Skip to main content

King Ashoka's bilingual inscription from Afghanistan

During the  reign of the Indian king Ashoka the Maurya Empire was vast.It stretched from Afghanistan and Pakistan ,covering almost all the Indian subcontinent and up to Bangladesh.

One of his edicts was a bilingual inscription in Greek and Aramaic carved in stone,dated 3rd century B.C.The inscription was discovered at Kandahar and is now lying in the National Museum of Afghanistan.



Greek text
    δέκα ἐτῶν πληρη[....]ων βασι[λ]εὺς
    Πιοδασσης εὐσέβεια[ν ἔδ]ε[ι]ξεν τοῖς ἀν- 
    θρώποις, καὶ ἀπὸ τούτου εὐσεβεστέρους 
    τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἐποίησεν καὶ πάντα 
    εὐθηνεῖ κατὰ πᾶσαν γῆν• καὶ ἀπέχεται 
    βασιλεὺς τῶν ἐμψύχων καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ δὲ 
    εἲ τινες ἀκρατεῖς πέπαυνται τῆς ἀκρα- 
    σίας κατὰ δύναμιν, καὶ ἐνήκοοι πατρὶ 
    καὶ μητρὶ καὶ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων παρὰ 
    τὰ πρότερον καὶ τοῦ λοιποῦ λῶιον 
    καὶ ἄμεινον κατὰ πάντα ταῦτα 
    ποιοῦντες διάξουσιν.
Aramaic text
שנן 10 פתיתו עביד זי מראן פרידארש מלכא קשיטא מהקשט
מן אדין זעיר מרעא לכלהם אנשן וכלהם אדושיא הובד
ובכל ארקא ראם שתי ואף זי זנה כמאכלא למראן מלכא זעיר
קטלן זנה למחזה כלהם אנשן אתהחסינן אזי נוניא אחדן
אלך אנשן פתיזבת כנם זי פרבסת הוין אלך אתהחסינן מן
פרבסתי והופתיסתי לאמוהי ולאבוהי ולמזישתיא אנסן
איך אסרהי חלקותא ולא איתי דינא לכלהם אנשיא חסין
זנה הותיר לכלהם אנשן ואוסף יהותר
Latin transcription
SHNN 10 PTITW EBID ZI MRAN PRIDARSH MLKA QSHIJA MHQSHJ
MN ADIN ZEIR MREA LKLHM ANSHN WKLHM ADWSHIA HWBD
WBKL ARQA RAM SHTI WAP ZI ZNH KMAKLA LMRAN MLKA ZEIR
QJLN ZNH LMXZH KLHM ANSHN ATHXSINN AZI NWNIA AXDN
ALK ANSHN PTIZBT KNM ZI PRBST HWIN ALK ATHXSINN MN
PRBSTI WHWPTISTI LAMWHI WLABWHI WLMZISHTIA ANSN
AIK ASRHI XLQWTA WLA AITI DINA LKLHM ANSHIA XSIN
ZNH HWTIR LKLHM ANSHN WAWSP IHWTR
English text
    Ten years (of reign) having been completed, King
    Piodasses (Ashoka) made known (the doctrine of)
    Piety (εὐσέβεια, Eusebeia) to men; and from this moment he has made
    men more pious, and everything thrives throughout
    the whole world. And the king abstains from (killing)
    living beings, and other men and those who (are)
    huntsmen and fishermen of the king have desisted
    from hunting. And if some (were) intemperate, they
    have ceased from their intemperance as was in their
    power; and obedient to their father and mother and to
    the elders, in opposition to the past also in the future,
    by so acting on every occasion, they will live better
    and more happily." (Trans. by G.P. Carratelli)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Add comnent

Popular posts from this blog

Hebrew Word of the Week: Mammon.

by Yona Sabar Mammon is not in the Bible, where other words are used, such ashon ve-’osher be-veto, “Wealth and riches are in his house” (of the righteous) (Psalms 112:3), but it is very common in (Aramaic),Targumim and rabbinic literature. It may come from ma’mon “trust, deposit.” In Christianity, however, Mammon* has been associated with covetousness of wealth, the seventh sin (Matthew 6:24: You cannot serve God and mammon). In modern Hebrew, mamon is quite common with regard to financial and property business, such as mimmen, “financed”; mimmun, “financing”; mamonay, “financier”; mamoni, “monetary”; anddine’ mamonot, “civil (property) laws.” *Some Hebrew-Aramaic names and nouns entered English (via Latin-Greek), from the New Testament, such as Thomas, “twin (brother)” and abba, “father.” Yona Sabar is a professor of Hebrew and Aramaic in the department of Near Eastern Languages & Cultures at UCLA. Article found here .
Post a Comment
Read more

What's your name in Aramaic.

What's your name in Aramaic. Ancient Aramaic ?מה שׁמך  שׁמי ישׁוע Mah shmakh? (m) What is your name?   ישוע שמי Shmi Yeshua My name is Jesus. מא שמיך ma shmikh (f) What's your name? when talking to a female. Classical Syriac ܡ݃ܗ ܫܡ݃ܟ Mah shmak? ܝܶܫܽܘܥ ܫܡܝ݈ yeshuwʿ shmy݈ My name is Jesus. Neo-Aramaic Sureth (Assyrian Neo-Aramaic) ܡܼܘܕܝܼ ܝܠܸܐ ܫܸܡܘܼܟ Mude le shimukh? What's your name? Other  ܡܢ ܫܡܐ ܕܠܟ  ܫܡܐ ܕܠ ܝܗ ܗܘ man shmo dlokh? Shmo dil Yshu’a haw What's your name? My name is Jesus. Back to short Aramaic lessons. Read also Greetings in Ancient Aramaic . Some Aramaic greetings .
Post a Comment
Read more

Jesus in Aramaic.

Jesus Christ, also known as Jesus of Nazareth, is believed by many scholars to have spoken Aramaic as his native language. Aramaic was a common language in the region of Galilee where Jesus grew up, and it was also used as a lingua franca throughout the Near East during the time of Jesus. There are several Aramaic words and phrases that are attributed to Jesus in the New Testament, such as "Talitha koum" (which means "Little girl, I say to you, get up!") and "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" (which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"). These phrases are evidence of Jesus' use of Aramaic. Additionally, some scholars believe that certain sayings of Jesus in the New Testament may have been originally spoken in Aramaic and later translated into Greek. For example, the saying "You cannot serve both God and money" (Matthew 6:24) is thought by some scholars to have originally been spoken in Aramaic as "You cannot serve both...
27 comments
Read more