OCIANA
Online Corpus of the Inscriptions of Ancient North Arabia

U 071

Siglum
U 071
Alternative Sigla
Stiehl D 02; Al-Qudrah 1993: 25, no. 35; AH 098; D 126
Transliteration
ʿbdʾs¹/bn/ḥ– nlh/ʾgw/h- ẓl– l/b- khl/ʿl{y}- ml -h[/]b- b{d}[r] w b-<<>>blḥ f rḍ [-h]/w ----
Translation
ʿbdʾs¹ son of Ḥ– nlh organized the ẓll- ceremony at Khl {for} what belongs to him in {Bdr} and in Blḥ and so favour {him} and ----

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus
TEXT Line 1. Sima mistook the left-hand section of the d of ʿbd for a word-divider but it is clear from the photograph that it is part of the d and that word-dividers in this text are a great deal longer. Lines 2–3. Abū l-Ḥasan: h -ṭll for h -ẓll. Line 4. Abū l-Ḥasan: b- bn[ʾl] rather than b- b{d}[r]. Line 5. Stiehl followed by Al-Qudrah and Farès-Drappeau: w b- s²lbḥ for w b blḥ (see the commentary); Line 6. Stiehl followed by al-Qudra, Sima and Farès-Drappeau confidently reads w ʾḫrt -h, and Abū l-Ḥasan reads ʾḫrt -h at the end of this line. However, it is impossible to see these letters on the photograph and Abū l-Ḥasan's copy has only confused shapes at this point. TRANSLATION Line 2. ʾgw, Abū l-Ḥasan: '(he) offered'. Lines 2–3. ʾgw h- ẓll, Stiehl does not translate the verb ʾgw, but ʾẓll 'the awning'; Al-Qudrah: '(he) offered the awning'; Sima: '(he) cleared out the subterranean water-channel'; Farès-Drappeau: '(he) dedicated the offering'. Line 3. b- khl, Stiehl followed by Sima: 'by his abilities'; Al-Qudrah: 'professionally'; Abū l-Ḥasan: 'in the month Khl'. DISCUSSION Macdonald 2004: 512 §4.2.2.2 (9); 514 §4.2.3.2 (14). Hidalgo-Chacón Díez 2014: 15–17, 20–22, for the place names B{d}[r] Blḥ and Khl.
Commentary
The inscription is surrounded by a rectangular cartouche. There is a shallow chip in the rock face which may have resulted in the loss of the ends of lines 3–5. Line 3. The h of khl has a very strange shape. Line 4. There is no word-divider between ml -h and b-. The end of this line is damaged with the loss of the circle of the d (if that is what the letter is) and the whole of the r and anything (e.g. a word-divider and possibly a letter) that may have followed it. Line 5. The presence of a word-divider after the second letter is bizarre. Stiehl followed by Al-Qudrah and Farès-Drappeau: w b- s²lbḥ for w b blḥ. However, both the photograph and Abū l-Ḥasan's copy show that the sign between the two bs is a word-divider not a s². The reading w b- blḥ (as here) in which the word-divider is ignored and blḥ is taken as another place name is not entirely satisfactory, but it is difficult to suggest an alternative. Sima reads blḥ but suggests that the final letter could be a ṣ rather than a ḥ, but comparison with the ḥ at the end of line 1, and the presence of blḥ in U 072 where the photograph is clearer, suggest that ḥ is the better reading.

Provenance
Al-ʿUḏayb (Jabal ʿIkmah). The inscription is chiselled on a rock inside the gorge
Original Reading Credit
OCIANA
Original Translation Credit
OCIANA

Technique
Incised

Associated Signs
Cartouche
Associated Inscriptions
It is to the right of AH 096 and to the left of AH 099

  • 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 250–252 Plate 12
  • 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 208
  • Sima, A. Die lihyanischen Inschriften von al-ʿUḏayb (Saudi-Arabien). (Epigraphische Forschungen auf der Arabischen Halbinsel, 1). Rahden/Westf.: Leidorf, 1999. pp 23
  • 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 31 Plate 35
  • 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.
  • Macdonald, M.C.A. Ancient North Arabian. Pages 488-533 in R.D. Woodard (ed.), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
  • Hidalgo-Chacón Díez, M. del C. Place names in the Dadanitic inscriptions of al-ʿUḏayb. Adumatu 30, 2014: 15-30
Site
The oasis of al-ʿUlā, Al-Madīnah Province, Saudi Arabia
Current Location
In situ
Subjects
Genealogy, Isolated Prayer, Place-name, Religion
Script
Dadanitic
Old OCIANA ID
#0037651
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