The Mdina steles are two Phoenician language inscriptions found near the city of Mdina (ancient Maleth), Malta, in 1816. The findspot is disputed; the oldest known description places it near the Tal-Virtù Church. The surviving stele is currently in the National Museum of Archaeology, Malta; the other stele has been considered lost for more than a century.
They were widely publicized by Wilhelm Gesenius as Melitensia Tertia and Melitensia Quarta ("Maltese 3rd" and "Maltese 4th"). They are also known as KAI 61A,B or CIS i 123A,B.
Stele 61B has been dated to the sixth century BCE on the basis of letter forms.
The two inscriptions read:
A "molkomor" (as in B) was a "substitute" sacrificial offering to BaâÂÂal of a lamb instead of a child. The word is a composite of molk or Moloch, traditionally the Punic god BaâÂÂal but more probably meaning "(human) sacrifice (of a child)", and âÂÂMR (cf. Hebrew âÂÂimmÃÂr), "lamb". Another possible reading is "MLKâÂÂSR", meaning Moloch-Osiris, who was also worshiped by the Phoenicians.
It is not clear whether molk-BaâÂÂal in A is a variant of molkomor, or that 61A refers to a real child sacrifice, while 61B refers to a substitute offering.