai examples. This sign occurs frequently, but apparently not in the four 'Asa texts. The opinion of W.F. Albright, which is widely accepted, is that it represents a bow without its string, and it certainly resembles hieroglyph J32; he assigned the hypothetical value Th to it, on the basis of a hypothetical word *thann, supposedly meaning "composite bow". In my view, taking all the available evidence into account, the sign for Th is a human female breast, going with the word thad (which became shad in Hebrew), meaning "breast". The Th-sign became the letter Sh in the Hebrew and Phoenician alphabet; its meaning was forgotten, and it became known as Shin ("tooth").

The two signs are similar:
Th is \/\/ or /\/\ (breast); also like the figure 3
Sh is (/\) or (/O\) (sun with snake)

We should call on our proto-alphabetic ostrakon from Thebes for assistance in distinguishing Th and Sh.

Concentrating on the bottom right area, the candidates for Sh and Th are above the M (wavy line) and to the right of the M, under the Kh (Y-shaped, hank of thread). Clarity is not freely available in this puzzle, but I will choose the one on the left as Th (breast), and the one on the right as Sh (very faint and small).

Returning to the inscription (365a), we see in line 1 a sequence of letters Sh B N. One possibility for this is "captives", and if this is correct it tells us something about the status of the workers: they are probably prisoners of war engaged in forced labour.

Above the Sh is what looks like a remnant of another Sh, assuming that part of the stone has worn away or been broken off at the top. This could function as sh, "of", thus giving us "of the prisoners".

We might expect to find the thing belonging to the prisoners in the middle line of the text (2), which is rather murky. In my view, the central character (shaped like a heart or a foot) is composed of three signs: M-Sh-K, followed by N-T. The M, Sh, and N are narrower versions of their counterparts in line 1. The K is a stylized hand with three fingers; compare the example on the ostrakon (bottom left, above the eye, and beside the L).

This combination of sounds produces the recognizable word m-sh-k-n-t, from the root sh-k-n, meaning "settle, dwell", and so the noun means "dwelling-place". Here it has the feminine form ending -t, as in Ugaritic; in the Bible it is mishkan, and it refers to the "tabernacle", the sacred tent of the God of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. Now, I am not suggesting that this was the place where the Israelites camped on their way to the promised land of Cana`an; but this was definitely an ancient camp site, and this stone marks out a section of it as being the place where prisoners had their tents. The word m-sh-k-n-t could be singular or plural ("abode" or "tents"), and in either case we have the adjective (or passive participle) m-'-h-b-t agreeing with it.

In the four 'Asa inscriptions we have seen how the text can meander over the surface of the stone. Here the statement starts in the middle column (2), and moves to the column on the right (3), continues round under column 2, then leaps to the top of column 3, and runs down.

Accordingly, we have this plausible reading:

m-sh-k-n-t sh sh-b-n m-'-h-b-t b-`-l-t
"Abode/tents of the prisoners, (which is/are) beloved of Ba`alat"

Turning the stone over, we can see another inscription (365a) that has not stayed in line.

In the top half we can faintly detect Dh ( = ) and T (+), as shown on my drawing. Then we see the head of an ox, with its ear intact (compare the 'aleph on 365a), but its horns have been lost in the damage the stone has suffered at this point. Below it is a human head with a narrow neck, hence R.

Underneath the head is a Waw, a hook. The corresponding signs, RW, appear on the lower left side of the Thebes ostrakon (see above), but neither has exactly the same shape as the ones we see here; this tells us that in the proto-alphabetic stage the letters did not necessarily have fixed forms. A head represents R, and a hook W, and a door D. There is a door to the left of the head; compare the inverted version on the ostrakon, at the top, between the fish (S) and the Bayt.

To the left of the D is a Y, a forearm with a hand, and its thumb and finger are pointing downwards; compare the Y on the ostrakon at the bottom in the left corner. Obviously the common attempt to combine the DY into Kh is misguided.

To the right of the Waw is a clear T (+).

The order in which I have presented the characters produces an intelligible reading:

dh-t '-r-w-d-y-t "which (is) Arwadite"

The dh-t is "this" or "which", and "Arwadite" is the adjective from Arwad, the ancient Phoenician city situated on an island north of Gubla (Byblos, now Jibeil). The gentilic adjective refers to the "abode" on 365a, but it also indicates the origin of the prisoners who slept in the tent(s) at this spot in the camp.

More details on this document (Sinai 365) can be found in my published article: Brian E. Colless, The proto-alphabetic inscriptions of Sinai, Abr-Nahrain 28 (1990) 1-52, particularly 18-19.

For the purpose of sign-identification, this inscription has highlighted the sun-character, Shimsh. We now need to examine a text exhibiting the breast-sign, Thad, and Sinai 375 will serve admirably, and also show us the rations allotted to the workers at the turquoise mines.

See also the discussion on Sh and Th in the article on Sinai 376.

Letters still not encountered in the Sinai inscriptions are: G, Tt, Hh, and Z.

On the Thebes ostrakon (see above) the boomerang G is on the left side, between Dh and R.

Tt (Tet) is the long letter below the fish and between L and Q, having this shape: O--+.

Hh is a house with a courtyard, in the top left corner.

Z should be two triangles, but it is not on this ostrakon (though it can be seen on two other tablets from Thebes).

SINAI FOOD RATIONS

SINAI INSCRIPTIONS 368 AND 375

Here are two more proto-alphabetic inscriptions from the ancient turquoise mines of Sinai. Each has the sequence 'S (ox-head, fish), which we recognized as the personal name 'Asa in inscriptions 345 (sphinx), 376 (rock face), 358 (mine interior wall), 363 (gravestone). However, in Sinai 368 (also numbered 21, above) we find one complete word 'SM (ox, fish, water), which would be West Semitic 'asam, meaning 'store' or 'granary'. This small stela was discovered in a stone enclosure near Mine L, and this would have been the place where grain was stored.

