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Document Details : Title: The Syllabic Inscriptions of Byblos Subtitle: Text D Author(s): COLLES, Brian E. Journal: Ancient Near Eastern Studies Volume: 31 Date: 1993 Pages: 1-35 DOI: 10.2143/ANES.31.0.525732 Abstract : In a previous article on the Byblos syllabary, a case was made for accepting as substantially correct the decipherment of the Byblian syllabic inscriptions published by George E. Mendenhall (The Syllabic Inscriptions from Byblos, 1985). In my estimation the main weakness of the table of syllabic signs proposed by Mendenhall is that the sibilants are too sparsely represented, as also shown by the small number of instances recorded in his index of signs. A remedy for this is to assign the value ši to his pu, and si to his yu. My assumption is that there is a samek and a šin in this Bronze Age language and script, but that these two sibilants do not correspond exactly to their Iron Age counterparts in Hebrew or Phoenician. Mendenhall also finds three ṯ signs, but these become zi, ṭi, šu in my system. |
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