OCIANA
Online Corpus of the Inscriptions of Ancient North Arabia

NRE.B 1

Siglum
NRE.B 1
Transliteration
l wyb {b}{n} t{q} w mrḥ
Translation
By Wyb {son of} {Tq} and he rejoiced greatly

Interpretation

Commentary
Carefully direct hammered. The b and n of bn are joined. For the meaning of mrḥ compare Classical Arabic mariḥa "he was very joyful and glad" (Lane 2704a).

Provenance
This is the only site along this track at which we found published inscriptions. Those we sampled here are from the group recorded by Dusaaud & Macler (1901) between the debouchment of Wādī Gharz and al-Namārah (C 2265-2275, but note that 3265-3281 were also recorded on this journey). The "Roman road" would have been the most obvious and direct route between these two points, and the c. 4.5 km from where the road ends on the edge of the Ruḥbah to this site would have been the normal distance covered in the one hour it took them to get from the mouth of Wādī Gharz to the place where they copied the inscriptions. It is therefore possible that they came down this road. The only problem is that they say that the site is on the "right" of the track, whereas coming from the north it would be on the left. Either this is a simple slip, or they were riding parallel, and to the east, of the road. Two of the texts they recorded here (C 2274 and 2275) were also copied by Wetzstein, Waddington and Dunand. The last presumably supplied the provenance quoted in C "on the east side of the Roman road between al-Namārah and the Ruḥbah", since the Dunands must have been in the area at about the time Poidebard identified the road, which had first been noted by von Oppenheim (Poidebard 1928: 118–120, fig.1). Wetzstein gave the provenance as "on the way between al-ʿUdaysiyyah and al-Namārah", to which C adds "not far from al-Namārah". It is therefore probable that Wetzstein would not have been travelling on the "Roman road" but on a track to the east of it, somewhere between it and the modern route between Zalaf and the Ruḥbah water tower. This site is near where he would have had to turn south-west towards al-Namārah. The other texts Wetzstein copied on this journey are C 3223–3248, of which C 3244–3248 were recorded at Ishbikkat al-Namārah since they are identified with copies made at this place by Dussaud & Mascler (1901: 88).

  • Ryckmans, G. Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum: Pars Quinta, Inscriptiones Saracenicae Continens: Tomus I, Fasciculus I, Inscriptiones Safaiticae. Paris: E Reipublicae Typographeo, 1950–1951.
  • 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.
  • Dussaud, R. & Macler, F. Voyage archéologique au Ṣafâ et dans le Djebel ed-Drûz. Paris: Leroux, 1901.
  • Wetzstein, J.G. Reisebericht über Hauran und die Trachonen nebst einem Anhange über die sabäischen Denkmäler in Ostsyrien. Berlin: Reimer, 1860.
  • Poidebard, A. Reconnaissance aérienne au Ledjâ et au Ṣafâ (mai 1927). Syria 9, 1928: 114-123, pls 40-47.
  • Graham, C.C. Explorations in the Desert East of the Haurán and in the Ancient Land of Bashan. Journal of the Royal Geographical Society 28, 1858: 226-263, 1 map.
  • Oppenheim, M. von Vom Mittelmeer zum Persischen Golf durch den Ḥaurān, die syrische Wüste und Mesopotamien. (2 volumes). Berlin: Reimer, 1899-1900.
  • Inscriptions recorded by the Safaitic Epigraphic Survey Programme in 1995 at a large cairn on the east side of the "Roman road" between al-Namārah and the Wādī Gharz, and published here.
Site
East of the “Roman road” from al-Namārah to the Ruḥbah, Rif Dimašq Governorate, Syria
Date Found
1995
Current Location
In situ
Subject
Genealogy
Script
Safaitic
Old OCIANA ID
#0036084
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