A NEW NABATAEAN INSCRIPTION FROM UMM EL-JIMAL

29
Journal of Semitic Studies XLVIII/1 Spring 2003
The University of Manchester 2003. All rights reserved
A NEW NABATAEAN INSCRIPTION
FROM UMM EL-JIMAL*
SALAH SAID MUNTASIR AL-HAMAD
HUSAIN BIN TALAL UNIVERSITY, JORDAN UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER
Abstract
This inscription was found in Umm el-Jimal and dates back to the
reign of Rabel II. It may be considered an important addition to the
corpus of texts within his period. There are some difficulties in read-
ings and analysis: the inscription is published here in the hope that
new solutions may be found by other scholars.
This paper presents a study of a Nabataean inscription that has
been found in Umm el-Jimal about 20 km east of Mafraq (figs. 12).
The inscription is one of a number from the area. It is a burial in-
scription referring to a nps , though the majority of the awran in-
scriptions have only personal names.
1
Location and Description
This inscription is located in the wall of a house belonging to Mr
Hayel Surur approximately 300 m to the south of Umm el-Jimal.
The inscription is on a basalt block 60 cm long and 25 cm high built
into the wall of the house. The letters were carefully engraved and
the whole stone smoothed in preparation for writing. The height of
the letters is between 3 cm and 9 cm.
This style of inscription appears at the entrances of tombs
2
and is
more prestigious than the simple burial inscriptions, which only have
the name of the dead person and his father.
*We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Prof. J.F. Healey for his sup-
port and editorial help with this paper.
1
For other nps} inscriptions see E. Littmann, Nabataean Inscriptions from the
Southern Haurn (PAES, Leiden 1914), xixii.
A NEW NABATAEAN INSCRIPTION FROM UMM EL-JIMAL
30
Transliteration
1.[d]} / nps}/ dy/ bnh/ shymw/
2.[br] {lt/ bn}/ lh/ }bwhm/
3.[..l]rb}l/ mlk}/ mlk/ nb[w]
Translation
This is the tomb which SHYMW son of LT built. He built (it) for
himself BWHM of king Rabel, king of the Nabataeans
Comments
The original length of the lines is not known because the stone has
been reused at different times. The right edge is broken and some
letters are missing. However, from the fact that these types of inscrip-
tions are always initiated by the word dnh or d},
3
we can estimate
that the missing letters on the right could not be more than three at
the very most. On the left side none of the letters is missing at least
in lines 12. shymw, for example, seems to be at the end of the line,
as seems to be confirmed by the fact we have enough space at the
end of the second line to fit in at least one more letter if not two. It
appears that the scribe left the space in order to put a new word on a
new line.
The top of the stone is not much affected by its reuse, but there
are some letters that have been cut short, though the reconstruction
of these letters is still possible.
Furthermore, as a result of the stone being subject to bad weather
conditions, a white line of mycosis extends from the right side down
to the bottom, then horizontally to the lower edge of the stone. This
mycosis affects a letter or two at the beginning of the second line,
and the first two letters in the third line. There are difficulties in re-
constructing these. The mycosis also covers the bottom of some of
the letters in the third line, but the reading of these letters is rela-
tively easy.
In the third line at the beginning two or three letters are missing,
and the last word, nbw, is broken.
2
For comparison see Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum (CIS), II: Inscriptiones
aramaicas continens (Paris 1917), no. 332.
3
For examples see: CIS II: nos 159, 192, 333 and 465 (inscriptions starting
with dnh), CIS II: nos 194, 195, 323 and 332 (inscriptions starting with d}).
A NEW NABATAEAN INSCRIPTION FROM UMM EL-JIMAL
31
Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
Style of writing
The letters were carefully engraved on a surface that is well prepared
for writing, but the reuse of the stone for building purposes prevents
us from knowing whether there was decoration around the text.
The text contains the following letters which can be read with cer-
tainty: }/b/d/h/w//y/k/l/m/n/{/s/t. The shapes of b/d//k/l/m/n/{/s/t are at-
tested in other awran inscriptions, and in other Nabataean inscrip-
tions more widely. The remaining letters,}/h/y, need some comment.
} appears five times in the inscription, in the words nps}, bn},
}bwhm, rb}l and mlk}. The scribe uses two types of }. One of the
A NEW NABATAEAN INSCRIPTION FROM UMM EL-JIMAL
32
forms ( ) is used in awran inscriptions and appears clearly in
the words nps}, bn} and rb}l.
4
We could not find the second type
of } (

