LP 169

Siglum: LP 169
Alternative Sigla: RR 13
Transliteration: l ʿmrt bn rbʾl bn ʾnʿm bn ʾs¹ w ḥll h- {d}{r} {f} s¹tr w h- bkrt {f} lt ʿwr ḏ yʿwr h- s¹fr
Translation: By ʿmrt son of Rbʾl son of ʾnʿm son of ʾs¹ and he camped {here} {and then} built an enclosure and [his is the drawing of] this young she-camel {and so} Lt blind whoever scratches out this inscription

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus: LP: [f ṣ]wr <<w>> h- bkrt "and drew <<>> the young she-camel" for {f} s¹tr w h- bkrt "{and then} built an enclosure and [his is the drawing of] this young she-camel"; w h lt "and O Lt" for f lt "and so Lt".
Commentary: On a stone with RR 12 and an elaborate rock drawing. This text is thinly chiselled to the left of LP 170 and runs down to the right of the camel and then curls under it. The lower parts of 3 letters (d r f) in the middle have been lost where the edge of the stone has been broken. This was already the case when Littmann copied it. However enough of the tops of the letters have survived to make the reading virtually certain. In the next phrase, the photograph shows that what Littmann copied and read as w in {ṣ}wr is actually a t and so s¹tr appears to be a better reading. This is usually found as a substantive in Safaitic, but there is one inscription, SAMAS 9.42.1 in which it occurs as a verb. The rather abrupt w h- bkrt "and [his is the drawing of] the young she-camel" can be paralleled in Ms 44. Finally, it can be seen on the photographs that what Littmann copied and read as w h before lt is actually a badly carved f, thus f lt.

Provenance: Ruǧm al-Ruṣayʿī is a large cairn with many inscriptions of which Littmann copied only 5. It is c. 1.75 km, as the crow flies, from Biʾr al-Ruṣayʿī, around which there are many cairns, and it is not clear why was given the name Rijm al-Ruṣayʿī. The local bedouin do not appear to know it as this today.

Associated Drawings: A camel with a tassel at its neck, hairs sticking up from its hump and patterned stripes possibly represent trappings running from the hump to its belly. A rein runs from its nose to an indistinct object (rider?) on top of the hump.
Associated Inscriptions: LP 170 (= RR 12)

Littmann, E. Safaïtic Inscriptions. Syria. Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expeditions to Syria in 1904–1905 and 1909. Division IV. Section C. Leiden: Brill, 1943.
Inscriptions recorded by the Safaitic Epigraphic Survey Programme in 1995 at Riǧm al-Ruṣayʿī, and published here.

Date Found: 1904, 1995
Current Location: In situ
Subjects: Camping, Curse, Deity, Drawing of a domestic animal, Genealogy, Present in a place, Structure
Script: Safaitic
Old OCIANA ID: #0008753
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