A map and list of the monotheist inscriptions of Arabia, 400-600 CE [August 31, 2024 version] (original) (raw)
Related papers
A map and list of the monotheist inscriptions of Arabia, 400-600 CE (August 20, 2024)
The updated (August 20, 2024) version of this map also includes the list, with references, of the monotheist inscriptions of Arabia, 400-600 CE. The update adds a few Jewish and Christian inscriptions that I had missed in the previous version. It also corrects one major mistake that I had made earlier (I had placed one inscription near Riyadh, though it is actually in the northern parts of Saudi Arabia).
This article publishes eighteen inscriptions: seventeen in the Nabataean script and one in the pre-Islamic Arabic script, all from the area of al-Jawf, ancient Dūmat al-Jandal, in north-west Arabia. It includes the edition of the texts as well as a discussion of their significance. The pre-Islamic Arabic text, DaJ144PAr1, is dated to the mid-sixth century AD. It is important because it is the first text firmly dated to the sixth century AD from north-west Arabia. The Nabataean texts are interesting because they are dated to the beginning of the second century AD and they mention both cavalrymen (Nabataean pršyʾ) and a centurion (Nabataean qnṭrywnʾ).
Early Islamic Inscriptions from Northeast Jordan [pre-publication draft]
This study publishes fifteen new early Islamic-era Arabic inscriptions. They stem from the Jordanian panhandle in the northeastern part of the country, near the modern town of al-Ruwayshid. The inscriptions were recorded during the Badia Epigraphic Survey 2018. Three of the inscriptions give explicit dates in the latter half of the second century AH/eighth century CE. On the basis of paleography, I suggest that the rest of the inscriptions come from that era as well. The contents also support this: nine inscriptions were written by members of the same extended family; one of them carries a date (158 AH/774-775 CE), so the rest of the family can also be roughly dated on the basis of this information. The set published here attests to some new epigraphic formulae and two cases of an interesting use of the Quranic text. One inscription, found on top of a hill, is a prayer for rain during a drought. I also discuss the social and religious relevance of these inscriptions. In this article, Safaitic inscriptions - lapidary texts written in antiquity in Old Arabic dialects with the Safaitic script - are used as an analogue, which might help explain some aspects of nomadic life, such as seasonal migration, in the region in Islamic times as well. I analyze the members and the movements of the family that left nine inscriptions in the region.
Arabian Epigraphic Notes 2 (2016)
Sarah Rijziger The Kāniṭ Museum collection (Yemen) 1 Phillip W. Stokes A new and unique Thamudic Inscription from northeast Jordan 33 Ali al-Manaser & Sabri Abbadi Remarks on the etymon trḥ in the Safaitic inscriptions 45 Ahmad Al-Jallad & Ali al-Manaser New Epigraphica from Jordan II: three Safaitic-Greek partial bilingual inscriptions 55 Fokelien Kootstra The Language of the Taymanitic Inscriptions & its Classification 67 Hekmat Dirbas ʿAbd al-Asad and the Question of a Lion-God in the pre-Islamic Tradition: An Onomastic Study 141 Zeyad Al-Salameen A New Dedicatory Nabataean Inscription Dated to ad 53 151 Hani Hayajneh Dadanitic Graffiti from Taymāʾ Region Revisited 161
A survey of the Ancient North Arabian inscriptions from the Dūmat al-Jandal area (Saudi Arabia)
Norris, J. 2018. A survey of the Ancient North Arabian inscriptions from the Dūmat al-Jandal area (Saudi Arabia). Pages 71–93 in M.C.A. Macdonald (ed.), Languages, scripts and their uses in ancient North Arabia. (Supplement to volume 48 of the Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies). Oxfo..., 2018
This study aims to present an overview of the Ancient North Arabian (ANA) material from the Dūmat al-Jandal area (modern al-Jawf, north-west Saudi Arabia), taking into account the texts published since the late nineteenth century and those collected during the 2010–2017 seasons of the joint Saudi-Italian-French project at Dūmat al-Jandal (DaJAP). At present, the total number of known inscriptions in that region has reached 812, of which 379 are so far unpublished. Among the latter, there is a small set of texts sharing some characteristics with the three ‘Dumaitic’ inscriptions discovered by Winnett in 1962, which could perhaps support the theory that the inhabitants of Dūmah had indeed developed their own North Arabian script, as did the communities of Taymāʾ and Dadan. A special focus is given to the so-called ‘Mixed Safaitic-Hismaic’ (MSH) inscriptions, which are by far the largest group of ANA texts found around Dūmah, representing approximately 57% of the total corpus. The genres of these mixed texts, their linguistic features, and the connections of their authors with the Nabataeans are the various points raised in the discussion. Some alternative interpretations of previously known inscriptions are suggested in the paper alongside the presentation of new documents, among which is a partial bilingual Nabataean/MSH text dated to AD 125.