Remarks on the Palmyrene Inscription at Teive. In a Letter to the Rev. Thomas Birch, D. D. Secretary to the Royal Society, from the Rev. John Swinton, B. D. F. R. S. Member of the Academy Degli Apatisti at Florence, and of the Etruscan Academy of Cortona in Tuscany

II. Remarks on the Palmyrene Inscription at Teive. In a Letter to the Rev. Thomas Birch, D.D. Secretary to the Royal Society, from the Rev. John Swinton, B.D. F.R.S. Member of the Academy degli Apatisti at Florence, and of the Etruscan Academy of Cortona in Tuscany. Good Sir, Read Jan. 23, 1766. The Palmyrene inscription at Teive having been inaccurately taken by Sig. Pietro della Valle, the transcript published in the Philosophical Transactions must be looked upon as incorrect, and consequently the explication of that inscription, which the Royal Society did me the honour (1) formerly to publish, cannot in all points be entirely depended upon. Having therefore been informed, that the stone itself, brought a few years since out of the East, was in the possession of the Right Honourable the Earl of Besborough; I resolved to attempt getting a sight of it, that a true copy of so curious a monument might in proper time be imparted to the learned world. Having opened my design to John Wood, Esq; member of parliament for Brackley in Northamptonshire, a gentleman of great merit and erudition, he carried me, with the utmost politeness and good nature, to Lord Besborough's house in Cavendish-Square, May 21, 1764; where I had a full view of the stone, examined the ins- (1) Philosoph. Transact. Vol. XLVIII. Par. II. p. 746-751. The Palmyrene Inscription brought from Teive. The Alphabet deduced from the Inscription at Teive. Taken from the Stone. ΔΙΜΕΓΙΣΤΩΚΕΡΑΥΝΙΩΠΕΡΚΩΤΗΡΙΑΣΤΡΑΑΔΡΙΑΝΟΥΣΕΒΤΟΥΚΥΡΙΟΥΑΓΑΘΑΝΓΕΛΟΣΑΒΙΛΗΝΟΣΤΗΣΔΕΚΑΠΟΛΕΟΣΤΗΝΚΑΜΑΡΑΝΩΚΟΔΟΜΗΣΕΝΚΑΙΤΗΝΚΛΙΝΗΕΣΙΑΙΩΝΑΝΕΘΗΚΕΝΕΤΟΥΣΕΜΥΜΗΝΟΣΛΩΟΥ Hence it appears, that fourteen of the Palmyrene letters have been handed down to us by this curious Inscription. scription with all the attention I was capable of, and took the transcript exhibited here upon the spot. In order therefore to rectify all former mistakes, occasioned by Sig. Pietro della Valle's blunders, I judged it might not be improper to communicate this, together with a new Latin and English version of it, attended by a copy of the correspondent Greek inscription, as it appears on the stone, to the Royal Society; submitting to the consideration of that illustrious body, with all possible deference, the short remarks transmitted you in this paper. For the Palmyrene inscription, see Tab. I. The inscription in Hebrew or Chaldee Characters. לבעל שמך מרי עולם קרב בשנת ועשר אוחזים JOVI FULMINATORI IN AETERNUM fit REVERENTIA—OPERIMENTVM ET LECTVM ei DEDICAVIT AGATHANGELVS. To JUPITER THE THUNDERER FOR EVER be REVERENCE—AGATHANGELVS DEDICATED to him this COVERED BED. For the correspondent Greek inscription, as it appears on the stone, see Tab. I. Remarks on the Palmyrene Inscription. 1. That Baal, the great divinity of Syria and Phœnicia, answered to the ΖΕΥΣ of the Greeks, and the JUPITER of the Latins, as we find intimated by the two inscriptions before me, is acknowledged by some some of the most celebrated ancient writers; and has been clearly evinced by (2) me, in a former paper. 2. The word שֵׁם, SHEMETZ, sometimes denotes NOISE, or SOUND, according to (3) Schindler, Schmidius, and Cocceius. It is likewise taken in Scripture for A VOICE IN THE AIR (4), as we learn from Stockius. BAAL SHEMETZ, therefore, may be rendered DOMINUS MVRMVRIS SONI, SVSVRRI, vel VOCIS IN AERE, THE LORD OF THE NOISE, OF THE SOUND, or OF THE VOICE IN THE AIR; and consequently may be deemed perfectly equivalent to ZΕΤΕΚΕΠΑΤΝΙΟΣ, or JUPITER THE THUNDERER, in the correspondent Greek inscription. A new figure of Tzade here presents itself to our view, which hat not been handed down to us by any other monument of the Palmyrenes. 3. The following word, אָמֹר, or אָמֹר, TIMOR, REVERENTIA, VENERATIO, &c. appears, in the very same signification, (5) in two Palmyrene inscriptions, some years since by me explained. Nothing can be more common in the oriental languages than the ellipsis, or suppression, of the verb (6) substantive, which occurs here. (2) Philos. Trans. Vol. XLVIII. Par. II. p. 748, 749. (3) Vid. Schindlerum Schmidium, Cocceium, Jo. Christ. Clod. Lex Hebraic. Select. p. 509, 510. Lipsiae, 1744. & Jo. Leonhard. Reckenerger. Lib. Radic. sive Lex. Hebraic. p. 1515. Jenæ, 1749. (4) Christ. Stock. Clav. Ling. Sanct. Vet. Teß. p. 1115. Jenæ, 1721. It must be remarked, that the word SHEMETZ, as explained here, will greatly illustrate two passages in the book of Job, (IV. 12. XXXVI. 