THE ESHMUKAZAR INSCRIPTION AND DOR. 



The Eshmunazar inscription (Lines 18-20) states that the ''Lord 

 of Kings", in return for assistance rendered, presented Dor and 

 Joppa to King Eshmunazar II of Sidon as a perpetual possession. 

 The text of the inscription reads :^ 



. D'^j;'? . Dnv'? . d::)^'? . f nj< . '7:1:1 . r!?}; 20. 



18. ''Furthermore, the Lord of Kings gave to us Dor and 

 Joppa'', the glorious lands of Dagon which are in the field of 

 Sharon, in recognition of the assistance which I rendered; and we 

 joined them to the territory of the land, to belong to the Sidonians 

 forever." 



The date of this inscription is variously stated as the fourth or the 

 third century B.C., i.e., either in the Persian or in the early Greek 

 period. The argument for the date has usually depended on the 

 interpretation of the expression "Lord of Kings" (DD'^O J"?N)- 

 It is urged' that this is a Ptolemaic title and that the inscription 

 must therefore be dated about the middle of the third century B.C. 

 Schlottman* on the other hand refers to the Persian custom of 

 rewarding with gifts of cities those rulers who had served Persian 

 interests in some special manner. He therefore dates the inscrip- 

 tion in the period of Persian prosperity, perhaps during the time of 

 the wars with Greece. Schiirer*, on the basis of Scylax' Awpos ttoAis 

 StSovtW, decides that the inscription must certainly be placed in 

 the Persian period. His contention is that the transfer of Dor to 



1 C.I.S. I, 3 ; Lidzbarski, Taf. IV: 2. 



' Hilprecht {Explorations in Bible Lands, pp. 615 ff.) makes the incorrect 

 statement that "Eshmunazar extended the boundaries of Sidon by the 

 conquest (sic !) of Dor and Joppa." 



2 E. Meyer in Enc. Bib., 3762 f., s.v. Phoenicia; Cooke, North Semitic 

 Inscriptions, p. 40. 



* Die Inschrift Eschmunazars, pp. 48 fif . 



6 G.J.V. II, 129. 



^ Geographi graeci minor es, ed. Miiller, I, 79. 



