Betts 5

Siglum: Betts 5
Transliteration: l ʿlyn bn rmyn bn ṣbh bn s²mt w wld h- mʿzy {s¹}nt ngy {q}{ṣ}{r} h- mdnt
Translation: By ʿlyn son of Rmyn son of Ṣbḥ son of S²mt and he helped the goats give birth the {year} {Caesar} announced the province

Interpretation

Commentary: For this interpretation of s¹nt ngy qṣr h- mdnt see Macdonald 2014: 154–155. If this is correct, it would date these inscriptions to AD 111 when the emperor Trajan announced Arabia adquisita, even though the Nabataean kingdom had been in Roman hands since AD 106, and this almost immediately came to be used as the starting point of the era of Provincia Arabia (see, for instance the Greek and Nabataean funerary inscription dated to year 3 of the Province (Milik 1958: 243–246, no. 6).

Milik, J.T. Nouvelles inscriptions nabatéennes. Syria 35, 1958: 227-251, pl. 18-21.
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.