Discover Top Posts Tagged with #cippi

The Cippi of Malta, two 2nd-century BC marble pillars with bilingual Phoenician and Greek inscriptions, are reunited for the first time since their display at the Louvre Abu Dhabi! The Cippi are now back together and on display at the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta. This historic exhibition runs until 31st March 2025.

These iconic pillars are not just ancient artifacts, they feature inscriptions that played a crucial role in deciphering the Phoenician script by Jean-Jacques Barthélemy in 1758. One of the Cippi was gifted to France in 1782 by Grand Master de Rohan, where it has since been housed at the Louvre, while its twin remained in Valletta.

📸 DOI - Pierre Sammut

#mymalta #malta #cippi #valletta

Cippi of Melqart

Malta

2nd century BCE

1.05 M high

The Cippi of Melqart is the collective name for two Phoenician marble cippi that were unearthed in Malta under undocumented circumstances and dated to the 2nd century BC. These are votive offerings to the god Melqart, and are inscribed in two languages, Ancient Greek and Phoenician, and in the two corresponding scripts, the Greek and the Phoenician alphabet. They were discovered in the late 17th century, and the identification of their inscription in a letter dated 1694 made them the first Phoenician writing to be identified and published in modern times.