p J 
 
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 4193 
 
 
 
 
 
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 1897 
 
 
 MAIN 
 
 
 MASSILIA-CARTHAGO 
 
 SACEIFICE TABLETS 
 
 MACDONALD 
 
MASSILI A-CA/RTH AGO 
 
 SACKIFICE TABLETS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 WORSHIP OF BAAL 
 
 Reproduced in Facsimile, Edited, Translated, and Compared 
 with the Levitical Code, 
 
 THE REVEREND 
 
 JAMES MIDDLETON MACDONALD, M.A., 
 
 Houghton Syriac Prizeman, Oxford. 
 
 bonbon : 
 D. NUTT, 270-271, STRAND, 
 
 1897. 
 
" Deae Me. Macdonald, 
 
 "Your Essay contains much interesting matter; which, as 
 you say, is mainly buried in the Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum, 
 where few English readers have access to it ... . Your English 
 translation with notes, explaining the difficulties (where they can be 
 made out), and pointing out the parallels in Leviticus, etc., would be 
 interesting to many readers. 
 
 "8. E. DRIVER, 
 
 " Christ Church, Oxford." 
 
Mh 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 The Massilia Sacrifice-Tablet shows in its first two 
 words that it was intended for use in the worship of 
 Baal ; and as Ave know that the Phoenicians came to 
 Massilia from Carthage, centuries before the time of 
 •Christ, we think it quite in the eternal fitness of 
 things that this Sacrifice-tablet should have been 
 found in Marseilles (Massilia) in 1*44 ; our only 
 wonder is that the tablet remained undiscovered for 
 2,300 or 2,400 years. 
 
 The doubts and disputes about the stone itself have 
 all faded into oblivion ; but before passing on to the 
 inscription on the stone, we may as well sketch the 
 later history of the stone. 
 
 At the close of the year 1S44, a workman happened 
 to be repairing the wall of a house in Marseilles 
 which stood at that time almost on the ground of 
 what is now the Sanctuary of the new Cathedral 
 close to the quay. The workman mentioned to his 
 employer and to" the landlord that there was curious 
 writing on one of the stones. 
 
 On examination it was found that there were two 
 large pieces of one tablet, and unfortunately the left 
 }:>iece was chipped along the lower half. 
 
 A 2 
 
 49019 
 
4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Were such a stone found nowadays, everyone 
 would at once be on Lis guard against forgery ; but 
 in the fifth decade of our century scholars' faith in 
 finding had not been rudely shaken by Shapira, so 
 the fact that the subject-matter on the stone was 
 akin to the Levitical laws of sacrifice, did not deter 
 scholars from thinking out the Massilia sacrifice- 
 tablet on its merits. 
 
 When the " find'*' was announced, prudent investi- 
 gators in epigraphy were divided into two classes. 
 
 a. Those who said that there was an ancient Pagan 
 temple on the seashore on a spot which is now 
 beneath the sea-level, but that this temple was 
 probably devoted to the worship of Diana; and 
 furthermore that the stone on which the inscription 
 is engraved looks as if it were composed of the same 
 materials as those in the rocks near Marseilles. 
 
 b. Those who based their argument on the fact 
 that the inscription is Phoenician with Carthaginian 
 names therein, and that the Phoenician sailors and 
 resident merchants were certain to have a Temple of 
 Baal. 
 
 Patient investigation showed that the b argument 
 led in the right direction : for a chemical analysis of 
 a fragment of the Massilia-tablet showed that its 
 constituents are not those of the rocks around 
 Marseilles, but that they are absolutely identical with 
 those of the rocks close to Carthage, a fact proved by 
 comparing the fragment of the Massilia-tablet with 
 a chip from a tablet in the Louvre which was 
 brought direct from Carthage. The Massilia-tablet 
 is now deposited in the Museum at Marseilles, and 
 should be an object of historic pride to the good 
 people of Marseilles ; but, as a matter of fact, they 
 know nothing about it, 
 
 From the point of view of comparative philology 
 
INTRODUCTION. O 
 
 it was most fortunate that Mr. Nathan Davis dis- 
 covered a similar but shorter sacrifice-tablet for Baal- 
 worshippers in Carthage itself,* during his investi- 
 gations there in 1858, and, after reading them both. 
 we can at once see that there was a sacrificial code 
 in Carthage compiled by authority, in much the same 
 way as the Levitical code was drawn up by authority 
 for use in the worship of Jehovah. 
 
 The purpose of the Massilia-tablet is manifest, 
 viz., that the Phoenician colonists and careless sailors 
 might know at first hand what were the proper dues 
 to be paid to the priest in the sacrificial worship of 
 Baal. In both the Massilia and Carthago-tablets the 
 priests and the laity have their rights, privileges, 
 responsibilities and punishments. The pious poor 
 are carefully protected from rapacious priests. 
 
 The tone of both these sacrifice -tablets is simple 
 and pure, resembling the simple code which Moses 
 promulgated by Divine command in the wilderness, 
 rather than the elaborate Levitical code drawn up 
 by the priestly caste for the nation of Israel at a 
 much later date Avhen the priests ruled the nation. 
 
 The Massilia sacrifice-tablet is promulgated by 
 
 order of Q^^^o^C^ Halatsbaal the judge, just 
 as the first code for the nation of Israel was issued 
 by Moses the chief civil authority. The Massilia- 
 tablet lets in a flood of light on the proneness of the 
 Hebrews to drift towards the worship of Baal. 
 
 Judges ii, 13. b&b rajm rnirriN nitsw 
 
 Judges vi, 30. 
 
 * Known as the Carthago-tablet. 
 
n INTRODUCTION". 
 
 •nrrN wi Wife* m ^it^ rtjna n^ *\tt?«3 tm 
 
 • •-. - . . - .. t ; . .. . T- I : • •• ■.•-•- • ;- 
 
 Judges viii, 33. 
 
 1 Kings, xvi, 32. bsKJ Hfc ^Jfa 1 ? rfrtt? Dj£l 
 
 and the Massilia-tablet shows how easy it would be 
 for time-serving priests and prophets of Jehovah to 
 become priests and prophets of Baal in the time of 
 Jezebel, when the Baal-cult became the Court religion. 
 
 T - • T ; - • _ ; T T V T • •• 
 
 ttfV D^rn niN?? jehn boon won 'hi 1 ? 
 
 1 Kings xviii, 22. 
 
 As aforesaid, there are differences between the 
 simple Baal-code and the detailed code of Jehovah's 
 worship in the Book of Leviticus; but the resem- 
 blances are so striking that we must, for the purposes 
 of this thesis, put aside theories of inspiration, plenary 
 or otherwise ; and must consider them as sister codes 
 of sister nations, both nations speaking the same 
 language with but slight dialectic differences. 
 
 The Phoenician sailor who sailed from Massilia to 
 Tyre could read the Levitical parchments in the 
 Hebrew synagogue at Jaffa; and, if he went inland 
 for commercial reasons, he could spell out* the in- 
 scription of Mesha the Moabite in Dibon, and then 
 compare them with his own tablets in his beloved 
 Tyre. 
 
 * If you placed Phoenician letters more to the right, and 
 tipped them up more horizontally, then you might fairly con- 
 sider four-fifths of the Moabite alphabet like Phoenician fetters. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 To a degenerate Jew of the nineteenth, ceritur 
 
 reading Hebrew one day in the week, with the help 
 of the modern Massoretie points, or perhaps only 
 carelessly listening to a rabbi cantillating the glorious 
 old Hebrew liturgy, the Massilia-tablet would look 
 like Chinese ; but this Phoenician character is practic- 
 ally the self-same character in which Jehovah with 
 His own finger wrote the Ten Commandments, as did 
 Moses after him. When they are discovered, as I 
 hope that they will be, this fact will be patent to all. 
 
