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Eshmunazar I (
Phoenician: 𐤀𐤔𐤌𐤍𐤏𐤆𐤓 ʾšmnʿzr, a
theophoric name meaning '
Eshmun helps') was a priest of
Astarte and the
PhoenicianKing of Sidon (
r. c. 575 – c. 550 BC). He was the founder of his namesake dynasty, and a vassal king of the
Achaemenid Empire. Eshmunazar participated in the
Neo-Babylonian campaigns against Egypt under the command of either
Nebuchadnezzar II or
Nabonidus. The Sidonian king is mentioned in the funerary inscriptions engraved on the royal sarcophagi of his son
Tabnit I and his grandson
Eshmunazar II. The monarch's name is also attested in the dedicatory temple inscriptions of his other grandson, King
Bodashtart.
The absolute chronology of the
Kings of Sidon from the dynasty of Eshmunazar I has been much discussed in the literature; traditionally placed in the course of the fifth century BC, inscriptions of this dynasty have been dated back to an earlier period on the basis of
numismatic, historical and archaeological evidence. The most complete work addressing the dates of the reigns of these Sidonian kings is by the French historian
Josette Elayi who shifted away from the use of
biblical chronology. Elayi used extant documentation, including inscribed
Tyrianseals and
stamps excavated by the Lebanese archaeologist
Maurice Chehab in 1972 from Jal el-Bahr, a neighborhood in the north of Tyre,[3][4][5][6][7] Phoenician inscriptions discovered by the French archaeologist
Maurice Dunand in Sidon in 1965,[8] and the systematic study of Sidonian coins.[note 1][9][10] According to her work Eshmunazar reigned from
c. 575 BC to c. 550 BC.[11][12][13]
In 705, the Sidonian king
Luli joined forces with the
Egyptians and
Judah in an unsuccessful rebellion against Assyrian rule,[15][16] but was forced to flee to
Kition with the arrival of the Assyrian army headed by
Sennacherib. Sennacherib instated
Ittobaal on the throne of Sidon, and reimposed the annual
tribute.[17] When
Abdi-Milkutti ascended to Sidon's throne in 680 BC, he also rebelled against the Assyrians. In response, the Assyrian king
Esarhaddon captured and beheaded Abdi-Milkutti in 677 BC after a three-year siege; Sidon was stripped of its territory, which was awarded to
Baal I, the king of rival Tyre and loyal
vassal to Esarhaddon.[18]
Sidon returned to its former prosperity, while Tyre was besieged for 13 years (586–573 BC) by the
Chaldean king
Nebuchadnezzar II.[19] After the
Achaemenid conquest in 529 BC, Phoenicia was divided into four vassal kingdoms: Sidon, Tyre,
Byblos and
Arwad.[20] Eshmunazar I, a priest of Astarte and the founder of his namesake dynasty, became king around the time of the Achaemenid conquest of the
Levant.[21][22]
Reign
Little is known about Eshmunazar I's reign. According to Elayi, Eshmunazar was a usurper since, unlike the customs of the Phoenician royalty, the name of his father is not mentioned in any of the royal inscriptions.[23] Eshmunazar participated in the
Neo-Babylonian campaigns against Egypt under the command of either
Nebuchadnezzar II or
Nabonidus.[23] The Sidonian king seized Egyptian stone sarcophagi belonging to members of the Egyptian elite; three of these sarcophagi were unearthed in the royal necropolis of Sidon.[24][25][26][27]
Epigraphic mentions
Eshmunazar I is mentioned in the funerary inscriptions engraved on the royal sarcophagi of his son
Tabnit and his grandson
Eshmunazar II.[28][29] The monarch's name is also attested in the dedicatory temple inscriptions of his other grandson, King
Bodashtart.[30]
Genealogy
Eshmunazar I was the founder of his namesake dynasty; his heir was his son
Tabnit, who fathered Eshmunazar II from his sister
Amoashtart.[31]
Chéhab, Maurice (1983). "Découvertes phéniciennes au Liban" [Phoenician discoveries in Lebanon]. Atti del I congresso internazionale di studi Fenici e Punici [Proceedings of the first International Congress of Phoenician and Punic studies] (in French).
Dunand, Maurice (1965). "Nouvelles inscriptions phéniciennes du temple d'Echmoun, près Sidon" [New Phoenician inscriptions from the temple of Echmoun, near Sidon]. Bulletin du Musée de Beyrouth (in French). 18. Ministère de la Culture – Direction Générale des Antiquités (Liban): 105–109.
Jean, Charles François (1947).
"L'étude du milieu biblique" [The study of the biblical environment]. Nouvelle Revue Théologique (in French): 245–270. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
Kaoukabani, Ibrahim (2005).
"Les estampilles phénicienne de Tyr" [The Phoenician stamps of Tyre] (PDF). Archaeology & History in the Lebanon (in French) (21). AHL: 3–79 – via Archaeology & History in Lebanon.
Versluys, Miguel John (2010). "Understanding Egypt In Egypt And Beyond". In Bricault, Laurent (ed.). Isis on the Nile. Egyptian Gods in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt - Proceedings of the IVth International Conference of Isis Studies, Liège, November 27–29, 2008 : Michel Malaise in honorem. Religions in the Graeco-Roman world, 171. Leiden:
Brill. pp. 7–36.
doi:
10.1163/EJ.9789004188822.I-364.10.
ISBN9789004210868.
S2CID56027286.
Xella, Paolo; López, José-Ángel Zamora (2005b). "Nouveaux documents phéniciens du sanctuaire d'Eshmoun à Bustan esh-Sheikh (Sidon)" [New Phoenician documents from the sanctuary of Eshmun in Bustan esh-Sheikh (Sidon)]. In Arruda, A. M. (ed.). Atti del VI congresso internazionale di studi Fenici e Punici [Proceedings of the 6th International Congress of Phoenician and Punic studies] (in French). Lisbon.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)