14.) and decide in favour of the explication of those passages given by Schmidius and Cocceius. (5) Philos. Trans. ubi sup. p. 698. (6) Johan. Buxtorf. Thesaur. Grammat. p. 472. Basilæ, 1663. 4. With 4. With regard to אָנְבָּי, of the Chaldee or Syriac form, it will be sufficient to observe, that it answers here to AETERNITAS, PERPETVITAS, &c. So that אָנְבָּי may be rendered REVERENTIA AETERNITATIS, or REVERENTIA AETERNA. The term אָנְבָּי may likewise be considered as equivalent to יִנְבָּי, IN AETERNVM, the particle י being not improbably here understood. Such ellipses as this were by no means uncommon in the eastern world, as we find clearly evinced by (7) Noldius. 5. Nothing farther is requisite to be observed of the Hebrew, Chaldee, or Syriac verb קָרַב (8), OBTVLIT, LIBAVIT, DEDICAVIT, &c. than that it seems perfectly consonant to the tenor of the inscription, and conveys to us the same idea that is exhibited to our view by the word ANEOHKEN, in the correspondent Greek inscription. 6. The next word כֹּסֶם, or כֹּסֶם (9), OPERIMENTVM, is entirely Syriac. It may not be improper to remark, that the letter Thau here is of a somewhat unusual form; and that the Vau is understood, or suppressed, after the Phœnician manner. The figure likewise of the Samech, unless part of it has been effaced by the injuries of time, does not perfectly agree with any of those characters that have been hitherto considered as forms of that element. 7. The copulative Vau, that follows, and connects כֹּסֶם with the substantive אָנְבָּי, or אָנְבָּי, LECTVS, (7) Christian. Nold. Concordant. Particular. Ebræo-Chaldaicar. p. 416, 417. Jenæ, 1734. (8) Vid. Johan. Buxtorf. Sen. et Jun. Val. Schindl. aliosq. Lexicograph. Hebr. Chal. Syr. &c. (9) Johan. Buxtorf. Jun. Lex. Chald. & Syriac. p. 260. Basilæ, 1622. SPONDA LECTI, &c. which is both a Chaldee and a Syriac word, renders the latter part of the inscription sufficiently intelligible. For OPERIMENTVM ET LECTVM here may be considered as equivalent to LECTVM OPERTVM, or perhaps simply LECTVM, as the correspondent Greek word has been translated by Dr. Bernard. The character representing Vau, prefixed to the word I am now upon, agrees with the figure of that element, as it occurs in my second Palmyrene (10) alphabet. For a farther account of these beds of state, as well as several other similar inscriptions, recourse may be had to the (11) author here referred to. 8. The last word of the inscription is apparently ΑΓΑΘΑΝΓΕΛΟΣ, AGATHANGELVS, the name of an Abilenian, who erected a cupola, or camera, and placed under it a bed of state, dedicated to Jupiter Maximus Fulminator, or the supreme God Jupiter the Thunderer, for the health and safety of the emperor Hadrian, his sovereign. This happened, according to the correspondent Greek inscription, in the 445th year of the æra of Seleucus, and the 17th of that prince's reign. The word ΑΓΑΘΑΝΓΕΛΟΣ, AGATHANGELVS, seems to be of nearly the same import with ΑΓΑΘΟΔΑΙΜΩΝ, AGATHODAEMON, the name of an (12) Alexandrian geographer of pretty considerable note. It also occurs in (13) one of Gruter's inscriptions, but is evidently a cognomen there. (10) Philos. Transact. Vol. XLVIII. Par. II. p. 740. (11) Seller. Antiquit. of Palmyr. p. 364, 369. (12) Agathodæm. Alexandrin. per Mercator. et Bert. Amst. 1618. Vid. etiam Agathodæm. Alexandrin. Delineat. Orb. ex Lib. Ptolemæi, Lat. Bas. 1552. (13) Jan. Gruter. Inscript. Romanar. Corp. p. 644. 1. character representing Ghimel, in this word, is somewhat different from all the other figures of the same letter, that have hitherto appeared. 9. The Palmyrene alphabet deducible from this inscription [see T A B. I.] being curious, as the forms of several of its letters cannot be deemed the same with those of the correspondent elements in any of the Palmyrene alphabets hitherto published; I should be thought guilty of an omission, did I not take the liberty to insert it here. The characters representing Ghimel, Samech, Tzade, and Thau, in particular, differ considerably from the figures of those letters on every other monument of the Palmyrenes. As I have spoken pretty largely of this inscription in a former paper, I shall not expatiate any farther upon it here; but at present only beg leave to assure you that I am, with all due sentiments of respect and esteem, Sir, Your most faithful, and most obedient, humble servant, Christ-Church, Oxon, Nov. 28, 1765. John Swinton.