Arab. arch. epig.

2014: 25: 214230 (2014)

Printed in Singapore. All rights reserved

An ancient Arabian zodiac. The constellations in the

Safaitic inscriptions, Part I
This contribution identies a previously unrecognised mode of reckoning time in the
Safaitic inscriptions - the stars. Twelve zodiacal constellations are identied,
along with the constellations Orion and the Pleiades.
Keywords: Ancient North Arabian, astronomy, zodiac, epigraphy, Safaitic

Ahmad Al-Jallad
LUCL & LIAS, Leiden
University, Room 1.07B, Witte
Singel 25/M de Vrieshof 4, 2311
BZ Leiden, The Netherlands
e-mail: a.m.al-jallad@hum.leidenuniv.nl

1. Introduction
This paper identies the names of the zodiacal constellations in the Safaitic inscriptions1 and their use for the
reckoning of time. The North Arabian zodiac differs in
many signicant ways from the contemporary Aramaic
and Greek systems while sharing important similarities
with the Babylonian tradition. In the following, I will
present the process of decipherment, followed by an
etymological discussion and a selection of relevant
inscriptions. A fuller historical treatment will be carried
out in a second article.

2. The seasons and the constellations

Many ancient societies relied on the stars for the reckoning
of time. The identication of the constellations is therefore
connected to the yearly cycle as experienced by the inhabitants of the arrah. In a brilliant 1992 article, M.C.A.
Macdonald identied four seasons attested in the Safaitic
inscriptions, which correspond to four out of the ve
seasons known to the Rwala Bedouin, as recorded by
Musil (Table 1).
Three of these appear together in two inscriptions:
Mu 113

Safaitic refers to a script used by the inhabitants of the arrah,

the basalt desert of what is today northern Jordan and southern
Syria and the adjacent portions of Saudi Arabia, to inscribe rock
inscriptions in several closely related dialects of Old Arabic (see
Huehnergard, forthcoming).

214

l s: d bn b bn bd bn dm w ll h- dr d f y f sty f h
blsmn qbll
By d son of b son of bd son of dm and he camped
here during the season of the later rains, then the dry season, and then winter so, O Blsmn, show benevolence
Commentary
y: this rare reex of the verb qy, which exhibits the
sound changes q > and > , is attested only once
more in MKMR 9; see Al-Jallad (2015: 3.7.4.1) and
Macdonald (2004: 498) for further discussion.
The same sequence is encountered in an inscription
from the arrah, which is rather difcult to interpret:
SIJ 10082
l <<>>bmrh {w} gdw[] nw{y} w qwy w d w qy[]
w sty h- rbt wd w h {l}{t} sf -hm
By Bmrh and, {O Gdw (divine name)}, let there be
pasture and endurance while he spends the season of the
later rains, the dry season, and the winter, at this raabah
for a second time; and, O lt, let them [i.e. the seasons]
provide sustenance
2

While the rst {w} more closely resembles a g on the copy, the
inscription clearly transitions from a personal name to a divine
name, and so a conjunction is expected. The g is distinguished
from the w by a diameter or secant line. If the absence of the line
is not the result of a copy error, then it is possible that the author
forgot to carve it after forming the circle. The next word gdw is
best restored as gdw[], a manifestation of the deity Gadd. The
syntax of the prayer formula to Gdw is paralleled in C 4457.
The single of this inscription was restored by Macdonald
(1992a: 7). I have no explanation as to why the author began
with larger letters, swerved into a progression of small letters,
and then went back to carving large ones.

ANCIENT ARABIAN ZODIAC

Table 1. The seasons in the Safaitic inscriptions compared to the
Rwala.
Seasons

Safaitic

Rwala

Time period

the winter
the season of
the later rains
the early summer
the dry season

sty
d

as: -s: feri

a
s-
sta
as-smak

early Octoberearly January

early Januarymid-February
mid-Februarymid-April

:s yf

as: -s: ey
al-qe

mid-Aprilearly June
early Juneearly October

qy

Commentary
nwy: this word usually appears as a verb meaning to
migrate, but prayer formulae usually express a request for
a boon or favour. Here, nwy should probably be taken as
a grazing place or pastureland (HALOT #6037), and
would stand opposite the known curse mlt dearth of pasture; see for example, WH 24.
qwy: this is the innitive of the C-stem of the root qwy,
which signies strength or endurance in Classical Arabic
(CAr), here perhaps, grant strength, endurance. Innitives are commonly used for the purpose of commands in
the Safaitic inscriptions as an alternative to the imperative.
h-rbt: Macdonald (1992b: 23) has argued convincingly that the term rbt, when it appears with the article
h-, refers to an open area in which water collects and produces abundant herbage, a raabah. This is in contrast to
the term without the article, which refers to the area
known today as al-Rubah.
sf -hm: this phrase reects a request from the deity lt,
so the basic sense of this root as found in the CAr lexicons
as foolish or ignorance seems unsuitable. A connection
with Ugaritic sp to eat, devour (del Olmo Lete & Sanmart
n 2004: 766) is more appropriate, and in the current
context may reect a verbal noun with the subject
expressed as a pronominal sufx.
Both of these inscriptions suggest that the year was
divided into three primary seasons (Table 2): the winter
sty which, as Macdonald has recognised, encompassed
the contemporary Bedouin as: -s: feri and a
s-
sta, stretching
from early October to mid-February. D would then correspond to the Rwala as-smak, stretching from mid-February
to mid-April. Qy corresponds to the dry season, but may
also have included the early summer. The term s: yf occurs
only three times in the Safaitic inscriptions,3 which suggests that it was not a regular season for their authors.

Table 2. The division of the year by season.

Seasons
the winter

These are WH 2327, 3500 and KRS 2282. The fact that all the
other seasons are attested frequently, including sty and d,
makes it unlikely that the authors of the Safaitic inscriptions
were only absent during s: yf.

s ty

Rwala

Time period

as: -s: feri early Octoberearly January

a
s-
sta
early Januarymid-February
as-sm
ak mid-Februarymid-April

the season of
d
the later rains
the dry season qy (including the as: -s: ey
transitional s: yf) al-qe

mid-Aprilearly June
early Juneearly October

M.C.A. Macdonald has suggested to me that it may signify

a transitional period between d and the dry season, qy.
Two other inscriptions record a series of three terms in
an identical order, ml, kr and mt. The translations of the
editiones principes follow:
C 4985
_ bn ly bn y bn wq bn kwnt bn sw w
l zdl bn ngft
r lqt ml w kr w mt w sl h- bl mdbr w zr h- r
()bt f h lt slm w nqt l- ywr
_ son of ly son of y son of wq
By Zdl son of Ngft
son of Kwnt son of Sw and he stayed in the caves of
Mali, akir and Amat, and the camels were dispersed in
the desert. And he sowed the Ruhbat and, O Lat, health
and vengeance against him who obliterates4
KRS 169
_ b- nl f h y
l nrt bn dmt bn trml bn sry bn shm w gz
slm w kl h- smy {r} ml f {k}{r} f mt f ys f h
blsmn r{w} w slm
By Nrt son of H dmt son of Trml son of Sry son of
Shm and he was on a raid in a valley and so O Y [grant]
security and he watched the sky {camping near a permanent source of water} [at] Ml and {kr} and mt and
Ys and so O Blsmn [send] {relief from adversity and
uncertainty} and [grant] security
I will comment on both inscriptions more extensively in
the next section. A few words on the interpretation of kl
in KRS 169 are in order, however, since it bears directly
on the interpretation of the terms ml, kr and mt. The
translation of the editio princeps of kl as watched is
probably incorrect. Instead, it should be connected with
the sense of retain, detain, and refers to the lack of rain
(HALOT #4241). A comparable use of this root is found
am
in Gen. 8: 2 wayyikkale() hag-ge
sem min-ha
s-
s
ayim
and the rain from the sky was restrained. In this inscrip4

Safaitic

Ryckmans Latin is: Zaydoilo, lio Naghafati, lii alayi, lii

Daiyi lii uwaq, lii Kuwaynati, lii sawwa. Et versabatur
in cavernis Malih et Dhakir et Amat. Et disperse sunt (?) cameli
in deserto. Et seminavit in Ruhbat. Et, O Ilat, salutem, et vindictam ab illo qui oblitteraret.

215

A. AL-JALLAD
tion, the verb has an active sense: and the sky withheld/
restrained it. The third person pronoun referring to the
rain probably assimilated to the article: */wa kalla-ahhas-samay/, which is also common in the inscriptions.5
This reinterpretation ts well with the fact that the
author despaired, ys, and then asked the rain-god,
Blsmn, for relief rw so that he would remain
secure, w slm.6
Both C and KRS took ml, kr and mt as toponyms.
These terms also occur independently, usually as an object
of the preposition b- or following the terms ry and ks.
For example:
AbaNS 1117
_
l slm bn s: b w s: yr b- mt f h rw gnmt
By Slm son of S: b and he returned to permanent water
b- mt so, O Rw, let there be booty
KRS 1267
l khl bn l bn ml w tr my b- kr
By Khl son of H l son of ml and he awaited rain b- kr
C 523
l lh bn bh bn trb w wrd h- nmrt b- ks ml
By lh son of Bh h son of Trb and he came to water at
Namarah b- ks ml
C 2549
w ll h- r b- r{}y kr nwy
and he camped in this valley b- ry kr while migrating
with the tribe
The term ry has been the subject of much debate. Littmann (1943: 117) suggested that ry signied a watering
place, in connection with the root rwy, in his translation
of the phrase b- ry gml as a watering-place of camels.
While some have accepted this identication, faute de
mieux, it remains unclear how ry should be derived from
the aforementioned root or why it should signify a noun
of place.7 Jamme rejected this interpretation and instead
suggested the meaning in sight of or in view of on the
5

The word for sky, samay, can be treated as both masculine and
feminine in the inscriptions. A parallel expression is HaNSB
119: gz h- smy and the sky withheld it [i.e. the rain], which
also occurs in the feminine HaNSB 16 w gzt h- smy kll h- snt
and the sky withheld it [i.e. the rain] the entire year. On word
boundary assimilation, see Macdonald (2004: 507).
Result clauses are formed either by w or l and the optative use
of the sufx conjugation or the prex conjugation (see
Al-Jallad, forthcoming: 9.5.3).
An active participle formation CaiC seems possible, but in this
case we should not expect the nal vowel to have been indicated
in the orthography; an underlying ra would appear as r and
not ry. Moreover, a noun of place rather than an active participle pattern would have been expected.

