LP 259

Siglum: LP 259
Alternative Sigla: Mr.A 3
Transliteration: [l] ḥfl bn ʾs¹d bn wʿl bn hgml w ġnmt bʿls¹mn m- s²n{ʾ}
Translation: {By} Ḥfl son of ʾs¹d son of Wʿl son of Hgml and booty Bʿls¹mn from {enemies}

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus: LP 259: gʿl for wʿl; ġnm -h "gave him booty" for ġnmt "booty"; bʿs¹m(y) for bʿls¹mn.
Commentary: The lām auctoris and possibly one or more names appear to be missing. LP reads ġnm -h, but ġnmt is clear on the photograph as is the n (not “an incomplete y”) of bʿls¹mn. One side-stroke of the final ʾ is missing. LP reads LP 259.1 as the end of this text but there seems no justification for this since it begins at the opposite side of the face from the end of LP 259. It is possible that both LP 259 and 259.1 begin on the adjacent face.

Provenance: Al-Mrōshan consists of four long, low mounds, running roughly east-west in a flat area where the Wādī al-Gharz spreads out. These mounds create a series of "gorges" perhaps 3 m high in the Wādī which is otherwise very flat and at this point hardly distinguishable from the surrounding area, the "Wādī-bed" consisting of several channels approximately 30–80 cm deep and 4–10 m wide. The southerly three mounds are covered with graves and enclosures. Much of the rock is not suitable for inscribing. It was visited in 1995 by the Safaitic Epigraphic Survey Programme and all the published texts it rediscovered came from the most northerly of the southern three mounds, and most were concentrated at its eastern end.

Associated Inscriptions

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 on the right bank of the Wādī Gharz at al-Mrōshan, southern Syria, and published here.