This paper deals with a new unpublished Nabataean inscription found in al-ʿAdnāniyah town, which is located to the north of Muʾtah in the Governorate of Karak in southern Jordan. The inscription represents a new addition to the corpus of Nabataean inscriptions from the Moab Plateau. The text, which is dated to the 29th year of Aretas IV, mentions the construction of rbʿyʾ, a term that has not been attested previously in Nabataean.Wetensch. publicati

Al-Salameen, Zeyad

Shdaifat, Younes

Leiden University Scholary Publications

Arabian Epigraphic Noteshttp://www.arabianepigraphicnotes.orgISSN: 2451-8875E-mail alerts: To be notified by e-mail when a new article is published, write“subscribe” to editor@arabianepigraphicnotes.org.Twitter: Subscribe to the Journal on Twitter for updates: @AENJournal.Terms of usage: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license visithttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/. © the author.A Publication of the Leiden Center for the Study of Ancient Arabiahttp://www.hum.leiden.edu/leicensaa/ANewNabataean Inscription fromthe Moab PlateauZeyad al-SalameenAl-Hussein bin Talal UniversityYounes ShdaifatMuʾtah UniversityArabian Epigraphic Notes 3 (2017): 1‒10.Published online: 10 February.Link to this article: http://hdl.handle.net/1887/45830Arabian Epigraphic Notes 3 (2017): 1–10A New Nabataean Inscription from the MoabPlateau*Zeyad al-Salameen (Al-Hussein bin Talal University)Younes Shdaifat (Muʾtah University)AbstractThis paper deals with a new unpublished Nabataean inscription found inal-ʿAdnāniyah town, which is located to the north of Muʾtah in the Gover-norate of Karak in southern Jordan. The inscription represents a new ad-dition to the corpus of Nabataean inscriptions from the Moab Plateau. Thetext, which is dated to the 29th year of Aretas IV, mentions the constructionof rbʿyʾ, a term that has not been attested previously in Nabataean.Keywords: Nabataeans Nabataean inscriptions Nabataean religionCultic practice1 IntroductionThe inscription dealt with here was found in al-ʿAdnāniyah town, which islocated approximately 2 km to the north of Muʾtah in the Governorate of Karakin southern Jordan. The coordinates of the site, which lies about 1170 m abovethe sea level, are 31.122007 and 35.692656.Al-ʿAdnāniyah, which was called Miḥna in the accounts of early travelersand explorers,1 was visited by several explorers such as Seetzen (1810: 416),Irby & Mangles (1823: 113), Mauss & Sauvaire (1867: 484), Tristram (1873:117), Doughty (1888: 22), Brünnow & von Domaszewski (1904–1909 I: 103),Musil (1907–1908: 19, 77, 152, 362, 365) and Glueck (1939: 99–100). Thesite has been referred to in these accounts as a large ruined village.Several Nabataean graffiti and inscriptions have been found in the Moabplateau and these include short texts uncovered in Dhāt Rās (Zayadine 1970:131–132; El-Maani 1996), al-Batra (El-Maani & Kareem 1999: 133) and inZgaybeh to the west of al-Qaṣr (Worschech 1985: 171). The text that is dealtwith in our current paper constitutes an important addition to the corpus of*Many thanks are due to John Healey and Laïla Nehmé for reading the draft version of thispaper and their valuable comments and suggestions.1The ancient namewasMiḥna but it has been changed recently by the local inhabitants becauseof its negative meaning in Arabic: “catastrophe, disaster” (Knauf 1991: 284).1a new nabataean inscription from the moab plateauknown texts from the Nabataean period in Moab. Moreover, other inscrip-tions were found at the site and those were dated to the Byzantine and Islamicperiods (Canova 1954: 281–284).Figure 1: Map of the Karak Governorate showing the location of al-ʿAdnāniyah.Based on a map published by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, Jordan(http://www.moma.gov.jo/maps/karak.jpg).Miller’s archaeological survey in the Moab Plateau yielded about 967 pot-tery sherds from al-ʿAdnāniyah. These were dated to the period between theLate Bronze Age and the Ottoman period, including sherds dated to the Naba-taean period (Miller 1991: 113). These indicate that the site was continuouslyand densely inhabited during these periods.Figure 2: General view of the courtyard and the cave2. al-salameen & . shdaifatFigure 3: Photograph of the inscription (taken by Younes Shdaifat)2 The TextThe text was found in the courtyard of one of the traditional houses that wereexposed by some treasure hunters (figure 2). We are thankful to Moawiyah Ad-Dhmour, a student in the Department of Archaeology and Tourism at MuʾtahUniversity, for drawing our attention to this remarkable stone.The stone was seemingly placed originally at the entrance of a nearby cavewhich might have been a tomb that was sealed by a side door built of soft,dressed limestone blocks approximately 70 cm in height and 45 cm in width.The cave was looted and partially damaged.The text was incised on a hard and irregular limestone block that measuresapproximately 72 cm by 51 cm. Its thickness is about 23 cm. The surface ofthe stone is even and it is naturally flat.The text consists of five lines and the length of the first line is about 46 cmand the average height of the letters is 7 cm. The letters are irregular in sizeand the spacing between them is not identical. They can be clearly read exceptin the last part, which has been defaced, and the part that bears the last wordis seemingly broken.As far as paleography is concerned, one point is worth mentioning here.The form of the letter t, with a loop round the left stroke, is usually foundin texts from the late 2nd to the 4th century ad and it is surprising to find ithere in a text dated to the reign of Aretas IV, both in medial and final position(for discussion see Nehmé 2010). This confirms that a particular letter shapecannot be used as an absolute method to date a text but may only give a generaland hypothetical indication.The text reads as follows:3a new nabataean inscription from the moab plateauFigure 4: Tracing of the inscription (drawn by Zeyad al-Salameen)2.1 Transliterationdʾ rbʿyʾ dy ʿbdḥbrw br ʾwšw lʾlhgʾyʾ bšnt ʿšrynwtšʿ lḥrttmlk nbṭw rḥm [ʿmh]2.2 TranslationThis is the “resting-place or (square) plaque” which ḥbrw son of ʾwšw con-structed for the god of Gaia in the year twenty-nine of (the reign of) Aretas,king of the Nabataeans, lover of his [people].2.3 Commentarydʾ: “this” (feminine) (Hoftijzer & Jongeling 1995: 333ff).rbʿyʾ: “resting-place” or “(square) plaque”.This word is not found in this current form in Nabataean, but there areother forms derived from the root rbʿ attested in Nabataean and they are foundin texts referring to religious constructions and dedications.The root of the word is related to the Semitic root rbʿ that has differentmeanings. The word rabaʿa َرَبع has different meanings in Arabic and one of4. al-salameen & . shdaifatthem is “remained, abode, dwelt”, whilemarbaʿ meansَمْرَبْع “house” (Lane 2003:128). Another meaning of this word is “four” and it may refer to structure withfour corners. Nehmé linked the word with the Semitic root rbḍ “lie down” andconcludes that the words ʾrbʿnʾ and rbʿtʾ mean “ritual couches” dedicated togods (2003). ʾrbʿnʾ and rbʿtʾ are attested in inscriptions found in Sidon (cis II160), Cos (Levi Della Vida 1938), Tell esh-Shuqafiyyeh (Fiema & Jones 1990:240), Kharabā (Dussaud & Macler 1903: 313), Boṣrā (Littmann 1914: 71),Umm as-Surāb (Littmann 1914: 2), Petra (Nehmé 2003: fig. 9) and Ṣirwāḥ insouthern Arabia (Nebes 2006: 10).The following table summarizes the Nabataean texts that contain rbʿtʾ andʾrbʿnʾ:Table 1: Attestations of rbʿtʾ and ʾrbʿnʾWord Place Commentsrbʿtʾ Kharabā The name of the divinity to whomthe text was dedicated is missing.[r]bʿtʾ Boṣrā The name of the divinity to whomthe text was dedicated is missing.ʾrbʿnʾ Umm as-Surāb The name of the divinity to whomthe text was dedicated is missing.rbʿtʾ Tell esh-Shuqafiyyeh Records a dedication of a rbʿtʾ toDushara of Daphnerbʿtʾ Sidon Records a dedication of a rbʿtʾ to Al-ʿUzzārbʿtʾ Petra The name of the divinity to whomthe text was dedicated is missing.rbʿtʾ Cos Records a dedication of a rbʿtʾ to Al-ʿUzzā.rbʿtʾ Ṣirwāḥ Records a dedication of a rbʿtʾ toDusharady: a well-known relative pronoun meaning “which, that”.ʿbd: “made, constructed”. This verb occurs frequently in Nabataean Ara-maic, Hebrew, Palmyrene and Hatran (Hoftijzer & Jongeling 1995: 1029).