WH 3500

Siglum: WH 3500
Transliteration: l ys¹lm bn lġyn w rʿy mdbr h- ms²ty f ṣyf h- gml
OCIANA
Translation: By Ys¹lm son of Lġyn and he pastured in the inner desert at the winter pasture and then remained there during the early summer [by him is the drawing of] the camel
OCIANA
Language and Script: Safaitic

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus: MST p. 7 n. 35 p. 8: w rʿy mdbr h- ms²ty f ṣyf h- gml - " he pastured the desert of the winter quarters and then spent the early summer ". MNH p. 322 and n. 128: w rʿy mdbr h- ms²ty f ṣyf - he pastured the ḥamād where he spent the winter and then remained there during the early summer.
Commentary: H- gml is lightly incised beneath the larger of the two camels. There is a short stroke in the same technique above the m of ms²ty and it is possible this was added after the second camel had been drawn. It might be suggested that h-gml refers to the Zodiacal sign Gemini the heliacal rising of which is in May-June at the end of the season of ṣyf (see Al-Jallad 2016: 100). However, gml in the sense of Gemini does not take the definite article.

Associated Signs: Two sets of 7 lines and one of 6
Associated Drawings: Two male camels with collars and one with a hairy tail.

Al-Jallad, A. An Ancient Arabian Zodiac. The Constellations in the Safaitic Inscriptions. Part II. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 27, 2016: 84–106.
[WH] Winnett, F.V. & Harding, G.L. Inscriptions from Fifty Safaitic Cairns. (Near and Middle East Series, 9). Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1978.

Updated 16 Sep, 2024