Sinai inscription 351 (S. 351)
This is a very interesting and important inscription from the entrance to turquoise mine L at Serabit el-Khadim. It has a drawing of the Egyptian god Ptah., the patron of craftsmen; he is depicted standing in a shrine, and holding a sceptre. We may surmise that the text will have some reference to craftsmanship.
The photograph provided shows a break, though the stone was not in that state when it was first discovered, and a photograph taken by Petrie is also available (Sass, fig. 38). Remember that there was a whole series of such stelas found on the ground, but they were originally on the rock-face. The drawing I have offered here is not entirely accurate, but indicates the characters I think are there.
A good place to start would be the left column, because we can detect a familiar sequence there: 'beloved of Ba`alat'. At the bottom we can see `ayin-L-T. At the top we can find M, then the horns of an ox and the snout ('alep), then the arms and head of the jubilater, though the body and legs are not easy to trace (H). We may safely assume that the space below had two houses, representing BB (note the square B next to `LT in the right column). It all adds up to produce: M'HB B`LT, 'beloved of Ba`alat'.
So, who or what was under the guardianship of the goddess? We would expect to find the answer in the other line of writing. At the top we can detect Dh [=], 'this'. Identification of the next letter is crucial, and we should set it aside for a moment. Moving down the column we meet a very clear B (square); Sh (not obvious, but that is what we find in the corresponding sequence on 353, 360, 361); N (snake); M; Sh (fractured by the break, but clear on Petrie's photograph); N; Ss (tied bag); B; W (hook); Tt [+o], a sign we have not encountered previously. Briefly, my interpretation of this is NSsB WTt, 'prefect of the expedition'. WTt would be a transcription of the Egyptian word for 'expedition', found in the Egyptian inscriptions at the mining site. NSsB corresponds to Hebrew nis.ab, meaning foreman or prefect; the term is also found in 350, and in the plural form with -n, in 346 and 349, RB NSsBN 'chief of the prefects'.
Many scholars have taken this word to be NQBN 'miners' (root nqb, 'bore'), and this is a very seductive opinion, but I think the tied bag is Ss, not Q (qaw, 'line', a wound cord on a stick).
Returning to the second character in column 1: the common choice for this is T, and the Sh is understood as Th (from *thann, 'a compositie bow', whereas I invoke shimsh, 'sun', sun-serpent hieroglyph, with sun-disk omitted). Ironically, the resulting sequence is interpreted as DhT BThN, 'the one of the serpent' ('the Serpent Lady'), the goddess depicted holding snakes. However, there is no T [+]. Those who see T only have T (not +, the top stroke is lacking), and there are three vertical strokes descending from it, not one. I presume that the one on the left is part of the M in column 2. The remaining two strokes would be fingers, and the whole character (including the cross-bar) would be a hand, and therefore K. Viewed upside down it is _V_ and thus a perfect K!
The resultant sequence KBShN coincides with a Hebrew word for 'furnace' or 'kiln' (kibshan). This would fit the context admirably, since metal-melting equipment (crucibles, bellows, casting moulds for tools) has been found in Mine L. Also, the following MSh could be related to Hebrew m's and mss, meaning 'melt' (Arabic massa, 'dissolve'), and so KBShN MSh would signify 'melt-furnace'. Presumably the 'melt' qualification distinguishes the kibshan as a furnace, not a kiln for pottery.
Unfortunately, every time I encounter this sequence, I have to argue (you have heard the expression 'special pleading', but I don't know what it means) that we are looking at K not T.
