WH 2502

Siglum
WH 2502
Transliteration
l ḥrg bn ḫms¹ w yrb h- k{s¹}w
OCIANA
Translation
By Ḥrg son of Ḫms¹ w yrb h- k{s¹}w
OCIANA
Language and Script
Safaitic

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus
MNH p. 328 n. 163: on interpretation of drawing and that kbw unlikely to be related to qbw.
Commentary
This was published in the ed. pr. as WH 2502 a.

Editio Princeps
OCIANA

Associated Drawings
A battle scene in which 2 stick-figure men are fighting with swords on either side of a long vertical line (possibly held in the left hand of the one on the right), which WH (p. 374) thought might be a testudo (a formation in which Roman soldiers placed their shields [scuta] over their heads when attacking a walled city or fortress, see Goldsworthy 2003: 194). However, as suggested in MNH p.328, n. 163, this does not really fit the drawing. On the other hand, it is possible that it represents an exaggeratedly long scutum, the shield used by Roman legionaries (Goldsworthy 2003: 31). To the left of them, 2 other stick-figure men appear to be exchanging blows. Above them is a stylized male figure with raised arms in the same technique as the drawing below, and below them also in the same technique, an unidentifiable object. Finally, at the bottom of the face there is a stick figure animal, probably an equid, in the same technique, and above the fighting men is a thinly incised stick-figure human with outstretched arms. To the right of the end of WH 2502 are some confused light scratchings, which are probably more recent, and some Arabic letters.
Associated Inscriptions

  • [BES18] Inscriptions recorded during the Badia Epigraphic Survey 2018 and published here
  • Goldsworthy, A. The Complete Roman Army. London: Thames & Hudson, 2003.
  • [MNH] Macdonald, M.C.A. Nomads and the Ḥawrān in the late Hellenistic and Roman periods: A reassessment of the epigraphic evidence. Syria 70, 1993: 303-413. [Reprinted with the same pagination, plus addenda and corrigenda as Article II in M.C.A. Macdonald, Literacy and Identity in Pre-Islamic Arabia, (Variorum Collected Studies Series no. 906), Farnham: Ashgate, 2009].
  • [WH] Winnett, F.V. & Harding, G.L. Inscriptions from Fifty Safaitic Cairns. (Near and Middle East Series, 9). Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1978.
Site
WH Cairn 34, Al-Mafraq Governorate, Jordan
Date Found
1958–1959
Current Location
In situ
Subject
Genealogy
Old OCIANA ID
#0013390
Download Images
Updated 16 Sep, 2024 by OCIANA

Cite this Site

OCIANA. 'WH 2502.' OCIANA. 16 Sep, 2024. https://ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions/31839. Accessed: 17 Jun, 2025.