JSLih 049

Siglum
JSLih 049
Alternative Sigla
D 045, Scagliarini 1994: 198–209, no. 15, Al-Qudrah 1993: 32–33, no. 79, Winnett 1989: 173–174, Déroche 1987: 115–117, Drewes 1983: 428, no. 14, JaL 077, CLL 009, Grimme 1937: 299–300, Lidzbarski 1915: 271–272, Jaussen & Savignac 1911
Transliteration
ʿbdwd
ʾfkl / w-
d / w bn -h
s¹lm / w z-
dwd / hw-
dqw / h- ġ-
lm / s¹lm / h-
[m]ṯlt / l-
ḏġbt
f rḍy -h
m----
OCIANA
Translation
By W son of -h ʿbdwd
priest of W-
d and his two sons
S¹lm and Z-
dwd offered
the slave-
boy S¹lm {as
the substitute} to
Ḏġbt
and so may he favour
them ----
OCIANA
Language and Script
Dadanitic

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus
TEXT Line 8. Jaussen & Savignac: [m]ṣlt for [m]ṯlt; Lidzbarski: ṣlt rather than [m]ṯlt; Déroche: [m]ṭlt rather than [m]ṯlt. Line 9. Jaussen & Savignac followed by Lidzbarski and Grimme: rṭy for rḍy. Line 11. Grimme followed by Caskel and Al-Qudrah: [m] s¹ʿd hm rather than m----. Winnett followed by Jamme reads two more line (11-13): [m w s¹ʿd -hm w ʾḫrt -hm]. TRANSLATION Lines 6–7. h- ġlm, Jaussen & Savignac: 'the young man'; Jamme: 'Haġulām'; Winnett followed by Scagliarini: 'the boy'. Line 8. [m]ṯlt, Grimme: 'to punishment (death)'; Caskel: 'the slave for they three'; Jamme: 'as the advanced payment for the representations'; Winnett does not translate this word; Al-Qudrah: 'the triple (with immolation)'; Scagliarini 'as symbol (image)'; Farès-Drappeau: '(in the shape) of a statue'. Line 9. Caskel: 'two life-spans'. DISCUSSION Déroche 1987: 238. Macdonald 2004: 512 (10), 515. Farès 2009: 187-188. Macdonald 2018: 13, n. 22. Hidalgo-Chacón Díez 2016: 128, for the divine name Ḏġbt.
Commentary
The inscription is carved on a sandstone stela. This is a very interesting text which records that a priest of the Minaean god Wd and his two sons made an offering to Ḏġbt, the chief god of the kingdom of Liḥyān at al-ʿUlā. See AH 199 for an example of a priestess of Wd and her husband performing the ẓll-ceremony for Ḏġbt. The fact that the young slave boy who is offered here has the same name as the first-mentioned (and so presumably the elder) son of the priest, suggests that there may have been a custom of offering the first-born (or a substitute) to the deity. For another example of the offering of a substitute see Al-Ḫuraybah 14.

Editio Princeps
Déroche 1987: 115-117

  • 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 Unpublished MA Thesis, Epigraphy Section, Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, Yarmouk University, Irbid. 1993.
  • [CLL] Caskel, W. Lihyan und Lihyanisch. (Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Forschung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, Geisteswissenschaften, 4). Köln: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1954. pp 80–81
  • Déroche, F. Recherches sur l'oasis de Dedan / al-Ula. Thèse de Doctorat: Études arabo-islamiques, Paris IV, 1987. [Unpublished], 1987.
  • Drewes, A.J. Liḥyanitische Inscripties. Pages 424-429 in K.R. Veenhof (ed.), Schrijvend Verleden. Documenten uit het Oude Nabije Oosten vertaald en toegelicht. Leiden: Ex Oriente Lux / Zutphen: Terra, 1983.
  • 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 158–159 Plate XII
  • Grimme, H. Neubearbeitung der Wichtigeren Dedanischen und Liḥjanischen Inschriften. Le Muséon 50, 1937: 269-322.
  • Hidalgo-Chacón Díez. M. del C. The divine names at Dadan: a philological approach. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 46, 2016: 125–136
  • [JaL] Jamme, A. Miscellanées d'ancient arabe VII. Washington, DC: [privately produced], 1974. pp 69–70 Plate 18
  • [JSTham] Jaussen, A. & Savignac, M.R. Mission archéologique en Arabie. I. (Mars-Mai 1907) De Jérusalem au Hedjaz, Médain Saleh. II. El-ʿEla, d'Hégra à Teima Harrah de Tebouk. Texte et Atlas. III. Les châteaux arabes de Quṣeir ʿAmra, Ḫarâneh, et Tûba. (5 volumes). (Publications de la Société Française des Fouilles Archéologiques, 2). [Reprinted Cairo: Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, 1997]. Paris: Leroux/Geuthner, 1909–1920. Vol. II pp 379–386 Plate LXXXII
  • Jaussen, A. & Savignac, M.R. Inscription liḥyanite d'el-ʿEla. Revue biblique 8, 1911: 534-561.
  • Lidzbarski, M. Ephemeris für semitische Epigraphik. (3 volumes). Giessen: Ricker &Töpelmann, 1902-1915.
  • 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.
  • [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. No. 15 pp 198–209 Plate XIII
  • Winnett, F.V. The Early Lihyanite Inscription Jaussen-Savignac 49. Pages 173-174 in M.M. Ibrahim (ed.), Arabian Studies in Honour of Mahmoud Ghal. Symposium at Yarmouk University, 8th-11th december 1984. (Yarmouk University Publications: Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology Series, 2). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1989.
Site
The oasis of al-ʿUlā, Al-Madīnah Province, Saudi Arabia
Date Found
1909–1910
Current Location
In situ
Subjects
Deity, Isolated Prayer, Relatives, Religion
Old OCIANA ID
#0037792
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Updated 08 Jan, 2025 by OCIANA