JSTham 509+510

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus: TEXT Jaussen & Savignac followed by van den Branden: lwy ḏn rather than lm yʿzn; Eskoubi: lṣy zn for lm yʾzn.
Commentary: Above the text, with its chin forcing a space between the genealogy and the narrative sections, there is a well carved Ṣlm head without eyes but with a straight vertical line running from forehead to chin and two dots arranged horizontally between the horns. There is also a stick figure man with raised arms to the right of the beginning of the text, but it is less certain whether this is connected with it. The ʿ is a dot. Van den Branden 1956, ii: 60 equates JSTham 509 with Ph 280.aq and JSTham 510 with Philby 280.ap. However, note that there are two inscriptions labelled “ap” and two labelled “aq” on the plate showing Philby's copies (ibid. Pl. XI). The “ap” and “aq” recording this inscription are on the penultimate line. We have labelled them as “Philby 280.ap.2” and “Philby 280.aq.2”.

Associated Signs: Before the beginning, a stick-figure orans, with above it a trident with a dot below its prong and above that a camel, above the letters my is a cross with two short diagonal lines protruding to the right from the top. Above the space between the name and the statement is a horned “visage”, a vertical line down middle, no eyes, ears and incurving horns.

[Esk] Eskūbī [Eskoubi] Ḫ.M. Dirāsah taḥlīliyyah muqāranah li-nuqūš min minṭaqah (rum) ǧanūb ġarb taymāʾ. [English title: An Analytical and Comparative Study of Inscriptions from “Rum” region, South West of Tayma. Riyāḍ: wazīrat al-maʿārif, waqālat al-āṯār wa-l-matāḥif, 1999. pp 111
[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 601 Plate CXLVII
[Ph] Van den Branden, A. Les textes thamoudéens de Philby. (2 volumes). (Bibliothèque du Muséon, 39 and 41). Louvain: Institut orientaliste, 1956.

Site: Al-Ḫabū al-Šarqī Alif, south-east of Taymāʾ, Tabūk Province, Saudi Arabia

Updated 16 Sep, 2024 by OCIANA