OCIANA
Online Corpus of the Inscriptions of Ancient North Arabia

LP 325

Siglum
LP 325
Alternative Sigla
Is.M. 112; MISS.G 1
Transliteration
l mṭr bn ʿm bn mṭr bn ʾnʿm bn qdm ḏ- ʾl ʿwḏ w dmy l- -h ʾb -h w ḫrṣ h- nw mʿ ʾḫ -h m- mdbr f h lt s¹lm w ġnmt l- ḏ dʿy h- s¹fr w ʿwr w ḫrs¹ l- ḏ yʿwr h- ḫṭṭ
Translation
By Mṭr son of ʿm son of Mṭr son of ʾnʿm son of Qdm of the lineage of ʿwḏ and his father drew a picture for him while he kept watch with his brother for the migrating group from the inner desert and so O Lt [grant] security and booty to whoever reads the inscription aloud and blind and strike dumb whoever scratches out the carving

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus
LP 325: w ḫrṣ -h mʿ ʾḫ -h m- mdbr "And there appeared to him [a vision of] his father and he looked out for him with his brother from the desert" for w ḫrṣ h- nw mʿ ʾḫ -h m- mdbr "and his father drew a picture for him and he kept watch with his brother for the migrating group from the inner desert" Macdonald 1990: 27 n. 5: w dmy l- -h ʾb -h "and his father drew a picture for him" Macdonald, Al Mu’azzin & Nehmé 1996: 470: as here. The final ṭ of ḫṭṭ, missed by Littmann, can be seen just below the chin of the Bactrian camel.
Commentary
The reading is clear though some parts are visible only in certain lights. The inscription is finely incised and the letters have square forms from the beginning up to and including the first two letters of ḫrṣ, after which the "normal" script is used. The text clearly postdates the drawing, since it carefully avoids encroaching on it and thus was carved by the author after his father had made the drawing. On dmy l- -h see Macdonald, Al Muʾazzin & Nehmé 1996: 470; on h- nw see p. 471. Note that the stone bearing LP 403 was found a few metres away from this stone and is by a first cousin of the author of LP 325 who says that the drawing of a dancing girl encircled by his text was made by his paternal uncle ʿm, the father of Mṭr in LP 325. The meaning of the verb dmy "to draw a picture" was first proposed by G. Lankester Harding in the commentary to HCH 73. Another example of the expression w dmy l- -h "and drew a picture for him" can be found in C 1186. The syntax of the phrase w ḫrṣ h- nw mʿ ʾḫ -h m- mdbr is awkward and the literal meaning “while they kept watch for the tribal migration with his brother from the inner desert” could also mean that “they kept watch for the tribal migration in which his brother was taking part [on its way] from the inner desert.” In either case mʿ ʾḫ -h may have been an afterthought.

Provenance
Al-ʿĪsāwī is the name of a probably ancient well between two headlands on the eastern side of the Wādī Shām as it runs northwards from the modern Al-Namārah dam to the Ruḥbah. The well is large, stone lined and with stone water-channels running from it. The main concentration of published inscriptions is on the top of the northern headland, but there also many inscriptions on its south-west slopes, coming down to the well and on the southern headland, on the crest of which is a stone tower. Littmann visited the site twice when he and other members of the expeditions copied some 450 inscriptions. Between 1996 and 2003, the Safaitic Epigraphic Survey Programme [SESP] made a comprehensive survey of the site recording over 3500 inscriptions.
Original Reading Credit
MISS p. 470
Original Translation Credit
MISS p. 470

Technique
Incised & scratched

Associated Signs
Cartouche; 7 lines joined by horizontal lines at both ends above ʿwḏ
Associated Drawings
A very fine drawing of a horseman raiding a dromedary and a Bactrian camel, see Macdonald 1990: 27, n.5
Associated Inscriptions

  • Harding, G.L. The Cairn of Haniʾ. Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 2, 1953: 8-56, pls 1-7. No. 73
  • Macdonald, M.C.A. Camel hunting or camel raiding?. Arabian archaeology and epigraphy 1, 1990: 24-28.
  • 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.
  • Macdonald, M.C.A., Al Muʾazzin, M. & Nehmé, L. Les inscriptions safaïtiques de Syrie, cent quarante ans après leur découverte. Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions & Belles-Lettres 1996: 435-494.
  • Inscriptions recorded at al-ʿĪsāwī by Michael Macdonald, on the Safaitic Epigraphic Survey Programme, 1995–2003, and published here.
Site
Al-ʿĪsāwī, Rif Dimašq Governorate, Syria
Date Found
1904–1905; 1995–1996
Current Location
Al-Suweidah Museum (Registration no. unknown)
Subjects
Curse, Deity, Drawing, Genealogy, Isolated Prayer, Lineage, Relatives, Transhumance, Watch (keeping)
Script
Safaitic
Old OCIANA ID
#0008909
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