OCIANA
Online Corpus of the Inscriptions of Ancient North Arabia

U 003

Siglum
U 003
Alternative Sigla
Stiehl A 15; Al-Qudrah 1993: 19, no. 15; AH 054; D 108
Transliteration
ʾtm/bn/nfy/ʿ– bd/ʾẓll/h- ẓl– l/nḏr/bʿd/h- dr– t/f rḍ -h/w ----
Translation
ʾtm son of Nfy ʿ– bd performed the ẓl- l-ceremony [in fulfilment of] a vow for the sake of the productive lowlands and so favour him and ----

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus
TEXT Line 2. Abū l-Ḥasan: ʾṭll h- ṭll rather than ʾẓll h- ẓll. Line 4. All editors restore [s¹ʿd -h]. TRANSLATION Lines 1–2. Sima and Farès-Drappeau: ʿbd family name. Abū l-Ḥasan: restores as [bn] before ʿbd. Line 2. ʾẓll h- ẓll, Stiehl: '(he) took care of the awning'; Al-Qudrah: '(he) constructed an awning'; Sima: '(he) covered the subterranean water-cannel'; Farès-Drappeau: '(he) offered the sacrifice'. Line 3. h- drt, Stiehl followed by Al-Qudrah: 'this property'; Abū l-Ḥasan: 'the female camel'; bʿd h- drt; Sima: 'in the direction of the prepared field for irrigation'; nḏr bʿd h- drt, Farès-Drappeau: 'in expiation, on behalf of his abundant harvest'.
Commentary
The inscription is in relief. Lines 1–2: ʿbd is presumably part of a double name. Line 3. For the translation of nḏr as an adverbial accusative ‘in fulfilment of a vow’, see Sima 1999: 99. The word drt may well be a cognate of Arabic dārah 'a wide tract of land among the mountains, reckoned among productive lowlands' (Lane 1863-1893: 931c), which would describe much of the land in al-ʿUlā.

Provenance
Al-ʿUḏayb (Jabal ʿIkmah). The inscription is carved amongst a mass of others on one side of the huge rock which Stiehl (1971: 4) called ‘Block A’
Original Reading Credit
OCIANA
Original Translation Credit
OCIANA

Technique
In relief

Associated Inscriptions
It above U 004 and to the right of U 008

  • Abū ʾl-Ḥasan, Ḥ.ʿA.D. Qirāʾah li-kitābāt liḥyāniyyah min ǧabal ʿakmah bi-minṭaqat al-ʿulā. Al-Riyāḍ: Maktabat al-malik fahd al-waṭaniyyah, 1997. pp 166–167 Plate 8
  • Farès-Drappeau, S. Dédan et Liḥyān. Histoire des Arabes aux confins des pouvoirs perse et hellénistique (IVe–IIe s. avant l'ère chrétienne). (Travaux de la maison de l'Orient, 42). Lyon: Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée — Jean Pouilloux, 2005. pp 199
  • Sima, A. Die lihyanischen Inschriften von al-ʿUḏayb (Saudi-Arabien). (Epigraphische Forschungen auf der Arabischen Halbinsel, 1). Rahden/Westf.: Leidorf, 1999. p 6
  • Stiehl, R. Neue liḥyānische Inschriften aus al-ʿUḏaib I mit einem Nachtrag M. Höfners. Pages 3-40, 565-566, 569-594, pl. 1-45 in F. Altheim and R. Stiehl (eds), Christentum am Roten Meer. 1. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1971. pp 4, 22 Plate 20
  • Lane, E.W. An Arabic-English Lexicon, Derived from the Best and Most Copious Eastern Sources. (Volume 1 in 8 parts [all published]). London: Williams & Norgate, 1863-1893.
  • Al-Qudrah, Ḥ.M. Dirāsah muʿǧamiyyah li-ʾlfāẓ al-nuqūš al-liḥyāniyyah fī iṭār al-luġāt al-sāmiyyah al-ǧanūbiyyah. Unpublished MA Thesis, Epigraphy Section, Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, Yarmouk University, Irbid. 1993.
Site
The oasis of al-ʿUlā, Al-Madīnah Province, Saudi Arabia
Current Location
In situ
Subjects
Agriculture, Genealogy, Isolated Prayer, Religion, Topographic features
Script
Dadanitic
Old OCIANA ID
#0037643
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