the longest and most detailed Phoenician inscription ever found anywhere up to that point, and is now the second longest extant Phoenician inscription after the Karatepe bilingual. French orientalist Jean-Joseph-Léandre Bargès wrote that the language of the inscription is "identical with Hebrew, except for the final inflections of a few words and certain expressions." The discovery of the Magharet Abloun hypogeum and of Eshmunazar II's sarcophagus caused a sensation in France, which led Napoleon III, then-emperor of France, to dispatch a scientific mission to Lebanon headed by Semitic philologist and biblical scholar Ernest Renan. Stylistic impact on local sarcophagi The sarcophagi of Tabnit and Eshmunazar probably served as a model for the later sarcophagi of Sidon. After Tabnit and Eshmunazar II, sarcophagi continued to be used by Phoenician dignitaries, but with marked stylistic evolutions. These local anthropoid sarcophagi, built from the 5th century BC to the first half of the 4th century BC, continued to be sculpted in the form of a smooth, shapeless body, but used white marble, and the faces were progressively sculpted in more realistic Hellenic styles. It is uncertain whether they were imported from Greece or produced locally. This type of Phoenician sarcophagi have been found throughout the Mediterranean in the ruins of Phoenician colonies. See also Temple of Eshmun - Ancient temple complex built by Eshmunazar II. Alexander Sarcophagus - Ancient sarcophagus discovered in the royal necropolis of Sidon. Lycian sarcophagus of Sidon - Ancient sarcophagus discovered in the royal necropolis of Sidon. Ford Collection sarcophagi - A collection of ancient anthropoid Phoenician sarcophagi unearthed in Sidon. Notes References Citations Sources Commerce correspondent External links 6th-century BC works 1855 archaeological discoveries Kings of Sidon Phoenician inscriptions KAI inscriptions Ancient Near East steles Sarcophagi Phoenician sarcophagi Archaeology of the Achaemenid Empire 1855 in the Ottoman Empire Phoenician alphabet Near East and Middle East antiquities of the Louvre France–Lebanon relations Archaeological artifacts