LP 334

Siglum: LP 334
Alternative Sigla: Is.Mu 193
Transliteration: l mrʾ bn mqtl bn mġyr w wgd ʾṯr ʿḏ f w[[]]gm ʿl- ʿḏ
Translation: By Mrʾ son of Mqtl son of Mġyr and he found the traces of ʿḏ and so {he grieved} for ʿḏ

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus: LP 334: ʾṯr ʿḏr (w) wʿl (w) (w)gm ʿl- ʿḏ "the inscriptions of ʿḏr {and} Wʿl {and} {he laid a stone on the tomb} of ʿḏ" for ʾṯr ʿḏ f w[[]]gm ʿl- ʿḏ "the traces of ʿḏ and so {he grieved} for ʿḏ"
Commentary: It seems that the author carved the w of wgm, but omitted the g m, before carving ʿl- ʿḏ. Realising his error he then lightly scratched this over, but retained the w and carved gm ʿl- ʿḏ to the left of the original ʿl- ʿḏ. The reading has been rendered more difficult by later hammering over some of the letters. The ʿḏ whose traces the author found could be ʿḏ bn ʿḏ, the author of LP 332, or ʿḏ bn ġṯ, the author of LP 333.

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.

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.
Inscriptions recorded at al-ʿĪsāwī by Muna Al-Muʾazzin, on the Safaitic Epigraphic Survey Programme, 1995–2002, and published here.