The Kilamuwa scepter or Kilamuwa sheath is a 9th-century BCE small gold object inscribed in Phoenician or Aramaic, which was found during the excavations of Samþal in 1943. It was found in burned debris in a corridor at the front of the "Building of Kilamuwa".
King Kilamuwa is believed to have ruled in the area of Samþal in ca. 830 - 820 BC.
The object measures 6.7ÃÂ2.2 cm, and is ornamented with soldered gold wire and gold plates; two of the rectangular plates are inscribed with a total of seven lines or writing. Felix von Luschan concluded that it was once on the handle (or sheath) of a staff or scepter.
Text
The inscription reads as follows: This smr Kilamuwa, son of Ḥay(a), made for (the god) RKBÿL. May RKB'L grant him length of life.
Bibliography
- Editio princeps: Felix von Luschan, Die Kleinfunde von Sendschirli . Herausgabe und Ergänzung besorgt von Walter Andrae (Mitteilungen aus den orientalischen Sammlungen, Heft XV; Berlin 1943) 102, Abb. 124, Tf. 47f-g (the book was reviewed by K. Galline; in BiOr 5 fl948] 115âÂÂ120).
- Dupont-Sommer, A. âÂÂUne Inscription Nouvelle Du Roi Kilamou et Le Dieu Rekoub-Elâ Revue de lâÂÂhistoire Des Religions 133, no. 1/3 (1947): 19âÂÂ33
- Galling, Kurt. âÂÂThe Scepter of Wisdom: A Note on the Gold Sheath of Zendjirli and Ecclesiastes 12: 11â Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, no. 119 (1950): 15âÂÂ18. https://doi.org/10.2307/3218799
- Swiggers, P. âÂÂThe Aramaic Inscription of Kilamuwaâ Orientalia 51, no. 2 (1982): 249âÂÂ53.
References