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I tend to focus on Tunisia when I post about Punic so today’s thread is on Leptis Magna (Greater Leptis)<Punic LPQ 𐤋𐤐𐤒, present-day Khoms in Libya
. We’ll read together the bilingual Latin/Neo-Punic inscription found in the Roman theater of the town (written≈1 or 2 CE)
. We’ll read together the bilingual Latin/Neo-Punic inscription found in the Roman theater of the town (written≈1 or 2 CE)
This inscription is the dedication of the theater by its “builder”, Annobal (> Ḥannibaʿl) Rufus. The Latin part is longer bc it includes an introduction of the emperor, while the Punic part, targeting a different (monolingual?) audience omits it. 2/10
The Latin part not translated to Punic: Imp Caesare diui f Aug pont max tr pot XXIV cos XIII patre patr “Imperator Caesar Augustus, son of the deified, pontifex maximus, in his 24th year of tribunician power, consul 13 times, father of his country” 3/10
(Translation of A. Cooley). Most words in Latin are abbreviated, so imp = imperatore, f = filio, tr pot= tribunicia potestate, cos = consule, etc. 4/10
The Punic part starts directly w/ the dedication by Ḥannobaʿl: ḥnbʿl myšql ʾrṣ mḥb dʿt htmt zbḥ špṭ ʾdr ʿzrm “Hannibal who adorns the country, who loves the complete knowledge, sacrificer, sufet, lord of the ʿzrm-offering” (Translation of Jongeling & Kerr) 5/10
If you're a speaker of Arabic or Hebrew, you can recognize many words here: ʾrṣ 
أرض (Heb. ארץ), mḥb محبّ (Heb. מאהב), zbḥ ذابح (Heb. זובח).
6/10
أرض (Heb. ארץ), mḥb محبّ (Heb. מאהב), zbḥ ذابح (Heb. זובח).6/10
The writing is interesting, esp the form of the ḥ which is v different from the Phoenician 𐤇. Compare the way Hannibal is written in this inscription (left) vs a Punic inscription abt 2 centuries earlier (right). Each letter is in the same color for ease of comparison. 7/10
Other letters are also interesting: Compare the word špṭ in this inscription (left) vs. a contemporary one (no more than a century earlier) from Tunisia (right). The Tunisian one is at a transitional time btw Punic & Neo-Punic, while this one is a 100% Neo-Punic. 8/10
The rest of the inscription: bn ḥmlkt ṭbḥpy rʾps btʾrm btm pʿl wʾyqdš “Son of Himilco Tapafi Rufus, made it according to plan at his expense and consecrated it.” Its Latin equivalent: Himilchonis Tapapi f[ilius] d[e] s[ua] p[ecunia] fac[iendum] coer[auit]. 9/10
While Neo-Punic is hard to read and looks different from earlier Phoenician/Punic writing, it's really pretty. Inscriptions like this one are also helpful bc (a) they are v neat (I mean, look at this beauty) and (b) the Latin translation helps. 10/10
