Guthe and Professor Kautzsch in the Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palæstina-Vereins, vol. 4, 1881, pp. 102-119, 250-259, and 260272. The shorter notices by J. Derenbourg in the Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, for 1881, pp. 97-100 and 199-205, and by J. Halévy, as reported in the Revue Critique for 17th Oct. 1881, are also well deserving of study. Asterisks denote missing letters. The transcription is as follows. Doubtful letters are marked with a stroke. (I) (2) הגרזן הנקבה. וזה . היה . דבר . דנלבה. בעוד . רעו . ובעוד . שלש . אמת . להב אש . אל ז ע. קל . אש . ק (3) רא . אל . רעו . כי . הית . זדה . בצר . מימן רבים . ה (4) נקבה . הכו . החצבם . אש . לקרת . רעו . גרזן . על . . גרזן . וילכו מן . המוצא . אל . הברכה . במאתים . ואלף . (5) המים . מן אמה . ומא (6) ת. אמה . היה . גבה . הצר . על . ראש . החצבם. . The letters of this inscription much resemble those of the stêlê of king Mesha', but are more modern, and exhibit more practice and skill in writing. Observe the easy swing of the and, and the little flourishing hooks of and y and unfortunately do not occur. We shall probably be not far wrong in assigning this inscription to the time of Hezekiah, circa B.C. 700. Compare 2 Kings xx. 20, 2 Chron. xxxii. 30. The punctuation is the same as in the Moabite Stone, a point after each word. The orthography too is much the same. Scriptio defectiva of the long vowels prevails, even in and, where ,קול and יום we might have expected on account of the original form being yaum and kaul, Ar., J. In Ty and is in its proper place, the one being originally aud ו the מוצא and the other maușa', from = )k: Final vowels are expressed by 797, as Mi, M, MAN, 197, 107, “". The aleph in 'OND מְאָתַיִם stands for מָאתַיִם is etymologically correct, as ראש and in line 3 is probably to הית . .Ar רַאֲשׁ רָאשׁ for ראש and . رأس דן : be read, and not (see 2 Kings ix. 37, kěthibh); else why should the engraver not have written the final line 4 does not stand for, but seems rather to be infin. of in Two words in this inscription do not occur in the Old Testament, viz.,, and in line 3. The sense of the former is clear, both from the context and the cognate languages (Ar. 5/09 through, a hole, a pass, or defile, a hole, Syr. digging a hole, cave, * Pronounce mine), not to mention the common Hebrew word therefore or 2. The meaning of the other word, π, is very obscure, as its root is not exactly known to us, and the context does not cast a distinct light upon it. It seems most probably to mean a crack or fissure. We may therefore translate as follows :— (1) . . . the breaking through. And this was the matter (or account) of the breaking through. While yet.. (2) the pickaxe, one towards the other, and while yet there were three the voice of one call cubits to... (3) ing to the other, for there was a cleft (?) in the rock on the right And on the day of the (4) breaking through, the miners hewed, one to meet the other, pickaxe against pickaxe; and flowed (lit. went) (5) the waters from the source to the pool over (a space of) one thousand and two hundred cubits. And one hund (6) red cubits was the height of the rock above the head of the miners. At the beginning of the first line, Derenbourg has supplied, is finished; while Halévy prefers, on the day of. In the second line, it must remain doubtful whether we are to suppose a full point It can hardly be necessary to remind the reader that and get their meaning from the conformation of the genital organs (cf. hasta, rima). after, as Kautzsch and Halévy have done, or not. As to the lacuna in line 2, the letter after may be either or or . The at the end of the gap seems to indicate that one of the lost words was (Derenbourg). The inscription was obviously set up by the miners to commemorate their successful meeting, after they had started from opposite ends of the projected tunnel or aqueduct. It has nothing whatever of an official character, otherwise its form and style would probably have been very different, and it would have been set up in a more conspicuous place. WM. WRIGHT. The next meeting of the Society will be held at 9, Conduit Street, Hanover Square, W., on Tuesday, March 7th, 1882, at 8 p.m., when the following papers will be read : By P. LE PAGE RENOUF :-" Egyptian Mythology, Mist and Cloud." By WM. FLINDERS PETRIE :-" Notes on Pottery and Implements collected at Giseh and the neighbourhood from December, 1880, to June, 1881." By A. L. FROTHINGHAM, JUN. :-"Note on an Hebrew Inscription at Ravenna." FUND FOR ALTERATION AND EXTENSION OF THE SOCIETY'S LIBRARY. The following subscriptions have already been received by the Secretary. Further amounts subscribed will be duly acknowledged in the Proceedings: £ s. d. THE FOLLOWING BOOKS ARE REQUIRED FOR THE LIBRARY OF THE SOCIETY. BOTTA, Monuments de Ninive. 5 vols., folio. 1847-1850. PLACE, Ninive et l'Assyrie, 1866-1869. 3 vols., folio. I vol., folio. Geographische Inschriften Altaegyptische Denkmaeler. Vols. I-III (Brugsch). Vol. IV, in 2 parts (Dumichen). DÜMICHEN, Historische Inschriften, &c., 1st series, 1867. 2nd series, 1869. Altaegyptische Kalender Inschriften, 1866. 2 vols., 8vo. GOLENISCHEFF, Die Metternichstele. Folio, 1877. Königsbuch der Alten Aegypter. 4to., 1858. DE ROUGE, Études Égyptologiques. 13 vols., complete to 1880. WRIGHT, Arabic Grammar. Arabic Chrestomathy. DELITZSCH, Assyrische Studien. 1 vol., texts, and complete glossary. Heft I, 1874 SCHROEDER, Die Phönizische Sprache. HAUPT, Die Sumerischen Familiengesetze. SCHRADER, Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament. 1872. 6th and 7th do. OSBURN, The Antiquities of Egypt. 8vo., 1841. ROBINSON, Biblical Researches. 8vo., 1841-1852. PIERRET, Dictionnaire d'Archéologie Égyptienne. 8vo. Paris, 1875. BURKHARDT, Eastern Travels. WILKINSON, Materia Hieroglyphica. Malta, 1824-30. (Text only.) CHABAS, Mélanges Égyptologiques. 1862-1873. L'Égyptologie. Tomes I and II, 1874 and 1875. MASPERO, Du genre epistolaire chez les Égyptiens de l'epoque Phraonique. 8vo. Paris, 1872. De Carchemis oppidi Situ et Historia Antiquissimâ. 8vo. Paris, 1872. |