ḥbrw: This is the name of the dedicator. It is attested twice in two Nabatae-an inscriptions discovered in Sarmadāʾ in Saudi Arabia (Al-Theeb 2014: nos.11, 76). It may be compared with ḥbr and ḥbrm that are found in pre-IslamicArabian inscriptions (Harding 1971: 84).5a new nabataean inscription from the moab plateauʾwšw: This name is common in Nabataean inscriptions and occurs in Nab-ataean in other forms such as ʾwyšw and ʾwšʾlhy (Negev 1991: 11). It occursfrequently in Pre-Islamic Arabian inscriptions (Harding 1971: 84).lʾlh gʾyʾ: gʾyʾ= Gaia is to be identified with modern-day Wādī Mūsā. Thistoponym goes back to the Nabataean period and is attested in Nabataean ininscriptions uncovered in Oboda, al-Jawf, Wādī Rum and Wādī Mūsā (Negev1963: 113–117; Savignac & Starcky 1957: 198; Savignac 1934: 574–575). Itoriginated from the Semitic word gyʾ, which means ”valley, a place where thewaters flow together, low plain” (Gesenius 1844: 194). This name appears indifferent forms in Nabataean theophoric personal names such as ʾmtʾlgʾ, ʿbdʾlgʾ(Littmann 1914: n. 9, cis II 157, 173, 1205) and ʿbdʾlgyʾ (cis II 3138), meaning”the servant of (the god) of Eljī” (Al-Khraysheh 1986: 127; Negev 1991: 788,790). The word gy is attested also as a tribal name in Hismaic inscriptions(King 1990: nos. 42, 647). For more details about Gaia, see Al-Salameen &Falahat (2012).Who was the “god of Gaia”?Al-ʿUzzā and al-Kutbā are linked with Gaia, and their names appear in aninscription from ʿAyn esh-Shallaleh in Wādī Rum (Savignac 1934: 574–575,no. 17; Strugnell 1959: 29–31). The term “the god of Gaia” is mentioned threetimes in Nabataean:1. In an inscription found in el-Mʿeiṣreh to the north of the Petra city centre.This refers to the dedication of an ʾgnʾ, “basin”, to ʾlh [ʾl]gyʾ ʾlhʾ “Ilāh-al-Gia, the god” (Dalman 1912: no. 35).2. In a dedicatory inscription from al-Jawf which confirms that there wasa sanctuary, mḥrmtʾ, dedicated to Dushara the god of Gaia, dwšrʾ ʾlh gyʾʾ(Savignac & Starcky 1957: 196–217).3. In a dedicatory inscription from Oboda that refers to the members of themrzḥʾ of Dushara the god of Gaia, dwšrʾ ʾlh gʾyʾ (Negev 1963: no. 10).It appears that Dushara, who was the major Nabataean deity, was the god ofGaia. He was given many titles and described as “Lord of the House (temple)”,“Lord of heaven and earth”, “God of our Lord (the king)” and “the one whoseparates night from day” (Zayadine 2003: 59).bšnt ʿšryn wtšʿ: bšnt “in the year of”. šnt is a feminine singular noun “year”which appears frequently in dated Nabataean texts. The word is followed thenby the year when the text was written: ʿšryn wtšʿ “in the year twenty-nine” ofAretas IV, which is ad 20.lḥrtt mlk nbṭw rḥm [ʿmh]: “of (the reign of) Aretas, king of the Nabataeans,lover of his [people]”. This formula is common in Nabataean.3 ConclusionThis article discussed a new Nabataean inscription found in Moab (southernJordan), dated to the 29th year of Aretas IV (ad 20). It mentions the construc-6. al-salameen & . shdaifattion of rbʿyʾ, a term that has not been attested previously in Nabataean.The textrepresents a new additional supplement to the previously known Nabataean in-scriptions from the Moab Plateau.Addresses for Correspondence:zeyad.mahdi@gmail.com, younis777@yahoo.com7a new nabataean inscription from the moab plateauSiglacis II Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum, Pars Secunda, Inscriptio-nes Aramaicas Continens, 1889.ReferencesAl-Khraysheh, F. 1986. Die Personennamen in den nabatäischen Inschriften desCorpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum, Ph.D. thesis, Marburg University.Al-Salameen, Z. & Falahat, H. 2012. Two New Nabataean Inscriptions fromWādī Mūsā, with Discussion of Gaia and the Marzēaḥ, Journal of SemiticStudies, 57 (1): 37‒51.Al-Theeb, S. 2014. Nuqūš mawqiʿ sarmadāʾ muḥāfaẓat taymāʾ, Riyadh: Al-jamʿiyya al-saʿūdiyya li-l-dirāsāt al-ʾaṯaniyya.Brünnow, R.E. & von Domaszewski, A. 1904–1909. Die Provincia Arabia. AufGrund zweier in den Jahren 1897 und 1898 unternommenen Reisen und derBerichte früherer Reisender, 3 volumes, Strassburg: Karl J. Trübner.Canova, R. 1954. Iscrizioni e monumenti protocristiani del paese di Moab, Rome:Pontificio istituto di archeologia cristiana.Dalman, G.H. 1912. Neue Petra-Forschungen und der heilige Felsen von Jerusalem,(Palästinische Forschungen zur Archäologie und Topographie 2), Leipzig:Heinrichs.Doughty, C.M. 1888. Travels in Arabia Deserta, Cambridge: Cambridge Univer-sity Press.Dussaud, R. & Macler, F. 1903. Mission dans les régions désertiques de la SyriaMoyenne, Paris: Imprimerie Nationale.El-Maani, S. 1996. Nabataean Inscriptions from Dhat Ras, Journal of Historyand Future: 1‒12.El-Maani, S. & Kareem, J. 1999. The Epigraphic Survey Project in Wadi al-Batra, Karak, Muʾtah Lilbuḥuth Wad-Dirāsāt, 14 (4): 123‒171.Fiema, Z. & Jones, R. 1990. The Nabataean King-List Revised. Further Obser-vations on the Second Nabataean Inscription from Tell esh-Shuqafiya, Egypt,Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, 34.Gesenius, W. 1844. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Boston:Crocker and Brewster.Glueck, N. 1939. Explorations in Eastern Palestine, III, Annual of the AmericanSchools of Oriental Research, vol. 18-19, New Haven: American Schools ofOriental Research.8. al-salameen & . shdaifatHarding, G.L. 1971. An Index and Concordance of Pre-Islamic Arabian Names andInscriptions, (Near and Middle East 8), Toronto: Toronto University Press.Hoftijzer, J. & Jongeling, K. 1995. Dictionary of the North-West Semitic Inscrip-tions I-II, with Appendices by R.C. Stein, A. Mosak Moshave and B. Porten,(Handbuch der Orientalistik. I. Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten 21), Leiden:Brill.Irby, C.L. & Mangles, J. 1823. Travels in Egypt and Nubia, Syria and Asia Minor;During the years 1817 and 1818, London: T. White and company.King, G.H.M. 1990. Early North Arabian Ḥismaic. A Preliminary Description Basedon a New Corpus of Inscriptions from the Ḥismā Desert of Southern Jordan andPublished material, Ph.D. thesis, School of Oriental and African Studies.Knauf, E.A. 1991. Toponymy of the Kerak Plateau, in: Miller (1991), pp.281‒290.Lane, E.W. 2003. Arabic–English Lexicon, 8 volumes, New Delhi: Asian Educa-tional Services.Levi Della Vida, G. 1938. Una bilingue Greco-Nabatea a Coo, Clara Rhodos, 9:139‒148.Littmann, E. 1914. Nabataean Inscriptions from the Southern Ḥaurân, (Publi-cations of the Princeton University Archaeological Expeditions to Syria in1904–1905 and 1909. Division IV. Section A), Leiden: Brill.Mauss, C. & Sauvaire, H. 1867. De Karak à Chaubak, extrait du Journal devoyage, Bulletin de la Societé de Geographie, 14: 449‒522.Miller, J.M. 1991. Archaeological Survey of the Kerak Plateau, asor Archaeolog-ical Reports, Atlanta: Scholars Press.Musil, A. 1907–1908. Arabia Petraea, Vienna: Alfred Holder.Nebes, N. 2006. Eine datierte nabatäisch-sabäische Bilingue aus Sirwah, JemenReport, 37: 10.Negev, A. 1963. Nabataean Inscriptions from ‘Avdat (Oboda) [II], Israel Explo-ration Journal, 13: 113‒124.——— 1991. Personal Names in the Nabataean Realm, number 32 in QedemMonograph of the Institute of Archaeology, Jerusalem: The Hebrew Univer-sity of Jerusalem.Nehmé, L. 2003. RBʿTʾ et ʾRBʿNʾ en nabatéen: essai de clarification, Journal ofSemitic Studies, 48: 1‒28.——— 2010. A glimpse of the development of the Nabataean script into Arabicbased on old and new epigraphic material, in: The development of Arabic asa written language, M.C.A. Macdonald, ed., (Supplement to the Proceedingsof the Seminar for Arabian Studies 40), Oxford: Archaeopress, pp. 47‒88.9a new nabataean inscription from the moab plateauSavignac, R. 1934. Le sanctuaire d’Allat à Iram (suite). Avec un appendice [p.590-591] de G. Ryckmans : Inscriptions minéennes de Ramm, Revue Biblique,43: 572‒591, pl. 35‒39.Savignac, R. & Starcky, J. 1957. Une inscription nabatéenne provenant du Djôf,Revue Biblique, 64: 196‒217, pl. 5.Seetzen, M. 1810. A Brief Account of the Countries Adjoining the Lake of Tiberias,the Jordan, and the Dead Sea, London: Palestine Association of London.Strugnell, J. 1959. 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A New Nabataean Inscription from the Moab Plateau

This paper deals with a new unpublished Nabataean inscription found in
al-ʿAdnāniyah town, which is located to the north of Muʾtah in the Governorate
of Karak in southern Jordan. The inscription represents a new addition
to the corpus of Nabataean inscriptions from the Moab Plateau. The
text, which is dated to the 29th year of Aretas IV, mentions the construction
of rbʿyʾ, a term that has not been attested previously in Nabataean

A New Nabataean Inscription from the Moab Plateau

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