 When the primal pure old Hebrew character 
 changed into Talmudic Chaldee, etc., and then into 
 Estrangelo-Syriac, such as Jesus Christ wrote, the 
 simpler Phoenicians retained the old character. 
 
 When the Jews were in Babylon, the study of the 
 old primal Hebrew character was kept up by few ; 
 and as a matter of fact, when the same finger which 
 had written the Ten Commandments on stone wrote 
 
 >^-H<\7n ^f> x)y ^>y 
 
 or as we write it now 
 
 pDiD*i hpn n:^ Nr2 + 
 
 only Daniel, the devout student of the old / \\f y 
 could read the oracle (even its character), pro- 
 noimcing doom upon the sacrilegious Belshazzar, 
 
 * The Ti is a part of the word, for even nowadays the ^j is 
 
 essential ~ -J ."--»»\i« 
 
 t Professor Sayce quotes M. Clermont-Ganneau's new 
 Arameeic attempt at a translation of this, " Reckon a maneh, a 
 shekel and its parts," and wonders why the wise men of Babylon 
 who understood Aramaeic could not read the oracle. I still say 
 that the hand of God wrote the words in the archaic Semitic 
 character. 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 who had toasted "Bel and Nebo in the sacrificial 
 chalices of Jehovah's worship taken from the Temple 
 in Jerusalem. 
 
 Anyone studying Hebrew in the present character 
 must remember that the oldest manuscript of the 
 Old Testament is 1400 years later than our Massilia- 
 tablet, and 1800 years later than Mesha's inscription 
 on the Moabite Stone. 
 
 With regard to Baal-worship, it was probably the 
 same throughout the littoral of the Mediterranean. 
 
 With a little imagination we can form a picture of 
 
 the service in a good ^°^f>^ taking as the work- 
 ing sketch for our picture the scenes in 2 Kings x, 
 20-27, where the cathedral of Baal in Samaria was 
 full of earnest Baal-devotees from the altar to the 
 
 door HtDb HE,* so full that their mouths almost 
 
 touched each other. 
 
 The grandeur of the vestments reminds us of the 
 
 vestments (Wj?) appertaining to the house of Aaron; 
 
 but in the Baal-cult every layman donned a grand 
 robe while in the presence of the mighty god. 
 
 The sacrifices Hi T^ 1 "] D^nit (and especially the 
 
 burnt-offering) were almost the same as in the 
 Hebrew Temple to Jehovah in Jerusalem ; but the 
 
 Mone statues (7^H iTl Hil^TM)t to /^<^o^ 
 
 * It is an assumption of the Revised Version of the Old 
 
 Testament that HdS HD means from one end to the other. 
 
 t The Re vised Version of the Old Testament studiously 
 translates «"[Il-!tt2 by "pillar" or "obelisk"; bat the context of 
 several passages and the conjunction and antithesis of mttJN , 
 the female carved goddess, lead me to think that the JT'Q^D 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 Baal Berith, ^^ Hamon, 5^v Zebub, \OJ Peor, 
 
 SW Tsephon, erected along the side walls are non- 
 Hebraic, though essentially Phoenician. They are 
 quite distinct from the great image of the local Baal 
 
 pyin rQ-EE JIN) which was at the inner end of 
 the temple. 
 
 Let us examine the inscription on the Massilia- 
 tablet letter by letter, and of necessity in the original 
 photograph ; for the type which is supplied to us as 
 Phoenician is at times ludicrously unlike the same 
 letters as shown in the photograph. Wherever a 
 restoration has been effected in a hiatus, the same has 
 been given in the original Phoenician. 
 
 The learned scholar who wrote the monograph on 
 the Massilia-tablet in the Corpus Inscriptionum (Paris) 
 for the French Academy, restored the lost phrase or 
 word in Hebrew and Latin but not in Phoenician. 
 
 I think that this was a mistake, and I have there- 
 fore given what I believe to be the original Phoenician. 
 
 In one or two places 1 differ from the above writer, 
 
 were male gods in stone ranged inside, down the side walls of 
 the Cathedral of Baal. 
 
 Take a single passage conjoining carved female and carved 
 male gods : 
 
 -n*f. patrn nipgfo nan psfrn DnhittrriN ^ 
 Exodus xxxiv, i3. pninrn yhjen 
 
 The stone pillars were outside the cathedral. 
 
 I have a photograph of the finest sun pillar in India. It 
 was originally outside the Sun Temple at Kanarak, but was 
 brought by the Lion dynasty to the Lion-Gate of the Jagannath 
 (Juggernaut) Temple in Puri. 
 
 There is never more that one such pillar, and it is always 
 outside the temple. 
 
 The JYQ^ft A^Vy ^ere many and were inside, for Jehu 
 ordered them to be brought out. 
 
10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 after having scrutinised the injured spot with a 
 magnifying glass. 
 
 Line 1 : — 
 
 jW»[. • ■ .])©" W-D • • •] ft °? [• • • -]^°9^ 
 Qj"«X]+5fr -hfr^fr ©?■"* ^ [ — ] 
 
 The phrase L,o^jn^ a t once stamps the inscription 
 
 as a religious document of the Baal-cult, but it is 
 exasperating that the stone should have been injured 
 just at the name of the local Baal. 
 
 Take a magnifying glass and look at the injured 
 spot, and observe the remaining tails of three letters 
 all below the line. The first tail points to the right, 
 and the other two bend towards the left. 
 
 On examining any large number of Phoenician 
 tablets in the British Museum, The Louvre, etc., it 
 will be seen that a very common Baal in Africa is 
 
 The second and third tails might pass for those of 
 j>y, but there is only one tail for the first letter. 
 It is almost certain that the first letter had only one 
 tail; the name that at once occurs is bl\^ ^- 
 The tail of the first letter exactly corresponds with 
 that of >f- and that of the second is much more like ^ 
 than y. 
 
 The above argument shuts out ))^\ as well as 
 >y^- Gen. xxxvi, 38, 39. 
 
 If one could disbelieve the evidence of the eye, 
 then J?y^ would be a charming restoration, but we- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 11 
 
 must prefer bj^^ ^- The name occurs as a place 
 in Exodus xiv, 2, 9, J&3 hjfa ^pb, and also in 
 
 slightly different Hebrew in Numb, xxxiii, 7, "V£N 
 
 ]iD^ 7^5- l| 3S'?3? both passages have the antique 
 essence of a name in being topographical. 
 
 ^JYsO^ would seem to mean the god of "hidden 
 knowledge," but it mar mean the great god of 
 " The North." 
 
 The North was the region of religious mystery. 
 Lucifer sat in the North. Evil came from the North. 
 The King of Kings came from the North. 
 
 Ezek. xxvi, 7. Q* 1 " ; - 
 !?7\ ^^° was a Phoenician name in Africa like 
 
 aJJ^Julc amoll g Mussulmans, so that Y)\ is not a 
 harsh restoration. 
 
 [/ , /^ w y / ^/ , ]°^ is a certain restoration, for 
 we luckily find both words complete in Mr. Nathan 
 Davis's tablet in the British Museum, which tablet he 
 found in Carthage itself. 
 
 Hebrew usage would at once lead us to translate 
 f>°^ "in the time of" ;* but we see later on in this 
 self-same line that the genius of Phoenician employs- 
 f->o "time" without a preposition. 
 
 f> ^ is therefore a noun. 
 