The meaning of the inscription emerges thus:
This is the metal-melting furnace of the prefect of the expedition, which is beloved of Ba`alat
Source: http://cryptcracker.blogspot.com.es/2007/11/ancient-metal-melting-sinai-inscription.html
The transcription in Late Hebrew is as follows:
L2 L1
דֿ] מ]
כ] א]
ש ה
נ ב
מ ב
ש ע
נ ל
ק ת
ב
ו
צ
According to the illustration above, the text should be read from top to bottom, right to left (TTB and RTL). If this is the case, then for easy reading, here's the transcription again in Late Hebrew, running in the usual fashion for those who read Hebrew and Arabic:
L1: דֿכבשנמשנקבוצ
L2: מאהבבעלת
Now, if you can see the last 4 letters of Line #2, reading from RTL, we have בעלת Baʕlat, which is evidently greatly revered in the Sinai Peninsula, having been found on the Sinai inscriptions 346 (you guessed it, the L'Balt inscription) and 352. The first letter (reconstructed) in Line #1, דֿ (= Arabic ذ Dhaal), is definitely the ancient Semitic demonstrative pronoun dh meaning "this" (nominative dhu; cf. Hebrew זה zêh, Arabic ذا dhaa). The next 4 letters, כ]בשן], is probably related to Hebrew כבשן kiḇšān meaning "kiln." The 2 following letters, מש, may be derived from the Akkadian verb mašāšu meaning "to wipe." Nay, but could it be the exact equivalent of the Akkadian adjective maššu meaning "polished" (hence, as an adjective, therefore = כבשן מש "a clean/polished kiln")? The last 5 letters of Line #1, or נקבוץ, I won't venture to guess what it might be. There's a possibility it might be derived from the root קבץ, but with a vowel letter (i.e. ו), which is very improbable. Maybe a quadriliteral root קבוץ, but with no connection with other roots in the Semitic languages, therefore with no ability to reconstruct its meaning.
Line #2 is of interest. מ Mem, the first letter, might be short for מן meaning "from." אהב might mean "beloved" from the Hebrew root אהב. The remaining letters is evidently בעלת Baʕlat.
Consequently, we have a possible translation for this inscription:
L1: This is the clean/polished kiln נקבוץ (name of kiln?).
L2: From the beloved of Baʕlat.
This is becoming interesting. In Mine L, where the inscription was found near, did contain a kiln. Any suggestions are welcomed.
Source: http://ancient-hebrew.proboards.com/thread/3488/sinai-351
The photograph provided shows a break, though the stone was not in that state when it was first discovered, and a photograph taken by Petrie is also available (Sass, fig. 38). Remember that there was a whole series of such stelas found on the ground, but they were originally on the rock-face. The drawing I have offered here is not entirely accurate, but indicates the characters I think are there.
A good place to start would be the left column, because we can detect a familiar sequence there: 'beloved of Ba`alat'. At the bottom we can see `ayin-L-T. At the top we can find M, then the horns of an ox and the snout ('alep), then the arms and head of the jubilater, though the body and legs are not easy to trace (H). We may safely assume that the space below had two houses, representing BB (note the square B next to `LT in the right column). It all adds up to produce: M'HB B`LT, 'beloved of Ba`alat'.
So, who or what was under the guardianship of the goddess? We would expect to find the answer in the other line of writing. At the top we can detect Dh [=], 'this'. Identification of the next letter is crucial, and we should set it aside for a moment. Moving down the column we meet a very clear B (square); Sh (not obvious, but that is what we find in the corresponding sequence on 353, 360, 361); N (snake); M; Sh (fractured by the break, but clear on Petrie's photograph); N; Ss (tied bag); B; W (hook); Tt [+o], a sign we have not encountered previously. Briefly, my interpretation of this is NSsB WTt, 'prefect of the expedition'. WTt would be a transcription of the Egyptian word for 'expedition', found in the Egyptian inscriptions at the mining site. NSsB corresponds to Hebrew nis.ab, meaning foreman or prefect; the term is also found in 350, and in the plural form with -n, in 346 and 349, RB NSsBN 'chief of the prefects'.
Many scholars have taken this word to be NQBN 'miners' (root nqb, 'bore'), and this is a very seductive opinion, but I think the tied bag is Ss, not Q (qaw, 'line', a wound cord on a stick).
