Al-Ǧawf Dum 1
Text Information
- Siglum
- Al-Ǧawf Dum 1
- Transliteration
-
s¹mʿ {l}- -h / ʿtrs¹m / w rḍw / m- ks²d
l whb{r}ḍw / h- qrt / f s¹mʿ l- -hAl-Jallad 2021d - Translation
-
May ʿtrs¹m and Rḍw from Chaldaea give ear to him
By/to {Whbrḍw], at this rock, so may they give ear to himAl-Jallad 2021d - Language and Script
- Dumaitic
Interpretation
- Apparatus Criticus
OCIANA 1: The first edition parsed the letters after Rḍw as mks²d and left it untranslated.
- Commentary
-
The inscription indicatest that the divine residence/cultic center of the Arabian god Ruḍaw was Chaldaea, ks²d. On the locations of the deities in Safaitic, see Al-Jallad 2022a: 59. For a full discussion of this text within its cultural context and an elaboration of its implications on the North Arabian divine pantheon, see Al-Jallad 2021d.
It is possible to read the l before the name Whbrḍw as the lām auctōris or as a dative preposition, in apposition to l-h 'to him' on the first line.
The inscription was said to have been found near the town of Sakākā. This provenance is credible since the rock looks like the dark varnished rock formations of the Al-Jawf province. However, according to Jérôme Norris, the inscription was not recorded during the seasons of the Saudi-French-Italian project at Dūmat al-Jandal, and is also not part of Al-Theeb's collection from the area. There is no photograph of it in Al-Muaikel's publications nor in Atlal or among Winnett's photographs.
- Editio Princeps
- Al-Jallad 2021d
- Technique
- Carved
- Direction of Script
- Parallel lines right to left
- Al-Jallad, A. “On the Origins of the God Ruḍaw and Some Remarks on the Pre-Islamic North Arabian Pantheon.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 31(3), 2021d: 559–71
- Al-Jallad, A. The religion and rituals of the nomads of pre-Islamic Arabia: A reconstruction based on the Safaitic inscriptions. (Ancient Languages and Civilizations, 1). Leiden: Brill, 2022a.
- Site
- Near Sakākā [?], Al-Ǧawf (Al-Jawf) Province, Saudi Arabia
- Current Location
- In situ
- Subjects
- Deity, Religion, Isolated Prayer, Topographic features, Outside peoples
- Old OCIANA ID
- #0051544