# The Idalion bilingual (British Museum 125320)

> 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.…

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/artifacts/ART0DEDXPWMMPP4/the-idalion-bilingual-british-museum-125320  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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[Mysteries](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries)[Eteocretan and Eteocypriot](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot)[Artifacts](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot#artifacts)The Idalion bilingual (British Museum 125320)

**ART** 0DEDXPWMMPP4·Artifact · inscription

# The Idalion bilingual (British Museum 125320)

InscriptionPublic domain388 BC

[Cite]

**Not kept here.** This copy isn't ours to show. [See it where it's published](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Idalion_bilingual_and_the_decipherment_of_the_the_Cypriot_syllabary.jpg).

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 plate** George Smith · commons.wikimedia.org · 1871 · Public domain (author died 1876)Primary source: [Idalion bilingual](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDRXT4FH18/idalion-bilingual)1 step from the original

[Where it's published](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Idalion_bilingual_and_the_decipherment_of_the_the_Cypriot_syllabary.jpg)

## Where it is kept

[British Museum, London](https://mysteriesdept.com/records/PLC0DEDSY100SDN/british-museum-london) · Museum

## Sources 2

- [Cypriot syllabary](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDRYKCEMND/cypriot-syllabary)_SRC_
- [Idalion bilingual](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDRXT4FH18/idalion-bilingual)_SRC_

## Cite it

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

Key

**ART** 0DEDXPWMMPP4

Kind

Inscription

Held by

British Museum

Dated

388 BC

Licence

Public domain (author died 1876)

Place

[British Museum, London](https://mysteriesdept.com/records/PLC0DEDSY100SDN/british-museum-london)

Part of

[Eteocretan and Eteocypriot](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot)

The record

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[JSON](https://mysteriesdept.com/api/v1/records/ART0DEDXPWMMPP4)