LP 326

Siglum: LP 326
Alternative Sigla: Is.M 113; MISS p. 473
Transliteration: l ms¹k bn ʾbrqn b[n] {m}{s¹}k w rʿy h- ḍʾn s¹nt s¹rt mlk b- h- ʿrḍ f h lt s¹lm
Translation: By Ms¹k son of ʾbrqn son of {Ms¹k} and he pastured the sheep the year Mlk served in the great army and so O Lt [grant] security

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus: LP 326: s¹nt s¹r (h-) mlk - h- ʿrḍ "the year {the} king travelled in this valley [?]" for s¹nt s¹rt mlk b- h- ʿrḍ "the year Mlk served in the [great] army."
Commentary: The inscription was carved after the the drawing and LP 325, which it carefully avoids. The s¹ of the third name is attached to the y of yʿwr in LP 325 and the letter(s?) before it is/are damaged by abrasions. The word after s¹nt is clearly s¹rt (on both the original and Littmann's copy) and LP's reading s¹r h- mlk is therefore impossible. For our interpretation see MISS p. 468. The last three letters are lightly scratched. For the verb s¹rt "to serve in a military unit" see Macdonald 2014: 59–160, and n. 78. For ʿrḍ compare Arabic arḍ/irḍ an "army" or a "great army" (Lane 2007a, 2008a).

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.

Associated Inscriptions

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.
Lane, E.W. An Arabic-English Lexicon, Derived from the Best and Most Copious Eastern Sources. (Volume 1 in 8 parts [all published]). London: Williams & Norgate, 1863-1893.
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.
Macdonald, M.C.A. ‘Romans Go Home’? Rome and other ‘Outsiders’ as viewed from the Syro-Arabian Desert. Pages 145-163 in J.H.E. Dijkstra & G. Fisher (eds), Inside and Out. Interactions between Rome and the Peoples on the Arabian and Egyptian Frontiers in Late Antiquity. (Late Antique History and Religion, 8). Louvain: Peeters, 2014.
Inscriptions recorded at al-ʿĪsāwī by Michael Macdonald, on the Safaitic Epigraphic Survey Programme, 1995–2003, and published here.

Date Found: 1904–1905; 1996–2003
Current Location: Al-Suweidah Museum (Registration no. unknown)
Subjects: Date (s¹nt), Deity, Domestic animals, Genealogy, Isolated Prayer, Military, Pasturing
Script: Safaitic
Old OCIANA ID: #0008910
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