216

assumption that the terms kr, ml and mt, which often

follow ry, were toponyms (1971: 3435). I agree with
Jamme that ry as a reex of rwy is unlikely, but I do not
see how his translation renders a better interpretation of
these constructions. Ks, on the other hand, has not
enjoyed as much discussion. Most have taken it to mean a
track or way, based on a rather extreme semantic leap
from its Classical Arabic counterpart kasaa he, or it, pursued or followed another (Lane 2608c). If we consider,
however, the fact that ml, kr and mt occur together in
the same order in both C 4985 and KRS 169, in light of
the sequences of seasons in Mu 113 and SIJ 1008, a better
explanation presents itself: these terms may refer to periods of time. Based on their etymologies, I would suggest
that they signal the zodiacal constellations, and if we consider the time period in which the sun passed through
these constellations roughly 2000 years ago, it seems clear
that they were used to demarcate the three major seasons
attested in the Safaitic inscriptions.8
Before discussing their etymologies, a short excursus
on the apparent interaction of the sun and moon with the
zodiacal constellations is in order. This will cast light on
the meanings of b-, ry and ks. The earths orbital path
causes the suns diurnal arc to shift across the sky over
the period of a year. The series of constellations which
lies on the suns annual path, the ecliptic, is called the
zodiac. The sun is said to be in a given constellation
when it rises in the segment of the sky occupied by that
constellation. The ecliptic constellations were identied
by the Babylonians, where they were a part of a larger
celestial coordinate system of seventeen constellations, of
which not all were ecliptic (Koch-Westenholz 1995:
132). By the fth century BCE, the twelve-part zodiac
had emerged. This system divided the sky into twelve
30 segments, called signs, each associated with a particular ecliptic constellation. Since the ecliptic constellations vary in size, the amount of time the sun spends in
8

The only reference in the literature I could nd which considers

an alternative explanation for any of these terms is Ababnehs
interpretation of AbaNS 1117, where he states the following
about mt: It seems more possible to identify mt as a month
name (i.e. with astronomic sense; [sic] e.g. a star name, or one
of the lunar phases). . .. Unfortunately, his explanation is rather
convoluted, as a month name, a star name and a lunar phase are
rather different things. Moreover, it is unclear how he came to
such a conclusion, especially since he provides no etymological
justication for his interpretation. Finally, since he accepts Jammes translation of b ry as in sight of, it is unclear how this
would congure with mt being a month.

ANCIENT ARABIAN ZODIAC

each is not uniform. Thus, the zodiac signs sometimes
correspond only roughly with their namesakes.9 The
moons path also follows the ecliptic and appears to pass
through the constellations. The moon completes a circuit
on the ecliptic every month, and the full moon will
appear in each constellation/sign once a year.
The zodiacal constellations also appear to rise and set.
When the sun occupies the same portion of the sky as a
constellation, its stars cannot be seen at dawn or dusk
because of the suns light. Once the sun has passed on to
the next constellation, however, the stars of the previous
one will become visible on the eastern horizon, rising
slightly before dawn. This is called the heliacal rising of a
constellation. Roughly half a year later, the constellation
will experience an acronical rising, whereby its stars
appear for the rst time in the evening sky opposite the
position of the sun.10
In light of our new understanding of ml, kr and mt, it
seems more likely that the terms ry and ks have to do
with the behaviour of celestial bodies. The heliacal rising
of the stars/constellations interested Babylonian astronomers, to which they applied the term IGI = ittanmar, to rise
heliacally (Reiner 1981: 1617), from amarum to see.
Safaitic ry corresponds well with this. There are certain
cases, however, in which ry must be taken as a reference
to the acronical rising of a constellation. I would therefore
suggest simply translating the term as the rising and
determining whether it referred to heliacal or acronical
rising based on its context. The term ks is comparable to
CAr kusun the latter part of a month; its last ten days, or
about that period (Lane 2608), Hebrew ks^e and Syriac
a, both full moon (HALOT #4329). Since we have
kes
no evidence to suggest that the month was divided into
three ten-day portions11 or that the terms of the zodiac
even refer to months, I would suggest that Safaitic ks
9

10

11

Due to the phenomenon of axial procession, the zodiac signs

today do not correspond to the constellations on which they
were based. The sign Aries, for example, corresponds to the
constellation Pisces. Since the Safaitic inscriptions were
produced in the neighbourhood of 2000 years ago, however,
the discrepancy between sign and constellation was much less
pronounced. For further reading, see Kelley & Milone 2005:
2627.
Heliacal setting refers to apparent setting of a constellation with
the sun slightly before the suns light renders it invisible. The
acronical setting occurs when the stars of a constellation set
opposite the sun at dawn. Neither of these appear to be mentioned in the Safaitic inscriptions.
This division was in use in Ancient South Arabia; see Stein
2005 for further discussion.

refers to the full moon when it occupies the constellation/

sign with which it is in construct. Full moons occur when
the moon rises directly opposite the sun, and so we can
roughly determine the time of year to which an inscription
containing ks before the name of a zodiacal constellation
refers. Finally, I would suggest that the preposition b- signies the period of time in which the sun rises in a given
constellation.
The question as to whether ml, kr and mt refer to the
actual constellations, to a 30 segment of the sky (i.e. a
sign) or had simply become names for the months
remains. Only a single published Safaitic inscription
attests a clear reference to a month name:
KRS 1965
l ghm bn zhrn bn bn tm bn w tswq [l-] bb bshr sbt f h lt qbll
By Ghm son of Zhrn son of son of Tm and he longed
{for} a friend in the month of Sb, so, O Lt, show benevolence
a, and
Sb obviously renders the winter month
sb
indicates that at least this author was using a version of the
Babylonian calendar. If he is not an anomaly, then it would
appear that the Babylonian month names were in use
among the nomads, suggesting that the zodiacal terms had
not become names of the months. It remains unclear, however, whether an ecliptic coordinate system consisting of
twelve 30 parts was in use or whether the terms referred
to the constellations themselves. The fact that the authors
of these inscriptions were clearly concerned with heliacal
and acronical risings supports the latter interpretation.
Indeed, there is nothing in the inscriptions that would
require the existence of a system of zodiac signs.
The identication of the constellations is made primarily on etymological grounds, with due consideration to
each terms context within an inscription. Given this limitation, there is no way to be sure that the Arabian constellations comprised the same stars as their classical
counterparts. While these issues will be dealt with in more
detail in Part II of this paper, they directly affect the way
we interpret the chronological dimension of the astronomical texts. Variation in the size of the constellations would
inuence the amount of time the sun would have spent in
each, challenging our ability to assign accurate dates to the
various celestial references. Moreover, the time of year the
sun spent in each constellation would have shifted by a
few days over the estimated period of Safaitic epigraphic
activity (rst century BCEfourth century CE) due to the
phenomenon of axial procession. Nevertheless, I think it is
safe to assume that the constellations correspond to their

217

A. AL-JALLAD
Table 3. The Zodiac.
Latin

English

Greek

Aramaic
(Qumran)

Aries
Taurus

Ram
Bull

q
aq

Gemini

Twins

Ddl

Cancer
Leo

Crab
Lion

aqj~m
xm

Virgo
Libra
Scorpio

Maiden
Scales
Scorpion

aqhm
c
jqp

Sagittarius

Archer

sg

Capricorn

Goat-horned

cjeqx

Aquarius
Pisces

Water-bearer
The shes

dqv
vhe

Babylonian
MUL(-LU2)

the Hireling
UN-GA2 agru
Bull of An MULGU4-AN-NA
(mul.mul) al^
u/is l^e
the Great Twins MULMAS-TAB-BAGAL-GAL m
a
su/t
u
am
u rab^
utu
the Crab MULNAGAR alluttu
the Lion MULUR-A/ MULUR-GULA n
e
su / urgul^
u
the Furrow MULKI absinnu
antu/zib
anu
the Scales GIS-ERIN2 zib
the Scorpion MULGIR2-TAB zuqiqpu
Ophiucus*
Pabilsag MULPA-BIL-SAG Pabilsag
the Goat-Fish MULSUUR.
 2ku6 suurm
a
su
MAS
the Great One MULGU-LA rammanu

the Tails mulKUNMES zibb
atu

Sign dates

Astronomical dates

mid-Marchmid-April
mid-Aprilmid-May

early Aprillate April 25 days

late Aprillate May 37 days

mid-Maymid-June

late Maylate June 31 days

mid-Junemid-July
mid-Julymid-August

late Juneearly July 20 days

early Julymid-August 37 days

mid-Augustmid-September
mid-Septembermid-October
mid-Octobermid-November

mid-Decembermid-January

mid-Augustlate September 45 days

late Septemberlate October 23 days
late Octoberlate October 7 days
late Octobermid-November 18 days
mid-Novembermid-December
32 days
mid-Decembermid-January 28 days

mid-Januarymid-February
mid-Februarymid-March

mid-Januarymid-February 24 days
mid-Februaryearly April 38 days

mid-Novembermid-December

*Ophiucus is the 13th classical constellation that crosses the ecliptic, but it was omitted from the system of zodiacal signs.
Note: The Aramaic names come from the Palestinian Jewish Aramaic text studied by Greeneld and Sokoloff (1989), which is the earliest Aramaic
source containing the names of the Zodiac. The Babylonian zodiac is discussed in Koch-Westenholz 1995: 164; the Akkadian names are from the
Chicago Assyrian Dictionary and Schramm 2010.