), used in }bwhm and mlk}, in other inscriptions, although
some similar shapes do occur rarely.
5
Thus the scribe used both
types of } at the end of words.
Happears four times in: bnh, shymw, lh and }bwhm. One type (

)
which occurs at the end of bnh is known in other awran inscrip-
tions,
6
while a second type (

), used three times at the end and
in the middle of words, is not so common in the Nabataean in-
scriptions that we are aware of.
7
Y apppears twice in different shapes. The first is (

) as in the word
shymw, which is the common shape in awran inscriptions. The
other form is found in the word dy: (

). We could not find any
other example of this type in awran inscriptions, but we can
find some similar forms from elsewhere.
8
The top of the second y
is truncated.
There is evidence of a clear tendency to join the letters up. Thus
(with underlining indicating linking):
1.np s }/ d y/ bnh/ sh y mw/
2.{lt/ bn}/ lh/ }bw h m/
3.r b } l/ mlk }/ mlk/ nb
Text analysis
1. d}: this. The damaged word at the beginning of the line is prob-
ably d}, feminine because nps} is feminine.
nps}: tomb.
dy: relative pronoun.
bnh: bn}, he built (pe{al 3 masc.s.) with h: 3 fem.s. suffix pro-
noun, referring to the tomb.
shymw: masc. personal name based on the Arabic diminutive
name Shuhaym, meaning noble.
9
This name occurs elsewhere in
4
See J. Cantineau, Le Nabaten, III (Paris 19302), 40, no. x; Littmann:
Nabataean Inscriptions, no. 6.
5
For example see A. Jaussen, and R. Savignac, Mission archologique en Arabie,
I-II (JS) (Paris 190914), no. 17, 40; Cantineau, Le Nabaten 19302: 38 = CIS
II: no. 336.
6
For examples see Littmann: Nabataean Inscriptions, nos. 2, 27, 28, 39 and 40.
7
For examples see JS: nos. 13 = CIS II: no. 226, JS: no. 57 = CIS II: no. 235.
8
For examples see Littmann: Nabataean Inscriptions, nos. 40, 83, 98, 101.
9
See Ibn Manur, Lisan al-Arab, al-Wanib, A.F. et al. (eds.). (Beirut n.d.),
vol. 12, 108; Ibn Durayd, al-}Ishtiqaq, Harun, A. (ed.) (Cairo 1958), 98, 118, 121,
122, 124.
A NEW NABATAEAN INSCRIPTION FROM UMM EL-JIMAL
33
the Safaitic inscriptions,
10
but we have not come across any other
example in Nabataean.
2. [br]: son.
{lt: masc. personal name appearing elsewhere in Nabataean,
11
and
also in Arabic as Ulat,
12
and in Safaitic.
13
bn}: as above.
lh: l: preposition + h: 3 masc.s.p. pronoun.
}bwhm: }b: masc.n. father, common Semitic + hm: 3 p.p. pro-
noun them, their.
The beginning of this line is difficult to read but it becomes easier
at the end. The other problem we have is the syntax, because of
the last word in the line, which has the suffix hm. This creates a
situation in which there is no agreement between the suffix on lh
and the suffix on }bwhm.
There are different ways of interpreting this, but at the moment
of writing we are not fully satisfied with any of the following un-
certain explanations:
1.To assume that the hm after }bw is a proper name. The Arabic
equivalent is the name Hammam, derived from the root hmm.
14
The text might then be translated: Abu-Hammam built (it) for
him.
2.To assume that m in }bwhm is a redundant consonant, a fea-
ture found also rarely in Arabic,
15
and in Sabaic.
16
The translation
would then be: his father built (it) for him.
10
See G. Ryckmans, Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum, V: Inscriptiones sarace-
