Semitic Inscriptions

Semitic Inscriptions Sémitiques

This website is a database of ancient texts written in Semitic languages and inscribed on various media: tablets, potteries, manuscripts, etc. 
It grants direct access to all kinds of information about these inscriptions: their origin, their age, their script... And of course,  most importantly, the text itself, analyzed, translated, and annotated.

Our website uses fonts based on the Unicode standard, which is compatible with most recent systems (MacOS 10+ / Windows XP+ / Linux) as long as they run a good web browser; we highly recommend the free Firefox browser, since other browsers such as Internet Explorer display errors and don't handle a number of features. Moreover, some characters will not be correctly displayed on your screen if you don't have an appropriate Unicode font. Click here to see our recommendations.

Additional features (photographs, bibliographies, saving queries, instant messaging...) require registration: click here to register. Meanwhile, you can do the following:

• Search the database
• Display list of:
  • Inscriptions [GoogleEarth]

Latest Inscriptions

Reference	Photograph	Title	Language	Inscription's date	Discovery site	Literary genre
WSS 3		Seal of Shebanyaw, minister of Uzziah	Hebrew	-780 — -740	Israel	Administrative > Seal
WSS 2		Seal of Shema, minister of Jeroboam	Hebrew	-790 — -750	Israel > Megiddo > Court 1693	Administrative > Seal
4Q201		4QBook of Enocha	Aramaic	-200 — -150	Israel > Qumran > Cave 4	Religious > Apocryphon > Apocalyptic
Ketef Hinnom I		Priestly Benediction	Hebrew	-625 — -575	Israel > Jerusalem > Ketef Hinnom > Burial Chamber 25 > Square D	Religious > Prayer
Ketef Hinnom II		Priestly Benediction	Hebrew	-625 — -575	Israel > Jerusalem > Ketef Hinnom > Burial Chamber 25 > Square A	Religious > Prayer
RS 11.872		From the king to the queen-mother	Ugaritic		Ugarit > Ras Shamra	Correspondence
4Q207		4QBook of Enochf	Aramaic	-150 — -125	Israel > Qumran > Cave 4	Religious > Apocryphon > Apocalyptic