Tabnit sarcophagus

Tabnit sarcophagus
Tabnit sarcophagus
	The sarcophagus, Istanbul Archaeology Museums
Material	Basalt
Writing	Phoenician
Created	c.500 BC
Discovered	1887
Present location	Istanbul Archaeology Museums

The Tabnit sarcophagus is the sarcophagus of the Phoenician King of Sidon Tabnit (ruled c. 549–539 BC),^[1] the father of King Eshmunazar II. It is decorated with two separate and unrelated inscriptions – one in Egyptian hieroglyphs and one in the Phoenician alphabet. The latter contains a curse for those who open the tomb, promising impotency and loss of an afterlife.

It has been dated to early fifth century BC, and was unearthed in 1887 by Osman Hamdi Bey at the Royal necropolis of Ayaa east of Sidon together with the Alexander Sarcophagus and other related sarcophagi. Tabnit's body was found floating perfectly preserved in the original embalming fluid.^[2]^[3] Both the sarcophagus and Tabnit's decomposed skeleton are now in the Istanbul Archaeology Museums.^[4]

The sarcophagus, together with the Sarcophagus of Eshmunazar II, were possibly acquired by the Sidonians following their participation in the Battle of Pelusium during the First Achaemenid conquest of Egypt,^[5] and served as models for later Phoenician sarcophagi.^[6] The Phoenician text is considered to have a "remarkable" similarity to that of the Shebna inscription from Jerusalem.^[7]

^ "Middle East Kingdoms Ancient Central Levant States - Sidon". Kessler Associates. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
^ Cite error: The named reference Lembke was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Torrey 1902, pp. 168–9 (footnote): "When the sarcophagus of Tabnit was exhumed, in the year 1887, and the lid was removed, the body of the king was found to be in a very good state of preservation. It was lying in a brownish-colored, somewhat "oily" fluid, which nearly filled the sarcophagus. The eyes were gone; the nose, lips, and the most prominent part of the thorax, which had not been covered by the liquid, had decayed away; in other respects, however, the corpse was like that of a man only recently buried. It was but slightly emaciated; plenty of flesh remained on both face and limbs, and the skin was soft to the touch. The vital organs and viscera had not been removed (a note-worthy circumstance), and were perfectly preserved. Dr. Shibly Abela, of Sidon, a physician of education and experience, remarked that the face showed traces of small-pox; it was not apparent, however, that the king had died of that disease. The color of the skin was described as somewhat "coppery," the tinge being perhaps due to the influence of some substance, or substances, held in solution by the enveloping fluid. The fluid itself may have been partly, or even wholly, rain-water, which finds its way into most of the tombs about Sidon; but in any case it is evident, from the facts just given, that the body of the king had been skilfully embalmed. I do not know that any similar case has ever been observed and reported. After the body had been removed from the sarcophagus and exposed to the sun. it decomposed and shrunk to withered skin and bones in a very short time. My chief authority for these facts is the Rev. William K. Eddy, of Sidon, a keen observer and cautious reporter, who was one of the few who saw and touched the body of Tabnit when it was first exposed to view. Mr. Eddy was positive in his opinion that the king, at the time of his death, had not passed middle life; the face, he thought, was that of a man of less than fifty years of age."
^ İstanbul Archaeological Museums
^ Nitschke 2007, p. 71: "Three of these Egyptian sarcophagi manufactured during the twenty-sixth dynasty were apparently acquired by the Sidonians, perhaps as a result of Phoenician participation in Cambyses’ conquest of Egypt in 525 B.C."
^ Nitschke 2007, p. 72.
^ Hays, Christopher B. (January 2010). "Re-Excavating Shebna's Tomb: A New Reading of Isa 22,15–19 in its Ancient Near Eastern Context". Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft. 122 (4). doi:10.1515/ZAW.2010.039. The similarity of the inscription to that of Tabnit of Sidon (KAI1.13, COS2.56) is remarkable, extending even to the assertion that there are no precious metals within."

[HF-Sidon-1] "Middle East Kingdoms Ancient Central Levant States - Sidon". Kessler Associates. Retrieved 23 May 2017.

[Lembke-2] Cite error: The named reference Lembke was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[FOOTNOTETorrey1902168–9_(footnote)-3] Torrey 1902, pp. 168–9 (footnote): "When the sarcophagus of Tabnit was exhumed, in the year 1887, and the lid was removed, the body of the king was found to be in a very good state of preservation. It was lying in a brownish-colored, somewhat "oily" fluid, which nearly filled the sarcophagus. The eyes were gone; the nose, lips, and the most prominent part of the thorax, which had not been covered by the liquid, had decayed away; in other respects, however, the corpse was like that of a man only recently buried. It was but slightly emaciated; plenty of flesh remained on both face and limbs, and the skin was soft to the touch. The vital organs and viscera had not been removed (a note-worthy circumstance), and were perfectly preserved. Dr. Shibly Abela, of Sidon, a physician of education and experience, remarked that the face showed traces of small-pox; it was not apparent, however, that the king had died of that disease. The color of the skin was described as somewhat "coppery," the tinge being perhaps due to the influence of some substance, or substances, held in solution by the enveloping fluid. The fluid itself may have been partly, or even wholly, rain-water, which finds its way into most of the tombs about Sidon; but in any case it is evident, from the facts just given, that the body of the king had been skilfully embalmed. I do not know that any similar case has ever been observed and reported. After the body had been removed from the sarcophagus and exposed to the sun. it decomposed and shrunk to withered skin and bones in a very short time. My chief authority for these facts is the Rev. William K. Eddy, of Sidon, a keen observer and cautious reporter, who was one of the few who saw and touched the body of Tabnit when it was first exposed to view. Mr. Eddy was positive in his opinion that the king, at the time of his death, had not passed middle life; the face, he thought, was that of a man of less than fifty years of age."

[4] İstanbul Archaeological Museums

[FOOTNOTENitschke200771-5] Nitschke 2007, p. 71: "Three of these Egyptian sarcophagi manufactured during the twenty-sixth dynasty were apparently acquired by the Sidonians, perhaps as a result of Phoenician participation in Cambyses’ conquest of Egypt in 525 B.C."

[FOOTNOTENitschke200772-6] Nitschke 2007, p. 72.

[7] Hays, Christopher B. (January 2010). "Re-Excavating Shebna's Tomb: A New Reading of Isa 22,15–19 in its Ancient Near Eastern Context". Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft. 122 (4). doi:10.1515/ZAW.2010.039. The similarity of the inscription to that of Tabnit of Sidon (KAI1.13, COS2.56) is remarkable, extending even to the assertion that there are no precious metals within."

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