classical counterparts, but to assign rough dates to the different astronomical events (i.e. early April for the beginning of Aries rather than a specic date). Table 3 lists the
comparable incarnations of the zodiac along with the dates
of both the signs and the position of the sun. While the
xed dates of the zodiac signs are about a month removed
from the constellations today, the difference would have
been negligible some 2000 years ago. The astronomical
dates estimate the period in which the sun would have
passed through each constellation in the second century
CE.12

3. The constellations
Aries = kr
The Safaitic term corresponds perfectly with the Aramaic , but a loan can probably be ruled out based on
the preservation of the initial interdental. The use of this
root to signify a ram is unknown in CAr, where akar has
a more general sense, referring to the male of a species as
opposed to the female (Lane 970a). The origins of the ram
symbol, replacing the original hired farm-labourer is

unclear and continues to be debated (Rogers 1998:19).

The sun would have passed through Aries during the
month of April, placing it at the end of d.
Libra = mt
This word is probably related to the root mt, which
means in CAr to measure or compute quantity (Lane
94c), and renders it a suitable match for Libra, the scales.13
This meaning, however, was not known to the Arab lexicographers. In the earliest periods, the stars of Libra constituted the claws and tail of Scorpio, but by the three
stars each period (c.1100 BCE), Libra was recognised as
its own constellation (Rogers 1998: 2425). An echo of its
former unity with Scorpio, however, is preserved in a single inscription (see the discussion under qbt). The sun
passes through Libra from mid-September to mid-October,
which corresponds with the end of qy, and therefore signies the end of the dry season.
Aquarius = ml
The connection of ml with Aquarius can be made on
the basis of analogy with the previous two signs, namely,
that they correspond to the nal constellation of their
13

12

The current astronomical dates are generally a month later. The

calculation of these dates, along with the heliacal and acronical
rising of each constellation was done by using the software
STELLARIUM based on the view from the arrah of northern
Jordan in and around 150 CE.

218

I initially thought mt translated as Virgo the maiden, but

M.C.A. Macdonald pointed out that the term better ts Libra,
as mt only has the sense of female slave in Arabic and other
Semitic languages. I thank him for this suggestion, which is
incidentally a better t for the division of seasons suggested at
the beginning of this paper.

ANCIENT ARABIAN ZODIAC

respective seasons. The remaining season, the winter sty,
ends in mid-February, and therefore corresponds to Aquarius. This connection can also be supported on etymological grounds, although the relationship is not as transparent
as with the previous two constellations. Aquarius was
originally depicted as a water-pourer, whom the MUL.
APIN called the great one. This gured passed on to the
Greeks, who left him unnamed and depicted him with a
single vase pouring water onto Piscis Austrinus (Rogers
1998: 25). The Semitic root ml refers primarily to salt,
and in Arabic, it can signify water that has become salt.
a refers to a sailor or seaman, which puts it
The term mall
in the same semantic eld as water bearer, but this is still
not very close. I would instead suggest that ml refers to
the vessel in which salt was carried, or perhaps even to a
salt worker. The Safaitic inscriptions contain references to
transporting salt, and this could have been a more relevant
image to their authors than that of a ceramic vase.14 While
it is impossible to know for sure how they transported salt,
in many traditional societies today this is achieved by carrying it in large baskets or at pans, which are sometimes
placed on the head or shoulders. Such an image could
have been the basis for the name of this constellation. On
the other hand, an interesting connection between a water
bearer and salt is found in Eutings Tagebuch einer Reise
in Inner-Arabien (1896: 7374, 102103). There, he
describes a scene near Kaf in Wad Siran in which a slave
drew water from a well in a saltpan and then poured it on
the ground in order to leach out the salt. Thus, ml could
also refer to the role played by the water bearer in the
manufacture of salt.15
From this, we can reconstruct the following correspondences and translate our inscriptions accordingly
(Table 4).
Let us now turn to the inscriptions that contain these
three terms together:
C 4985
l zdl bn ngft bn ly bn y bn wq bn kwnt bn sw w
r lqt ml w kr w mt w sl h- bl mdbr w zr h- r
()bt f h lt slm w nqt l- ywr
By Zdl son of Ngft son of ly son of y son of wq
son of Kwnt son of Sw and the sun was present in the
portions of Aquarius, Aries and Libra [i.e. an entire year],
during which he pastured the camels on sl-plants in the
14

15

E.g. HaNSB 184 w ml f ny kbr and he traded salt and toiled

continuously. The vessel for carrying water would have also
been a leather sack in the desert, and not a ceramic jug.
I thank M.C.A. Macdonald for this reference.

inner desert and sowed this Rbt so, O lt, let there be
security and a curse upon him who would efface
Commentary
The author recounts the activities of his year through
the use of two parallel constructions. He begins by stating
that an entire year has gone by: the sun passed through
the portions of Aquarius, Aries and Libra and then, in a
parallel circumstantial clause introduced by w, mentions
two activities which must have taken place at different
times of the year: pasturing the camels in the desert and
sowing the Rbt.
r: in most cases, r should be interpreted as he
camped near permanent water (Lane 590b). This interpretation does not t the context, however, as it would imply
that the author camped at permanent water while also pasturing the camels in the inner desert, and sowing a shallow
depression where water collects (the Rbt). Instead, I
would take r in contexts such as these to refer to the
presence of the sun, in line with the basic sense of this
root (Lane 588c). Grammatically, r is probably a sufxconjugated verb. While one would expect feminine
concord with sun, agreement in Safaitic is erratic, and
several nouns that are feminine in other Semitic languages
take masculine concord in Safaitic (see e.g. smy below).
h lqt: the root h lq has the sense of to divide, measure,
or portion (Lane 799c; HALOT # 2919), and here I would
suggest that it refers to the portion of the sky occupied by
or allotted to each of these constellations. Thus, the phrase
r h lqt would mean it [the sun] was present in the portions of (Aquarius, Aries and Libra) or in other words, the
sun made its yearly journey, passing through the last constellation of each season.
sl: the primary denition of Arabic sl to void
excrement is not appropriate in this context, nor is the
D-stem to arm with a weapon (Lane 1402ab). Instead, I
would interpret this as a denominal verb meaning to pasture on isla a type of plant which is said to cause the
milk of the camels to become abundant, or it can refer to a
type of herb growing on tracts of sand (Lane 1402c
1403a). The latter meaning is especially suitable in this
context, as the author pastured in the inner desert.
nqt: the etymology of this term remains unknown, but
it surely signies something negative as it appears
exclusively in curses. I have therefore chosen to translate
it neutrally as a curse.
KRS 169
_ b- nl f h y
l nrt bn dmt bn trml bn sry bn shm w gz
slm w kl h- smy {r} ml f {k}{r} f mt f ys f h
blsmn r{w} w slm

219

A. AL-JALLAD
Table 4. The identication of mt, kr, ml.
Latin

English

Greek

Aramaic

Babylonian

Safaitic

Aries
Libra
Aquarius

Ram
Scales
Water-bearer

q
c
dqv

Agrarian worker agru

The Scales zib
antu
the great one rammanu

kr ram
mt measure
ml salt- bearer

By Nrt son of H dmt son of Trml son of Sry son of Shm

and he raided this valley, so, O Y, may he be secure; and
the sky withheld its rain during [the suns] presence in
Aquarius, then Aries, then Libra, and so he despaired, so O
Blsmn, let there be relief that he remain secure
or put another way:
. . . and the sky withheld its rain in the winter, then the
season of the later rains, and then the dry season, so he despaired, so O Blsmn, let there be relief that he remain
secure
Commentary
_ b- nh l: the verb to go on a raid usually appears as
gz
_
_ which must be a D-stem of a geminate root gzz.
This
gzz,
inscription may then attest a G-variant of this root, or may
simply be the result of a writing error.
r: the term r is also attested in KRS 169, where it
can be understood in two ways. First, one could take it as
an innitive, acting as an adverb of circumstance in construct with the three constellations ml f {k}{r} f mt thus,
and the sky withheld [the rain] while camping near permanent water in Aquarius, then Aries and then Libra or it
could also refer to the suns position, the sky withheld
[the rain] during the [the suns] presence in Aquarius,
Aries and Libra.
Thus, in these contexts, the three zodiacal constellations
would signal the end of each of the three seasons mentioned in the Safaitic inscriptions (Table 5).
Another inscription attests a sequence of ml and kr,
which also nicely ts our understanding of the time
periods which they reference.
RWQ 326
l nm bn mn bn sd bn mt bn smd bn lf bn sm
bn zz bn hrb bn hlt bn h: gg bn nml bn m bn ybs w lf
ml f kr nb f ys m smy. . .
By nm son of mn son of sd son of Mt son of
Smd son of H lf son of sm son of zz son of Hrb son of
Hlt son of gg son of Nml son of m son of Ybs and
he fed [his animals] on dry fodder in Nabataea in Aquarius
[the winter] then Aries [the season of later rains] and so he
despaired on account of the sky [i.e. the weather]. . .
Commentary
lf: the verb lf should be connected with Classical
Arabic alafa he fed (the beasts) on fodder. While the

220

Table 5. The constellations and the seasons.

