Abishemu obelisk

The Abishemu obelisk or the Abichemou obelisk is a 1.25 meter limestone obelisk dedicated to the Phoenician king Abishemu I of Byblos. The obelisk is decorated with two lines of inscriptions in Egyptian hieroglyphics. It was created c. 1800 BCE, and was unearthed in the 1950s by Maurice Dunand in the Temple of the Obelisks. It is the world's third-oldest obelisk, and by far the oldest obelisk found outside Egypt.

Abishemu obelisk
The obelisk in its current location
Material	Limestone
Size	1.45 meters (1.25 meters above the plinth)
Writing	Egyptian hieroglyphs
Created	c. 1800 BC
Discovered	c. 1950
Discovered by	Maurice Dunand
Present location	National Museum of Beirut
Identification	DGA 17917

Although only approximately a dozen words long, the obelisk contains:

• the name of one of the oldest known kings of Byblos, Abishemu I
• the earliest reference to the Lukka people, known from numerous later Egyptian and Hittite sources^[1][2]
• a reference to "Herishef", considered by Dunand to be the Egyptian name of the Canaanite god Resheph, and thus giving the alternate name "Temple of Resheph" for the Temple of the Obelisks^[3]

The obelisk is the only example of a complete obelisk with a true pyramidion found in the Temple of the Obelisks; most of the others were rough steles.^[4] It consists of a square plinth at the bottom, a tapering shaft and with a pyramidion at the top.^[4]

Inscription

The inscription close up

Transcribed:^[4]

mry Ḥr-š·f ḥꜣty-ʻ n Kpny ʼb-šmw wḥm ʻnḫ

[...]f Kwkwn śꜣ Rwqq mꜣʻ ḫrw

Translated:^[4]

Beloved of Arsaphes [also translated Herishef], Abishemu, prince of Byblos, renewed in life, his
..., Kukun, son of 'the Lycian' justified (i. e., deceased).

See also

• Kings of Byblos
• List of Egyptian obelisks

Notes

1. Bryce, T. R. (1974). "The Lukka Problem – And a Possible Solution". Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 33 (4): 395–404. doi:10.1086/372378. JSTOR 544776. S2CID 161428632.
2. Woudhuizen, Frederik Christiaan (2006). The Ethnicity of the Sea Peoples (Ph.D.). Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, Faculteit der Wijsbegeerte. p. 31. hdl:1765/7686.
3. Münnich 2013, p. 120-121.
4. Albright 1959, p. 33.

References

Editio princeps

• Maurice Dunand, Fouilles de Byblos, volume 2, p. 878, no. 16980; and plate XXXII number 2

Secondary sources

• Albright, William F. (1959). "Dunand's New Byblos Volume: A Lycian at the Byblian Court". Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. 155 (155): 31–34. doi:10.2307/1355673. JSTOR 1355673. S2CID 163957543.
• Miniaci, Gianluca (2018). "Deposit f (Nos. 15121–15567) in the Obelisk Temple at Byblos" (PDF). Ägypten und Levante / Egypt and the Levant. 28: 383. doi:10.1553/AEundL28s379. JSTOR 26664997.
• Münnich, Maciej M. (2013). The God Resheph in the Ancient Near East. Mohr Siebeck. ISBN 978-3-16-152491-2.