‘Languages, scripts and their uses in ancient North Arabia’ ̶ London SAS, 4th- 6th August 2017 On the ‘Safaitic square script’ A reassessment of the evidence

Chiara Della Puppa (Leiden University)

HASI 8. Photo: OCIANA. The ‘Safaitic scripts’: insights from the Jebel Qurma corpus

• Clark (1979)’s classification: ‘common’, ‘fine’, ‘square’, ‘90 ̊’, ‘formal’.

• My preliminary classification: ‘common’, ‘fine’, ‘marginal’, ‘square’.

Palaeographic features can correlate with: (a). Lineages (b). Geographic location (c). Content (d). Religion (e). Linguistic features

Map: landscapesofsurvival.org The ‘common’ script in the Jebel Qurma region

Name-only inscriptions • 70% of the corpus, mostly names with short genealogies (1 to 3 members, longer ones are rare), no expression of lineages. Inscriptions with content • Rock art signatures, funerary and grieving texts, short prayers and records of nomadic activities (pasturing, camping, keeping watch, migrating, etc.). Deities • Primarily rḍw/rḍy (50% of the attestations in initial prayers, cf. Thamudic B) and lt/ʾlt; only a few attestations of yṯʿ.

Examples of inscriptions in the ‘common’ script from the Jebel Qurma region (QUR 307.5.1, 186.122.1, 176.95.1). The ‘fine’ script and the Ḥawrān

• Concentrated between northern Jordan and southern Syria in the proximity of the Ḥawrān. • Long genealogies and association to the lineages of ḍf and ʿwḏ, but also to many other ʾls. • Dating formulae and references to political events involving the kingdoms of the Ḥawrān and the Roman provinces of Syria Betts 1-9; inscriptions dated to the birthing of goats and Arabia. and the announcement of Arabia Adquisita in AD • Safaitic-Greek bilinguals. 111 (see Macdonald 2014). Photo: OCIANA. • To the ‘common’ repertoire of formulae are also added formulae of various types, e.g. blessings (s¹lm l-ḏ dʿy h-s¹fr) , inscription finding formulae (wgd s¹fr/ʾṯr + relative/companion) and references to birthing of animals (wld h-mʿzy). • Deities: rḍw/rḍy, lt/ʾlt and yṯʿ (‘common’) + lh, ʾlh, ḏs²r(y)/ds²r, bʿls¹mn/bʿls¹my, s²ʿhqm and the gds (tutelary deities) of KRS 1683; inscription with prayers to lt, s²ʿhqm, tribes (cf. gdḍf and gdʿwḏ). gdḍf and gdʿwḏ. Photo: OCIANA. The ‘marginal’ script

• ‘Marginal’ is a provisional label, including very miscellaneous data. • Minority of the Safaitic corpus. • Mixed Safaitic/Hismaic features. Inscriptions from northern Saudi Arabia (NSR 1.1, 1.2 and 55). Photos: OCIANA. • Indication of lineages. • Prayers mainly to the Nabataean pair lt and ds²r. • Longing and grieving formulae (ts²wq and wgm) seem to be the most common contents.

Inscriptions from the Jebel Qurma region (QUR 207.49.1; QUR 952.28.1=C 5276, Rees 47).

Damascus Museum 2786 l ḥbbt bnt ʾs¹lmw w ts²wqt ʾl-nmn ‘By Ḥbbt daughter of ʾs¹lmw and LP 1269 and LP 1271; inscriptions on dressed stone blocks at Umm al-Jimāl. she longed for Nmn’ (Note the wawation on the patronym of the ʾafʿal pattern). Photo and reading: OCIANA. The ‘square’ script

• Mostly finely chiselled letters with angular shapes. • Not an older variant (see Macdonald 2015 vs Winnett 1957, Clark 1979, and others). • Mainly associated to the ʾl ʿmrt. • Not only angular shapes. • Letter shapes shared with the ‘marginal’ script against the ‘fine’ and ‘common’

scripts: double circle ḍ, ḏ with a hooked A chiselled inscription in the ‘square’ script by a shaft, S-shaped s², F- shaped k. member of ʾl ʿmrt (cf. the incised inscription in the ‘fine’ script running next to it); Hayajneh 2011. Photo: OCIANA.

Example of angular ‘fine’ script by member Example of angular ‘common’ script of ʾl kn (RMSK 1). Photo: OCIANA. (QUR 148.139.1 l bdḥ bn rgl ‘By Bdḥ son of Rgl’). Dating to regnal years/death of Nabataean kings

KhNSJ 1 l ḥnn bn ʿḏrʾl ḏ ʾl ʿmrt w g{l}s¹ mn- ʾ-dmt s¹nt mt mlk nbṭ ‘By Ḥnn son of ʿḏrʾl of the lineage of ʿmrt and he halted [coming] from Dūmā, the year the king of Nabataea died.’

ISB 57 l ʾs¹ybn bn mrh bn ʿbṯn ḏ ʾl mḥrb w wgm ʿl-ʾḫt-h ʿḏb w qṣṣ s¹nt mlk rbʾl ‘By ʾs¹ybn son of Mrh son of ʿbtn of the people of Mḥrb and he grieved for his sister ʿḏb and he KhNSJ 1 patrolled, the year Rabbel became king [i.e. 70/71 AD].’

