The Idalion bilingual (British Museum 125320)

Not kept here. This copy isn't ours to show. See it where it's published.

A statue base of 388 BC from the temple at Idalion (Dali), found by Robert Hamilton Lang in 1869, inscribed in Phoenician and in Cypriot syllabic Greek. George Smith used the Phoenician to read the syllabary in 1871, and Birch, Brandis, Schmidt, Deecke, Siegismund and Ahrens completed the decipherment by 1876. It is the related, translated artifact: the key that opened the Cypriot syllabary for Greek and leaves the Eteocypriot texts sounded but unread.

George Smith. Public domain

Copies 1

George smith's 1871 plateGeorge Smith · commons.wikimedia.org · 1871 · Public domain (author died 1876)Primary source: Idalion bilingual1 step from the original

Where it's published

Where it is kept

British Museum, London · Museum

Sources 2

Cypriot syllabarySRC
Idalion bilingualSRC

Cite it

Mysteries Department. (2026). The Idalion bilingual (British Museum 125320) [Artifact ART0DEDXPWMMPP4]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ART0DEDXPWMMPP4

@misc{mysteriesdept_art0dedxpwmmpp4,
  title     = {The Idalion bilingual (British Museum 125320)},
  author    = {{Mysteries Department}},
  year      = {2026},
  note      = {Artifact, catalog key ART0DEDXPWMMPP4},
  url       = {https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ART0DEDXPWMMPP4}
}