Editing Pyrgi Tablets (section)

==Phoenician text==
The [[Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions|Phoenician inscriptions]] are known as [[Kanaanäische und Aramäische Inschriften|KAI]] 277. Following is a transcription with English translations.
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'''{{Transliteration|sem|lrbt lʻštrt}},'''

For the Lady, for [[Astarte]],

'''{{Transliteration|sem|ʼšr qdš ʼz, ʼš pʻl, wʼš ytn tbryʼ wlnš, mlk ʻl kyšryʼ}}'''

this is the holy place, which was made, and which was placed (by) Tiberius Velianas, king over Kasriye (= [[Caere|Caerites]]?),

'''{{Transliteration|sem|yrḥ zbḥ šmš, bmtnʼ bbt}}.'''

during the month of the sacrifice to the Sun, as an offering in the temple.<ref>Zamora, José Á. "Pyrgi Revisited: An Analysis of the Structure and Formulae of the Phoenician Text of Pyrgi" in 
Le lamine di Pyrgi: Nuovi studi sulle iscrizioni in etrusco e in fenicio nel cinquantenario della scoperta. Editors: Vincenzo Bellelli e Paolo Xella. 2015–2016. pp. 69–79 Sel Studi Epigrafici e Linguistici sul Vicino Oriente antico Nuova Serie: Ricerche storiche e filologiche sulle culture del Vicino Oriente e del Mediterraneo antico</ref>

''' {{Transliteration|sem|wbn tw, kʻštrt ʼrš bdy, lmlky šnt šlš ///, byrḥ krr, bym qbr ʼlm}}'''

And he built a chamber (or ''-bn TW'' = "Tiberius Velianas built (it)"),<ref>Zamora, José Á. "Pyrgi Revisited: An Analysis of the Structure and Formulae of the Phoenician Text of Pyrgi" in 
Le lamine di Pyrgi: Nuovi studi sulle iscrizioni in etrusco e in fenicio nel cinquantenario della scoperta. Editors: Vincenzo Bellelli e Paolo Xella. 2015–2016. p. 77. Sel Studi Epigrafici e Linguistici sul Vicino Oriente antico Nuova Serie: Ricerche storiche e filologiche sulle culture del Vicino Oriente e del Mediterraneo antico</ref> because Astarte requested (this) from him, year three "3" of his reign, in the month of Krr, on the day of the burial of the divinity.

'''{{Transliteration|sem|wšnt lmʼš ʼlm bbty šnt km h kkb m ʼl}}.'''

And (may) the years of the statue of the deity in her temple (be) years like (or "as numerous as") the stars.<ref>Transcription from Hildegard Temporini, Joseph Vogt, Wolfgang Haase. 1972. Aufsteig und Niedergang der Römischen Welt, vol. 2, part 25. P.201. Also, along with the original Phoenician letters, in Haarmann, Harald. 1996. Early Civilization and Literacy in Europe: An Inquiry into Cultural Continuity in the Mediterranean World. P.355</ref><ref>Schmitz, P. 1995 "The Phoenician Text from the Etruscan Sanctuary at Pyrgi." ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'' 15:562.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=(PDF) Pyrgi Revisited. An Analysis into the Structure and Formulae of Pyrgi’s Phoenician Text |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292989034_Pyrgi_Revisited_An_Analysis_into_the_Structure_and_Formulae_of_Pyrgi's_Phoenician_Text |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20230905133302/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292989034_Pyrgi_Revisited_An_Analysis_into_the_Structure_and_Formulae_of_Pyrgi's_Phoenician_Text |archive-date=2023-09-05 |access-date=2024-12-12 |website=ResearchGate |language=en}}</ref>

=== Translation variants ===
The [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]] text has long been known to be in a [[Semitic languages|Semitic]], more specifically a [[Canaanite languages|Canaanite language]] (specifically North Canaanite; South Canaanite dialects include [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], Moabite, and Edomite); hence there was no need for it to be "deciphered".  And while most of the inscription can certainly reliably be read, certain passages are philologically uncertain on account of perceived complications of syntax and the vocabulary employed in the inscription, and as such they have become the source of debate among both Semiticists and classicists.<ref>For a relatively recent analysis of the inscription and summary of the various scholarly interpretations, see [https://www.jstor.org/stable/604727 Schmitz, P. 1995 "The Phoenician Text from the Etruscan Sanctuary at Pyrgi." ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'' 15:559–575].</ref>

For example, other translations of the final line, besides that cited above, include: "And I made a duplicate of the statue of the goddess <Astarte> in her temple as do the Kakkabites [?Carthaginians]"; and "As for the red robe of the statues of the goddess <Astarte> in her temple, her/its red robe is like a those of the gods of the Kakkabites [Carthaginians]" (both of these from Krahmalkov's Phoenician-Punic Dictionary).<ref>Krahmalkov, C. R. ''Phoenician-Punic Dictionary'' Leuven, 2000. pp. 230, 475</ref> Further, In Schmidtz's 2016 treatment of the text, he reinterprets the string ''bmtnʼ bbt'' (translated above and commonly as "as an offering in the temple") as ''bmt n' bbt'' to mean "at the death of (the) Handsome (one) [=Adonis]."<ref>Schmidtz, Philip Ch. " ''Sempre Pyrgi'': A retraction and a Reassessment of the Phoenician Text" in ''Le lamine di Pyrgi: Nuovi studi sulle iscizione in etrusco e in fenicio nel cinquantenario della scoperta'' eds. Vincenzo Bellelli and Paolo Xella. Verona, 2016. pp. 33–43</ref>