The remaining occurrence of 'S is in column 2 of Sinai 375 (above, also numbered 39), and it forms a word 'ST, which seems to be related to East Semitic (Babylonian) ishittu, 'store'. Actually, I am pondering whether that is S, a fish (it differs from the one in line 4) or the two serpents protecting the sun (shimsh), Sh; but it could well be that the writer could not remember which was right, and he put both letters, first one, and then the other, when he had made up his mind; for our purpose the Sh would be preferred, since it allows us to distinguish Th (roughly /\/\) and Sh (approximately \/\/). Note that Romain Butin first led us to believe it was a fish, in his drawing of the inscription, and he attributed the value S to it; but others have transcribed it as D (for dag, 'fish'); they also want the throwstick (boomerang) to be P, instead of G (gaml); so they completely miss seeing the granary and the garden (gn).

By the way, this broken document (S 375) was found in Mine M, which adjoins Mine L.

Starting from the clue that the text contains a reference to a grain store, my interpretation is that it defines the daily rations for the workers.

In line 1 the word 'RKhT appears (ox-head, human head, hank of thread, cross). It could mean 'cows' (we know that there were goats in that dry place, from the presence of caprine bones, but not bovine), but more probably 'rations', or 'provisions'. The corresponding Hebrew word is used in 2 Kings 25:30 for the daily allowance of food that a captive king of Judah received at the court of the king of Babylonia.

Column 2 has the word 'ST ('granary') preceded by MG (water, boomerang). This mg could be equivalent to Hebrew miggo (min-go, 'from the inside of') meaning 'out of'. So we read:
(1) Rations, (2) from the granary ....

In column 3 I discern this sequence of signs:
Th L Th T Ss B T M
The th-l-th-t consists of two breast-signs, separated by an L and followed by a T (only the vertical stroke of the cross is clear). As far as I can see, these are the only cases of Th (from thad, 'breast') in the whole collection of Sinai proto-alphabetic inscriptions. The word that the four characters make is the numeral 'three', and the following word is SsBTM, meaning 'handfuls'. This term is used in the Bible story of Ruth (2:16) with reference to gleaning ears of grain in fields. We can see a tied bag for Ss, though my drawing may be misrepresenting what is there: on the photograph the bag is apparently an oval with its cord hanging down on the left side.

On the copy of the proto-alphabet from Thebes the Ss (below the 'aleph and above the L) has the tie protruding upwards on the right.

The results we are achieving look plausible:
(1) Rations: (2) out of the granary (3) three handfuls

The final column has the following sequence of letters:
M (water) S (fish) `(eye) T (cross) G (boomerang) N (snake)

It is my contention that GN is simply the Semitic word gan, meaning 'garden' (as used in Genesis for the garden of Eden); it occurs in four of the Sinai inscriptions, and although a garden seems somewhat improbable in this rather barren setting, I can invoke my own observation of what is feasible in this region. Standing on the traditional Mount Sinai I looked down into the grounds of the adjacent monastery and saw a rich garden.

The workers had a vegetable garden on the site, and I find a reference to the vegetables in the sequence MS`T; it could be from the root NS`, 'to pluck' or pull out'. The -t would be the feminine ending (singular or plural) on the noun, and I suggest the meaning is 'garden pickings'. The initial M could be a part of the word; or the same m(in), 'from', as in mg, 'out of', in line 2; or ma, 'and'.

The final reading emerges thus:
(1) Rations: (2) out of the granary (3) three handfuls, (4) and garden pickings.

For the fourth column, I have felt a need to add 'and';  this is another instance of a seeming lack of a conjunction in an ancient alphabetic text; in the Wadi el-Hol inscription from Egypt, the horizontal line begins with RB WN MN, which I would interpret as 'plenty of wine and provisions'; my suggested explanation for the missing 'and' is that the word for 'and' is 'u', which can not be represented in the vowelless consonantal script that was the proto-alphabet.

In this instalment we encountered the letter Th (breast) in the word for 'three',  a possible Sh (snakes protecting sun); and we had further confirmation of the tied bag as Ss, the hank as Kh, the fish as S, and the boomerang as G (twice), together with the well-established eye as `ayin, the ox-head as 'aleph, the human head as R, the cross as T, the house as B, the water-waves as M.

More details on these documents (Sinai 368 and 375) can be found in my published article: Brian E. Colless, The proto-alphabetic inscriptions of Sinai, Abr-Nahrain 28 (1990) 1-52, particularly 28 and 42-43.
The reference for the first publication of Sinai 375 is:
Romain F. Butin, The New Protosinaitic Inscriptions, in  Richard F. S. Starr and Romain F. Butin, Excavations and Protosinaitic Inscriptions at Serabit el Khadem, Studies and Documents 6 (London 1936) 31-42. The photograph (inverted!) is Figure 21 on Plate 10.

THE GRAVE OF ASA

SINAI INSCRIPTION 363

As we have been attempting to decipher the Sinai protoalphabetic inscriptions, we have stumbled on a story of one of the workers on the turquoise-mining site of the Pharaohs. His name is 'Asa, and we have seen his offering to the goddess Hat-Hor (Semitic Ba`alat) in the form of a sphinx statuette. There is a record of his sickness, in writing on a rock on the way to the spring that supplied water for the expeditions (perhaps he was seeking healing there, as it is labeled "the spring of the Mother (goddess)"). An apparent obituary for him is engraved on the interior wall of Mine M: "'Asa has done his work".

And here before us is an inscribed stone slab (Sinai 363) which was found in a mound, 50 metres south of Mine L (which adjoins Mine M). Its inscription includes the sequence ' S, which could be referring to this literate labourer whose trail we have been following. My interpretation of the evidence views this tumulus as 'Asa's burial place (situated at a respectful distance from the work area), and the plaque as his gravestone. The ' S combination is found on the left side, with the ox-head below the fish, so we would here have to read upwards, whereas all the other lines are read downwards. However, we have seen the kind of twists and turns these inscriptions can take, in the text in Mine M (the obituary), and there are numerous other examples in the collection. I have numbered the columns from the right (as is customary) but I understand the inscription as starting in the top-left corner. 'Asa will be at the end of column 3, running upwards to meet the end of line 1 (in which I find 5 letters).