 * Compare ZyZ^ i n the Moabite Stone. 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 I am not quite sure ; but from the fact that H^l, 
 a good Hebrew word, seems to be of the same sound, 
 and from a comparison of other words in our tablet, 
 I incline to the view that the Phoenician final f-> was 
 often pronounced like <^, just as it is in Arabic. 
 
 Arabic writes the £ e.g., <L).J, but pronounces it 
 
 S s y o / 
 
 daulah *, JL-,Jcc is pronounced madraseh ; Syriac 
 (Z^rix* |A n i n »i gives the final 2 and then adds ] 
 
 for euphony. 
 
 Aramseic later words derived from nj£i would 
 suggest "the demand'" of the taxes. St. Luke, xii, 46, 
 
 auk) V^iAj 1 %a.Io> : 
 
 «_ju *— ^< means "the sa/e" of the taxes;* the con- 
 
 text, however, would cause us to translate freely 
 " the forf " of the taxes. f^f^^^J^. We get the 
 singular JIN to /^^y in 2 Chron. xxiv, 6, 
 Hto n^toTl^ meaning the temple-tax imposed 
 
 by authority, and with the weight of ages helping 
 it ; there it means " a proper burden," here Ave take 
 it as " the taxes," ^])0^>T- 
 
 ^^ is good Phoenician for "V£N; Aramseic some- 
 times had only tft. It is thought that rivtp is the 
 best reading of Gen. xlix, 10, and that the 
 Septuagint expresses the meaning in the expanded 
 ra d7TOK€t/xeva avTuy. 
 
 X']bQ Again we are fortunate enough to find 
 the entire word in Davis's Carthago-tablet. 
 
 * The Corpus Inscriptionum says &uu , but it is not usual 
 Arabic. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 f'f-^T^y^ Lo ^^ J^)?^ is a restoration 
 which is offered, because it occurs in so many words 
 in an inscription in the British Museum, known by 
 the name of the depositor, The Revd. J. Fenner. 
 Note that the final two f>j-> still remain in our inscrip- 
 tion, making the restoration a moral certainty. 
 
 Ao is good old Semitic for being set over, in 
 charge of anything. 
 
 OVSRlhl!, 1 Kings iv, 5, "over the officers." 
 
 c,o^[yA^]^o. From line 19 we get the missing 
 letters. 
 
 * O? 4 ^^ Halatsbaal was not only a temple ruler, 
 he was the renowned chief civil authority or judge. 
 On some private votive tablets in the Public Library 
 
 of Paris we see such titles as 0^^, e.g., y^^^A 
 = barber of the gods, The Temple-barber. 
 
 Halatsbaal was the son of Bodtanet and grandson 
 of Bodesmun ^y^ ^ tKC >) c >'h)'h eKC >) £ ^- 
 
 Line 2 : — 
 
 His colleague was another Halatsbaal, also a civil 
 judge. He is the man mentioned in line ID as son of 
 Bodesmun. It would appear as if these officers of 
 rank were uncle and nephew, the one being son and 
 the other being grandson of the great Bodesmun. 
 
 * Livy invariably translates 00*^^ "the chief civil 
 authority," among the Carthaginians. Livy, xxviii, 37, trans- 
 literating it as iMifes. Ignorance of its Semitic origin caused 
 the /to be doubled (Suffes) later on. 
 
14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 After this genealogical tree comes v/ )\y^\ as 
 Ave may assert, seeing that it occurs after the same 
 tree in line 19. 
 
 The word must mean " and their colleagues." 
 
 Fenner's inscription tells of ten such temple-officials 
 in Carthage y^^/^wvo. 
 
 It is quite a Semitic word, for we have "QT? 
 Ps. cxix, 63, rnin Malachi ii, 14; and )laL St. 
 Luke v, 7. 
 
 Line 3 : — 
 
 ^wZ,mv A^^y \K^ *v f-^^y\ )?/^° 
 
 From line 3 onwards we get sacrificial rules and 
 details. 
 
 Os^. This is evidently the original of the later 
 
 Hebrew F)V?N, an ox. 
 
 Psalm cxliv, 14. D^DE Vffl^M 
 
 but p^Q and "^p3. are more common Semitic. The ox 
 stood facile princeps as a sacrificial animal among 
 Semites. 
 
 Hindus and Egyptians worshipped him as a god, 
 but Semites offered him to their God — Jehovah, Baal, 
 Moloch, Ashtoreth, Chemosh. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 The Phoenicians had three kinds of sacrifices, in 
 
 all of which the ^Xf figured, viz., the ^y, the 
 
 /^o^, and the LLyyL^i. We must first try to 
 arrive at a conclusion as to the meaning of these 
 words. 
 
 Asy.* If we turn to the Hebrew Scriptures, we 
 find that the word 7 y| is used; but not for a 
 burnt offering like H7i^; but as "a whole burnt 
 offering" to be utterly burnt. Levit. vi, 23 (16 
 Hebrew text) ^NH tib TTJlF} bbl; also in the 
 poetical passage in Deut. xxxiii, 10, it means "a 
 whole burnt offering," ^nitD"^ Wo\ It means 
 the same in the Psalms as late as the age when 
 Psalm li, 19, was written, h*ky\ H^ty; but in the 
 later books such as Ezekiel /y| means perfection, 
 
 ^ Tv^l, Ezek. xxviii, 12, and in Syriac, the lineal 
 descendant of the later Hebrew, it means "a garland" 
 of beautiful flowers. 
 
 ]AiI r k> _sb - r ci\ loai Aa|j dai ]c*i^ ]£oj Ijioaoo 
 
 IP 
 
 Acts xiv, 12. )'li\ , ^,-Ai Iklao )iol ^Zu] 
 
 -ft x I 7 
 
 These later words show clearly that the primal 
 meaning of "totality" was lost in the full phrase, 
 whole burnt offering. The Phoenicians took "burnt 
 
 * Note that in the Davis Carthago- tablet the word occurs in 
 the plural yssY 
 
1G INTRODUCTION. 
 
 offering" without "totality" and the Aramgeie 
 Semites took "beauty" or perfect beauty as the 
 meaning, and dropped the idea of burnt offering. 
 
 The Phoenician / , ° U \V does not occur in Hebrew, 
 Syriac or Arabic, in any root or derived form. We 
 are at a loss to get at its exact meaning ; but as 
 
 LLy stands for 7V?\y and LLy jC^ may fairly 
 be taken to represent something akin to the J"QT 
 
 D^pbt^n, then we must assume that f> 0L \\ is equal 
 to the DtfN or the HMtSH. 
 
 T T T - 
 
 The importance and frequency of the latter 
 causes us to accept HNttn, /^o^ then means the 
 offering which expiates the missing of the mark 
 through ignorance or negligence ; but it may mean 
 
 "H: ttSp^ rQ|, LLy yL<" as aforesaid is like 
 
 mbtin rat. 
 . T . - ~ v 
 
 The order of the sacrifices witb blood would then 
 agree in the main with the early simple code drawn 
 up by authority of Moses himself; for when the 
 Hebrew nomads were about to settle down as a 
 Syrian Semitic nation with Semitic neighbours, 
 
 Moses gave the nomads their law of the TrTS^ , 
 
 -na n*?dS rnj, nrn:, arhti and rir\:v, vide 
 
 Numbers xv, 3. 8. 
 
 Before passing on. it is only fair to say that it is 
 
 not absolutely certain that f> Qt \\ and LLy J^ 
 are distinct sacrifices. 
 
