Bodashtart

Bodashtart (also transliterated Bodʿaštort, meaning "from the hand of Astarte"; Phoenician: 𐤁𐤃𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤓𐤕) was a Phoenician ruler, who reigned as King of Sidon (c. 525 – c. 515 BC), the grandson of King Eshmunazar I, and a vassal of the Achaemenid Empire. He succeeded his cousin Eshmunazar II to the throne of Sidon, and scholars believe that he was succeeded by his son and proclaimed heir Yatonmilk.

Bodashtart was a prolific builder, and his name is attested on approximately thirty eponymous inscriptions discovered at the Temple of Eshmun and elsewhere in the hinterland of the city of Sidon, in present-day Lebanon. The earliest known inscription bearing Bodashtart’s name was excavated in Sidon in 1858 and subsequently donated to the Louvre. Dating to the first year of his accession to the throne of Sidon, it commemorates the construction of a temple dedicated to the goddess Astarte. The Temple of Eshmun podium inscriptions, uncovered between 1900 and 1922, are conventionally divided into two groups. The inscriptions of the first group, known as KAI 15, commemorate building activities at the sanctuary and attribute the works to Bodashtart. The second group, designated KAI 16, was carved on podium restoration blocks; these inscriptions credit both Bodashtart and his son Yatonmilk with the construction project and emphasise Yatonmilk’s legitimacy as heir. The most recently identified inscription as of 2020 was discovered in the 1970s on the bank of the Bostrenos River, not far from the Temple of Eshmun. It records the construction of water canals supplying the sanctuary and dates to the seventh year of Bodashtart’s reign.

Three of Bodashtart’s Temple of Eshmun inscriptions remain in situ; the others are housed in museums in Paris, Istanbul, and Beirut. Bodashtart is attested as having reigned for at least seven years, as indicated by the inscription discovered on the bank of the Bostrenos River. Beyond the evidence provided by his dedicatory inscriptions, little is known about his reign.