L’inscription en araméen christo-palestinien de Shelomi

A short and damaged dedicatory inscription in Christian Palestinian Aramaic was discovered on a mosaic during the last season of excavation (1978) at Shelomi in Western Galilea some 2 km south of the Lebanese border. The dating is to the year 780 of the era of Tyre, i.e. AD 654, to the third phase of occupation of the building – a farm estate owned by a monastery. An additional Greek inscription dates from the year 736, i.e. AD 610, the second phase of construction, destroyed by the Persians and their local allies in AD 614-617. The inscription’s importance is accordingly clear, not only for the attestation of this type of Aramaic in Galilee, but also for dating the Byzantine pottery and the history of the site.