RQ.A 10

Siglum
RQ.A 10
Transliteration
l ms¹k bn ḥ{d} bn s¹ḫr bn ḥd bn mḥrb ḏ- ʾl fr{ṯ} w [[]]s¹rt ʿl- mlk h- s¹lṭn s¹n{t} bnḫr ʾmlk lmṣy b- ʿs²r mʾn w b- mʾty frs¹
OCIANA
Translation
By Ms¹k son of {Ḥd} son of S¹ḫr son of Ḥd son of Mḥrb of the lineage of {Frṯ} and he served in a military unit under the possessor of authority {the year} Bnḫr ʾmlk lmṣy with ten mʾn and with two hundred horsemen.
OCIANA
Language and Script
Safaitic

Interpretation

Commentary
The text is carved in a semi-square version of the script around a small drawing. Parts of the text are badly abraded. The first ḥd has a stray line, thicker than the letter, in the ḥ, and a crescent, again in thicker lines, above the d. A second w was carved before s¹rt but was then cancelled with three lines crossing it. The h- before s¹lṭn was originally carved as a ʾ and its lower fork was then scratched over. Unfortunately, the letters after bnḫr are extremely difficult to interpret and it can be seen on the photographs that the letter which was read as k in our initial reading, followed by Al-Jallad (2015: 276), is of a completely different shape to the other examples in the text and both this letter and the one before it have been damaged. It should also be noted that Al-Jallad's reading (2015: 276) omits the letters lmṣy after the supposed ʾml{k}. The expression s¹rt ʿl- occurs in two other Safaitic inscriptions, in one, KRS 1024, we find s¹rt ʿ{l-} ḫr hdy which we have translated "he served {under} Ḫr the commander", literally "he served, Ḫr being commander", compare Arabic ʿalay-hi amrun "command lies upon him, he is in command" (Lane 2145a and see Macdonald 2014:160, n. 78). The other occurrence is in C 2076: s¹rt ʿl- {ḥ}dd ʾbgr b- ʾlf rgl w mʾt f [r]s¹ "he served [in an army unit] on [literally against] the borders of ʾbgr with a thousand foot soldiers and a hundred horsemen" (see Macdonald 2014:160, n. 78). In the present text we follow Al-Jallad's translation (2015: 149), rather than those proposed in Macdonald 2014:160, n. 78. The end of the inscription, b- ʿs²r [r]mʾn w b- mʾty frs¹, appears clear despite the two damaged letters in ʿs²r. These were previously thought to be the letters ʿ z and it was suggested that they may have been used as numbers (Al-Jallad 2015: 93–94). However, it now seems more likely that they are part of the word ʿs²r and that the [r] of the following word, rmʾn, assimilated to the [r] of ʿs²r. Al-Jallad has explained rmʾn as derived from rmy "archers" or "lancers" (2015: 339). On mʾty see Al-Jallad 2015: 37.

Associated Drawings
An archer in an izār (sarong) with a bow and arrow a camel and dogs.

  • Al-Jallad, A. An Outline of the Grammar of the Safaitic Inscriptions. (Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics, 80). Leiden: Brill, 2015.
  • [KRS] Inscriptions recorded by Geraldine King on the Basalt Desert Rescue Survey in north-eastern Jordan in 1989 and published here No. 1024
  • [Lane] 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.
  • Macdonald, M.C.A. ‘Romans Go Home’? Rome and other ‘Outsiders’ as viewed from the Syro-Arabian Desert. Pages 145-163 in J.H.E. Dijkstra & G. Fisher (eds), Inside and Out. Interactions between Rome and the Peoples on the Arabian and Egyptian Frontiers in Late Antiquity. (Late Antique History and Religion, 8). Louvain: Peeters, 2014.
  • [C] Ryckmans, G. Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum: Pars Quinta, Inscriptiones Saracenicae Continens: Tomus I, Fasciculus I, Inscriptiones Safaiticae. Paris: E Reipublicae Typographeo, 1950–1951. No. 20176
Site
Ruǧm Qaʿqūl A, Rif Dimašq Governorate, Syria
Date Found
1995
Current Location
In situ
Subjects
Date (s¹nt), Genealogy, Lineage, Military
Old OCIANA ID
#0036328
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Updated 16 Sep, 2024 by OCIANA