Seasons

Safaitic

the winter

sty

ml

the season of
the later rains
the dry season

kr

qy

mt

Rwala

Time period

as: -s: feri

a
s-
sta
as-sm
ak

early Octoberearly January

early Januarymid-February
mid-Februarymid-April

as: -s: ey
al-Qe

mid-Aprilearly June
early Juneearly October

object is absent here, it is attested in other inscriptions,

for example, LP 722 lf h- mzy snt bs he fed the
goats on dry fodder in the year of misery. The need to
feed animals on dry fodder during the rainy seasons of
sty and d suggests a drought, and explains why the
author expresses despair, ys, on account of the
weather, m smy.
nb: locative nouns in Safaitic are often unmarked, and
so nb can be construed as in Nabataea, and probably
refers to an area under Nabataean control. It is less likely,
although possible, that the author was describing the Nabataeans feeding their animals on dry fodder.
m smy: one would expect the article h- or - to precede
smy in this construction. The elision of the articles onset
in this position is unlikely, and so its omission is probably
a writing error.

3.1. Inscriptions containing kr, ml, mt

independently
Now that we have established the identity of these three
terms, let us turn our attention to their occurrences following b- and ks / ry:
kr:
KRS 1267
l khl bn l bn ml w tr my b- kr
By Khl son of H l son of ml and he awaited rain when
the sun was in Aries [April, the end of d]
Commentary
my: while my is clear on the photograph and ts the
context well, it should also be noted that the expression tr
mny he awaited fate, the exact sense of which is not
clear, is common and that the author in this case may have
simply forgotten to carve the n. It is also possible that
smy was also intended, but this word is usually preceded

ANCIENT ARABIAN ZODIAC

by the article h- or - and would, at any rate, have had the
same meaning as my in this context, namely, to await the
rains.
KRS 2851
l g{d}d bn mm bn bd w ry h- nl b- lg b- {k}s
kr
By {Gdd} son of {mm} son of bd and he pastured
in this valley on snow during the {full moon} of Aries
(mid-October)
Commentary
The editor interpreted the last word as {m}s, but the
rst letter looks more like a poorly formed k. The full
moon occupies Aries around mid-October, which is rather
early for snowfall, but then again it may be this very fact
that motivated the author to mention it in an inscription.
C 4973
l md bn msk bn md bn mlk w wld h- mz {w} ry -h
bql b- kr
By md son of Msk son of md son of Mlk and he
helped the goats to give birth {and} pastured them on
spring herbage when the sun was in Aries.
ml:
C 523
l lh bn bh bn trb w wrd h- nmrt b- ks ml
By lh son of Bh h son of Trb and he came to water at
Namarah during the full moon of Aquarius.
Commentary
The full moon sits in Aquarius when the sun rises in
Leo, in the summer.
C 3230
{l} ( ) m bn y w ry {h-} bl b- ry ml l- [h-] nl w
wgm ( ) [][l-] m {-h}
By m son of y and he pastured the camels during the
rising of Aquarius over (?) [the] valley; and he grieved
[for] {his} grandfather
Commentary
The inscription does not contain enough information to
determine whether ry refers to acronical or heliacal rising.
The phrase l [h-] nh l could also be taken as against/bordering the valley.
WH 479
l s{w}r bn hln w wrd b- ml hm w brkt f t: rw
By {Swr} son of hln and he went to water at Hm and
Brkt during Aquarius (mid-Januarymid-February) so,
may Rw deliver
Commentary
The fact that the author went to permanent water in the
middle of the winter may suggest the presence of a
drought. This seems to be suggested by the fact that he

went to two places to water, perhaps indicating that the

water supply was diminished.
brkt: Macdonald (1992b: 3738) convincingly identied this as the name of an area in the seasonal migrations
of the nomads.
mt:
KRS 896
l yslm bn grml bn qs w wgd sfr s: d f ng w wrd hnmrt b- mt rt
By Yslm son of Grml son of Qs and he found the
inscription of Sd, so he grieved in pain and went to water
at Namarah when the sun was in Libra [the dry season]
thereafter
Commentary
ng: this verb is used frequently in grieving formulae
and reects the N-stem of the root wg to be in pain.
This derivation is supported by the fact that the verb wg
itself is used in the same grieving context; compare, for
_
example, WH 946 w wg l gyrl
with WH 960 w ng l
_
_
gyrl,
both and he grieved in pain for Gyrl.
rt: this term is attested only once more in the Safaitic corpus, in KRS 1444 where it clearly means offspring. Such a
meaning seems impossible here. I would suggest that it is an
adverb of time, meaning thereafter related to the basic sense
of the root h r last, after, following (Lane 3132).
AbaNS 1117
_
l slm bn s: b w s: yr b- mt f h rw gnmt
By Slm son of S: b and he returned to permanent water
when the sun was in Libra so, O Rw, let there be booty
KRS 1770
l nt bn s bn kmd bn s w wrd f nyt {b-} mt{n} f rw
h b<>lsmn
By nt son of s son of Kmd son of s and he went to
water then migrated with the tribe while the sun was in
Libra, so let there be relief, O Blsmn
Commentary
nyt: this is the innitive of nwy to migrate (with the
tribe), which is used here in an innitive chain construction (see Al-Jallad, forthcoming: 9.4.1), where only the
rst verb of a sequence of related actions is nite.
mt{n}: the n of this inscription is slightly higher than
the rest of the letters and is connected to the following f,
which may indicate that it was unintentional. If it was
intentional, then it would reect a rare occurrence of nunation in Safaitic; another possible example is attested in
KRS 1551, mltn dearth of pasture.
C 4903
l knt bn zq s+<<t>>+{n}{t} ms {}sy h- rbt b- mt
h- d

221

A. AL-JALLAD
By Knt son of Zq in the year. . . this Rbt during the
Libra of the season of the later rains
Commentary
This text must refer to the acronical rising of Libra,
which occurs in April, that is, the Libra of the spring. The
interpretation of the ms sy is unclear. The Arabic dictionaries know ms as one of the names of the North Wind
but no denition of sy sw/y or ws is suitable for this
context. I have therefore left it untranslated.

3.2. The other zodiacal constellations that follow ry

and ks
There are six other terms preceded by ry and ks and it
stands to reason that these too refer to periods of time indicated by the heliacal rising and the position of the sun and
moon with respect to a given zodiacal constellation.
l = Pisces
The term l does not correspond to the sh of the Greek
or West Semitic zodiac, but is a better match for the Babyatu tails, as encountered in the MUL.
lonian name zibb
APIN (Rogers 1998: 27). The Safaitic l is cognate with
CAr aylun, which means tail, or more generally, the
latter, hinder, or last part of anything (Lane 990c). Only
one inscription known to me contains this term:
LP 712
l tm bn sd bn r w wrd b- ry l {y}srb
By Tm son of Sd son of r and he came to water during the rising of Pisces to drink
Commentary
The prex conjugation in result clauses is usually introduced by w or l. Its absence in the orthography in this
inscription suggests the writing of two identical letters at
word boundaries as if they were one and, further, the loss
of nal short vowels, thus: */bereayaylleya
srab/.
ymr = Capricorn
This term is cognate with CAr yamurun which is
dened by the lexicographers as a kind of mountaingoat or a certain wild beast, a beast resembling a
goat, having a single branching horn in the middle of
its head and a certain beast of the sea (Lane 99a).
The uncertainty with which the dictionaries treat this
word may attest to its antiquity, and perhaps to the fact
that it referred to a mythical creature rather than an
actual animal. Indeed, that its denition encompasses
both a goat and a sea creature corresponds nicely with
the Babylonian goat-sh hybrid.
HaNSB 197
l hn bn wrd bn shyt bn s w srq m- rn b- bl -h sr
_ w slm w wr m wr
b- ry ym{r} f h blsmn gyrt