 T^^vo 7-H<y y^y^- The Phoenician temple 
 dues in Marseilles included a gift of money to 
 
INTRODUCTION. 1 7 
 
 the Temple priests, quite distinct from the mass of flesh 
 retained for the Temple priests. 
 
 The Davis and Guienot inscriptions show that this 
 practice was common in Carthage, that it was 
 authoritative, though the sum is not detailed as in 
 the Massilia-tablet. It only occurs once in the 
 
 Davis-tablet in re birds ^>&>^> " \ r ^')'H<y 
 
 In the Guienot, generally ^^Ky^y^. 
 
 The enormous amount of flesh retained by the 
 College of Priests strikes one who lives in the East, 
 for in the Holy Land, and on the plains of India, a 
 bullock would not scale 300 pounds; but in Mar- 
 seilles the priests could retain 300 pounds and still 
 give back 300 pounds or more to the layman. The 
 Davis-Carthago inscription does not give money to 
 the priests in the greater sacrifices. It is therefore 
 surprising that the Massilia sacrifice-tablet (coming 
 from the Baal-city of Carthage) allows the European 
 priests of Baal to take money instead of the skin, the 
 feet, etc. This is a non- Semitic custom. 
 
 The priests of Semitic temples, from Jerusalem to 
 Carthage, were paid in kind. Skins may have been 
 very valuable in the Marseilles market, seeing that 
 the laity gave ten. shekels instead of one. 
 
 There cannot be the shadow of a doubt that the 
 priests of Baal in Massilia were very well off with 
 twenty-five shillings paid at every kind of greater 
 sacrifice of a bullock and 300 pounds of flesh for 
 every burnt offering of a bullock. 
 
 f>'XC+ ,l H'\ bl'h^ * s g ooc l archseic Semitic for 
 " over and above." 
 
 We find it in Job xvi, 14— V^ pS WW- 
 
 rssr?.?. 
 
 B 
 
18 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In the Decalogue it is the first phrase which strikes 
 
 the eye: W^J D^nN DV^N ^b mm tib, " other 
 
 gods ranking over, above Me." 
 
 /v must mean HNT just as w/Jf = ^tt$N- 
 
 [frXfyfi^^ *£^<*/y \^]^ is a restoration, 
 but it is morally certain, as the layman is directed 
 in line 6 to give 150 lbs. with, a calf. 
 
 Line 4 : — 
 
 Z,o^ <\^ w ^ ^^^n yy°?V\ y^>^ 
 
 The / ,0t \ > f was evidently distinct from the ^/. 
 
 Special portions of the body are in the j^ 01 -^ 
 given back to the layman ; and special parts belong 
 to the priests. 
 
 According to the Levitical Code for the worship 
 of Jehovah, the priest who sacrified the sin offering 
 and the peace offering, took the fat parts, the 
 kidneys, &c, cut out the fat and burnt the fat to 
 Jehovah, vide Leviticus viii, ix and x ; and it is 
 noticeable that the skin is mentioned there imme- 
 diately afterwards, just as in the Massilia. 
 
 The prophets and priests who wrote the history of 
 the sacrificial worship of Jehovah, and who repre- 
 sented Jehovah so anthropomorphical^, tell us that 
 
 * *-**0 t +l , *f I translate freely as weight, taking it to equal 
 7*)ptr?P or • ptTft > but it may be a participial adjective. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 the sweetest smell in the nostrils of Jehovah was 
 the smell of the fat of kidneys. The fat was therefore 
 cut off and burnt to Jehovah and the priests ate the 
 flesh. This was always the case in the nNtpn, 
 and so in the corresponding' / ,0 '\^j the priest cut 
 out, retained and ate the kidneys, etc. 
 
 f'\\ t ¥ nmst mean "parts cut out" with a 
 secondary meaning added on. 
 
 f>£*\'» is allied to h*f& and *?2N, the root- 
 meaning of which is "side" 
 
 Ezekiel xiii, 18. T T ^"?« hshg 9 
 
 Levit. xii, 12. natan f»w, 
 
 and may have been used in the sense in which we say 
 " a side of mutton." 
 
 f>\° "W and yyo^ DTO^Q are clearly "the 
 skin and "the feet." 
 
 y^s 4 ^^ looks like the entrails, bowels. 
 3">tt5 means " to tAvine a border." 
 
 The f*\\*q and fU^^n* wer e U^fflfQ, the 
 
 perquisites of the priests. 
 
 The entrails, the feet and the skin, together with 
 the rest of the flesh, were given back to the pious 
 
 layman ^^V^o^c, . 
 
 The word 4o^ must have had many shades 
 of meaning ; but it could not here mean the 
 Hebrew " master," 7^1- 
 
 These details by their slight differences from the 
 Levitical Code show us Avhy the Jehovistic priestly 
 
 B 2 
 
20 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 historians were so antipathetic to the priests of Baal. 
 The Baal-worship was so near and yet so far from 
 that of Jehovah. Just as two sisters who are 
 estranged are most bitter because of their knowledge 
 of each other. 
 
 The first grammatical point to note is the waw 
 conversive with the verb <; to be," equalling " to 
 have." 
 
 ^^v^\ ^°^^y c \' And the lay offerer shall 
 have the skin, the feet, etc. 
 
 \XC" 4/ \ n>tc \?&K is a good Semitic construct 
 clause. 
 
 y^£wv^. It ought to be noted further that the 
 Davis and Guienot inscriptions, which were not so 
 carefully compiled, have L H^* 44 >^'\. 
 
 On the assumption that Phoenician is near to the 
 Semitic mutter-sprache Ave should prefer our text. 
 
 L^lvtTN looks too Aramaic ; but we remember 
 
 Line 5 : — 
 LLy yL*** y X( [^o] «^y ^ LLy L^x?^ y x? 
 
 ^A° , '3J?, V-v^ 1 ? cUj^ > are an * g' 00( i Semitic 
 for " a calf." As the phrase y£ ^j?\^ *^^ ^A° 
 
INTRODUCTION. 21 
 
 is good grammar for " a horned calf," then the suc- 
 ceeding phrases must be extra-descriptive. 
 
 y4 may be Phoenician for the old i£7 of 
 Hebrew poetry ; or it may agree with s A as 
 a collective. The collective taking the plural y£ . 
 
 \'H< y &\y / 5 probably means in the state of still 
 lacking horns, or not yet fully formed, from "WTl 
 
 to lack aught." 
 
 Proverbs xxviii, 27. "rtDITQ pN tthb jrfa- 
 St. Luke xii, 20. ]i±±h 
 
 %'Q t y t \Q%' / 5 i ,s almost impossible to explain as 
 a Semitic word. In its formation it goes against 
 all rules, turning the first and second radicals out of 
 
 place when re-duplicated )?Q, ^Q^C- 
 
 If we admit that the Phoenician traders knew 
 Greek, and, having picked up a little, transliterated* 
 the Greek into Phoenician characters, just as "the 
 Children of the Ghetto " do in London with then- 
 scraps of German in their Yiddish, then we see at 
 once that this is probably the Phoenician patois for 
 ar{i7]Tos, viz. : aroiMjTos, not-castrated, = " a horned 
 calf, undeveloped, but not-castrated." 
 
 L,L,y y£w y^[/ ,0u \V y^^y ^K . What 
 
 kind of animal was the A^>^ ? Its rules are 
 
 * fiaxaipa transliterated appears to be the only explanation of 
 DrPJ^niDft ) Genesis xlix, 5. 
 
22 INTRODUCTION". 
 
 very carefully formulated. Was it a stag, T>*N, or 
 a ram, TW ? A stag might well be paired with a 
 
 calf as of equal weight aud value. 
 
