Wadd 2274

Siglum: Wadd 2274
Alternative Sigla: Wetzstein A.I. 6; Dussaud V 260; Dunand 655 bis; C 2313; Al-Namārah.M 199
Transliteration: ΦΛΑΙϹ ΜΑΥΝΟϹ ΔΩϹΙΘΕΟϹ
Translation: Fla[v]ius Maunos Dositheos

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus: Not read in Dussaud V 260, nor in C.
Commentary: C identifies this with Dussaud V 266, but that is another inscription = Wadd 2273.

Provenance: Al-Namārah itself is an "island" in a basin at the confluence of the Wādī al-Ṣawṭ and the Wādī al-Shām. The island rises to a considerable height above the Wādī bed. On it's top are the ruins of a Roman fort the outlines of which, and the square north-east and south-west towers, can still be made out. However, much of the masonry has been reused to build a mediaeval mausoleum, including a lintel with an unfinished Greek inscription mentioning Marcus Aurelius (Waddington 1870: no. 2264) and stone doors. There are many Safaitic, Greek and two Latin graffiti on the slopes of the island and the banks of the Wādī. In antiquity, there were small dams, cisterns, wells and diversion channels to trap the water and to lead it to nearby fields, see Macdonald 2009. Note that C gives its provenance as "Zalaf (about 10 km. south of Rijm Qaʿqūl) near the ‘Roman’ road leading from al-Namāra to the Ruḥba on the west side", i.e. ("Zalaf (i)"), but it was rediscovered by the Namārah Rescue Survey 1996 on the "island" with the Roman fort and mediaeval mausoleum.

Ryckmans, G. Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum: Pars Quinta, Inscriptiones Saracenicae Continens: Tomus I, Fasciculus I, Inscriptiones Safaiticae. Paris: E Reipublicae Typographeo, 1950–1951.
Dussaud, R. & Macler, F. Voyage archéologique au Ṣafâ et dans le Djebel ed-Drûz. Paris: Leroux, 1901.
Waddington, W.H. Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie recueillies et expliquées. Paris: Firmin Didot, 1870.
Wetzstein, J.G. Ausgewählte griechische und lateinische Inschriften gesammelt auf Reisen in den Trachonen und um das Haurângebirge. Abhandlungen der königlichen (preußischen) Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. Philosophisch-historische Klasse 1863 [1864]: 255-368.