OCIANA
Online Corpus of the Inscriptions of Ancient North Arabia

TA. 10015

Siglum
TA. 10015
Transliteration
l bz{d}{h} {/} {b} k{y} b rk{r/l}{b}
Translation
By{Bzdh} {son of} {Ky} son of {Rkr/lb}

Interpretation

Commentary
A long reddish sandstone ashlar (92 x 40–31 x16.5–8 cm). Just over half the face which bears the inscription has been lost. The text is on the only remaining patinated area (41.5 x 30 cm). The second letter of the first name has been damaged by hammering over its top, but on close inspection it is still possible to see that it is a d. The next letter is probably a h with later hammering joining the prongs of its fork. There is then what under close examination looks like a b which has been hammered over to produce what look like large versions of h and s². This later hammering can be distinguished from the original graffito because it was done using an instrument with a broader point than that with which the original letters were carved. The lower curve of the later s², which covers the left vertical of the original b could look like a large r but is clearly part of the s² and, as noted, its lines are thicker than the letters of the original text. The next letter is clearly a k and it is followed by what looks like a word-divider (a straight vertical line) with hammering over the top, but which, in the circumstances, we have tentatively read as a y. After the following b the text curves onto the second line where what could be a r is followed by a damaged k which has been joined to the following {l/r} and {b}. The name bzdh has not been found before. On the other hand, the name ky, or names resembling it, are known from widely separated places and periods (see Kornfeld 1978: 120). Most of these are probably irrelevant to the name in this graffito, the only possible exceptions might be kyʾ in the Aramaic papyri from Egypt (Cowley 1923, no. 2/19), and kyw in a Nabataean graffito (CIS ii 1155) in Sinai. It is very difficult to explain the final name, if the reading is correct. Indeed, it is possible that line 2, or at least its last three letters, does not belong to the graffito.

Provenance
DAI excavations 2011, Compound E, SU 0100 "bulldozer trench"

  • Macdonald, M.C.A. Catalogue of the Inscriptions discovered in the Saudi-German excavations at Taymāʾ 2004–2015. With contributions by A. Hausleiter, F. Imbert, H. Schaudig, P. Stein, F. Tourtet, and M. Trognitz . Oxford: Archaeopress, 2020.
  • Cowley, A. Aramaic Papyri of the Fifth Century B.C.. Edited, with a Translation and Notes. [Reprinted: Osnabrück: Zeller, 1967]. Oxford: Clarendon, 1923.
  • Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum. Pars II Inscriptiones Aramaicas continens. Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1889-1954.
  • Kornfeld, W. Onomastica Aramaica aus Ägypten. (Sitzungsberichte der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-historische Klasse, 333). Wien: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1978.
Site
Taymāʾ, Tabūk Province, Saudi Arabia
Current Location
In situ
Subject
Genealogy
Script
Taymanitic
Old OCIANA ID
#0040446
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