 It is good Phoenician usage for a deer to be offered 
 to a goddess, but Baal is of the male sex. On the 
 
 other hand the •?&$> ram, is one of the commonest 
 Semitic animals offerable as a sacrifice from the days 
 of Abraham. 
 
 Genesis xxii, 13. 
 
 We see this animal offered throughout the nomad 
 forty years.* 
 
 .- . . •.. I TT | ... TV - I — ; 
 
 and in the later days of the Levitical Code the ram 
 was specially laid down to be offered as an HTiy, 
 
 Levit. viii, is. nb^ri b^ n« y$g\ 
 
 The Massilia-tablet orders the same number of 
 
 shekels to be paid with the 4^^ and the A/\° 
 viz., five — just half of what had to be given with the 
 
 * M. Clermont-Gaiineau in his " L'Imagerie Phenicienne " 
 says that the Massilia-tablet proves that the ram was in 
 Carthage offered instead of a man, just as in the case of 
 Abraham's offering. As Sayce points out, this coincidence 
 between the sister religions of two Semitic nations can hardly 
 be accidental. " Higher Criticism and the Monuments," page 
 186. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 23 
 
 ^4^ and the priest retained for the sacred College 
 just half the amount of flesh retained in the case of 
 
 the ^Xf. The ram must also have been of greater 
 size than iioav known to permit of the priests retaining 
 150 lbs. of meat, and yet of their being sufficient for 
 the layman and his family (the family was the social 
 unit). The skin of the ram does not appear to have 
 been so valuable. 
 
 A hiatus occurs after the mention of the five 
 shekels, and the Corpus Inscriptiouum very properly 
 
 inserts as in line 3, ^O yZ, ^yn>, Z/y ^ *>£^^ 
 
 for the next line begius with the j-> of j^Ao. 
 
 As in the case of ^*/ l^Ki the priest retained 
 for the College the kidneys, caul, the side, etc., and 
 gave back to the layman the skin, the feet, etc. 
 
 Line C> : — 
 
 y^y^n f>Ky £\^y \k^ ^ /^ w y^ )?/> 
 
 >yn Mv^n hvv ^°nv^n - TA ^ H m 
 <r, \^\^ L \ yy]°^n y^ w/ V\ h°^ 
 
 It is noticeable how many words are in common 
 everyday use in Phoenician which are only just used 
 in Hebrew. A Hebrew sacrifice-tablet would cer- 
 tainly have used "|fc£L instead of INttf, as in Levit. vii, 
 
 15, VE^tf rnin TO} "tol. The Syriac also uses 
 
24 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 (ims. The only printed type we can get of the 
 numerals is not much like those in the photograph.* 
 The restoration from yyoo onwards is certain. 
 
 The sacrifice-tablet now leaves well-known Semitic 
 words and la} T s down laws for other animals well 
 known, but with more obscure names. 
 
 Line 7 : — 
 y^w i4jx( /^Y y^ LLy ^o^ y^ L^^ 
 
 Line 8 : — 
 
 These two lines taken together lay down laws for 
 the Ay?* and the ^o which agree with the pre- 
 ceding laws, as the money payment of one and 
 three-quarter shekels is probably a proportionate 
 calculation. 
 
 * This sentence was written before the fount of type used in 
 the present work was cast. — J. M. M. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 25 
 
 L^c^m does not occur in Biblical or other Hebrew 
 as the name of an animal; but the immediate 
 
 connection of 4^^* with /vO which we know 
 means a " she-goat," would lead us to suggest that 
 L^c^a* means a he-goat. On the other hand ^V 
 does occur in the Pentateuch in connection with 
 festivals, joyful sounds, trumpets. 
 
 Joshua vi, 4, 6, Dy3^!D fiV^Sfitf, may mean 
 rams' horns or may mean sacred festival-trumpets. 
 
 A ram and a she-goat would be most unequally 
 paired here in value, size, etc. 
 
 A ram and a calf is a far better pair, and here a 
 lie-goat and a she-goat. 
 
 If L^i* be not a he-goat, then the he-goat, 
 which is such a common Semitic sacrificial victim, is 
 absent from this Semitic sacrifice-tablet. To the 
 present day the men of Islam sacrifice the he-goat. 
 
 The juc: lJS*j is a creat festival in India; its 
 
 essence is the slaying of a goat. With reference to 
 the money to be paid with the 4y* or w ith the 
 'vO, the phrase ll^^v would be perplexing, were 
 it not for the fact that the phrase is translated 
 
 in line 11 HtLvtp yi"1, so that its meaning is clearly 
 
 three-quarters. Here the due paid is one and three- 
 quarter shekels. 
 
 The sacred College still gets its f*W*% and 
 /'S^f^', because it would be unprofessional to give 
 back to the laity the parts whose fat has been 
 a sweet savour in the nostrils of Baal, whether small 
 
26 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 parts or great. Note that in line 7 the word 
 A^ 4 ^ occurs for the only time in the Massilia-tablet, 
 though it underlies the meaning of the price paid 
 with every animal. 
 
 A^ 4 ^ does not occur in the Davis-Carthago- 
 tablet. Line 8 is remarkably short, but there is no 
 hiatus. 
 
 Line 9 : — 
 
 °5\ ?-*Ky y>^7^ LLyyL*** y^ /^V 
 
 [Z,o yC^ym />0^y^ ^>&Y^ \*S\f> t "£.«* 
 
 Line 10 :— 
 
 \ t yX? is not a Hebrew word, but it is good 
 Semitic for " a lamb." 
 
 Ezra vii, 17, Chaldee gives p$N pIH pto. 
 
 Ezra uses pE?N at about the date of the pro- 
 mulgation of the Massilia -tablet, two thousand miles 
 away from the place where Artaxerxes' royal irade 
 
INTRODUCTION. 27 
 
 was translated into Chaklee. Later on it is found in 
 
 St. Matt, vii, 15. |Vk>lj Uo^li ^osZal ^L)* 
 Acts viii, 32. ^^Zl lAmnil )%£>] *J\ 
 
 for a sheep. 
 
 >?\f\ resembles Hebrew. We have D*^J> 'HSl, 
 and the plural Q* 1 ?^ ^12, in the historical books, and 
 also in 
 
 Levit. iv, 23, £Wf Tytp 
 St. Matt, xxv, 32, oiVnm ^b U'r^o 
 
 A^r^ ^W is not a Hebrew conjunctive phrase 
 for an animal ; for the root meaning of the Hebrew 
 112 is "to burn"; but the context here shows that 
 it means "youth." A lusty, fiery young ram may be 
 the meaning evolved from 112 •* 
 
 )Arn» roVn means "hasty." 
 
 If errors in the Massilia sacrifice-tablet — a public 
 authoritative document — be thought of for a moment, 
 we might agree with Munk/f who says that it is an 
 error for \\^ ; vide 'r 1 ^, small ; but the Davis- 
 Carthago-tablet also gives *}\\- One of these 
 tablets might have an error, but both could not be 
 wrong. 
 
 * H2 is most probably the Aramaic l^'A a sheep (like |N2 
 v ). Note by Professor Driver. 
 t Munk, " L'Inscription Phenicienne de Marseille, 1847." 
 
'28 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 With these three young sacrificial animals the 
 pious layman gave three-quarters of a shekel to the 
 
 College, whether the sacrifice was s£y, fr 0L \\- or 
 
 w y^ w > anc l the priest also retained the kidneys, 
 etc. ; but there is no notice of a large amount of flesh 
 being retained by the College. 
 