222

By Hn son of Wrd son of Shyt son of s and he

migrated to the desert from the rn with his camels to
spring herbage during the heliacal rising of Capricorn
[early-mid February], so, O Blsmn, let there be abundance and security, and blind whosoever would efface [the
inscription]
Commentary
The acronical rising of Capricorn takes place in July,
making it an unlikely period to nd herbage in the desert.
C 4276
l sr bn wsl bn sr w lt: mn yl b- ry {y}mr f rg
hs m- rql snt srt hs: f rqln m- l ()
Commentary
C reads the second y as {h}, but given the context, this
is probably the result of a copy error or damage on the
rock. Even with this restoration, the exact sense of the
inscription remains elusive as it contains several hapax legomena and is unformulaic. I am unable to offer a satisfactory interpretation at this time.
RWQ 290
l gld bn h bn sgw w wrd dyt h- bly b- ks ymr
By Gld son of son of Sgw and he went to water in
the valleys of the camel-graves when the full moon was in
Capricorn
Commentary
Interestingly, in his commentary on this inscription,
al-Rusan identied ks as a month name, but took the
rst y of ymr as part of the word, ksy, which he
equated with aylul. He then left the nal three letters,
mr, unexplained.
dyt h- bly: dyt probably renders */awdeyat/, the plural
of wadi valley. The second term bly is found in a few Safaitic inscriptions (e.g. WH 163, 165), and refers to a particular form of a grave where the dead mans camel was
hamstrung and left to die either beside the grave or in a pit
next to it, possibly to provide a suitable mount in the afterlife (Macdonald 1994: 762). A Nabataean burial inscription makes reference to a blw, which Hayajneh (2006)
connected with Safaitic bly and indeed Classical Arabic
baliyyah.
Virgo = h-ngm
Scholars have always assumed that if ngm had an astronomical referent, it would be identical to CAr na
g am, the
Pleiades. Its appearance simply with the preposition bsuggests, however, that it refers to one of the twelve zodiacal constellations. Again here we nd a better connection
with the Babylonian rather than the Greek and the Qumran
Aramaic zodiacs. The Babylonian sign depicted the goddess Shala holding a sheaf of corn. While the Greek

ANCIENT ARABIAN ZODIAC

zodiac focused on the image of the Shala, the virgin, the
ear of corn became the symbol of this constellation in the
eastern zodiacs,
sebelta in Syriac, ho
sag in Pahlavi and
a in Sanskrit (Laftte 2003: 115). The Safaitic
indeed kany
sides with the latter group. I would connect ngm with CAr
root n
gm, which refers to the emergence or appearance t: alaa/ahara, ofamong other thingsa plant, a
canine tooth, a horn or a planet (Lisan s.v.). As such,
h-ngm may be a nominal form referring to that which the
seed-produce put forth, similar indeed to the root snbl,
which gives: sanbala z-zaru The seed-produce put forth
its sunbul [ears] as well as a nominal form sunbul (Lane
1440b). Classical Arabic na
g m (Lane 3028c) refers to the
sprouts from the roots [of a tree or shrub] or to triticum
repens, couch or dog grass. If I am correct in identifying
this term with Virgo, then the original sense of this root
must have been wider. The reason why the name of this
constellation sometimes occurs with the denite article is
at present unclear.
HaNSB 218
l hd bn nr bn rb bn hd bn kbt bn myn w wgm l_ w l- dg w l- wn w l- bl w l- ny w lslm w l- gyr
sny f wny w ngs h- bl m- rn mn lg b- ry ngm
By hd son of Nr son of rb son of hd son of Kbt
_ and for
son of myn and he grieved for Slm and for Gyr
wn and for Bl and for ny and of Sny and so became
weak; and he drove the camels from the awran on
account of snowfall during the rising of Virgo
Commentary
The heliacal rising of Virgo takes place in early October, which seems a little early for snowfall, although
note the snowfall in October in KRS 2851. Virgos acronical rising occurs in late February, when snow would
also be rare, but still possible. As with KRS 2851, the
explicit mentioning of snow may indicate that it was a
remarkable event at the time of year to which the
inscription refers.
CSA 2.1
l hmlk bn lh bn sny bn hmlk bn rb w ry mdbr {f} s: yr
b- h- ngm f h lt slm
By Hmlk son of lh son of Sny son of Hmlk son of rb
and he pastured in the desert, {then} he returned to permanent water while the sun was in Virgo, so, O Lt, may he be
secure
WH 3053
l dy bn nsl w r b- h- ngm l- yg
By Dy son of Nsl and he washed while the sun was in
Virgo in order to perform a pilgrimage
ly = Taurus

The term ly is clearly an elative formation, afal,

alan,
derived from the root ly; this corresponds to CAr 
which is an adjective applied to a ram with large buttocks (Lane 87c). This, in and of itself, is not a convincing rendition of the bull or the bull of heaven, but
Safaitic ly is also cognate with the Akkadian name of this
constellation, al^u, which refers to the bull as a mythological being (CAD 377). The nal y along with the two glottal stops clearly indicate that the Safaitic term was not a
direct borrowing from Akkadian, but perhaps reects a
calque or translation.
KRS 1706
l yslm bn wn bn mlk w yd h- n b- rn b- ry ly f h
blsmn w h sr w lt w shqm fs: yt w wr ywr
By Yslm son of wn son of Mlk and he placed the
sheep in an enclosure in the awran during the rising of
Taurus so, O Blsmn and sr and Lt and Shqm, let
there be deliverance and blind him who would efface
Commentary
yd: I would take this as a D-stem of the root wd, the
basic sense of which is to circle, enclose, encompass,
etc. (Leslau 1987: 77a). The Safaitic D-stem could refer to
the encircling of the sheep, in other words, putting them
into an enclosure.
C 974
l ny bn qsm bn n{y} bn lm bn zkt bn slm bn mbdy
bn kwnt w mt l- lqt b- h- mzyn b- r{}y ly f ry h- bq{r}
w r{s: } sn f h lt s{l}m
By ny son of Qsm son of n{y} son of Lm son of
Zkt son of slm son of Mbdy son of Kwnt and it (a planet?) shown brightly for a period in Orion during the rising of Taurus, then he pastured the cattle and watched out
for enemies so, O Lt, may he be secure
Commentary
This inscription, which is difcult to interpret, seems to
be describing the behaviour of a planet with respect to
Orion during the rising of Taurus. The translation of mt lh lqt b- h- mzyn is very tentative.
mt: if we consider the phrase mataa n-naharu the day
became advanced, the sun being held high (Lane 3016c)
with the sense the verb takes when applied to wine,
mataa n-nabu the wines red colour was intense, it
would seem that the verbs basic sense has to do with
brightness or intensity of colour. Indeed, brightness was a
notable feature of the planets and stars for the Babylonians
(Reiner 1981: 18). The verb mataa must refer to an
understood body, perhaps one of the planets. Venus, for
example, will pass through Orion during the heliacal rising
of Taurus.

223

A. AL-JALLAD
lqt: the term lqt must be understood temporally here
rather than spatially, thus a period rather than a portion.
A parallel is attested in C 2820: w br lqt sty h- dr and
he departed this place for the period of winter.
b- h- mzyn: most understand mzyn as a variant plural
form of mz goat, the normal plural of which is mzy. It is
better to understand the nal -n as an adjectival sufx,
*an, which would render the term analogous with CAr
azun a possessor, or master of, mizan [or goats]
ma
(Lane 2724c), and thus a suitable match for the Babylonian Orion, the loyal shepherd of Heaven.
Gemini = gml
At rst glance, this would seem to be the equivalent
of Babylonian gamlu, the crook (Auriga). Since gml also
follows the preposition b-, it is more likely that the term
refers to a constellation on the ecliptic. It is tempting to
view gml as a borrowing from Latin GEMINI. The confusion of n and l is unexpected, but not without parallel,
especially in loanwords. But the penetration of a Latin
term into the Arabian zodiac is problematic. The other
zodiac names reect etymological equivalents to the
Babylonian or Greek and it is therefore unclear why
speakers would bring over a Latin term for this constellation alone. Moreover, the use of Latin was highly
restricted in the Near East. While one occasionally nds
a Safaitic-Greek bilingual inscription, no Latin texts
have been produced by the inhabitants of the desert.
The connection of root gml with twins can be made
on etymological grounds by appealing to CAr gumlatun,
gumul, which can refer to any aggregate unseparated
(Lane 460bc). While this might not be a direct translation of the Babylonian, it does capture the basic sense of
two conjoined parts. On the other hand, the constellation
itself looks remarkably like a camel (Fig. 1). It has two
vertical lines which fork at the bottom, resembling legs,
and a crossbar three quarters of the way up with one end
extending further past the right parallel line than the end
crossing the left. This resembles a neck on the right side
and a tail on the left. Finally, the two lines draw closer
above the crossbar resembling a hump. Safaitic gml may
in fact refer to a camel and reect a local innovation on
account of the constellations resemblance to a culturally
signicant animal.16
SIJ 827
l n bn mlk bn qms: t bn d bn shwt w s: yr m- mdbr
b-ry gml
16

This reimagining can be compared to the representation of

Sagittarius as a teapot in North America today.

224

Fig. 1.
Gemini.

By n son of Mlk son of Qmt son of d son of Shwt

and he returned to permanent water from the desert during
the heliacal rising of Gemini [early July]
KRS 1560
l grf bn ws w ry bql b- gml
By Grf son of ws and he pastured herbage when the
sun was in Gemini
LP 435
l grml bn b bn kn w wsq -h h- sl b- ry gml snt
wsq l qdm l hrm f h lt slm
By Grml son of b son of Kn and the torrent drove
him away during the acronical rising of Gemini [midDecember] the year the people of Qdm struggled with the
people of Hrm so, O Lt, may he be secure
Commentary
The phrase wsq h- sl was understood by Littmann
and others to mean the torrent drove him away. If this
is correct, then ry would signal the acronical rather than
heliacal rising of Gemini. Musil recorded an expression
among the Rwala ilya t: alaat as-sheyl la tamen as-seyl
when Canopus rises, trust not the Creek.17 Since
Gemini also rises in mid-December, its appearance on
the evening horizon in the winter could have been
equivalent to the sighting of Canopus by the Rwala, and

17

See Macdonald (1992b: 2) for references and discussion.

