U 008

Siglum
U 008
Alternative Sigla
D 105, AH 056, Scagliarini 1994: 78–81, Al-Qudrah 1993: 18, no. 12, Déroche 1987: 242–243, Stiehl A 12, van den Branden 1969: 68–70, no. 31, Altheim & Stiehl 1968: 25–26, E
Transliteration
ʾbgr / bn / nfʿ / s¹m-
rbʿl / w ʾbʿl / ḏ-
ʿmr / bnyw / hn- ʾrb-
ʿw / f rḍ -hm / s¹nt / ʿ{s²}-
r / w s¹bʿ / b- rʾy / s¹lḥn
OCIANA
Translation
By Rʾy/s¹lḥn son of ʾbgr son of Nfʿ S¹m-
rbʿl and ʾbʿl of the lineage of
ʿmr built this sanctuary
and so favour them in the year
seventeen of the government of S¹lḥn
OCIANA
Language and Script
Dadanitic

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus
TEXT Line 1. Altheim and Stiehl followed by van den Branden: nʿm for nfʿ; Stiehl followed by Al-Qudrah and Scagliarini: nfy rather than nfʿ. Line 3. Abū l-Ḥasan does not read the y in the verb bnyw. Line 4. Altheim and Stiehl followed by van den Branden read ʿrḍ -hm for f rḍ -hm. TRANSLATION Line 2. ʾbʿl, Al-Qudra followed by Farès-Drappeau: 'lords'. Lines 3–4. hn-ʾrbʿw, Stiehl: 'temple buildings'; Déroche: 'channellings'; hn-ʾrbʿw ʿrḍ-hm, Altheim and Stiehl: 'their four valleys'; van den Branden 'the cisterns of their valley'; al-Qudra: 'the four corners of the sanctuary'; Abū l-Ḥasan: hn- read as hm 'they' (?) followed by 'four'; Sima: 'the above ground water channels' (p. 97). Line 5. Al-Qudrah reads ‘twenty-seven’ rather than ‘seventeen’. DISCUSSION Déroche1987: 203–204, 241. Macdonald 2004: 512, 522. Farès 2009: 189. Macdonald (in press): 13, 24.
Commentary
The inscription is in relief. Lines 3–4. ʾrbʿw. Given the geographical context of the inscriptions, most of the previous translations of the word hn-ʾrbʿw do not seem appropriate. Following the opinion of Farès-Drappeau (2005: 198), who interprets the word as 'cultic building', one could translate it as 'place of worship' or perhaps 'sanctuary', cf. Nehmé 2003.

Editio Princeps
OCIANA

Technique
In relief
Direction of Script
Horizontal line right to left

Associated Inscriptions
It is below U 007, to the right of U 014, and to the left of U 003

  • [AH] 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 170–173 Plate 8
  • 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 Unpublished MA Thesis, Epigraphy Section, Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, Yarmouk University, Irbid. 1993.
  • Altheim, F. & Stiehl, R. Die Araber in der Alten Welt. (5 volumes). Berlin: de Gruyter, 1964-1969.
  • Déroche, F. Recherches sur l'oasis de Dedan / al-Ula. Thèse de Doctorat: Études arabo-islamiques, Paris IV, 1987. [Unpublished], 1987.
  • Farès, S. Les femmes prêtresses dans les religions arabes préislamiques. Le cas des Liḥyanites. Pages 183-195 in F. Briquel-Chatonnet, S. Farès, B. Lion & C. Michel (eds), Femmes, cultures et sociétés dans les civilisations méditeranéennes et proche-orientales de l'Antiquité. (Topoi Supplément, 10). Paris: Gabalda. Lyon: Maison de l'Orient Meditérranée, 2009.
  • [D] 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 197–198 Plate XXVI
  • 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.
  • Macdonald, M.C.A. Towards a reassessment of the Ancient North Arabian alphabets used in the oasis of al-ʿUlā. Pages 1–19 in M.C.A. Macdonald (ed.), Languages, scripts and their uses in ancient North Arabia. (Supplement to volume 48 of the Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies). Oxford: Archaeopress, 2018.
  • Nehmé, L. Rbʿt et ʾrbʿnʾ en nabatéen: essai de clarification. Journal of Semitic Studies 48, 2003: 1-28.
  • [NAU] Scagliarini, F. Le iscrizioni liḥyānitiche dell'Oasi di al-ʿUlā. Dottorato di ricerca in semitistica: linguistica semitica, Universita' degli studi di Firenze, anni accademici 1992-1994 . [unpublished thesis]. 1994. pp 78–81
  • [U] Sima, A. Die lihyanischen Inschriften von al-ʿUḏayb (Saudi-Arabien). (Epigraphische Forschungen auf der Arabischen Halbinsel, 1). Rahden/Westf.: Leidorf, 1999. p 7 Plate 2b, 3a, 4a
  • [Stiehl A] 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, 19–21 Plate 17, 18
  • Van den Branden, A. Les inscriptions liḥyanites de R. Stiehl. Al-Machriq 63, 1969: 67-79.
Site
The oasis of al-ʿUlā, Al-Madīnah Province, Saudi Arabia
Current Location
In situ
Subjects
Building, Date (s¹nt), Genealogy, Isolated Prayer, Lineage, Religion, Structure
Old OCIANA ID
#0037696
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Updated 08 Jan, 2025 by OCIANA