 The hiatus at the end of line 9 can easily be filled 
 
 up, for line 10 evidently begins with blf>^ - 
 Note, that where the Massilia-tablet uses ^>^>Y the 
 
 Davis-Carthago-tablet uses y^y. 
 The Davis-Carthago here inserts 
 
 y> y>^ 
 
 but we shall treat of this later on, as the Massilia- 
 tablet has a similar direction in line 15. 
 
 Line 11 : — 
 
 y*- 1^7 y^ w vv y* ))r\*c \?vw 
 
 This line is the first portion of the inscription, 
 apart from the names in the first line, which shows 
 that it is a pagan tablet. Up to the present, I have 
 endeavoured to show the nearness of the laws of the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 29' 
 
 Baal- worship to those of the worship of Jehovah; 
 and I have restrained myself from introducing Greek 
 and Roman comparisons; but in line 11 we are 
 introduced to pagan augury in a Semitic religions 
 document. The hiatus in the first word is easily 
 restored; the broken tail of the first letter shows 
 that it is a \ not a o . It cannot be \ e )°. 
 Restoring as above \1\ we now come to the 
 sacrifice of birds. 
 
 This is similar to the order of sacrifices in Leviticus; 
 where the pious Hebrew, if he could not bring a 
 bullock or a ram for his GtPN or ]lNt£n, he brought 
 " two doves or two pigeons or the tenth part of an 
 ephah of flour." Levit, xiv, 21, 22. ))f\X( and 
 ^ are both Semitic. If ))f\%C be transliterated, 
 it looks distinctly Aramaeic ]^N. The old Hebrew 
 root-form pj means to protect. 
 
 2 Kings xix, 34. Tyrr^M irtoi 
 
 and the late author who writes in the decline of the 
 nation even after the Restoration gives the Hiphil, 
 
 Zech. ix, 15. Qrrf?j? nin^ jg; 
 
 which gets us close to Aramasic : 
 
 Luke i, 35. *^tli.!^ ^11 U^? aiLiuLo 
 
 It probably means " barndoor " fowls here. 
 
 In opposition to barndoor fowls we have \\, 
 "game birds," which fly (from f?). ^V luckily 
 
30 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 occurs in the Davis-Carthago, where the offerer pays 
 the same as here. 
 
 Munk thought that >f >f means " flowers." As a 
 liile it is in the matter of this inscription " difficult 
 to differ from " Munk ; but I think that the slightest 
 consideration of the end of the line should have con- 
 vinced him that animals were meant; for the layman 
 receives back (in both b^K' an d W) "the whole 
 of the flesh: 9 
 
 ^^^ Z,o^ a^W^ L>y 
 
 It must be admitted that Munk has the general 
 spirit of Hebrew on his side : 
 
 Isaiah xl, 6. TV1V? f$^ 
 
 with only one or two exceptions, such as 
 
 Jerem. xlviii, 9. N2n tt£3 ^ nNitt 1 ? IPX VF\ 
 
 but the cumulative force of the sacrificial argument, 
 the amount given, the flesh, etc., must weigh down 
 the beam in favour of YV as an animal. 
 
 A very striking point about the sacrifice of birds 
 in Marseilles was that they could not be offered 
 
 as a ^y or as a / l0u \V ; they were offered as 
 
 ^ V V^ w ?V^ or /^X^- Here we have the 
 Semitic peace-offering conjoined with two pagan 
 sacrifices. The inclusion of these in the national 
 worship of Israel would be sufficient to explain 
 
INTRODUCTION. 31 
 
 the wrath of Jehovah against Baal-worship and the 
 record of his hatred by his priestly historians. 
 
 1\^ . The root-meaning of this is "overflowing," 
 vide Ppltf and rptlS and a sacrifice with a meaning 
 evolved from this root " a propitiatory sacrifice to 
 avert the overflowing wrath of Baal.'-' Halevy turns 
 it "to avert calamity."* rptlj has the idea of 
 " minimizing calamity." 
 
 /"^W The idea of divination by watching the 
 movements, the cries, the flight of birds, and of 
 sacrificing in connection therewith is a practice which 
 we associate with the Pagan Republic of Rome rather 
 than with a Semitic nation ; but as for as the icord 
 /^v\2\ is concerned it is essentially Semitic. We 
 find Hjn all through the Old Testament : 
 
 and the man, the seer, the prophet, is the Hth . We 
 have God's seer, the king's seer, then we have the 
 trusted holy men of Bel and Nebo, 
 
 but in these passages there is not a word of watching 
 birds. 
 
 The Phoenicians may have picked up this startling 
 addition to their sacrifices from the Romans; there 
 would be Romans in Massilia, and the Baalic residents 
 would respect Roman sacrifices. 
 
 As in the case of bullocks and rams, etc., a pro- 
 portionate amount of money is given to the priests 
 with each bird, viz., three-quarters of a shekel. From 
 
 * Halevy, " Nouvel Essai sur Tlnscription de Marseille." 
 
32 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the Davis-Carthago-tablet we see that though the 
 Carthaginian worshipper followed the Semitic custom 
 and gave the skin of the bullock, etc., to the priest 
 without money, still the Carthaginian as well as the 
 Massilian worshipper of Baal gave three-quarters of 
 a shekel with each bird. 
 
 Line 12 :— 
 
 y^ ^V^^ y^ /^*v /*y A V y^ \ r )\ )[?] 
 ^hhAK' jny y)^ >y w ^r^ 
 
 — n A> &^ 
 
 With regard to the hiatus at the beginning of 
 line 12 I find myself unable to agree with the author 
 of the monograph in the Corpus Inscriptionum. This 
 painstaking scholar has assumed that the letter 
 
 which still remains is an A, and he has therefore 
 
 fixed upon Ao as the word. The most cursory 
 glance at the letter will show that it is an S : it is as 
 
 different from the initial s of 14, 1(3, 18, 20, and 21, 
 as is chalk from cheese. 
 
 • Having assumed that Ao must be the word, he 
 labours to get rid of the great difficulty of having 
 two different articles next door to each other both 
 treating of \J\ 9 the one introduced by ^ the 
 
 other by Ao | The whole difficulty is an imaginary 
 one. The preceding line (11) ends with f>^,o and 
 
INTRODUCTION. 33 
 
 12 begins with hi following the examples of 5 and 
 6, 9 and 10. Over and above the animal flesh, the 
 layman was ordered to give a gerah (the twentieth 
 part of a shekel) to the priests. 
 
 This corresponds with the order in line 6 : — 
 
 Such a thing as opposing my view to that of a 
 great scholar is foreign to my nature ; but I humbly 
 submit my reading, because it makes no difficulties ; 
 and because it appears to follow examples. 
 
 fity**G is very Semitic, its rootmeaning being 
 "early," then "first." The next word jf>w*^ shows 
 that the "holy firstfruits" are meant. This is a 
 good example of words being good Hebrew words, 
 but not expressing the Hebrew idiom. The Hebrew 
 idiom is 
 
 Levit. ii, 14. TTY)-?. Hi;?? 
 
 Tn India we have thousands of examples of what is 
 called " Babu English," good English words used by 
 Indian clerks, but not making a good English idiom. 
 ^Y > 0s^^ v would cause us at once to think of 
 ?0 • , "p)I£> hunting. I suppose it must mean provision, 
 
 etc., offered before going a hunting, or animals 
 caught when hunting in the chase ; but it seems 
 curious that frankincense is left out of the sacrifices, 
 particularly as oil, etc., are mentioned. With a High 
 Altar and stone statues to various Baals there must 
 have been frankincense. 
 