ANCIENT ARABIAN ZODIAC

signalled the beginning of the period in which torrents
become a threat.
LP 436
l bn swr bn nqm w wsq -h h- sl b- ry gml f h lt
slm l- sr
By son of Swr son of Nqm and the torrent drove
him away during the acronical rising of Gemini so, O Lt,
let there be security to him who would leave (this inscription) untouched
qbt = Scorpio
The Safaitic qbt is very close to the expected qrb(t),
scorpion. The unexpected deletion of the r may point
towards taboo deformation, which is a common phenomenon with dangerous animals. This hypothesis is impossible
to prove, however, since no inscriptions containing a
reference to the actual insect have been discovered. The
appearance of the name qrb does not constitute counterevidence for this thesis since, as Macdonald has correctly
stated before, the literal meaning [of a name] can seldom
have had much relevance to either the givers or receivers
of a name at the time it was bestowed, and once it was
attached to an individual it ceased to mean anything in
context except that particular person (1999: 254). Scorpio
originally encompassed the constellation of Libra, the stars
of which made up its claws; an awareness of this identication persisted until Greek times (Rogers 1998: 25).
A single inscription seems to attest to an awareness of
a greater Libra-Scorpio among the inhabitants of the
arrah: MU 89 b- ks mt qbt during the full moon of
Libra-Scorpio.
qbt is the most frequently attested constellation in
the Safaitic corpus, suggesting that its appearance and
disappearance in the sky had some cultural signicance
for the authors of these inscriptions. If this is true, then
it may also have contributed to its phonological deformation. Unlike the other constellations, qbt occurs with
ry and ks in all but one case, which makes sense
given that the sun spends only seven days in Scorpio
proper.18
C 1895

18

The term qbt also occurs independently in curse formulae,

where it should be understood as a noun meaning punishment
(Lane 2099a). While the two terms are identical in consonantal
garb, they most likely had different vocalizations. Van den
Branden (1960) devised a rather different interpretation of qbt,
but this was based on the misreading of ry qbt as rhy qbt,
and so there is no need for a lengthy discussion of his interpretations.

l s bn nmt b[n] gz w wrd h- nmrt b- ks qbt f hy

{y} [l]t19 rw
By S son of Nmt son of gz and he came to water at
Namarah during the full moon of Scorpio [early May] so,
{O} [Lt], let there be relief
C 1927
l sd bn mlm bn rbl bn nm w r h- dr w tr hsmy b- r{}y qbt f h blsmn rw w wr w wqd l- ywr
h- sfr
By sd son of Mlm son of Rbl son of nm and he
camped here at permanent water and awaited the rains during the heliacal rising of Scorpio [mid-December], so O
Bls1mn let there be relief; and blindness and scorching
heat be upon him who would efface this writing
C 3818
l {}t: bn {g}rm{}l bn t: w lg b- h- dr b- {r}{}y qbt
By {Flt: } son of {Grml} son of Flt: and it snowed here
during the heliacal rising of Scorpio [mid-December]
KRS 1719
l mr bn bd bn bn srb w km b- ry qbt b
By Mr son of bd son of son of srb and he gathered
trufes during the acronical rising of Scorpio [mid-May]
b. . .
Commentary
Trufes abound in the season of the later rains, from
February to April, but they can continue to grow as late as
June. Perhaps it was this especially long season that compelled the author to mention it in an inscription. The nal
b could indicate that the inscription is incomplete.
KRS 2489
_ bn s: rm bn nmy bn wqr w tr - smy b- qbt
l mgyr
_ son of rm son of Nmy son of Wqr and he
By Mgyr
awaited the rains when the sun was in Scorpio
KRS 1551
l sr bn dmt bn trml bn sry bn slm w lmn b- qbt f
h lh rw w mltn l- ywr h- sfr
By sr son of H dmt son of Trml son of Sry son of
Slm and Mars is in Scorpio so, O Lh, let there be relief;
and a dearth of pasture to him who would efface this
writing
Commentary
lmn: the editor left this word unexplained. Its syntax
would suggest that it is a verb, but the root lmn does not
exist, and a derivation from the root lm would leave the
19

The copy clearly shows {y}{b}t, but such a deity is unknown

from elsewhere. I have, therefore, amended the third letter to
[l], which gives us the well-known divine name Lt. The vocative particle y has been previously attested, e.g. KRS 1526.

225

A. AL-JALLAD
nal n unexplained. Instead, I would suggest a connection
with Akk dLumnu, which refers to Mars (Reiner 1981:
13). The initial alif may reect a compound el-lumnu, a
phonological reproduction of the determinative, an elative
formation or even the denite article -. The term appears
once more where it can be equally interpreted as Mars:
KRS 1374 w tr h- s[m]y w lmn and he awaited the
{rains} and Mars.
mltn: dearth of pasture is a common component of
curse formulae, but in most cases it appears simply as mlt,
without the nal -n. The present mltn could reect an idiomatic use of the dual or a rare attestation of nunation.

3.3. The remaining zodiacal constellations

The other constellations must be identied on an etymological basis as they do not occur following either ry or
ks and, as such, their identication remains tentative.
Cancer = srn
Cancer is attested in three variant forms. C 3531 attests
a short form srt: , while LP 1190 terminates in a t, srt: t. C
1156 contains s{r}t: {n}, but it is unclear if the restoration
of the second letter as an r is correct. Since all of the West
Semitic names of this constellation contain an n, it seems
best to restore the name of this constellation as srt: n, and
to explain the variant forms individually.
C 3531
l md bn mlk bn md bn msk bn []md bn mlk h- bqr
b- srt: f h lt slm
By md son of Mlk son of md son of Msk son of
{md} son of Mlk the cattle when the sun was in
Cancer so, O Lt, may he be secure
Commentary
Assuming that the absence of the nal n on the copy
was not the result of a copy error, then it could have been
assimilated to the following letter. Word boundary assimilation in a similar context is attested in KRS 2340: w ndm
_
l b -h w l dwd -h rbt rgm[n]
mny and he was devastated on account of his father and his four paternal uncles
who were taken to the grave by fate, where the passive
_ has a plural antecedent, and so should be
participle rgm
_
restored as rgm[n],
with the assimilation of the nal n to
the following m.
LP 1190
l nm bn s{d} bn nm snt dr l srt: [n]
By nm son of {sd} son of nm the year he camped
at permanent water until the sun was in Cancer
Commentary
srt: [n]: while the nal t is clear on the copy, the copyist
may have mistaken a stray line through the n as part of the

226

letter. I would therefore suggest the following emendation:

srt: [n].
l: the preposition l can mean until in Safaitic, similar
to CAr atta (see Al-Jallad, forthcoming: 5).
There are two other possible attestations of srt: n, but
both their readings and context within the inscriptions
make their identication uncertain, and other explanations
exist. Both occur following the phrase d hwrd; the rst
term is clearly the verb to spend the season of the later
rains while the second is open to interpretation.
C 1187
l qrb bn m{d}{} bn sm[t] [b][n] {l}l w ll h- [d][r]
w d{} hw[r]d b- slt:
By qrb son of {Md} son of Smt {son of} H ll and he
camped here and spent the season of the later rains hw[r]d
b- slt:
C 1156
l ll [b][n] smt bn bn{t} bn ll bn bnt w wgm l- b
{d} {w} {}l- nm w l- bn w l- ml{k} w l- d w l- b
{w} d h{w} r( )d b- s{r}t: {n}
By H ll [son of] Smt son of {Bnt} son of H ll son of
Bnt and he mourned for bd and for nm and for bn and
for Mlk and for d and for b and he spent the season of
the later rains h{w} r( )d b- s{r}t: {n}
If s{r}t: {n} and slt: have the same referent, then it
seems likely that it was the constellation Cancer, which
would mean that slt: should be read as s{r}t: [n]. It is possible to see in the l of slt: a malformed r, and one would
then only have to assume that the copyist overlooked the
nal n, which is understandable considering that its shape
is a small line or dot. As is clear from other inscriptions,
the term h-wrd can refer to a toponym, for example, C
744 ry {h}wrd he pastured Hwrd. The ensuing chronological mismatch between Cancerwhich the sun occupies in late June and early Julyand d, however,
should motivate us to reinterpret hwrd in its present context. I would suggest reparsing the clause as d -h w rd
b- srt: n. In C 1187, the h would reect a pronominal
clitic referring back to h- dr this place, thus he camped
in this place, and spent the season of the latter rains at it.
The absence of any antecedent for this pronoun in C
1156 could simply mean that its referent was understood,
that is, the location of the inscription. The next sentence,
w rd b- srt: n translates as and he returned when the sun
was in Cancer. The verb rd is simply the sufx conjugation of the root rdd, to return. This reinterpretation ts
well our understanding of the year. The author seems to
have spent the season of the later rains in an area that,
while well watered in the spring, would have become dry

ANCIENT ARABIAN ZODIAC

in the summer months, and so would explain his departure in late June.
If, however, one insists on maintaining a single interpretation of the phrase d h- wrd in all of the Safaitic inscriptions, then perhaps the term following b- in both
inscriptions should be equated with the term slt: n, the
exact meaning of which is unclear (see C 66, 1952, 2802;
LP 424, 540, 1013). The basic sense has to do with governing and authority, and so perhaps in this context it
refers to an area or district visibly under Roman rule.
Finally, since the r in these cases is not hooked, it is also
possible to read the word as sbt: , that is, the month corresponding to FebruaryMarch. This, however, would not
explain the nal {n} in C 1156.
Leo = h- sd
Only a single inscription contains a possible reference
to Leo. The reasons for this are at present unclear.
C 28
l drl bn mty bn rg bn hr w byt yt: f tr h- sd f h lt
slm
By Drl son of Mty son of Rg son of r and he spent
the night while travelling, then he awaited Leo, so O lt,
may he be secure
Commentary
tr: this verb is the Gt-stem of the root nr to guard
and is generally translated as to await (cf. CAr intaara).
It is used primarily with meteorological phenomena
h- smy the rains and mny fate. The literal meaning of
sd lion would make little sense in this context. In
Sabaic, sd can mean warriors or soldiers (Beeston
et al. 1982: 7), but there is no evidence for such a meaning
in the Safaitic inscriptions. The attested term for a troop is
msrt, and warriors seem to be called br or qtl.
h- sd: the context in which Leo is mentioned seems to
suggest that the author was awaiting its rise on the horizon, even though ry is not explicitly mentioned (cf. Mars
in KRS 1374). If this is correct, then the inscription was
probably composed in August.
Sagittarius = rmy or br, or both?
The identication of Sagittarius is complicated by the
various names associated with this constellation. The
MUL.APIN refers to it as Pabilsag, a relatively minor
Sumerian god. An alternative Babylonian tradition
identied the constellation as Nedu, the soldier, but it is
unclear if he possessed a bow and arrow. The image of this
constellation with the Greeks was that of a satyr archer,
and it was not until classical times that the familiar
centaur archer became associated with this sign (Rogers
1998: 2627).