This is my reading of the letters:

(4) K N K N Dh (3) N Kh T ' S (2) T N Q N T (1) ' L

The first letter is a large K, and the third letter is a small K, the second and fourth signs are snakes, both saying N. The big K has a stem, but it is not H (person jubilating with arms raised); it matches the K on the Theban protoalphabet (which is in the bottom left corner, with its stem in the eye) and is obviously the forerunner of Greek Kappa and Roman K. The right-hand stroke of the smaller K has merged with the head of the snake next to it.

Why would the engraver write such a small K after producing a large one? Perhaps for the same reason as he cut a tiny Q in line 2 (when Q is the tallest sign on the Theban protoalphabet), and used cobras for N in lines 3 and 4 but horned vipers in line 2. No special reason.

The word KNKN is known in Ugaritic literature in the word KNKNY (5.5.13). In the myth of Ba`al and `Anat (who is likely to be the Ba`alat we meet in the Sinai inscriptions), Ba`al is instructed by the sun-goddess Shapsh to go down into the underworld for a time; to enter it he must lift the rock or mountain of KNKNY. This has been taken as the name of a mountain, but the Y could be the suffix meaning "my". A KNKN could thus be a hole in the ground (or a tunnel) giving access to the netherworld, and this would be the place where the sun set every night, and passed through the realm of the dead. The same word could also be present in a damaged text (19.147), referring to a human burial place, for Aqhat. In the situation before us the KNKN is associated with a tumulus, a 'burial mound', equivalent to the sun-goddess's mountain over her KNKN. I propose that KNKN be translated here as "grave", that is, a place where a person's body is buried, usually with an inscribed tombstone marking it and identifying the person by name, and also bearing a pious statement, such as "Rest in peace", an elegy, and an invocation to God . Well, that is certainly what we will find on 'Asa's gravestone.

The two horizontal strokes beneath KNKN signify Dh, probably representing dhu, "this". Moving to the next line, we see another N, a snake (though there is a faint line to its right which has led many observers to imagine it is an ox-head). Below it is a thread twisted into a hank or a wick, Kh. This combination, NKh, is a verbal root signifying "rest (be in repose)", which invites a connection with the funereal "Rest in peace". The T below it makes a noun, NKhT, presumably meaning "rest" or "resting-place".

Accordingly, I offer this translation:

"This (Dh) grave (KNKN) is the resting-place (NKhT) of 'Asa".

The two letters at the far right are 'Aleph and L, producing "Il" or "El", that is, "God".

The previous column runs T N Q N T. The Q is tiny, but it is clearly a stick with a cord (a "line") wound around it (qaw), though my drawing may be going too far by showing the end of the string as well as the top of the stick, as on the sphinx statuette, but both forms are attested. Our expectation of a religious utterance are met, and yet not quite fulfilled: TN means "give" (imperative mood); QNT means a funeral lament, as delivered by David for King Saul (2 Samuel 1:17-27, "Tell it not in Gath", "How are the mighty fallen").

So then, this gravestone on a burial mound can be interpreted thus:

"This grave is the resting-place of 'Asa. Give a lament, O God".

More details on this document (Sinai 363) can be found in my published article: Brian E. Colless, The proto-alphabetic inscriptions of Sinai, Abr-Nahrain 28 (1990) 1-52, particularly 24-25.

No new letters have appeared in this text, but there is another example of the rare letter Q (though 3 of the 4 'Asa inscriptions include Q!). And we had more practice in recognizing the letter K, sometimes as a hand with four fingers (as on the sickness inscription), or else a form with three "fingers" (as here, and in the obituary inscription, and in the sphinx inscription, and in the Theban protoalphabet).

Missing letters are: Hh, Z, Sh, Th, Gh, Tt (emphatic T), and Zz. Other Sinai inscriptions will need to be examined to try and identify these.

THE DEATH OF ASA

SINAI INSCRIPTION 358

Asa the Semitic Smith was working in the Sinai turquoise mines in the Bronze Age (perhaps around 1500 BCE). He had dedicated an inscribed sphinx statuette to the goddess Ba`alat (Egyptian Hat-Hor), which was found in the temple at the work site.

His words (in Cana`anite language and protoalphabetic writing) were: "This is my offering to Ba`alat. Asa Smith ("son of the furnace"), beloved of Ba`alat".

On a rock wall near the main water supply for the mines, he had written: "The tool has engraved the sickness of Asa Smith ("son of the furnace") in writing".

The inscription before us now (Sinai 358) is on a wall inside one of the turquoise mines (Mine M). Besides the monochrome photograph, and my drawing, there is a photograph in colour.

Notice that a tablet-frame has been drawn around the graffito, especially visible in the colour-picture.

The text is brief and poignant; in my decipherment and interpretation, it declares:

"Asa has done his work".

' S P ` L M L (') K T H

The familiar sequence of an ox-head and a fish give us the name 'Asa.

Then we can detect a mouth (with teeth?). This is the sign for P. In the Iron Age, most of one lip was surgically excised, leaving the letter looking like a crook; the Greeks left the wound gaping in their letter Pi (but eventually squared it to become the sign we use in "Pi R squared"); the Roman P has the form of Greek Rho, and for R they put the Semitic beard back on the head. It might not have happened exactly in that way, but our concern here is to establish that the mouth-sign represents P. If you look at tables of signs in books on the alphabet, you will often find the origin of P given as "corner", and to find such a sign the perpetraters have to steal most of the boomerangs, which really stand for G (as is generally recognized), and G is as rare as P in Semitic languages.

My case for recognizing a mouth-sign for P is manifold. First, the Hebrew name for the letter is Pe, meaning "mouth" (and the Ethiopic name is Af, also "mouth").

Second, on the Thebes ostrakon which records the letters of the protoalphabet, it is easier to find a mouth than a corner. The boomerang for G is a small character on the left side, between Dh (two strokes) and R (head), and with Ss (tied bag) on its right. The mouth is to the right of the fish, and between the D (door) and the Q (cord on stick); the top of Q is poking into the mouth (compare the stem of K in the eye, bottom left).

Third, on another protoalphabeitic ostrakon (published by Flinders Petrie in the same collection, the one I have labeled Thebes 4) there is a mouth-sign above the two lines that represent Dh, hence PDh, equivalent to Hebrew paz, "fine gold"; the mouth has a straight top lip, and a curved bottom lip.

