Recent Excavations at Carthage. 211 greater part of the inscriptions found at Carthage. 4 The portions which imme- diately follow it are in all of them different, being various groups of letters separated by the words p (ben) or ro (bet), son or daughter, and therefore giving the names and descent of the persons for whom the inscriptions were executed. With regard to reading these groups, there is generally little difficulty where the letters are clear or uninjured. Like most proper names of Semitic origin, they are composed of the names of various deities, with a prefix or suffix signifying dependance or respect, principally the prefix Abd or Bod (servant). Names derived from Melcarth, the Tyrian Hercules, are very common, as we might naturally expect would be the case in a colony of Tyre : we thus find verv frequently Abdmilcart and Bodmilcart ; and occasionally Milcartcheles and Amtmilcart. Names derived from Astort or Ashtoreth, the Syrian name for tin- Great Goddess, are likewise common, such are Amtastorl, Bodastort, Gadastort, Gerastort, Astortjitten. We also find Esmun, the Phoenician .Esculapius, whom we know to have had a temple on the Byrsa at Carthage, in the names Bodesmun, Abdesmun, Esmunjitten, Esmunshamar. The name of Baal also frequently occurs : thus we have Baaljitten, Baalhanna, Baalazcr, Merbal, Abdnibal, Hanabal, Azerbal, Metenbal. Singularly enough, names compounded with Tanith, the goddess to whom these inscriptions are dedicated, are ex- tremely rare ; among those received from Mr. Davis it seems to occur only once, viz. Abdtanith. Among other names we find very commonly Magon, llanno, Hamilcat, Abda, and Aris. Among the names which I have mentioned above, and which include, 1 believe, the greater part of those found in the inscriptions, we can easily recognise some familiar to us in Punic or Phoenician history, such as Hannibal, Bomilcar, Bodostor or Bostor, Hamilcar, b Asdrubal, Hanno, and Magon, which recall to us the great actors in the Punic wars ; and also Merbal, Gerostratus, Baleazar, Abdaeus, and Abdastartus, whose names are met with among the kings of Tyre, &c. The inscriptions usually mention three generations, and occa- sionally four, but none go further. Of the tablets engraved above, No. 1 records the vow of a female, Amtmilcart, daughter of - ; No. 2, the vow oi Arisem, son of Abdmilcart.
- It should be stated that on one of the tablets sent to England by Mr. Davis, the first six words of the
formula are wanting, the whole inscription reading, " The vow of Aris;" but, as above it is a representation of Tanith, it evidently belongs to the same category as the others. It will also be observed that in tablet No. 1 a letter y is inserted between 3 and j, probably by a blunder of the sculptor, who seems to have com- menced writing ^3. b This is, no doubt, the same as the Hamilcat of the inscriptions, which would answer to the 'A/j/Xras of the Greeks, the form 'A/jixap occurring in Appian only. The derivation from Melcarth suggested by Gesenius seems doubtful. 2E 2