 C 
 
34 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The Corpus Inscriptionum gives ^^ as corn, but 
 I take A4^ of line 14 to be corn. The Levitical code 
 gives corn, oil, and frankincense : 
 
 mrh rxhv ndan tDtf mVy nroi hero aha 
 
 t : t v t t ; - : I ••• v t v t t — t : v : — 
 
 Levit. ii, 14. 
 
 There is a hiatus in the price. 
 
 The only letter remaining is )?. Ewald suggested 
 f % \f\X?i an d * ne right-hand portion of the second 
 (fragmentary) letter looks in the photograph like a 
 A- This would agree with ITVON in 
 
 i Sam. ii, 36. ^d| rrtfwh h ninfltfn^ 
 
 and with the commoner PH2 : 
 
 T •• 
 
 Levit. xxvii, 25. bptfn mrr mz D'nfcy 
 
 'v |T - v : • T" • ; V 
 
 The phrase A> &^^^ looks ungrammatical, in 
 fact incomprehensible, judged by ordinary rules of 
 Semitic grammar ; but two prepositions are not un- 
 known in Phoenician epigraphy, such as ^^^^yA. 
 
 A hiatus now occurs of which we cannot fathom 
 the meaning. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 35 
 
 Line 13 : — 
 
 Following examples above, we may assert ^ at 
 the beginning of the line. 
 
 The line is not satisfying from the point of 
 view of conclusive argument ; for we have by this 
 time come to the conclusion that f> 0l \\ is equal 
 to the nNt2Jl in the matter of sacrifices by blood ; 
 but it is here mentioned after ^y w and just before 
 
 The shorter Davis-Carthago inscription inserts this 
 notice after the sacrifices with blood ; and before 
 the smaller sacrifices of the impecunious: in fact, just 
 before the /->&)y. 
 
 The Carthago arrangement is more natural ; but 
 it may be that the / l0t ^V is a general name or a 
 general sacrifice, which would be used in the 
 f^^Oiby just the same as in the sacrifices with 
 blood. 
 
 We must not be led away by Leviticus from the 
 fact that the Massilia-tablet is a sacrifice tablet of 
 Baal, and this a local. Western Baal. 
 
 ys^ jMo in the plural may be explained by 
 the stone statues in 2 Kings x, 2o\ 
 
 D yN in the plural, " gods," occurs in the national 
 paean, . 
 
 Exod. xv, ii. mm nrtr rp 
 
 C 2 
 
36 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 f*jjj agrees with f>o in showing that the genius 
 of Phoenician does not require a preposition such 
 
 as A. Hebrew does, e.g., D^rnNM *0DT>. 
 
 S ' CD ' • V ! T •• • ■ 
 
 The Davis-Carthago tablet unaccountably gives 
 f*b^ 9 which is surely an error. 
 
 The Carthago tablet was not so carefully done by 
 public authority as the Massilia. 
 
 ^<yo^» i s the Niphal, as in good Semitic, but 
 Dfoy means "to load," not "to offer," as here. 
 
 Perhaps in Phoenician it developed into the mean- 
 ing, "heajDed up, laid before the gods." 
 
 2 Chron. x, 11. 113 Vtf DJ^JJ D^QgH *2N HWl 
 
 I cannot offer any suggestion as to what follows 
 the second / ,0u \V' f° r ■"■ cou ld n °t have imagined 
 the first which we have here. 
 
 Line 14: — 
 
 >&a/v LyLo^L^Lo^ ^^ io^ Z/ A io 
 
 A4a is an old Semitic form meaning " corn," 
 
 Hebrew h*hl- 
 
 The Corpus Inscriptionum takes it as equivalent to 
 
 HT) /S., but the meaning is perfectly clear, as " corn " 
 
 and i"!TI73. ought to be j^sAa. Most critics have 
 
 assumed that aA>& ^> *-\As>£\ ^° i s a careless 
 
INTRODUCTION. 37 
 
 repetition, but there are two Semitic words with the 
 same consonants : 
 
 l^n c^U |nS, r , ^>& = milk. 
 
 ^D */,>& = fat. 
 
 Munk agrees that the Massilia-tablet deals with 
 both fat and milk. 
 
 In a sacrifice-tablet, fat is a certainty ; and, on the 
 other hand, all Semitic tongues agree in representing 
 milk by these consonants. 
 
 The Davis-Carthago inscription expresses the same 
 idea in a simpler way, viz., 
 
 10^/vZ, y^^ w^ X^'v Ay, is a curious phrase, 
 we should have expected ^ X( ^ X? B^N "^$> tut if 
 it had been so written, commentators who object to 
 ^s>& Ao«-^ ^>>& so would certainly have said 
 that ^X( ^ >^ was a repetition. 
 
 X^'vA is the Semitic strong intention. 
 
 Genesis xv, 12. Wlh ttto^TF vm 
 
 t v v - • : - 
 
 /'X^y is found throughout Semitic languages 
 as an offering, very often as a " meal-offering," which 
 is its meaning here, agreeing with 
 
 Levit, ii, i. n^ rhb nph nn:p ja^g 
 
 Hebrew. 
 p:zravii, 17. Jfrfigbyi finnr??^ Chaldee. 
 
38 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 After the >& of /^^y there is a hiatus on the 
 Massilia-tablet which would allow of three letters. 
 
 The writer in the Corpus LnscripUonum inserts the 
 f* °f J^&^y* anc ^ then calmly passes on to the 
 next letter found still and assumes that this is the 
 *** of by 7 *; hut in his printed reproduction of the 
 photograph he leaves two spaces, one small and 
 the other almost double. There is not the shadow 
 of a doubt that some word of two or three letters 
 came after jM& Sy and before the «", as the Corpus 
 assumes it to be. 
 
 After close examination I have satisfied myself 
 that the letter is >v, Hebrew f, and if we insert *** X^ 
 in the hiatus there remains space for one letter, 
 
 and I suggest A : 
 
 for there is a distinct remnant of an 4 above the 
 line. Then, after this, we could easily insert 
 
 Y>^7^ >/^, etc., etc. 
 
 Line 15 : — 
 
 £* is a good old Semitic word for "the poor." 
 Its antithesis ^y is often used with ^^^y . 
 
 Genesis xiii, 2. Tl^m nfofc TJ3 012^) 
 
INTRODUCTION. 39 
 
 \1\ A^ appears to have been desperately poor. 
 
 jjysr* s^ is a peremptory prohibition ; we there- 
 fore gather that the ecclesiastical authorities in the 
 Baal-cult rigorously protected the poor. 
 
 The Davis-Carthago tablet has clearly V^y in 
 the singular and adds the grammatical form y Sy 
 (DJ?), compare the Syriac ^O^O. 
 
 The idea of many critics that y Sy means the 
 Greek /ii^a is too quaint. 
 
 Line 16 :— 
 
 y^ ^^y ^>yn ^?^ ^yn w\^y ^y 
 
 Munk thought that these were the names of other 
 Phoenician sacrifices, but we have no ^ at the 
 beginning. 
 
 Kenan thought that they represented classes of 
 people in Carthage like the Roman equites, plebs, etc.* 
 
 mt means 4 'to rise," but mtN was a person 
 
 opposed to the "")? or y^n TXTTflO . This makes for 
 Kenan's view. AVe may venture to translate ^\^vy, 
 "a son of the soil." 
 
 In the Old Testament ^^ was found only in 
 the feminine nnDXIT, "a maid-servant"; but the 
 
 * Langues Semitiqv.es. 
 