Fourth, a sign that puzzles scholars on the horizontal graffito from Wadi el-Hhol, fifth from the left, between the ox-head (') and the wavy water-sign (M), is obviously a mouth (though I have seen guesses that describe it as "rabbit ears", "the sun", "an eye"): the upper and lower lips are separated by a line, which is unusual, but it should be compared with the line marking the mouth of the ox on the right, and this is unique (except that it also occurs on the 'Aleph on the vertical graffito, and I take this to be an indication that both inscriptions belong together). My interpretation of this section of the vertical text is:

' P M Kh
"an ox (logogram) and (P) a fatling (MKh)"
These animals would be on the menu for the banquet (MShT) in the celebrations for the goddess `Anat, as announced on the other inscription.

The conclusion of this fourth point is that the mouth is P on the vertical graffito and the boomerang in the same text stands for G (and is not a "corner" representing P).

Fifth, the West Semitic cuneiform alphabet (used extensively at the city of Ugarit) has two parallel wedges for P (representing the two lips), and on a damaged tablet giving the initial sounds of each character the pronunciation seems to be pu, "mouth".

And that wraps up my case for recognizing the mouth-sign as P.

Moving on down the 'Asa inscription in Mine M (Sinai 358), we see that the engraver has carefully distinguished the eye (it has a pupil) and the mouth (with teeth?). We can now recognize the verb P`L (pa`al), "he has done/made".

Then we are confronted by a cluster of letters, to the left: L and K (a small hand), both on the same level as M. The combination MLK is the root for "rule" and nouns meaning "king" and "kingdom". None of these words fit satisfactorily, but I suggest that there is a cross above the K and beside the L, which has not been noticed and has not been highlighted with whitening. MLKT could mean "queen", but also "work", though its correct spelling is ML'KT; nevertheless, the letter 'Aleph is sometimes dropped in these Sinai inscriptions, notably (4 times out of 8) in M(')HB, "loved", in the phrase "beloved of Ba'alat", which appears on the sphinx inscription, with its 'Aleph intact.

The word ML'KT is used in the Hebrew Bible; for example, it is said that God finished his work (Genesis 2:2). And I think that "his work" is what we have here. The last sign, rather than K (we have a K below it), is H: the celebrater is doing acrobatics (there is an equivalent Egyptian hieroglyph of a man in an upside-down stance, A29). Adding -H to the word for "work" provides the suffix -hu, meaning 'his". When God completed his work, he rested. When 'Asa had "done his work", we may assume he died. A gravestone bearing his name has been found nearby, and we will study that in a separate essay.

More details on this document (Sinai 358) can be found in my published article: Brian E. Colless, The proto-alphabetic inscriptions of Sinai, Abr-Nahrain 28 (1990) 1-52, particularly 40-41.

In this instalment of the 'Asa saga the new letter was P (with a slightly variant H). The letters Z, Sh, and Th, which we have discussed and identified, have not appeared yet.

The letter P can be added to the list:
' B D Dh H W Y K L M N S ` Ss P Q R T [Sh Th Z]

'Alp (ox) Bayt (house) Dalt (door) Dhayp (eyebrow) Hillul (celebration) Waw (hook) Yad (forearm) Kap (hand, palm) Lamd (crook) Mu (water) Nahhash (snake) Samk (fish; and spine) `ayin (eye) Ssirar (tied bag) Pu (mouth) Qaw (line, cord on stick) Ra'sh (head) Taw (signature mark) [Shimsh (sun) Thad (breast)].

ASA THE SINAI SMITH

SINAI INSCRIPTION 376

The photograph and my accompanying sketch show an inscription (Sinai 376) engraved on a rock wall in the Sinai Peninsula, in the region where the ancient Egyptians had turquoise mines and copper mines.

In my interpretation of the West Semitic (Canaanian) inscription (Sinai 345) on a sphinx statuette from a temple in that area, we met a metalworker named Asa, who said:

"This is my offering to Ba`alat; 'Asa Smith ("son of the furnace"), beloved of Ba`alat".

Asa had described himself as a BN KR, "son of the furnace", meaning a smith, and also as a devotee of the goddess Ba`alat ("the Lady"), equivalent to the Egyptian goddess Hathor ("the turquoise Lady").

The text we now have before us gives a possible reason for his gift to the goddess. Notice that the two largest characters in this text are an ox-head ('Aleph) and a fish (S), the very letters that constitute the name 'Asa. Indeed, there is another 'Aleph below the S, and that is how the name is spelled in Hebrew ('Asa').

We are presented with four vertical columns of writing, not horizontal lines. I have tried various ways of following the direction of the writing, and I feel that the scribe's intention was to write in boustrophedon style: that is, in the way that an ox ploughs a field. I think this can be seen in the first two lines (on the left). The bottom sign on the second column is very close to the last letter on the first column, showing that the inscription is turning a corner. So column 1 runs downwards and column 2 upwards, and so on.

Starting from the top left, my reading is (four of the letters in line 4 are not on my drawing, but are certainly detectable on the photograph, BNK at the bottom and B at the top):
(1) Q L ` Kh (2) R Ss D W T (3) ' S ' (4) B N K R K T B

The Q is a string wound on a stick (qaw); it can have two projecting strokes at the top (the ends of the stick and the cord), or one (as here).

The L is a shepherd's crook, though sometimes L is represented by a coil of rope; both are objects for training and restraining animals.

 
The `Ayin is an eye.

These three characters (Q L `) had their counterpart on the sphinx (Sinai 345) and on the Theban ostrakon (Thebes 1) exhibiting the letters of the protoalphabet (a drawing of this significant document is provided below).

