Malta Cippi 499 BCE
Text Numbers: Med 16, 17 ,18, 19
Text Numbers: Med 16, 17 ,18, 19
by Sebastià Giralt online at https://www.flickr.com/photos/sebastiagiralt/15440406299/in/photostream/
by Sebastià Giralt online at https://www.flickr.com/photos/sebastiagiralt/15627891332/in/photostream/
Cippi are stone columns marking important locations such as gravesites, shrines and distance-posts. Some of these have texts. These Maltese cippi may have first been seen in 1694 and reported in a confusing later letter by Maltese church official, Ignazio di Costanzo. He reported two of the inscriptions were in the Phoenician language while the other two were in some form of ancient Greek (Bulifon, Antonio 1698). The Phoenician identification was made based their mention by Greek writers Thucydides and Diodorus Siculus that Phoenicians once inhabited Malta.
Ignazio di Costanzo reported he had found the two cippi being displayed at the entrance of Villa Abela in in Maltese town of Marsa. At the time this was the home of Maltese historian Gian Abela. Ever. In contrast Maltese historian Ciantar claimed that the cippi were discovered in 1732, and only then placed at the villa of Abela which had become a museum entrusted to the Jesuits.
In 1753, Abbot Guyot de Marne, a Knight Commander of the Maltese Order, mentioned the text again in the Italian journal, Saggi di dissertazioni accademiche of the Etruscan Academy of Cortona but did not present a translation.
Barthélemy, Jean-Jacques, Abbé (1764) [1758]. "Réflexions sur quelques monuments Phéniciens, et sur les alphabets qui en résultent". Mémoires de littérature, tirés des registres de l'Académie royale des inscriptions et belles-lettres. Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. 30: 405–427, pl. i–iv. Online at: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k57483573/f423.image
Bulifon, Antonio (1698). Lettere memorabili, istoriche, politiche, ed erudite Scritte, […] Raccolta Quarta (IV). Naples: Bulifon. pp. 117–132.
National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta, Malta. Online at: https://heritagemalta.org/national-museum-of-archaeology/
The above is a scan from Barthelemy’s French Academy paper showing how he transliterated the “Greek” inscriptions on the two cippi. He Greek letter assignments are in capital letters. He claimed the inscriptions on each cippus were the same which is actually not the case (copied from page 408 of Barthélemy 1764).
His literal translation (in English) would have been the following:
From this he produced the French translation which he published in his paper. Here he added words and switched the words around in the second line in an improper fashion:
He then published the English version of that as:
All subsequent translations have been minor variations on this one proposed by Barthélemy.
The first translation claim for these texts would be made in 1758 by Jean-Jacques Barthélemy (1716-1795) who had already claimed to have translated the Palmyrene “Aramaic” texts. Barthélemy was born in the town of Cassis in Provence, France. His advanced education was in Biblical Greek and Hebrew which mainly occurred while he was attending a Catholic seminary of the Lazarist order.
The problem with Barthélemy is that he practiced translation fraud by ignoring or deliberately misassigning letters. The letter patterns on each cippus are different as can be seen from the photos in the translation justification sections below yet Barthélemy claimed they were the same. What is worse is that this fraud has gone uncorrected until now.
Barthélemy next transliterated the two “Phoenician” texts into one Hebrew text as shown in figure 3 above. He then translated that into French as:
His English translation is:
Barthélemy in his article claimed that "Abdaffar" and "Afferemor" were the Phoenician names for Dionysios and Sarapion. With that imaginative claim he could then state that the “Phoenician” text was similar to the “Greek” text.
Incredibly, All subsequent academic translations have been minor variations on this one proposed by Barthélemy.
Barthélemy’s Hebrew transliteration of his Phoenician text has these English letter equivalents:
This can be compared with the correct letter assignments below (within bounds of the one photograph's resolution). Yet even his own Hebrew letters do not match the English and French translations he gave for the Hebrew.
(October 12, 2023) This text is Maltese which is a mix between the Phoenician and Iberian letter styles and may represent a transitional stage between the two. Compared to the other cippi below this one has more Phoenician influence.
(October 12, 2023) This text mostly has letters in the Phoenician style yet significantly it has a few in the native Maltese style.
(October 14, 2023) This text mostly has letters in the Aegean Island style yet significantly it has a few in the native Maltese style (Italic).
(October 17, 2023) This text is Maltese which is a mix between the Phoenician (some) and Iberian (mostly) letter styles and may represent a transitional stage between the two.
(October 17, 2023) This text is Maltese which is a mix between the Phoenician (some) and Iberian (mostly) letter styles and may represent a transitional stage between the two.
(October 14, 2023) This text mostly has letters in the Aegean Island style yet significantly it has a few in the native Maltese style (Italic).