nicae (Paris 19501), nos. 3289, 3967, 4406; SIJ: nos. 36, 79, etc.; WH: nos. 13,
261, 368, etc.; G.L. Harding, An Index and Concordance of Pre-Islamic Arabian
Names and Inscriptions (Near and Middle Eastern Series 8, Toronto 1971), 33461.
11
See F. al-Khraysheh, Die Personennamen in den nabatischen Inschriften des
Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum (Marburg 1986), 142, and CIS II: no. 203.
12
See Ibn Durayd, al-}Ishtiqaq, 397.
13
See Harding, An Index, 340.
14
See Ibn Durayd, al-}Ishtiqaq, 222; Ibn Manur, Lisan al-{Arab, vol. 12, 620.
15
According to Ibn Manur, Sibawayh considered the m in ibnm, the rare alter-
native to ibn, to be a redundant enclitic. There are other examples in Arabic (Lisan
vol. 15, 90). Ibn Jinni also gave examples where a redundant m could even appear
in the middle of some words (Ibn Jinni, al-Khaa}i, an-Najjar, M.A. (ed.) (Cairo
1952), 2, 501, 182.
16
In the Sabaic Dictionary, A.F. Beeston, et al. (Beirut 1982), 83: m:partic-
m otiose enclitic. In his Sabaic Grammar Beeston says: The term enclitic has
come to conventionally be applied to a morpheme m or mw which is
facultatively attached to the end of a word, without perceptibly modifying the sense
of the word or the sentence (JSS Monograph no. 6, Manchester 1984, 47).
A NEW NABATAEAN INSCRIPTION FROM UMM EL-JIMAL
34
3.To assume that }bwhm is a title, analogous to }abuna in Arabic
used for a priest. We would then have two alternatives:
i.To consider this title as the subject of the verb bn}, so the sen-
tence will be Their father (i.e. Shuhaymu) built (it) for himself .
ii.To assume that a new phrase starts with }bwhm and the title is
referring to the king, rb}l. In this case the meaning is Their fa-
ther, king Rabel, king of the Nabataeans, built (it) for him.
The problem with all these solutions is that they find no support in
the Nabataean inscriptions themselves.
3. The builders who reused the stone cut this line at the beginning.
The space might be filled up with two letters, and the next two
letters are not readable because they are covered with mycosis.
There must be a dating phrase before the kings name, and we
might restore numerals followed by the preposition l, though this
kind of dating rarely existed in Nabataean inscriptions (20
[l]hfprky}
17
). Generally, dating phrases in Nabataean inscriptions
start with in the year, directly combined with a numeral.
[..l]rb}l: [l]: preposition, to, of . rb}l: masc. compound personal
name, of the Nabataean king Rabel II (71106 AD), followed by
his titles, mlk} king and mlk nb[w] King of the Nabataeans.
In this inscription, therefore, we have a useful addition to the rep-
ertoire of texts dated to the reign of Rabel II. It is unfortunate that
the precise date remains unclear, but the use of the royal formula lo-
cates the inscription within the Nabataean sphere of influence. Some
of the letter forms need further consideration, but we specially would
welcome the help of other scholars in solving the syntactic problem
of line 2. No completely satisfactory explanation has been found un-
til now. The publishing of the text will, we hope, lead to further sug-
gestions.
17
For example see J.B. Chabot, Repertoire dpigraphie Smitique, II (Paris
190714), 1128, A:2.