The last letter in this column is an emphatic H, conventionally transcribed as underlined H, but here as Kh. It represents a hank of thread, or a wick of flax (according to its model, Egyptian hieroglyph V28). It is found in a different stance on the Theban protoalphabet (bottom right). There are three H sounds in Semitic. The basic H, in the throat, is represented by a person celebrating (hll) [>-E], the source of Grec0-Roman E; it is visible darkly above the Kh on the Theban protoalphabet. The Hh that is expressed by the breath between Kh and H is a controversial thing: in its Greco-Roman form it is H, and this is known to derive from a Phoenician character in the shape of a bisected rectangle, that is, two connected squares; it can be confused with D, when the door has two panels and short strokes for the doorpost (the D in the 2nd column does not have panels). My suggestion for its origin is that it depicts a house with a courtyard (HhaSsiR); one end-wall can be rounded, and this may be the case on the Theban ostracon (top left corner). Others view it as a fence.

The bottom letter of the second column is apparently a human head, R; there is another example in column 4.

We are now confronted by a very controversial character. It could be B (a house), though it is not very square and looks more like an oval object, like a figure 8 (notice the towards the top, on the righhand sid)and I would identify it as a tied bag (s.rr), representing an emphatic S sound, S with a dot under it, or S., or Ss (as I will transcribe this letter here); in Hebrew it is known as S.adê ("cricket"). However, a common view is that this sign represents Q. The reasons are: (1) the Hebrew name for the letter Q is Qoph, meaning "monkey", and the figure 8 form of this character can be taken as resembling a monkey (with no limbs or tail, of course); (2) in the Sinai inscriptions the sequence NSsBN (according to my transcription, and meaning "overseers" in my interpretation) supposedly makes better sense as NQBN, understood as meaning "miners" from the root NQB, "pierce" or "bore"(note that the Hebrew inscription recording the digging of the tunnel for the Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem has a word NQBH, "piercing", referring to the work). Nevertheless, the form that Q/q has in its history from the Phoenician to the Greco-Roman alphabet, and particularly in the South Arabian alpabet (-o-), suggests that its true origin lies in the cord wound on a stick. However, the later versions of Ss have the bag either collapsed (-<) or burst (one side of the oval bag has disappeared); but the tie at the top remains.

Then comes (as the third letter from the bottom of column 2) a door-sign, Dalt, D (it even looks like a Roman D, but the door post protrudes at the top and bottom). The fact that the door is adjacent to the fish here (in column 3) obviates the widely accepted possibility that the fish could stand for D (even if dag is a West Semitic word for "fish") when the Hebrew name Dalet and Greek Delta indicate that D is for door.

The next letter lacks clarity, but it seems to be W, a circle on a stem, with no projections at the top; that is how Q [-o< -o-] and W [-o] were distinguished in the beginning; but eventually Q took the form of W [-o], and the circle of W was opened up at the top [-( ]. The sign represents a nail or a hook (waw); the word is used in the Bible for the hooks on which the curtain was suspended, in the Tabernacle-tent of God. The name of the letter is still Waw. On the Theban protoalphabet, I would find W in the column on the far left, beneath R; it has a small stem, which comes from beside the circle [ _o rather than -o].

The letter at the top of the second column of Sinai 376 is a cross, and therefore T. There is another Taw in the 4th line.

The T of column 2 and the 'Aleph of Column 3 are far apart, and this does not fit with my idea that we should be able to observe the writing turning a corner. However, it strikes me that above and between these letters is an example of Sh. We need to remember that on the sphinx (Sinai 345) and here (Sinai 376) the letters have been whitened so that they stand out in photographs, but some may have been overlooked. The Sh could be a relative pronoun, connecting 'Asa' with the preceding word (dwt sickness); but it is not grammatically necessary.

This may well be a figment created by my mind, but it creates an opportunity to discuss the signs for the "sibilant" consonants S, Ss, Sh, and Th.

A photograph and drawing of the Thebes protoalphabet are included at this point.

They are available to be printed out at:
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1541/3274/1600/thebes%20alphabet.jpg
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1541/3274/1600/Thebes%20abt%20copy.jpg

One glaring omission in my drawing (lower right corner) is the large letter Z (|><|, a copper ingot, but in a vertical stance); it took me many years to see it.

The tentative results of my search through all the available inscriptions are as follows:

S (Samek) is a fish, as shown here in line 3 of Sinai 376 in the name 'Asa', and in the protoalphabet on Thebes 1 (third sign from top left). There is an alternative S (not present on the Theban ostrakon), a spine, based on Egyptian hieroglyph R11. This was the S that survived in the Phoenician alphabet, and in the Greek alphabet (as X), but not in the Roman alphabet. Both forms appear in the West Semitic cuneiform alphabet, which is based on the protoalphabet: as normal S (fish) and special S (spine).

Ss (or s., or ç, Sadê) is a tied bag, to the left of the fish on the Theban protoalphabet; notice the tie at the top (as on Egyptian hieroglyph V33) which is not so clear here, in line 2 below the door-sign.

Sh (or $, Hebrew name Shin, "tooth") is recognizable as a sun-sign, taking its sound from the word for "sun", $am$ or $im$. My argument first points out that in the West Semitic cuneiform alphabet the sign for Sh is a circle (representing the sun-disk, as also in the West Semitic syllabary, which was invented a few hundred years before the protoalphabet) or, alternatively, a sign like this [<|/] . I see this as an attempt to depict with "wedges" an Egyptian hieroglyph standing for the sun-god Ra (N6), which has the sun-disk protected by a serpent [roughly _o/]. In the protoalphabetic inscriptions, what I regard as the corresponding sign looks roughly like [<__>] (but with all the lines rounded), or [3] (mostly horizontal). What might have happened is that the sun-disc has been removed to simplify the character. Another possibility is that the curls at each end are the sun and the snake's head. I know of two examples where the disk is still present (one from the Thebes collection gathered by Flinders Petrie, and published in 1912, along with the ostrakon displaying the protoalphabet). And another version has now turned up in Egypt (see below).

Th (the sound in "thing") is usually transcribed as underlined T, or with the Greek letter Theta). My view is that its sign is a pair of human breasts (West Semitic thad), roughly \/\/.

Sh and Th can be seen on the Theban protoalphabet: the Sh is small and faint, below the H in the botom right area; the Th is further to the left, next to the Q.

