Scripturae Linguaeque Phoeniciae (in English: "The writing and language of Phoenicia"), also known as Phoeniciae Monumenta (in English: "Phoenician remains") was an important study of the Phoenician language by German scholar Wilhelm Gesenius.
Precededed by his prelimary treatise Paläographische Studien, his full publication was originally intended to be published under the name Marmora Phà Ânicia et Punica, quotquot supersunt, edidit, et prà Âtnissâ commentatione de litteris et linguâ Phà Ânicum et Pà Ânorum explicuit G. Gesenius (In English: "The Phoenician and Punic surviving inscriptions, published and explained with an excellent commentary on the letters and language of the Phoenicians and the Punics by W. Gesenius").
It was written in three volumes, combined in later editions. It was described by Reinhard Lehmann as "a historical milestone of Phoenician epigraphy".
It published all c.80 inscriptions and c.60 coins known in the entire Phoenicio-Punic corpus at the time.
Many of the Latin names that Gesenius gave to the inscriptions have remained foundational to the study of Phoenician-Punic. Gesenius listed the inscriptions by geographic findspot and in chronological order of their discovery.
In preparing for his publication, Gesenius traveled to Leiden, London, and Paris to inspect original inscriptions and coins, correcting prior scholarly errors based on casts or copies.
Gesenius' preliminary treatise, Paläographische Studien (1835), began by translating and annotating a 1772 Spanish treatise by Francisco Perez Bayer, enhancing it with his own corrections.
Paläographische Studien established two categories of Punic writing â Scriptura Urbana, found near Carthage and resembling classical Phoenician script known from Malta, Sardinia, Cyprus and Athens, and Scriptura Rustica (or Numidica), a looser, provincial script from inland Numidia. Gesenius reconstructed a âÂÂNumidian alphabetâ to aid future decipherments.