A Forged Phoenician Royal Inscription in the Louvre

The Museum of the Louvre possesses several inscribed stones from the temple of the god Eshmun in Sidon, which was built by the king Bod-Ashtart of the Eshmunazar dynasty at some time in the third century B.C. One of these inscriptions is a forgery. The present writer, who has known or suspected the fact ever since the year when the temple ruin was discovered, has always had the intention of publishing the story of the forgery, but for one reason or another has continued to postpone the matter. Since the text of the inscription occurs in nearly identical form on ten or more of the building stones of the temple, the forgery could do but slight harm; it presents some mystifying readings, however, as will appear. The story of this temple ruin is well known.' The native workmen who found the inscribed stones generally gave them into the hands of the proper authorities; but there were some exceptions. One of the stones, a slab sawed off and broken in two, came temporarily into my own possession, and the inscription was eventually published by me in JAOS, as noted above. The stone is now in the Phoenician collection in the Louvre, bearing the number A.O. 4078. During my stay in Sidon, in November, 1900, and January-February, 1901, I came frequently in contact with a native of one of the suburban villages, named Beshara Gubrin. He was a man of considerable ability, a purveyor of small antiques, and an accomplished manufacturer of Phoenician inscriptions. He knew the letters of the Phoenician alphabet and some frequently occurring combinations of them; and he had served a' term in prison in punishment for a forgery which happened to be found out. Knowing my interest in the archeology of the land and especially in the newly discovered temple ruin, he made himself helpful. (I had visited the ruin in company with a brother of his