The two signs can also be differentiated on the two new inscriptions (or one inscription in two parts) from Wadi el-Hol in Egypt, in the desert near Thebes. These are considered to be the oldest protoalphabetic evidence available at present (I am ever hopeful that more will be found). They are thought to be the work of West Semitic soldiers guarding the road from Thebes. These letters, we can safely say, are at an earlier stage of development than those on the Thebes ostrakon.

http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/wsrp/information/wadi_el_hol/inscr1.jpg
http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/wsrp/information/wadi_el_hol/inscr1_draw.jpg

The breast-sign (for Thad, "breast") is large, and consists of four lines; on this horizontal inscription it is situated between the boomerang (G) and the small H; it is not a letter M, of which there are two examples in the text, and they have more than two angles.

http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/wsrp/information/wadi_el_hol/inscr2.jpg
http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/wsrp/information/wadi_el_hol/inscr2_draw.jpg

In this vertical inscription we find a strange sign beween M and T at the top, and after G (boomerang) at the bottom. Given that the sign for Sh is the sun-disc with a serpent, we can identify these two letters immediately as Sh. When these inscriptions were first announced in November 1999, I commented on the internet that the first word was MShT (equivalent to Hebrew mishteh) meaning "drinking party" or "banquet", and that this celebration would be for the goddess pictured beside the writing. In passing, note that the goddess is named as `Anat (eye, snake, cross). The snake has a large head, but notice that the sun-serpent on the Sh also has a head, and the inscriber would have a cobra in mind, with its wide neck. `Anat would be equivalent to Ba`alat, the Lady, in the Sinai protoalphabetic inscriptions. On this same inscription, the god El ('Aleph L) appears preceded by a verb YGSh (the Y is not blacked in bold in the drawing), which would mean "he will provide". If we go to the other inscription we see that the first four letters are RBWN, which could say "much (rb) wine (wn)". Egyptian inscriptions in the vicinity speak of having a holiday for the goddess Hathor, with eating and drinking.

I will give a full exposition of these fascinating inscriptions in due course. For the moment they have served admirably to distinguish Sh and Th.

Returning to Sinai 376, we have line 3 running downwards with only 3 letters: ' S ', 'Asa' (ox, fish, ox). Each of the bovine heads has an eye
On the sphinx statuette I suggested that he was given the title or surname BN KR ("son of the furnace"), that is, "Smith". I propose to find that same sequence here in line 4. Please find a square to the right of the bottom ox-head (B, house), then a snake (N), and above it a white hand with fingers pointing upwards (K), to the right of the large head (R), hence BNKR. Above the head is another hand (K), then a cross (T), and above the cross and to the left another square (B), hence KTB.

My interpretation breaks the long sequence into these words:
QL`: "has carved" (known in Hebrew, 1 Kings 6:29)
KhRSs: a metal tool (pickax? 2 Samuel 12:31)
DWT: "illness" (Leviticus 12:2, of menstrual indisposition)
'S': Asa ("Myrtle"; 1 Kings 15:8)
BN KR: "Smith" ("son of the furnace")
KTB: "has written" or "written" or "the one writing"; but there is a third B (with the characteristic oblique line inside the square) next to the R (human head), and BKTB could say "in writing" (ktb as a verbal noun).

"The tool has engraved the sickness of Asa Smith in writing"

Thus, the illness of Asa was the reason for his offering of the sphinx to Ba`alat.

In this instalment of the `Asa saga, we encountered these letters of the protoalphabet:
' B D Kh W K L N S ` Ss Q R T [Sh Th]
Previously we had studied these 14 letters:
' B Dh H Y K L M N S ` Q R T
The new letters can be added to the list:
' B D Dh H W Y K L M N S ` Ss Q R T [Sh Th]

'Alp (ox) Bayt (house) Dalt (door) Dhayp (eyebrow) Hillul (celebration) Waw (hook) Yad (forearm) Kap (hand, palm) Lamd (crook) Mu (water) Nahhash (snake) Samk (fish; and spine) `ayin (eye) Ssirar (tied bag) Qaw (line, cord on stick) Ra'sh (head) Taw (signature mark) [Shimsh (sun) Thad (breast)].

More details on this document (Sinai 376) can be found in my published article: Brian E. Colless, The proto-alphabetic inscriptions of Sinai, Abr-Nahrain 28 (1990) 1-52, particularly 12-13.

SINAI ALPHABETIC SPHINX

SINAI INSCRIPTION 345

This sandstone statuette (24 centimetres in length) was found in the ruins of an Egyptian temple in the Sinai Peninsula, on the site of the ancient turquoise mines that were exploited by the Pharaohs in the Bronze Age (before 1200 BCE).

It is now housed in the British Museum, and several years ago I went there to see it; I already had plenty of pictures from books, and my friend Alexandros Zaharopoulos had been permitted to take several close-up photographs for me previously, but I wanted to view it with my own eyes. It is not on display, so I was taken behind the scenes to the West Asian section and the Egyptian department, but neither of them knew where the sphinx was. Finally the egyptologists dug it up, and I was taken into a small room where a young custodian allowed me to hold it for a few minutes. "It's closing time" he announced abruptly, and whisked it away.

There is writing on it, perhaps the riddle of the sphinx?

It was discovered by the archeologist William Flinders Petrie, together with other inscribed objects found in the temple and also in and around the mines. Most of the inscriptions are hieroglyphic Egyptian, but many of them display the unknown script seen here. Actually, this sphinx has examples of both scripts, and the egyptologist Alan Gardiner was able to solve the riddle: the name of the goddess it represented is there in Egyptian writing and in the original alphabet, which apparently borrowed Egyptian hieroglyphs to create its letters.

This side shows [2] the Egyptian hieroglyphic text, above [3] another line of the presumed alphabetic script.

The largest character is a square, with a bird inside it; this is the hieroglyph for the goddess Hathor (Khat-Khor); the bird is a hawk, representing the god Horus, and the square is a shrine; Hat-Hor, as the mother of Horus, enshrines him. She was a goddess who was especially dear to people who ventured far from home on military or mining expeditions. She is here described as "[Lady] of turquoise" (that means the deity protecting the members of the expedition searching for this precious stone, but this part of the inscription will be disregarded for our purposes here). The hoe-sign stands for mr, "beloved", and so some one or some thing is "beloved of Hathor".

