BES20 616
Text Information
- Siglum
- BES20 616
- Transliteration
-
l ʾs¹ bn nʿmn bn ṣʿd w [w]gʿ ʿl- ẓʿn w wgd ʾṯr ṣʿd {b}{n} ng{m} w ḥll ʾ- dr s¹nt ktb h- r<<>>my h- mdnt
Ahmad Al-Jallad and Josef Bloomfield
- Translation
-
By ʾs¹ son of Nʿmn son of Ṣʿd and he grieved in pain for Ẓʿn and he found the trace of Ṣʿd {son of } Ngm and he camped at {this} place in the year that the Roman deployed a unit to [or: in] the province
Ahmad Al-Jallad and Josef Bloomfield
- Language and Script
- Safaitic 2
Interpretation
- Commentary
-
What looks like a redundant letter between the r and m of h-rmy is actually damage to the rock. The meaning of ktb here would seem to correspond to the Classical Arabic kattaba, to deploy squadrons, troops (Lane, 2590) . If this interpretation is correct, then the event referenced in the dating formula could be connected to the dating formula of SESP.S 1, s¹nt ʾmd qṣr h-mdnt 'the year Caesar sent reinforcements to the province.'
It is also possible, but perhaps less likely, that ktb should be connected to the idiomatic usage 'to ordain, prescribe', and signal the declaration of the province of Arabia following the annexation of Nabataea by the Romans. The recurring dating formula, s¹nt ngy qṣr h-mdnt 'the year Caesar announced the province' is usually thought to refer to this event.
The same dating formula is attested in an inscription by someone who is probably the author’s brother (BES20 628).
Ahmad Al-Jallad
- Editio Princeps
- OCIANA
- Field Collector
- BES20 team
- Technique
- Incised
- Direction of Script
- Boustrophedon
- Associated Inscriptions
- [BES20] Inscriptions recorded during the Badia Epigraphic Survey 2020 and published here
- [Lane] Lane, E.W. An Arabic-English Lexicon, Derived from the Best and Most Copious Eastern Sources. (Volume 1 in 8 parts [all published]). London: Williams & Norgate, 1863-1893.
- Site
- Wādī Mismā al-Sharqī, Al-Mafraq Governorate, Jordan
- Date Found
- 2020
- Current Location
- In situ
- Subjects
- Camping, Date (s¹nt), Finding inscription(s), Genealogy, Grieving, Outside peoples
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