Overview
In 1996 the Tel Miqne-Ekron excavation found a limestone block with a five-line inscription in the destruction debris of Temple Complex 650, a large building (186 by 124 ft) in the elite zone of the lower city. The excavators attribute the destruction to the Babylonian sack of 603 BCE. Seymour Gitin, Trude Dothan and Joseph Naveh published it in Israel Exploration Journal 47 (1997) and summarized it for a general audience in Archaeology (1998).
The text records a temple built by 'kysh (Achish; in Assyrian, Ikausu), son of Padi, son of Ysd, son of Ada, son of Ya'ir, ruler of Ekron, for his lady, a goddess whose name is read Ptgyh. It asks her to bless him, protect him, prolong his days, and bless his land.
Because the inscription names both the city (Ekron) and two rulers known as kings of Ekron from Assyrian records, it settles that Tel Miqne is Ekron. In the same complex a storage jar was found inscribed 'for Baal and for Padi' (Archaeology 1998).
What the text says (summary)
The house that 'kysh son of Padi, son of Ysd, son of Ada, son of Ya'ir, ruler of Ekron, built for Ptgyh his lady. May she bless him and guard him and lengthen his days and bless his land.Literal translation (this encyclopedia) of the published transliteration (Gitin, Dothan and Naveh, IEJ 47, 1997). Compare the editors' English in Archaeology 51/1 (1998). No public-domain translation exists.
What the evidence shows
- Found in the Babylonian destruction debris of Temple Complex 650, a 186 x 124 ft structure in the elite zone of the lower tel (Gitin, Dothan and Naveh 1998).
- The text runs five lines, 72 letters by the editors' count in Archaeology (1998).
- It names the city Ekron ('qrn) and five generations of its rulers: 'kysh, Padi, Ysd, Ada, Ya'ir (same).
- Padi and Ikausu are named as kings of Ekron in Assyrian royal records. The other three rulers are otherwise unknown (same).
- A storage jar in a side room of the same temple complex is inscribed 'for Baal and for Padi' (same).
- The block is porous local limestone, the text is set in a drawn frame, and the engraver added the final he of the goddess's name above a word-divider, apparently as an afterthought (Demsky 1997, from autopsy at the Albright Institute and the Israel Museum).
Open questions
- The goddess's name. Naveh (IEJ 1997) read Ptgyh, marking the third letter as uncertain, and took it as a non-Semitic (Greek) name. Demsky (JANES 25, 1997), after examining the stone under different lighting, says the supposed small gimel is 'no more than a wedged shaped chip in the porous stone' and reads ptyh. Schaefer-Lichtenberger (1998) proposed Pythogaia (Gaia), and Press (BASOR 365, 2012) argues that identification lacks supporting evidence and rests on the idea of an Aegean 'Great Goddess', which he rejects.
- The king's name. The editors vocalize 'kysh as Achish, following the Bible, and give Ikausu from Assyrian texts. Naveh derives it from Achaios, 'Achaean/Greek'. Demsky prefers a link with Anchises (Iliad). Both are etymological proposals; the stone gives only the consonants 'kysh.
- Language. The editors note that a 7th-century Philistine city wrote in a dialect close to Phoenician. Demsky reads it as the local South Canaanite dialect, a forerunner of Nehemiah's 'Ashdodite'. The inscription does not show what language the early Philistines spoke.
Since 2024
- 2022Final excavation report on Temple Complex 650, the inscription's findspot, published as Tel Miqne 10/1 (Penn State University Press). [6]
- 2024-11Final report reviewed in BASOR 392 (Harris-Schober), which signals it is now part of the published record. [6]
Sources
- Gitin, S., Dothan, T. and Naveh, J. 1997. "A Royal Dedicatory Inscription from Ekron." Israel Exploration Journal 47(1-2): 1-16. link editio princeps
- Gitin, S., Dothan, T. and Naveh, J. 1998. "Ekron Identity Confirmed." Archaeology 51(1), January/February 1998. link excavation report
- Demsky, A. 1997. "The Name of the Goddess of Ekron: A New Reading." Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society 25: 1-5. link study
- Press, M. D. 2012. "(Pytho)Gaia in Myth and Legend: The Goddess of the Ekron Inscription Revisited." Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 365: 1-25. doi:10.5615/bullamerschoorie.365.0001 link study
- "Royal Temple Inscription Found at Philistine Ekron." The Biblical Archaeologist 59(3) (1996): 181-182. doi:10.2307/3210552 link study
- Gitin, S. 2022. Tel Miqne 10/1: Tel Miqne-Ekron Excavations 1994-1996, Field IV Upper and Field V, The Elite Zone, Part 1: Iron Age IIC Temple Complex 650. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. link excavation report
Corrected from the earlier edition of this page
- The inscription is sometimes said to name 'Achish king of Gath' from 1 Samuel. The stone names 'kysh as ruler of Ekron, son of Padi, in the 7th century BCE. The biblical Achish ruled Gath about three centuries earlier.
- It is often called 'Philistine language'. The dialect is close to Phoenician (the editors) or local South Canaanite (Demsky 1997). It does not preserve the early Philistines' own non-Semitic language.
- The goddess's name is sometimes given as a settled 'Ptgyh = Pythogaia'. The third letter is contested (Demsky 1997 reads ptyh), and the Gaia identification is disputed (Press 2012).
- Some online references give IEJ 47: 1-18. Demsky's 1997 footnote gives 1-16.
Checked against new publications through 2026-09.