A reasonable assumption would be that [3] the line of enigmatic writing below this says the same thing in a different language and script. We know from Egyptian inscriptions on the site that West Asians were present, speakers of Semitic languages. The words for the verb "love" in West Semitic (Ugaritic, Phoenician, Hebrew) are DD (the root in the names David and Dido), and 'aHaB (which begins with a glottal stop suggesting a choking sensation, with the H and B evoking heavy breathing).

Now, we know that the name of the letter ' (glottal stop) is 'Aleph, meaning "ox", which became Greek Alpha (standing for the vowel a), so the ox-head here could be 'Aleph, if this is the original alphabet. The ox-head can be seen at the top of the table of alphabetic signs from Thebes (top left). Its development into A is obvious: it has simply been inverted, so that the horns have become legs.

(A sketch of the document is provided here for easier reference.)


Further, the second letter of the alphabet is B, Beth , Greek Beta, and it means "house"; and the square sign could represent the ground-plan of a simple dwelling (as in Egyptian writing, where the hieroglyph for house is a rectangle or a square, with an opening for the doorway). On the protoalphabet table from Thebes (top right), B consists of an upright line and a triangle (the door of the house is open).

This would give us two thirds of 'HB, and it leads us to the supposition that H is represented by the figure in between the 'Aleph and the B; this is obviously a person in a highly emotional state, presumably "celebrating", and the Hebrew word for this is HLL (as in Halleluyah, "Celebrate Yahweh", or "Praise the Lord"). With hindsight we can say that this character lost its body and legs, becoming E (H in Semitic, and the vowel E[psilon] in Greek). The H can be seen dimly under the B on the Theban alphabetic ostrakon.

Thus, the root "love" has been deciphered, and if it had M before 'HB it would produce a passive participle, "loved" (Pu`al form in Hebrew). The wavy line is equivalent to the Egyptian hieroglyph for "water", and the Semitic word for this is mu or mayim. On our oldest copy of the alphabet, the M is a thin line at the bottom. So we seem to have M'HB "beloved", and now we need to find a goddess, a divine lady.

It is known that the Semitic goddess of the city of Byblos (in Lebanon) was worshipped as B`LT, which means "Lady"; it is the feminine form of the well-known title Ba`al, "Lord". The T would indicate the feminine ending -at. We will assume that this writing system was like the Phoenician and Hebrew alphabets, showing consonants but not vowels (and with hindsight we can also say that we are here looking at the prototype of the alphabet).

In my transcription of B`LT the letter represented by` is `Ayin (as distinct from ', 'Aleph, the glottal stop, in M'HB), and `ayin means "eye". In the sequence before us we seem to have an eye (in a vertical position), and the same set of signs can be seen on the other side of the sphinx (see the full picture at the top). We can see a B (house), then an eye, followed by L (like an inverted italic l) and T (a cross, +); both the L and T have changed little in their progress through the Phoenician alphabet to the Greco-Roman alphabet. On the ancient alphabetic table, `Ayin, the eye-sign is in the bottom left corner, with L to the right of it (a shepherd's crook, rather than a coil of rope, as sometimes suggested); and, incidentally, K is above it and Y is below it (both of which will receive our attention ere long). T is hard to locate: it may be the tiny cross to the right of the M, at the bottom of the tablet, or it is attached to a leg of the jubilater (H), as shown in my drawing.

Note that we have M'HB`LT here (a piece has broken off, leaving most of the L and possibly part of the T, but the the full B`LT is on the other side [4], so we can be sure that it is not the god Ba`al who is being invoked); still, M'HB B`LT is what we should have (and this version with -BB- is found in other inscriptions from the turquoise mines); but there is a dot in the square B, and this may indicate that the letter is doubled (a practice exemplified in the Hebrew Bible).

The B`LT on the other side has L preceding it. The same sequence is found on another statuette from the same temple (Sinai 346; our sphinx is numbered Sinai 345). LB`LT clearly means "to" or "for" (la) "Ba`alat", so both objects were offerings to the goddess.

We might expect the donor of the sphinx to have inscribed his name on it, as the one who is "beloved of Ba`alat". In my view, he has identified himself by name and occupation, and stated that this is his offering to the Lady.


Looking first at [1] the combination of signs below the neck, between the paws, we can see a square (B) with N inside it, though we are viewing it sideways. The origin of N is a serpent (usually an erect cobra, as here); the first letter on the dedicatory inscription at the bottom of the picture is N (a bent line, representing a snake). The West Semitic word for "snake" is nakhash, and by the "acrophonic principle" the first sound in the word that goes with the picture is the one that is sounded; we have already seen this operating in the case of the house, Beth (bayt) standing for B. On the Theban alphabetic ostrakon, the N is a line next to the B, stretching from the H into the top right corner.

It would appear that the scribe has imitated the form of the Hathor hieroglyph (a hawk inside an edifice) and has put the snake inside the house, to produce BN, the Semitic word for "son" (bin or ben). The two letters above are K and R, I suggest, identifying the person as "son of KR". The Roman letter R still shows the human head from which it arose (including a beard); here we find a human head and neck, and even shoulder. Our letter K (Greek Kappa) is acknowledged as deriving from a hand with fingers (Hebrew Kaph, meaning "hand" or "palm of the hand"); but I suspect that the vegetational "palm" (Hebrew kippah) could also be used, and that may be what we see here (with a few token leaves only). On the Theban protoalphabet, the K is on top of the eye-sign; indeed, it seems to be poking its stem into the hapless eye. The R is in the middle of the column on the far left: a head with an eye and a hair-line.

The reading BNKR, could say "Son of KR", with KR as the name of the father. However, I think I have found this same sequence (bnkr) in a number of other inscriptions in this mining area. Since kur means "furnace", and since various pieces of metallurgical equipment have been found here, with several inscriptions referring to this apparatus, it is clear that the Semites would have been engaged in making and mending the copper tools used in the mining, and they were thus "sons of the furnace", written without vowels as BNKR. Here on the sphinx, the expression could be singular or plural: "The metalworker(s) beloved of Ba`alat". However, I will eventually propose that the name of the donor is also inscribed on this statuette.

