Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Baal Lebanon inscription" in English language version.
In contrast, other scholars have argued that Phoenician colonies may have been governed by the mother city, at least during the earliest colonial period. The position is based on the interpretation of KAI 31, an 8th century BCE inscription found in Cyprus. The text records: 'סכן קרתחדשת עבד חרם מלך צדנם' 'Governor of the New City, servant of Hiram, the King of the Sidonians.' From this inscription, therefore, it is possible to argue that the Tyrian King possessed a regular system of colonial administration that centered on the presence of a designated Soken/Governor. It must be noted that KAI 31 is the only inscription of this type. No similar inscription has been found in the Phoenician colonies in the western Mediterranean. Because Cyprus was the most proximate colonial sphere to the Phoenicia, it is possible that Phoenician polities exercised forms of direct administration in Cyprus that were not possible in more distant colonial foundations.