AMJ 114

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus: TRANSLATION ḫṭṭ, Jobling: "(he) drew [it]"; King: "[the] inscriber"; Corbett: "(he) carved". To take ḫṭṭ as a verb here is too vague in a context where the inscription is in effect a signature to the drawing. DISCUSSION Corbett (2010: 356) commented: "A well-carved hunt scene dominates this principal face of this boulder. Several inscriptions are carved in and around this scene. On an adjacent face is a second well- carved hunt scene, portraying the battle against or hunt of a wild animal (boar? wild ass?), although it has no associated inscriptions. The two drawings are very similar and it is likely that both depict the same type of hunted animal. This text extends down vertically from a drawing of a wild beast hunt scene (a1- a6). Included in the scene are several hunters and dogs that are carved around the line of the text. The position of the text and the author’s use of ḫṭṭ kll suggest ʾḫʾb was the principal artist of the scene. It is likely that ʾḫʾb’s nephew s²ʿlh carved his name to this stone as well (text #2)".
Commentary: Photograh: Corbett 2010.

King, G.M.H. Early North Arabian Thamudic E. A preliminary description based on a new corpus of inscriptions from the Ḥismā desert of southern Jordan and published material. Ph.D thesis, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1990. [Unpublished]. 1990.
Jobling, W.J. North Arabian (-Thamudic) Inscriptions and Rock Art from the ʿAqaba-Maʿan Area of Southern Jordan. Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 30, 1986: 261-283, pl. 48-55.
Corbett, G.J Mapping the mute immortals: A locational and contextual analysis of Thamudic E/Ḥismaic inscriptions and rock drawing from the Wādī Ḥafīr of southern Jordan. PhD Thesis (University of Chicago). 2010.