Turning to the the signs in the dedicatory line [4], we find the other hand-sign, Yod (which became Y, I, and J in our alphabet) standing next to the L; the word yad means "forearm" (including the hand), and that is what we see here, with the fingers pointing down. A similar form appears on the Theban protoalphabet (bottom left). The Y could stand for a whole word, or the end of the word before "to Ba`alat". One possibility is the suffix -ya, "my".

The letter preceding the Y is a puzzle. After wrestling with it for years I decided it is the prototype of our Q/q. Looking at both photographs (the full figure and the closeup), I see a stem with a dot on the middle of it and an oblique stroke coming out from the dot. This corresponds to the Egyptian hieroglyph depicting a cord wound on a stick (numbered by Gardiner as V25, the New Kingdom form of V24, which does not have the leftwards projecting stroke). The Hebrew word qaw means "a string", a measuring line, often used metaphorically by the prophets in the Bible; in my world builders have such a cord wound around a pencil. The extra stroke in the pictograph would be the end of the string poking out. (This extra feature is significant for dating: it shows that the sphinx belongs in the New Kingdom and the Late Bronze Age, after 1600 BCE, because the normal form in the preceding period, the Middle Bronze Age, was simply -o- , though this continued into the LBA.) In the development of the alphabet in the Iron Age (after 1200 BCE) the lines at the top disappeared; they are not in the Phoenician Q, nor the Roman Q. The Hebrew name for the letter is not Qaw, but Qoph, and this apparently means "monkey"; presumably this designation arose when the original reference of the sign was forgotten. The South Arabian alphabet retained the top of the stick above the wound cord. On the protoalphabetic tablet, Q stands in the middle, stretching up to the mouth-sign and the inverted door; it has two appendages at the top.

The sign to the left of Q on the dedication to Ba`alat line of writing is ||, two roughly parallel lines; on the Theban ostrakon (top left corner) it appears in the more normal horizontal stance [=]. This character is known to represent Dh, as in English this, and in fact the sign says dhu (meaning "this") in several of the other Sinai protoalphabetic inscriptions. Taking it here as an introductory "This (is)" (no verb is required in Semitic syntax), we can read the remaining letters as NQY. In Eastern Semitic (Akkadian, Assyrian, Babylonian) there is a word niqu, meaning "offering" (a gift made to a deity). This word is not found elsewhere in West Semitic texts, but Babylonian was the international language of the Bronze Age, from `Iraq to Egypt, and this educated scribe could have felt free to use it. The Y, as stated earlier, is a first-person suffix -ya, "my".

So, he has written: "This is my offering to Ba`alat" [4]. And who is he? I would look for his name in [5] the marks on the shoulder (look at the photograph above). There are two small characters: one is apparently an ox-head (`Aleph); and choosing from the remaining letters in the repertoire, I would say the other is a fish. The argument rages over the sound represented by this sign: some insist that it is D, because the Hebrew word for "fish" is dag; others (including myself) identify it as S, which is called Samek in Hebrew (samk is an Arabic word used for "fish" by the descendants of the Cana`anites and Phoenicians in Lebanon). If the fish-sign is S, we have to accept an alternative sign for S in this shape -|-|-| (but it stands vertically, like a telegraph pole). It could conceivably represent the fish after all the flesh had been eaten, but I would think that it represents a human spinal column (like the Egyptian hieroglyph R11, a spinal column, representing stability, to be compared with F41, depicting vertebrae), with samk meaning "support". These alternative forms of Samek do not occur together in any of the inscriptions known to me (except the 'abgadaries from Thebes. Eventually the fish-sign disappeared and the column stood firm, representing S in the Phoenician alphabet, and X in the Greek alphabet, but it has no place in the Roman alphabet.

The character for D is not a fish but a door: the Hebrew name Dalet and Greek Delta reveal the common noun dalt, "door". I think we can settle the matter here and now; in the next inscription that we shall consider (Sinai 376), the fish and the door are found side by side (in adjacent columns). Similarly, in the Theban copy of the protoalphabet, the fish, S, is situated above the Q and to the right of the 'Aleph, and beside it is the door (inverted), D. One response to this would be to say that it is not a door but an ax, since the door post is longer than the door itself; and the ax could be Z (though I can not find a word for ax which starts with Z, and I cannot see an ax anywhere else in the protoalphabetic inscriptions). I will assume that this scribe chooses to draw his door-sign; another ostrakon from the Theban collection has anumn-sign remained, becoming Greek X (ks), but not passing over into the Roman alphabet. even longer post, but it also has what I think may be the Z, |><|, as also on the short inscription (Thebes 4) that I have described elsewhere, which has this Z and Dh. Finding the double-triangle Z among the jumble of characters on the alphabetic tablet (Thebes 1) is not easy; it may be lurking in the faint marks on the far right (next to H), or else in the traces next to Q and above M.

Accepting that the fish is S, then the name of the donor on the sphinx is 'S, which could be 'Asa, which means "Myrtle", but it is a masculine name, borne by a king in the Bible (1 Kings 15:8-22).

Thus, the Canaanian text declares: "[4] This is my offering to Ba`alat; [5] 'Asa [1] Smith ("son of the furnace"), [3] beloved of Ba`alat".

But the combination 'S (ox and fish) occurs in five other inscriptions from this ancient mining region, and three of them seem to be concerned with our friend 'Asa. (The others are Sinai 368 and 375, each bearing a word for "granary": 'sm [368] and 'st [375].) The story of Asa the Semitic Smith will be told in subsequent chapters. There is a historical novel waiting to be written on the basis of this evidence.

In this first instalment, the following 14 letters of the protoalphabet have been encountered:
'A B Dh H Y K L M N S ` Q R T
'Alp (ox) Bayt (house) Dhayp (eyebrow) Hillul (celebration) Yad (forearm) Kap (hand, palm) Lamd (crook) Mu (water) Nahhash (snake) Samk (fish; and spine) `ayin (eye) Qaw (line, cord on stick) Ra'sh (head) Taw (signature mark).

More details on this document (Sinai 345) can be found in my published article: Brian E. Colless, The proto-alphabetic inscriptions of Sinai, Abr-Nahrain 28 (1990) 1-52, particularly 13-15.