40 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Phoenicians evidently used >&0*^ for a slave of 
 either sex. 
 
 ^^K ^0\ r ^\y is obscure, as meaning a person. 
 In the Old Testament the root-idea is " feasting." 
 
 Amos vi, 7. DTITW? TITto 1D1 
 
 Jerem. xvi, 5. tJF)ft JT1 Ni^n 7N is not so clear. 
 
 Perhaps we may translate the clause "Every temple- 
 servant who gives a feast." 
 
 ^^^ «*^ yy^^ ^yis quite grammatical; 
 
 but, if the verb be singular, it would be more 
 idiomatic if found before the plural noun. We know 
 nothing of what followed ^^^. 
 
 Line 17 : — 
 /.Ayy a\&^ >&^v Ao /.^wy jf,y^ yy^>r^ 
 
 From the presence of the Semitic /»y^, •"J^U, 
 there must have been a verb just before yw*)? : 
 perhaps A^ 4 ^*^. 
 
 j^y is essentially a Phoenician phrase, often 
 
 found with s. The root-meaning is " to measure" : 
 1 Kings vii, 9. rTO JTHM according to the ratio or 
 measure. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 41 
 
 /**" probably means " laid down." 
 
 Ps. xiix, 14. wtf b^xpb psa 
 
 / 7 ^/ , 7^ begins to talk about some well-known 
 Book on Sacrificial Ceremonial. 
 
 Line 18:— 
 
 Line 19 :— 
 
 The missing letter in line 18 is a V though a bad 
 
 one. A^tv^ is an extraordinary word. 
 
 We have already treated 4^ as a powerful nega- 
 tive, but ^Xf is an interrogative : 
 
 Genesis iv, 9. T™ hlTl ^ 
 
 Then how is the compound a simple negative? I 
 suggest that it is a conditional possible negative, not 
 probable, but possible. 
 
 r ^ / H<Sj £ ^ must mean "in this tablet"; but it has 
 no corresponding form in Hebrew. 
 
 bf'b^' Hebrew would have led us astray; for we 
 should by it translate "and they shall give"; but 
 
42 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 in Phoenician this would be j?/ 7 ' 7>L \. The text must 
 be Niphal with Waw Con v. 
 
 ^^s is another peculiar Phoenician phrase, "ac- 
 cording to," "following," like /»*yy fi^wL. 
 The Hebrew is ^'hv . 
 
 There can be no manner of doubt that the writer 
 in the Corpus lnscriptionum is correct in his restoration 
 at the end of the line, according to the plan of lines 
 1 and 2 ; it so naturally agrees with line 19, which 
 is fortunately preserved, and has the names runnings 
 on continuously. 
 
 Line 20 :— 
 
 This is an authoritative warning to rapacious- 
 priests. 
 
 \ £k/ } as it stands is unintelligible. It may be 
 an error for ^<\^, though this is an assumption 
 from which I shrink in connection with an authorita- 
 tive public document and particularly in a clause 
 warning the Temple priests. If it ought to be Y*\^ 
 then we endeavour to interpret it along the plane of 
 yVl to " run over the brim " or " to stretch out " as in 
 
 Psalm lxviii, 32. O^N^ Y*£ ^ft {2*0 
 any priest overstretching the limit of the Temple dues- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 43 
 
 is to be severely fined ; but we have unfortunately 
 lost the record of the amount both in the Massilia 
 and Carthago-tablets. This is most annoying. 
 
 ^)o^ "shall be fined" is the Niphal with 
 Waw Conversive. This Niphal is clearly seen in 
 
 nuixn byz vhy mur itffco tf:jr» tri:y 
 
 T'T TT • T V-: - »• T *' T 
 
 Exod. xxi, 22. 
 
 Line 21:— 
 
 The first letter of the line looks rather like a 0, 
 but as in line 18 we take the liberty of considering 
 
 the word to be Ay. 
 
 j~>Xf - The sign of the accusative is interesting. 
 
 The hiatus in the centre of the line cannot be com- 
 posed of a single word and the word beginning with 
 
 y shows no sign of an A, so I prefer I^Ky, and 
 as the last of the five letters shows by its remnant 
 that it is a f>, I venture humbly to suggest the re- 
 duplication of the former \X( and to restore the 
 authoritative warning to rich niggardly laymen. 
 
 As regards the date of publication of the tablet, 
 I think it very probable that Massilia was one of the 
 colonies founded by Hanno at the close of the sixth 
 century before Christ, in order to get rid of the half- 
 breeds and slaves, who, now freed from slavery, were 
 
44 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 becoming too poweiful in Carthage. The tablet 
 would go with the settlers and the merchants or 
 would be sent shortly afterwards. 
 
 As the date of publication in the fifth or sixth 
 century B.C. is not a very important matter, I have 
 merely mentioned it here at the end of the thesis. 
 The character shows that it could not be later than 
 the fifth century, i.e., about the time of Ezra's return 
 from Babylon. 
 
 Quite a number of thoughtful clergy and lay 
 friends interested in the monuments have asked me 
 to publish an English edition of the Massilia sacrifice- 
 tablet. Of course all Semitic scholars have seen the 
 Latin edition in the Corpus Inscriptionum, but in 
 their books they merely refer to the the tablet as in 
 existence in Marseilles. Rawlinson notes the fact in 
 his " History of Phoenicia " : so does Sayce in his 
 " Higher Criticism and The Monuments " : but it is 
 high time that the Carthaginians should be allowed 
 to speak for themselves in English about their 
 religion, or about any of its details, when a well- 
 known book of reference, like " Chambers' Encyclo- 
 paedia " publishes an article on Carthage, wherein the 
 writer says that " the Carthaginians had no order of 
 priests " ! The crass ignorance of such a statement 
 can only be dispelled by the publication of such 
 theses as the Massilia-Cartiiago ; for the Massilia-tablet 
 mentions the priests ten times in twenty-one lines. 
 
 The Carthago-tablet follows the Massilia in using 
 both "priests" and "priest," and mentions them six 
 times in eleven fragmentary lines. The Guienot 
 
INTRODUCTION. 45- 
 
 tablet uses "priest" only. All three tablets were 
 graven and published in Carthage itself by Govern- 
 ment authority, though the Massilia one was more 
 carefully done. It is popularly believed, on the 
 authority of Roman writers, who were enemies of 
 Cartilage, that the Carthaginian religion was simply 
 the worship of fire and especially by human sacrifice. 
 
 The Massilia-tablet shows that this is as true as 
 the Christian belief that none could with safety go 
 near the procession of the Jagannath (Juggernauth) 
 car. During the present century there have been no 
 persons pushed under the wheels of Jagannath's car, 
 and only three instances of people throwing them- 
 selves under the car ! In like manner it will be seen 
 from the Massilia-tablet that the ordinary icorship of 
 Baal in Carthage or Massilia did not include human 
 sacrifice. 
 
 The preparation of this thesis has been an engross- 
 ing labour of love, begun in England, continued in 
 France, and now finished in India. 
 
 If, by an English annotated edition of the Massilia- 
 tablet, I could bring some slight confirmation of the 
 truth of Leviticus as a Semitic code to the large 
 number of English students of the history of the 
 Bible, who prefer English books on any subject, it 
 would be a great pleasure to me to publish it, even 
 though these same earnest students of the Old 
 Testament in English should be shocked at first to 
 find so much in common between a pagan sacrifice- 
 tablet and the sacrificial code of the chosen people 
 of Jehovah. 
 
 HARBISON AND SONS, PRINTERS IN ORDINARY TO HER MAJESTY, ST. MARTINS LANE. 
 
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