C 97, 96

Siglum
C 97, 96
Alternative Sigla
Dunand 1383 d, Dunand 1383 e
Transliteration
l nmr bn s¹ʿd bn s¹bʿʾl bn ḥyn bn {ʾ}ḫwf [[]][[]] [[]][[]] bn flṭ bn ʾs¹d bn bwk bn ʿrs¹ bn ʿwḏ bn whbʾl w wgm ʿl- ḥbb w ʿl- ḥbb w ʿl- ḥbb w ḥbb w ḥbb w drg l- h- ʿky f ʾs²rq b- h- ʾbl w ts²wq f h lt s¹lm w h ʾlt ʾs¹s¹ nqʾt l- ḏ yʿwr h- s¹fr
OCIANA
Translation
By Nmr son of S¹ʿd son of S¹bʿʾl son of Ḥyn son of {ʾḫwf} [[]][[]] [[]][[]] son of Flṭ son of ʾs¹d son of Bwk son of ʿrs¹ son of Whbʾl and he grieved for [one] friend and for [another] friend, and for [another] friend, and [another] friend, and [another] friend, and they succumbed to a strong fever; then he migrated to the inner desert with the camels and felt much longing, so, O Lt, may he be secure, and O goddess of ʾs¹s¹, may he who would efface this inscription be thrown out of his grave.
OCIANA
Language and Script
Safaitic

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus
C read this as two separate inscriptions (C 96 and 97): TEXT C 96: l nʿm bn flṭ bn ʾ{ʾ}{s¹}d bn bwk bn ʿrs¹ bnʿwḏ bn whbʾl- w wʿm ʿl ḥbb w ʿl- ḥbb w ʿl- ḥbb C 97: l mr bn s¹ʿd bn s¹bʿʾl bn ḥyn bn ʾḫw(f) w ḥbb w ḥbb w rʿ{y} h- ʿky f ʾs²rq b- h- ʾbl w ts²wq f h lt <> s¹lm w h ʾlt w ʾs¹s¹ nqʾt l- ḏ ʿwr h s¹fr TRANSLATION C 96: ‘and greetings for Ḥbb and for Ḥbb and for Ḥbb’ C 97: ‘and he pastured the sheep. And he migrated towards the east with the camels. And he was filled with longing. And, O Lt safety. And, O ʾlt, punish him who may destroy the inscription’
Commentary
Dunand's copy, from which C was working, does not show accurately the relative positions of the inscriptions on this rock and so there was no way that the editor of C could have realised that C 97 and 96 were one text. However, on Robert Hoyland's photograph, shown here, it is clear that 96 is the continuation of 97 and that there has been an attempt to erase the words bn ʿm between {ʾ}ḫwf and bn flṭ. Parts of this genealogy can be found in a number of other inscriptions (C 97+96, 1534, 2025, 2732, 2779, 2787, 4959, LP 697, 713, 1156, KRS 201, 260) and it is clear from all these that the pivotal point in this lineage is formed by bwk bn ʿrs¹. All the genealogies go back to this point and only one (SSWS 200) takes it further back, to ʿwḏ bn gnʾl bn ʿly. This shows that the lineage is part of the ʾl ʿwḏ , one of the two large lineage groups known from the Safaitic inscriptions, both of which take their genealogy back to whbʾl. It is particularly interesting that C 97+96 telescopes the generations between the pivotal point and the ultimate ‘ancestor’ by ending the genealogy with bwk bn ʿrs¹ bn ʿwḏ bn whbʾl (cf. KRS 260 where the author ends his genealogy with bwk bn ʿrs¹ bn whbʾl ) It is also interesting the author of C 97+96 appears to have carved bn ʿm in the wrong place in the genealogy. He placed it after ʾḫwf whereas C 2025 would suggest that its correct position was before ʾḫwf. It is therefore possible that the author himself erased it. One final note on the genealogy: the names ʾs¹d and ʾʾs¹d, and flṭ and ʾflṭ occur consistently in different strands of the genealogy, and it is clear that the shorter forms are not errors for the longer ones. For the translation of w drg l- h- ·ky see Al-Jallad 2015: 228, 302, 310, which was written before the study of the photograph showed that C 97 and 96 were one inscription. ʾlt ʾs¹s¹ is the tutelary goddess of Usays, the ancient and mediaeval name of Jabal Says where this inscription was found. The place name ʾs¹s¹ recurs in C 22 and the deity ʾlt ʾs¹s¹ in C 101. See MISS 466-467, and 474–475 on these tutelary deities of places.

Editio Princeps
OCIANA

Technique
Scratched & incised
Direction of Script
Boustrophedon (starting from right)

Associated Inscriptions
C 93-95 C 98-100 (C 101?)

  • Al-Jallad, A. An Outline of the Grammar of the Safaitic Inscriptions. (Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics, 80). Leiden: Brill, 2015.
  • [SSWS] Al-Ṣuwayrikī [Al-Sweerky], M.ʿA. Dirāsat nuqūš ṣafawiyyah ǧadīdah min šamāl wādī sārah fī šamāl al-urdun. Unpublished MA thesis, Yarmouk University. 1999.
  • [KRS] Inscriptions recorded by Geraldine King on the Basalt Desert Rescue Survey in north-eastern Jordan in 1989 and published here
  • [LP] Littmann, E. Safaïtic Inscriptions. Syria. Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expeditions to Syria in 1904–1905 and 1909. Division IV. Section C. Leiden: Brill, 1943.
  • [MISS] Macdonald, M.C.A., Al Muʾazzin, M. & Nehmé, L. Les inscriptions safaïtiques de Syrie, cent quarante ans après leur découverte. Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions & Belles-Lettres 1996: 435-494.
  • [C] Ryckmans, G. Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum: Pars Quinta, Inscriptiones Saracenicae Continens: Tomus I, Fasciculus I, Inscriptiones Safaiticae. Paris: E Reipublicae Typographeo, 1950–1951. No. 97+96
Site
Ǧabal Says, Jordan
Current Location
In situ
Subject
Genealogy
Old OCIANA ID
#0003302
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Updated 16 Sep, 2024 by OCIANA