Returning to the second character in column 1: the common choice for this is T, and the Sh is understood as Th (from *thann, 'a compositie bow', whereas I invoke shimsh, 'sun', sun-serpent hieroglyph, with sun-disk omitted). Ironically, the resulting sequence is interpreted as DhT BThN, 'the one of the serpent' ('the Serpent Lady'), the goddess depicted holding snakes. However, there is no T [+]. Those who see T only have T (not +, the top stroke is lacking), and there are three vertical strokes descending from it, not one. I presume that the one on the left is part of the M in column 2. The remaining two strokes would be fingers, and the whole character (including the cross-bar) would be a hand, and therefore K. Viewed upside down it is _V_ and thus a perfect K!
The resultant sequence KBShN coincides with a Hebrew word for 'furnace' or 'kiln' (kibshan). This would fit the context admirably, since metal-melting equipment (crucibles, bellows, casting moulds for tools) has been found in Mine L. Also, the following MSh could be related to Hebrew m's and mss, meaning 'melt' (Arabic massa, 'dissolve'), and so KBShN MSh would signify 'melt-furnace'. Presumably the 'melt' qualification distinguishes the kibshan as a furnace, not a kiln for pottery.
Unfortunately, every time I encounter this sequence, I have to argue (you have heard the expression 'special pleading', but I don't know what it means) that we are looking at K not T.
The meaning of the inscription emerges thus:
This is the metal-melting furnace of the prefect of the expedition, which is beloved of Ba`alat
Source: http://cryptcracker.blogspot.com.es/2007/11/ancient-metal-melting-sinai-inscription.html
The transcription in Late Hebrew is as follows:
L2 L1
דֿ] מ]
כ] א]
ש ה
נ ב
מ ב
ש ע
נ ל
ק ת
ב
ו
צ
According to the illustration above, the text should be read from top to bottom, right to left (TTB and RTL). If this is the case, then for easy reading, here's the transcription again in Late Hebrew, running in the usual fashion for those who read Hebrew and Arabic:
L1: דֿכבשנמשנקבוצ
L2: מאהבבעלת
Now, if you can see the last 4 letters of Line #2, reading from RTL, we have בעלת Baʕlat, which is evidently greatly revered in the Sinai Peninsula, having been found on the Sinai inscriptions 346 (you guessed it, the L'Balt inscription) and 352. The first letter (reconstructed) in Line #1, דֿ (= Arabic ذ Dhaal), is definitely the ancient Semitic demonstrative pronoun dh meaning "this" (nominative dhu; cf. Hebrew זה zêh, Arabic ذا dhaa). The next 4 letters, כ]בשן], is probably related to Hebrew כבשן kiḇšān meaning "kiln." The 2 following letters, מש, may be derived from the Akkadian verb mašāšu meaning "to wipe." Nay, but could it be the exact equivalent of the Akkadian adjective maššu meaning "polished" (hence, as an adjective, therefore = כבשן מש "a clean/polished kiln")? The last 5 letters of Line #1, or נקבוץ, I won't venture to guess what it might be. There's a possibility it might be derived from the root קבץ, but with a vowel letter (i.e. ו), which is very improbable. Maybe a quadriliteral root קבוץ, but with no connection with other roots in the Semitic languages, therefore with no ability to reconstruct its meaning.
Line #2 is of interest. מ Mem, the first letter, might be short for מן meaning "from." אהב might mean "beloved" from the Hebrew root אהב. The remaining letters is evidently בעלת Baʕlat.
Consequently, we have a possible translation for this inscription:
L1: This is the clean/polished kiln נקבוץ (name of kiln?).
L2: From the beloved of Baʕlat.
This is becoming interesting. In Mine L, where the inscription was found near, did contain a kiln. Any suggestions are welcomed.
Source: http://ancient-hebrew.proboards.com/thread/3488/sinai-351