Idalion bilingual
The Idalion bilingual is a bilingual Cypriot–Phoenician inscription found in 1869 in Dali, Cyprus. It was the key to the decipherment of the Cypriot syllabary, in the manner of the Rosetta Stone to hieroglyphs. The discovery of the inscription was first announced by Paul Schröder in May 1872. It is dated to 388 BCE. The Phoenician inscription is known as KAI 38 and CIS I 89.
| Idalion bilingual | |
|---|---|
Idalion Bilingual at the British Museum in 2007 | |
| Created | c. 388 BC |
| Discovered | 1869 Dali, Nicosia, Cyprus |
| Discovered by | Robert Lang |
| Present location | London, England, United Kingdom |
| Language | Phoenician |
It was discovered by Robert Hamilton Lang in his excavations at the Temple of Idalium (modern Dali, Cyprus), whose work there had been inspired by the discovery of the Idalion Tablet in 1850. The stone was found in the centre of the temple, together with the five other Idalion Temple inscriptions. The stone is thought to have been a pedestal for a statue, as there is an apparent dowel hole in the top.
Lang wrote of his discovery:
The most valuable monument uncovered by my excavations is unquestionably the bilingual inscription in Cyprian and Phoenician, engraved on marble; an inscription which, I feel confident, will ultimately prove the means of enabling philologists to decipher the Cyprian alphabet ... The bilingual inscription proves also that, the two alphabets, Phoenician and Cyprian, had a contemporaneous existence.
It is currently in the archives of the British Museum, with identification number 125320. It was exhibited at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge in 2018.