Two candidates for Sagittarius are found in the inscriptions. The rst is br, which I have suggested was the term
for soldier, perhaps a verbal adjective abbar from the
sense to drive away, expel (Lane 330c).20 This would be
a suitable match for Babylonian Nedu.21
There are a couple of inscriptions in which the term br
is better taken as a period of time rather than literally as
soldier.
C 1758:
l m bn ()r bn m bn {n} - l br ( ) w wgm l- sy -h
nsl b- br
By m son of r son of m son of n of the lineage of
Br and he grieved for his companions who went away
when the sun was in Sagittarius
Commentary
nsl: the n-stem of sll, cf. CAr it (a thing) became
pulled forth, drawn out gently; he slipped away, or stole
away (Lane 1396a).
C 4443
w wgm l- m -h w l- dd -h w l- l -h w l- m w lnm qtl -h ()l s: b f wlh l- bn l -h t( )r w ry h- n w
r b- br w l h- s[n] f h lt slm w wgd r -h f ndm
And he grieved for his mother and for his paternal uncle
and for his maternal uncle and for nm whom the people
of b have killed, so he was distraught over his cousin,
who died; and he pastured the sheep, and washed during
Sagittarius, and then struck down the enemy, so O, Lt, let
there be security; and he found the inscription of his
brother, so he was devastated
Commentary
The phrase r b- br parallels r b- h- ngm found in
WH 3053 and may indicate a special type of bathing or
cleansing carried out at certain times of the year.
l h- s[n]: I connect h l with CAr h alla to perforate
or pierce through; the phrase allahu bir-rumi means
20

21

For example: NST 3 l s bn khl w wgm l- sg -h rgm mny

w ty nr h- brn mn- l s: b snt rb -hm l w b- wl w gnmt l dy w wr dsr bl. By S2 son of Khl and he grieved for
his brother, taken to the grave by fate; and the warriors from
the people of b came to guard the year the people of w
waged war against them during/at wl so may he who would
read aloud have booty and may Dsr blind him who would
scratch out. For the interpretation of the verb dy, see Al-Jallad, forthcoming: Glossary).
A probably unrelated 
abir is attested as the name of an agricultural marker star which appeared between 10 and 22 May
1079, falling under the season of ayf spring (Piamenta
19901991, I: 55). I thank Professor J. Lentin for this
reference.

227

A. AL-JALLAD
he pierced him with the spear and transxed his heart
(Lane 778a). It is unclear if this sentence bears any relationship with the previous one, that is, whether washing
was connected with going into battle.
A single inscription containing a prayer to Blsmn, the
rain-god, attests a possible epithet of Sagittarius: h- rmy,
possibly */har-rammay/ archer.
HN 62
l mlg bn shm bn qdm w ty h- rmy b- qb -h f h
blsmn rw
By mlg son of Shm son of Qdm and Sagittarius has
come with his quiver so, O Blsmn, let there be relief
Commentary
This inscription may preserve an expression among
the ancient inhabitants of the arrah concerning the
coming of the rains. If ty h- rmy signies the heliacal
rising of Sagittarius, then this would take place at the
end of December, when rain or snow would have been
common.
qb -h: Safaitic qb should be connected with CAr
aqbatun a bag or receptacle (Lane 610c), which in this
context signies a quiver.

3.4. Other celestial bodies

The present study has focused on the constellations that lie
on the ecliptic, but other constellations and perhaps even
the names of planets and individual stars could await discovery in the corpus. I have already suggested the identication of mzyn as Orion and of lmn as Mars. One
striking absence is the Pleiades. Known as zappu in the

MUL.APIN and an-na

g amu in CAr, the constellation does
not seem to be found in the patterns discussed above.
Since ngm has been identied as Virgo, the Pleiades must
have gone by another name. Aramaic knows this constellation by the name kma. This term for the Pleiades is
attested as early as 2400 BCE in the form ka-ma-t

u (Laftte 2003: 112). The reex of this name in the Safaitic
inscriptions seems to be km. The absence of the nal t suggests that the name was drawn from Aramaic or some
other Northwest Semitic language in which the feminine
ending was realised as a vowel.
C 2572
l khl bn ml bn nsbt bn ktm w rs: h- km f hy lt slm
By Khl son of ml son of Nsbt son of Ktm and he
watched for the Pleiades, so, O Lt, may he be secure
Commentary
The heliacal rising of the Pleiades occurs in spring in
the northern hemisphere, and so the author may have been
awaiting the arrival of d.

4. Conclusions
The Arabian zodiac as identied in this paper sits
somewhere between the Greek and West Semitic zodiacs and the Babylonian (Tables 68). Unlike the South
Arabian and Arabic constellations mentioned in the Islamic sources, the names attested in the Safaitic inscriptions are not direct ports from the Aramaic. Instead,
they seem to reect a common heritage with the Babylonian, which may be the result of the long historical

Table 6. The Arabian zodiac in context.

Latin

English

Greek

Aramaic
(Qumran)

South
Arabian

Classical Arabic

Sumero-Akkadian

Arabian

Aries

Ram

nyny

al-amal

kr ram

Taurus

Bull

aq

wrn

al-awr

Gemini

Twins

Ddl

Cancer
Leo
Virgo
Libra
Scorpio
Sagittarius
Capricorn

Crab
Lion
Maiden
Scales
Scorpion
Archer
Goat-horned

aqj~m
xm
aqhm
c
jqp
sg
cjeqx

Aquarius

Water-bearer

dqv

Pisces

The shes

vhe

the Hireling lu .hun.ga

(hun, lu , lu) agru
Bull of An gu4.an.na
(mul.mul) al^
u/is l^e
the Great Twins mas.tab.
ba.gal.gal m
a
su/t
u
am
u rab^
utu
the Crab al.lul (alla) alluttu
u/ne
su
the Lion ur.gu.la (a, ur.a) urgul^
the Furrow ab.s
n (absin) absinnu/
seru
the Scales zib
antu (r
n)
the Scorpion g
r.tab zuqaqpu
Pabilsag Pa.bil.sag (pa) divine name
the Goat-Fish suur.ma s
(ma s) suurm
a
su
the Great One gu.la (gu) s: inundu/
kuurku/rammanu
the Tails (the eld) kun.mes
(zib.mes, iku) zibb
atu/
zibb
at sin
un
utu

228

al-g awz
a/al-s: 
urah
s2rt: n
s1bltn

yn

al-sarat: 
an
al-asad
al-sunbulah
al-mz
an/al-zub
an
a
al-aqrab
al-qaws
al-g ad
al-dal
u

s3rn

al-
ut/al-ri
s
a

ly bull
gml twins?/camel
s1rt: n crab
h- s1d lion
h- ngm seed-produce
mt scale
qbt scorpion
h- rmy/br ? archer/soldier
ymr sea-goat
ml salt vessel,
salt worker?
l tail(s)

ANCIENT ARABIAN ZODIAC

Table 7. Parazodiacal constellations.
Constellation

Safaitic

Comparative evidence

Orion

h- mzyn

The Pleiades

h- km

cf. Akkadian MULSIPA.ZI.AN.NA loyal

shepherd of heaven
cf. Aramaic kma; PNWS *kimatu,
Akk. kmtu family

kind help with astronomical matters. I also owe thanks to Prof.

J
er^
ome Lentin, Prof. Andrzej Zaborski, Dr. Maarten Kossmann, and
Dr. Marijn van Putten for their comments on an earlier draft of this
paper. All errors remain my own.

Sigla
Table 8. Planets.
Planet

Safaitic

Comparative evidence

Mars

lmn

cf. Akkadian dLumnu evil one

interaction between the peoples of the awran and the

deserts of North Arabia with Mesopotamian civilisation.
Part II of this paper will deal with the historical
implications of this nding.

Acknowledgement
I would like to thank my friend M.C.A. Macdonald for his very
helpful comments and corrections on an earlier draft of this paper
and Dr. Markus Schmalzl (ALMA Regional Centre || Allegro) for his

AbaNS
C
CSA
HALOT
HaNSB
KRS

Lane
Lisan
LP
MUL.APIN
NST
RWQ
SIJ
WH

Safaitic inscriptions in Ababneh 2005.

