In contrast to the Punic world, where painted or engraved ostrich eggs were popular funerary offerings, only a few Levantine examples are known, despite the prestige they had always enjoyed as hunting trophies (cat. 560). As in the Mesopotamian Ur, these eggs were occasionally processed into luxurious vessels or placed in fine chalices, as a find in the Phoenician temple of Kition (Cyprus) suggests. This intact egg belongs to a small group, one of which, in a private collection, was clearly dedicated to the Baal of Byblos. The decorations (palmette, Sacred Tree, papyrus and the symbol of the goddess Tanit) are part of the iconographic repertoire of the Phoenician West, while the inscription Šlh, 'the calm' (a divine epithet?) indicates an eastern environment. Palaeographically, a date of the 7th century cannot be excluded, but the stylistic characteristics argue for a later date. In any case, this object is of historical importance as one of the rare evidence of a return trade from the West to Phoenicia homeland. E.G.