| Abishemu | |
|---|---|
 The Abishemu Obelisk | |
| King of Byblos (Egyptian: Haty-aa of Kepny) | |
| Reign | c. 1750-1700 BC |
| Predecessor | Kukun |
| Successor | Ibshemuabi |
| Born | c. 1750-1700 BCE Byblos |
| Died | c. 1750-1700 BCE Byblos |
| Burial | Byblos |
| Issue | Ibshemuabi |
| Father | Kukun? |
Abishemu of Byblos was the ruler of the city-state of Byblos during the late Middle Bronze IIA (c. 1820-1628 BC). In relation to Syria, the ruler of byblos held the title "king" in the Mari Archive. However, Abishemu belongs to a sequence of rulers who held the Egyptian title Haty-aa of Kepny (ḥꜣty-ʻ n Kpny), indicating they served as "governors" for the great king of Egypt during the 12th Dynasty and 13th Dynasty.
Byblos (gr. Βύβλος; lat. Byblus) is known in Arabic as Jubayl/Jebeil (جبيل/جبيل). The Phoenicians called it Gebal (gbl, ܓܒܠ), a name the Crusaders translated as Gibelet/Giblet. In Hebrew, it was Gebal/Geval (גבל). Since the reign of Sneferu (4th Dynasty), the Egyptians called it Kebny (kbn, kpny, kbny). In Akkadian, the cuneiform letters in the Amarna Archive call it Gubla.
Reign
Abishemu (also known as Abichemou) may have been the son of Kukun, son of Ruqqa, and father of Ibshemuabi. His reign may correspond to the second half of the Middle Bronze II, when Byblos may have recognized the Great King of Egypt as its overlord, using the title Haty-aa and adopting Egyptian style as opposed to the Syrian style dominated by Yamhad and Qatna.
Attestations
Abishemu is mainly known from the Abishemu Obelisk.
Abishemu Obelisk
| Abishemu obelisk | |
|---|---|
 The obelisk in its current location | |
| Material | Limestone |
| Size | 1.45 meters (1.25 meters above the plinth) |
| Writing | Egyptian hieroglyphs |
| Created | c. 1800 BC |
| Discovered | c. 1950 |
| Discovered by | Maurice Dunand |
| Present location | National Museum of Beirut |
| Identification | DGA 17917 |
The Abishemu obelisk is a 1.25 meter limestone obelisk dedicated to king Abishemu of Byblos. The obelisk is decorated with two vertical lines of inscriptions in Egyptian hieroglyphics. It was created c. 1800 BCE, and was unearthed in the 1950s by Maurice Dunand in the Temple of the Obelisks. It is the world's third-oldest obelisk, and by far the oldest obelisk found outside Egypt. In the 12th Dynasty, obelisks are known from the reign of Senusret I onwards as this dynasty revived the pyramid shape from the Old Kingdom.
Transcribed:[1]
mry Ḥr-š·f ḥꜣty-ʻ n Kpny ʼb-šmw wḥm ʻnḫ
[...]f Kwkwn śꜣ Rwqq mꜣʻ ḫrw
Translated:
Beloved of Herishef, Abishemu, Haty-aa (governor) of Kepny (Akk. Gubla, gr. Byblos), renewed in life, his
..., Kukun, son of Ruqqa justified (deceased).
Although only approximately a dozen words long, the obelisk contains the name of king Abishemu of Byblos, who is beloved by the god "Herishef". Dunand considered Herishef to be the Egyptian name of the Canaanite god Resheph, and thus giving the alternate name "Temple of Resheph" for the Temple of the Obelisks[2]
The obelisk is the only example of a complete obelisk with a true pyramidion found in the Temple of the Obelisks; most of the others were rough steles.[1] It consists of a square plinth at the bottom, a tapering shaft and with a pyramidion at the top.[1]
Theories
Some have speculated that "Kwkwn śꜣ Rwqq" in the Abishemu Obelisk may refer to Kukunnis, son of Lukka, Lukka being an ethnic group later considered to be among the purported "Sea Peoples", transliterated as Kukunnis, son of Lukka" (in analysis of the Sea Peoples, Lukka have been proposed as "Lycians").[3][4]
See also
Notes
- 1 2 3 Albright 1959, p. 33.
- ↑ Münnich 2013, p. 120-121.
- ↑ Bryce, T. R. (1974). "The Lukka Problem – And a Possible Solution". Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 33 (4): 395–404. doi:10.1086/372378. JSTOR 544776. S2CID 161428632.
- ↑ Woudhuizen, Frederik Christiaan (2006). The Ethnicity of the Sea Peoples (Ph.D.). Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, Faculteit der Wijsbegeerte. p. 31. hdl:1765/7686.
References
Editio princeps
- Maurice Dunand, Fouilles de Byblos, volume 2, p. 878, no. 16980; and plate XXXII number 2
Secondary sources
- Albright, William F. (1959). "Dunand's New Byblos Volume: A Lycian at the Byblian Court". Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. 155 (155): 31–34. doi:10.2307/1355673. JSTOR 1355673. S2CID 163957543.
- Miniaci, Gianluca (2018). "Deposit f (Nos. 15121–15567) in the Obelisk Temple at Byblos" (PDF). Ägypten und Levante / Egypt and the Levant. 28: 383. doi:10.1553/AEundL28s379. JSTOR 26664997.
- Münnich, Maciej M. (2013). The God Resheph in the Ancient Near East. Mohr Siebeck. ISBN 978-3-16-152491-2.