Safaitic inscriptions in Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum.
Pars V. Paris, 19501951.
Safaitic inscriptions in Clark 198485.
Koehler et al. 19941996; 19952000.
Safaitic inscriptions in araisah 2010.
Safaitic inscriptions recorded by G.M.H. King on the Basalt
Desert Rescue Survey and published on http://krcfm.orient.
ox.ac.uk/fmi/iwp/cgi?-db=AALC_BDRS&-loadframes
Lane 186393.
Ibn Man
ur [n.d.].
Safaitic inscriptions in Littmann 1943.
Hunger & Pingree 1989.
Safaitic inscriptions in Harding 1951.
Safaitic inscriptions in al-R
usan 2005.
Safaitic inscriptions in Winnett 1957.
Safaitic inscriptions in Winnett & Harding 1978.

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Addendum to A. Al-Jallad, An Ancient Arabian Zodiac, Part I (AAE 25 21430).

(10/28/2014, published at https://leidenuniv.academia.edu/AhmadAlJallad)
a. More notes on Ks
b. More attestations of h- sd
c. Another attestation of the Pleiades kmt
d. The Safaitic year

a. More notes on ks
In my article, An Ancient Arabian Zodiac: The Constellations in the Safaitic Inscriptions, part I (AAE
25: 214-230, (2014)), I considered the term ks to mean full moon. This meaning was
supported by cognates in Hebrew and Aramaic (p. 216), and by the time periods to which
the inscriptions referred. For example, we seem to have two inscriptions which likely date
to the same remarkable event, but using different references. Thus:
HaNSB 218:

w ngs h- bl m- rn mn lg b- ry ngm
and he drove the camels from the awrn on account of snowfall during the
heliacal rising of Virgo (~ mid-Oct)

KRS 2851:

w ry h- nl b- lg b- {k}s kr
and he pastured in the valley on snow during the full moon of Aries (~ midlate Oct)

It is also possible to interpret ks as the latter part or end of the constellations journey
across the celestial dome before it sets on the western horizon at sunrise, putting the
meaning within the semantic range of the Arabic root ks (Lane 2608c). In other words, ks
could refer to the cosmic setting of the asterism. This event would occur approximately
half a year after its rising, overlapping roughly with the period in which the full moon
would have occupied the same constellation. Our understanding of the chronology of these
inscriptions would, therefore, remain unchanged.

The interpretation of the term as

cosmic setting would form a nice pair, ry rising and ks setting. However, in support of

the original meaning full moon, one can point towards a single attestation of what seems

to be a parallel zodiac tradition in AAUI 229, in which the author states w ry h- nl b- qmr hnsy. Since the pasturing formula does not usually indicate associates or friends, it is

probably best to take the term following b- as a time period. In this case, b- qmr h- nsy the

moon of nsy Virgo would correspond to b- ks ngm. The term nsy could be connected

with CAr ansah, with perhaps a hypocoristic ending, meaning young woman, maiden.
Thus, the translation would be: and he pastured in the valleys during the (full) moon of
Virgo. As it stands, it seems impossible to choose between the two translations with

absolute certainty.

All published texts containing ks

C 523
l lh bn bh bn trb w wrd h- nmrt b- ks ml
By lh son of bh son of Trb and he went to water at Namrah during the full moon/cosmic
setting of Aquarius (end of July).

SESP.S 9
l mlm bn bd bn mz bn msr bn sd bn wtr bn mlk w wrd b- ks kr f h blsm{n} rw w r h- rm f h
lt slm w h-

By Mlm son of bd son of Mz son of Msr son of Sd son of Wtr son of Mlk and he went to
water during the full moon/cosmic setting of Aries (mid-late October) so, O Blsmn, let

there be ease and he kept watch for the Romans, so, O Lt, may he be secure, and this writing
too.

KRS 2851
l g{d}d bn mm bn bd w ry h- nl b- lg b- {k}s kr
By {Gdd} son of {mm} son of bd and he pastured in this valley on snow during the {full
moon/cosmic setting of} of Aries (mid-late October).

C 1895
l s bn nmt b[n] gz w wrd h- nmrt b- ks qbt f hy {}{l}t rw
By S son of Nmt son of gz and he went to water at Namrah during the full moon/cosmic
setting of scorpio (early May) so, O lt, let there be relief.

KRS 1881
l qdt bn bd w ry h- nl nwy w wrd b- ks {s}{n}n {q}bt h- yt h- qbt h-
By qdt son of bd and he pastured in the valley while migrating and went to the watering
hole during the full moon of snn (thorns? claws?) of Scorpio (May)...

Mu 75
l gd bn wy bn bny bn nsl bn sd bn sn bn rb bn bsh bn br w wgm l- wrd w ry h- bql b- ks mt
qbt f h lt w ry slm m- [[]] + s + n w wr l- ywr h- sfr

By Gd son of Wy son of Bny son of Nsl son of Sd son of Sn son of rb son of Bsh son of
Br and he grieved for Wrd and pastured on fresh herbage during the full moon/cosmic

rising of Libra-Scorpio (May?) so, O Lt and Ry, may he be secure against enemies but may
he who would efface this writing go blind.

C 4454
l ml bn nsbt w bb b- ks {g}ml
By ml son of Nsbt and he poured water during the full moon/cosmic setting of Gemini
(early December).

RWQ 290
l gld bn ...hn bn sg w wrd dyt h bly b- ks ymr
By Gld son of hn son of Sg and he went to water in the valleys of the Baliyyah during the
cosmic setting of Capricorn (early June).

b. More attestations of sd = Leo

At the time of writing the article, I was only aware of one astronomical occurrence of sd. A
few more have come to light; interestingly, both of these seem to anthropomorphize the
constellation, pointing perhaps towards a kind of mythology connected with the zodiac.
ASWS 124
l qy bn qn bn lm bn rw w slf h- rwy m h- m f z h- sd f h shqm fyt l -h
By Qy son of Qn son of lm son of Rw and the sweet water was brought to an end from
the heat, for Leo was hostile so, O Shqm, may he be delivered.

RSIS 80
l qrb bn bd bn nmn bn kn w mr b- f f dy h- sd f bl rbt f h lt brkt k By qrb son of bd son of Nmn son of Kn and he passed by f; and Leo transgressed, and so
he ruined the spring, so, O Lt, bless k

c. Another attestation of the Pleiades, kmt

Another possible attestation of the Pleiades was found in an unpublished inscription from
Jebel Qurma, recording during the Leiden University survey of 2012. It reads:
l gbl bn myw ry h- kmt nwy
By Gbl son of my and he pastured at/during Pleiades while migrating

The description seems abbreviated and must refer to either the rising or setting of the
asterism. Unlike the single previously known attestation (Al-Jallad 2014:228), the feminine t
is indicated in this form.

d. The Safaitic Year

The relationship between the zodiac and the seasons is as follows (from Al-Jallad 2015, 24.8)
Season

Latin

Arabian

Date of the sign

Astronomical date (in

antiquity)

d = Season of the
later rains

Pisces

Mid-February mid March

Mid February early

April
38 days

mid-March mid- April

Early April Late April

25 days

mid-April mid- May

late April late May

37 days

mid-May mid- June

late May late June

31 days

mid-June mid- July

late June early July

20 days

mid-July mid- August

early July mid August

37 days

mid-August midSeptember

mid August late

September
45 days

mid-September midOctober

late September late

October
23 days

mid-October midNovember

late october late

october
7 days

tail(s)
Aries

kr
ram

qy =
Sum
mer

yf = early
summer

Taurus

ly
bull

Gemini

gml
twins? or camel

Cancer

sr[n] ?
crab

brt = late
summer

Leo

h- sd
lion

Virgo

h- ngm
seed-produce

Libra

mt
scale

sty = Winter

Scorpio

qbt
scorpion

Ophiucus

Sagittarius

Late October to midNovember

18 days
h- rmy and/or br ?
archer/soldier

Capricorn

ymr
sea-goat

Aquarius

ml
salt vessel or salt
worker

mid-November to midDecember

mid-november to middecember
32 days

mid- December mid

January

mid-december mid
January
28 days

mid- January mid

February

Mid-January mid
February
24 days

Sigla
ASWS

Awad, M. 1999. Dirsat nuq afawiyyah min anb wd srah al-bdiyah al-

urdunniyyah a-imliyyah. Masters Thesis. Irbid, Institute of Archaeology and

Anthropology, Yarmouk University.

Ryckmans, J. (ed.) 1950-1. Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum Pars V. Paris:

Imprimerie Nationale.

KRS

Safaitic inscriptions recorded by G.M.H. King on the Basalt Desert Rescue

Survey.

Mu

Inscriptions recorded on the SESP surveys 19962003 (to appear on OCIANA).

RSIS

Schirin, R. 2013. Nueu safaitische Inschriften aus Sd-Syrien (SSHB 16). Aachen:
Shaker Verlag.

RWQ

Al-Rousan, M. 2005. Nuq afawiyyah min wd qab bi-l-urdunn. PhD

dissertation. Ar-Riy, miat al-Malik Sad, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

SESP

Inscriptions recorded on the SESP surveys 19962003 (to appear on OCIANA).

Bibliography
Al-Jallad, A. 2014. An ancient Arabian zodiac. The constellations in the Safaitic inscriptions,
Part I. AAE 25: 214-230.
----. An outline of the grammar of the Safaitic inscriptions, (Studies in Semitic Languages and
Linguistics 80). Leiden: Brill.