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A Lydian-Aramaic Bilingual. I
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 December 2013
Extract
The publication of the Lydian inscriptions discovered by the American excavators at Sardis has long been eagerly awaited. Not only do the thirty-four which they found supplement in the most welcome manner the very scanty and fragmentary material hitherto known, but of especial interesl was the news that they included an admirably preserved bilingual in Lydian and Aramaic which, it was hoped, might solve the problems of the Lydian language. Unfortunately the Aramaic has proved obscure in some important places; yet, none the less, the bilingual must remain for the present the basis of all further investigation. Hence this volume may legitimately be approached from the Aramaic side by one who, however, is profoundly ignorant of the linguistic problems of Asia Minor, and the attempt may perhaps be made to handle it with special reference to the bilingual and its interest from the Semitic point of view.
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- Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1917
References
1 Sardis: Publications of the American Society for the Excavation of Sardis, Vol. vi. Lydian Inscriptions, Part I. By Enno Littmann. E. J. Brill, Ltd., Leyden, 1916.
2 Proceedings of the Society for Biblical Archaeology, 1905, vol. xxvii. pp. 123 seq. The bibliography, p. ix. (D), mentions only the older copy published by Sayce in 1895.
3 For the North Semitic epigraphical data, see Lidzbarski's, Handbuch der Nordsemitischen Epigraphik, i. 141–148Google Scholar. Typical examples of the inscriptions are given by Lidzbarski, and also by G. A. Cooke (North-Semitic Inscriptions).
4 See the Corp. Inscr. Semit. ii. Nos. 108–110: Abydos (the lion-weight, in the British Museum); a fragmentary Aramaic and Greek bilingual from Limyra, and a fragment from Senq-Qaleh in the Caucasus. To these three add the fourth-century coins of Tarsus, and an inscription from S. E. Cilicia where a man records that he is on a hunting-expedition and is having a meal (Cooke, p. 194). Other coins from Asia Minor (Gaziura, Sinope) also testify to the knowledge and use of Aramaic during this period.
5 In a paper read before the Cambridge Philological Society, 25 Jan. (Camb. Univ. Reporter, 27 Feb., pp. 587 seq.)
6 For the glosses I have consulted Lagarde, , Gesammelte Abhandlungen, 270sqq.Google Scholar; and Pauli, , Altital. Forsch, ii. 1 (1886), 67Google Scholarsqq.
7 E.g. the Lycian, kupa ‘grave’; see (respectively) Ephemeris, iii. 1911, 205Google Scholar; and Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch. xxxvi. 1914, 233 sqq.
8 Jos. l.c. 22, 1 Macc. xii. 21. According to the Talmud the Jews of Phrygia were of the Ten Tribes (Ency. Bib. col. 3767)!
9 It is not mentioned on the Lydian portion, but Littmann points to Śfarvad (L. 12, p. 62), Śfard (p. 11), etc.
10 It is worth adding that in Obad. v. 20 ‘this host’ is corrupt. Bewer, (Internat. Crit. Comm. p. 44)Google Scholar follows Duhm and an early conjecture of Cheyne, and reads: ‘the exiles of the Israelites who are in Halah’ (
for 
cf. the similar correction in Ezek. xxvii. 11, for R.V. ‘thine army’). But the question now arises whether Halah (whither Sargon deported Israelites, 2 Kings xvii. 6, xviii. 11) should not be Cilicia (on coins, 
or 
); this would be in harmony with the Assyrian conquests there and with the order of the names in 2 Kings, ll.c., from ‘Cilicia’ in the west and the Median cities in the east.
11 The tenth year of Artaxerxes can be 455 (445, p. 23 is a misprint), or rather 394 or even 349 (Littmann seems to leave the last out of the question).
12 Mr. Shafi of Pembroke College informs me that this word ‘occurs in Avesta as an adjective or a participle meaning something like “standing fast.” It occurs however in Pehlevi in the usual sense (viz. a tree). In Armenian it means … “a garden”.’
13 With Littmann's suggestion that 
is influenced by the corresponding Lydian akat, cf. an occasional usage of the Septuagint (e.g. τόχος for Heb. tōk ‘oppression,’ see Driver's note on 1 Sam. v. 4). But the cases are rather different.
14 It is quite intelligible, on the other hand, when (in the Palm. inscr. above) the couches lie opposite the door. If ‘which is above Sepharad’ means overlooking or facing Sardis (p. 27), the p. must clearly be outside the cavern.
15 The Lydian uses only one verb, which recurs several times in the inscriptions; but if it ‘probably had a more general meaning than the two special words in Aramaic’ (p. 35), it is more difficult to see wherein the translator is showing his ignorance of Aramaic.
16 After writing out my notes on the Lydian text I received, through the kindness of Mr. Buckler, photographs and drawings of the Lydian inscriptions not included in this fascicule. It seemed desirable, therefore, to postpone the completion of this review, since these inscriptions contained many features of importance for the decipherment and explanation of Lydian. I may add, however, that although these increased my scepticism in several cases, I am unable to make any positive suggestion, as regards Lydian, and it is to be remembered that the advantage of possessing the Lydian-Aramaic bilingual is counterbalanced by the twofold disadvantage —the one, that there is no precise word for word correspondence between the two parts, and the other that the Lydian language cannot be safely identified. But in the decipherment of Egyptian, Assyrian, and Old Persian monuments, the correspondence in the bilinguals and trilinguals was sufficiently close, and valuable constructive work was achieved by the help of Coptic, Semitic, and Persian languages respectively.