The Ahiram sarcophagus was the sarcophagus of a Phoenician king of Byblos c. 1000 BC, during the time of David and Solomon.
Discovered in 1923 in the royal necropolis of in Jbeil (Gebal), the historic Byblos. Ahiram is not attested in any other Ancient Oriental source, although some scholars have suggested a possible connection to the contemporary King Hiram mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.
The sarcophagus is famed for its Phoenician language inscription. One of five known Byblian royal inscriptions. The inscription is considered to be the earliest known example of the fully developed Phoenician alphabet.
The major scene on the sarcophagus represents a king seated on a throne carved with winged sphinxes. A priestess offers him a lotus flower. On the lid two male figures face one another with seated lions between them. These figures have been interpreted as representing the father and son of the inscription.
An inscription of 38 words is found on parts of the rim and the lid of the sarcophagus. It is written in the Old Phoenician dialect of Byblos and is the oldest witness to the Phoenician alphabet of considerable length discovered to date. The translation reads:
A coffin made it [Pil]sibaal, son of Ahiram, king of Byblos, for Ahiram, his father, lo, thus he put him in seclusion.
Now, if a king among kings and a governor among governors and a commander of an army should come up against Byblos; and when he then uncovers this coffin – (then:) may strip off the sceptre of his judiciary, may it be overturned, the throne of his kingdom, and peace and quiet may flee from Byblos. And as for him, one should cancel his registration concerning the libation tube of the memorial sacrifice.
Halfway down the burial shaft where the sarcophagus was found, another short inscription was incised at the southern wall. It had been first published as a warning to an excavator not to proceed further, but now is understood as part of some initiation ritual which remains unknown in detail. It reads:
Concerning knowledge: here and now be humble (you yourself!)
‹in› this basement!"
King Ahiram
Ahiram himself is not titled as a king either of Byblos nor of any other city state. It is said that he was succeeded by his son Ithobaal who is the first to be explicitly titled King of Byblos, but according to a new reconstruction of the writing the name of Ahiram's son is to be read [Pil]sibaal.
Other interesting findings surrounding the sarcophagus of Hiram include that the sarcophagus was found in the ancient Byblos necropolis consisting of nine subterranean royal tombs forming a semicircle, in a low hill. Two of the earliest tombs belonged to two rules of Byblos Abi-shemu and his son Ip-shemu-abi.
The custom of the era was to name a prince after his grandfather.
The figures on the sarcophagus lid are interpreted as father and son with the dead man holding a drooping flower in one hand and raising the other in a gesture of benediction toward the son, who holds a living, upright flower. Thus Ahiram's sarcophagus shows the earliest representation of a royal father and son in Western Asia.
The two figures on the lid each wear a long pleated robe with red stripes over which hangs an apron suspended from a belt. Fringe of medium length in which red alternated with another color which can no longer be determined, though one would assume that it was blue academics tell us.
Academics also tell us that crouching lions with extended bodies and heads on paws, such as those found on this sarcophagus, are not often seen in Western Asiatic art; they appear only in functions of support for a deity or for an object of great importance. It is not impossible that the presence of these lions under the sarcophagus of Ahiram and supporting it was meant to indicate that the king had partaken of superhuman status by his death.
Here are some tidbits of information for other characters of importance in the Masonic legends.
Solomon, King of Israel, was the son of Bath-sheba, a direct descendant of Ishmael, whom Hagar bore unto Abraham. David, through the house of Judah, was a direct descendant of Issac. Thus, the two great families founded by Abraham were united in Solomon.
Having been schooled under the greatest masters of the times, reared in one of the richest and most brilliant courts of the then known world, he was preeminently gifted for the stupendous task of building God's Temple.
The secret of Solomon's success is faithfully portrayed in his request at the time the Lord appeared to him in a dream, and asked what he (the Lord) should give him. Solomon's request was "for an understanding heart" that he might "discern between good and evil," that he might know how to walk before his people. This submission to God, this desire to have God make manifest through him the righteousness of God, was the first indication of his future greatness.
He gathered about him the wonders of Nature, both of animal and vegetable life, drew from them the secrets of their existence, and learned that God was made manifest in the heavens above and in the earth beneath, and that God was all and in all. He soon set about to fulfill the wishes of his father and to glorify the God of his dream by creating a Temple, monumental in desig. He took counsel with his wise men, held conference with his allies, and sought out master builders from all great nations. Thus equipped, he laid the foundation and carried to completion the Temple
Solomon having married a daughter of Egypt's king, and thus cemented his alliance with that powerful monarch, and having, at the same time, a workable trade pact with the Phoenicians, drew from these nations skilled workmen to assist his already well-trained and formidable force.
Hiram, King of Tyre, and Hiram the Master craftsman, the principal architect and engineer, was of mixed race. "He was a widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre." He was "skilled to work in gold and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson; also to grave any manner of graving, and to find out every device which shall be put to him.
In the Old Testament, there are three separate instances of people named Hiram that were involved in the construction of the temple of Solomon:
- Hiram, King of the realm of Tyre is credited in 2 Samuel 5:11 and 1 Kings 5:1-10 for having sent building materials and men for the original construction of the Temple in Jerusalem. In the Masonic drama, "Hiram, King of Tyre" is clearly distinguished from "Hiram Abiff". The former is clearly a king and the latter clearly a master craftsman.
- In 1 Kings 7:13–14, Hiram is described as the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali who was the son of a Tyrian bronze worker, sent for by Solomon to cast the bronze furnishings and ornate decorations for the new temple. From this reference, Freemasons often refer to Hiram (with the added Abiff) as "the widow's son." Hiram cast these bronzes in clay ground in the plain of the Jordan between Succoth and Zarethan/Zeredathah (1 Kings 7:46-47).
- 2 Chronicles 2:13-14 relates a formal request from King Solomon of Jerusalem to King Hiram I of Tyre, for workers and for materials to build a new temple. King Hiram responds "And now I have sent a skillful man, endowed with understanding, Ḥiram 'abi. (the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre), skilled to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood, purple and blue, fine linen and crimson, and to make any engraving and to accomplish any plan which may be given to him, with your skillful men and with the skillful men of my lord David your father."
There are many Hiram's during this time period. Each had a part in the work and completion of the Temple.
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