Proto-alphabetic inscriptions from the Wadi Arabah

Abstract: Three early West Semitic inscriptions from the Arabah valley are studied here, all of them apparently connected with the Egyptian copper-mining activity in the region, notably at Timna, in the period of the Ramessides. The most striking detail in these texts is a sign corresponding to an E...

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Autor principal: Colless, Brian E.
Formato: Artículo
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Departamento de Historia. Centro de Estudios de Historia del Antiguo Oriente 2019
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Acceso en línea:https://repositorio.uca.edu.ar/handle/123456789/6753
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Sumario:Abstract: Three early West Semitic inscriptions from the Arabah valley are studied here, all of them apparently connected with the Egyptian copper-mining activity in the region, notably at Timna, in the period of the Ramessides. The most striking detail in these texts is a sign corresponding to an Egyptian hieroglyph (N6B ) which depicts two serpents guarding the sun-disc, and another with one serpent (N6 , ); these never appear on conventional tables of early alphabetic letters; this leads to a critical reappraisal of current identifications of the original picture-signs, and elaboration of a new system of interpreting early Canaanite inscriptions, involving recognition that the signs could sometimes stand for whole words and could also be used as rebuses.