RZTham 1

Van den Branden 1950, Dghty 56: ḥ-f-r w-w-l-d 'Ḥafîr et Walad'; P 1: b-z ṯ-r-d-y 'Bizz le Ṯaraydy'; P 2: ḥ-š w-ʿ-l-y 'Ḥušš et ʿAliyy'; P 3: ḥ-n w-m-ʿ-t 'Ḥann et Maʿatt'; P 4: t-m w-m-r 'Taym et Murr'.

This panel is of special importance to the exploration of Arabia. The site is known from Islamic sources as it is on an important route connecting Ṭāʾif to Mecca. The first Western explorer to visit the area was James Hamilton in 1845, who described a large panel of rock art on a boulder on the side of the pass. Doughty (1921) produced a drawing of the site with a rough sketch of the inscription. The Philby-Ryckmans-Lippens expedition to Arabia in 1951–1952 furnished the first photograph of the panel. The inscriptions were first accurately read and translated by Al-Jallad and Sidky (2022) following their campaign in the region the previous year.

The name ʿʿlk is of an uncertain etymology. The author has carved four other inscriptions in this region, also associated with large-scale rock art. Two of these texts are associated with the same individual mentioned in RZTham 2. 

• RZTham 2