LP 237

Siglum: LP 237
Alternative Sigla: Mr.A 11
Transliteration: l ʾḥrb bn s²ḥl bn ʾḥrb bn ms¹k bn ẓʿn bn s²r[[]][[]]b bn ġlmt w nṣb hlt f lt s¹lm s¹nt {g}lḥ h- ḏʾb ʾns¹ w nqʾt l- ḏ yʿwrn h- s¹fr
Translation: By ʾḥrb son of S²ḥl son of ʾḥrb son of Ms¹k son of Ẓʿn son of S²rb son of Ġlmt and he set up a standing stone for Hlt so O Lt [grant] security in the year in which the wolf encountered ʾns¹ and [inflict] ejection from the grave on him who effaces this inscription

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus: LP 237: f h lt for f lt; {g}lḥ h- ḏʾb ʾns¹ "the year in which the wolf encountered men" [or ʾns¹ in the commentary]; yʿwr for yʿwrn.
Commentary: On one face of a large stone. The author originally wrote ḥl after the r in the fifth name but then scraped over these letters and wrote the b. The divine name/epithet hlt is also found in SIJ 840. For another inscription in which the author sets up a standing stone for one deity and then immediately prays to another see RQ.A 9. Note the unusual plural (yʿwrn) in the curse.

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.

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.

Date Found: 1904, 1995
Current Location: In situ
Subjects: Curse, Date (s¹nt), Deity, Genealogy, Isolated Prayer, Religion, Wild animals
Script: Safaitic
Old OCIANA ID: #0035983
Download Images