AbKRI 1 l ʾs¹ybn bn mrh bn ʿbtn ḏ ʾl mḥrb w qṣṣ s¹nt ṯlṯ l-rbʾl f h lt w ds²r s¹lm ‘By ʾs¹ybn son of Mrh son of ʿbtn of the people of Mḥrb and he patrolled, the year three of Rabbel [i.e. 72/73 AD] so, O Lt and Ds²r, let there be security.’ ISB 57 Linguistic features

• Attestations of ʾl- article (HCH 194 ʾl-hdy ‘the commander’) and ʾ- article (KhNSJ 1 ʾ-dmt ‘Dūmā’). • mt ‘he died’ (KhNSJ 1) instead of the common Safaitic form myt. • Spelling of the papponym as ʿbṯn and ʿbtn by the same author (ISB 57; AbKRI 1). • Consistent spelling of the Nabataean deity as ds²r and never as ḏs²r(y) (see also one instance of the spelling ds²wr in AbKRI 2). • Spelling of ts²wq as ts¹wq (Al-Mafraq Museum 70).

HCH 194 l ʾnʿm bn qymt ḏ ʾl ʿmrt w nẓr f ʾs¹lm w[----]ʾẓlt s¹nt Al-Mafraq Museum 71 l ʾ[[b]]gr bn m{n}ʿt ḏ ʾl ʾs²rq rḍwt ʾl-hdy l-ym{n}t ‘By ʾnʿm son of Qṣmt of the lineage s¹lm w ts¹wq ʾl-ʾḫ-h whblh f h lt s¹lm w qbll of ʿmrt and he kept watch and he surrendered and… ʾẓlt the ‘By ʾbgr son of {Mnʿt} of the lineage of S¹lm and year Rḍwt the commander migrated southwards’. Photo: he longed for his brother Whblh so, O Lt, let OCIANA. there be security and reunion’. Photo: OCIANA. The military context

• qṣṣ ‘patrolling’; nẓr ‘keeping watch’. • Commanders ʾl ʿmrt: rḍwt (HCH 194) and ġwṯ bn rḍwt (Ms 64) (hereditary appointment?). • b-ms¹rt ʾl ʿmrt frs¹ (Ms 64) ‘a

horseman in the troop of the ʾl ʿmrt’. Ms 64 l ʿqrb bn ʾbgr b-ms¹rt ʾl ʿmrt SIAM 36 l grm bn dmṣy ḏ ʾl ʿmrt w • frs¹ s¹nt ngy ġwṯ bn rḍwt ndm ʿl- ʾb -h w ʿl- grm bn ʿqrb bn ʿm ms¹rt ‘military unit’, probably an ‘By ʿqrb son of ʾbgr a horseman in ‘By Grm son of Dmṣy of the Aramaic loan, cf. Nabataean rb mšrytʾ the troop of the ʾl ʿmrt the year Ġwṯ lineage of ʿmrt and he was son of Rḍwt was appointed’. Photo: devastated with grief for his ‘commander of the troop’ in Dūmā OCIANA. father and for Grm son of ʿqrb son (Macdonald 2014). of ʿm.’ • qṣṣ bʿd ʿm{r}{t} (SIJ 789) • Cf. SIJ 823 (‘fine’ script) l mgd bn zd bn qdm bn mrʾ ḏ ʾl ḍf w qṣṣ bʿd ḍf s¹nt mrd dmṣy lhtm---- ʾs¹lm f {ʾ}---- ‘By Mgd son of Zd son of Qdm son of Mrʾ of the lineage of Ḍf and he SIJ 823 from Tell al-ʿAbed. SIJ 789 from Tell al-ʿAbed: Photo: OCIANA. patrolled on behalf of the Ḍayf, the [----] {b}{n} mr{h} bn ʿb{ṯ}n w gls¹ b- year Dmṣy rebelled…’ ḫl qṣṣ bʿd ʿm{r}{t} ‘…{son of} {Mrh} son of {ʿbṯn} and • ‘The revolt of Damaṣy’ in 71 AD? he halted with [the] horse/cavalry, patrolling on behalf of the ʿmrt’. (Winnett 1973; Al-Housan 2017). Photo: OCIANA. Inscription by ʾl ʿmrt from Dūmā (Al-Theeb 2003, inscr. 7). ḏkr - prayers

Stehle 1960: 23-24 l s²ḥdd bn bs¹ʾ ḏ ʾl ʿmrt w h ds²r ḏkr rhṭ ṣdq w h ds²r lʿn r{h}ṭ s¹[ʾ] ‘By S²ḥdd son of Bs¹ʾ of the lineage of ʿmrt and, O Ds²r, remember the righteous people and, O Ds²r, curse the evil people.’ • Cf. Hismaic w ḏkrt lt kll rhṭ ṣ{d}q (CTSS 3; King 1990). ASFF 406 l qnm bn ġṯ bn ṣrmt ḏ ʾl ʿmrt w h lt w ds²r ḏkrt ʾḫ-h ṣrmt w ʿqrb w grm w Stehle 1960: 23-24. Photo: OCIANA. ʾs¹lm bn ʾʿtl ‘By Qnm son of Ġṯ son of Ṣrmt of the lineage of ʿmrt and, O Lt and Ds²r, may you remember his brother Ṣrmt and ʿqrb and Grm and ʾs¹lm son of ʾʿtl.’ • Note also that prayers by members of ʾl ʿmrt are mainly directed to the Nabataean pair lt and ds²r, invoked together or singly.

ASFF 406. Photo: OCIANA. Calques of Nabataean PN + šlm

AAEK 133 l ʾs¹ bn rwḥ ḏ ʾl ʿmrt s¹lm ‘By ʾs¹ son of Rwḥ of the lineage of ʿmrt, may he be secure’ AAEK 133. Photo: OCIANA. HaNSC 26 l nʿm bn ʿqrb ḏ ʾl ʿmrt s¹lm ‘By Nʿm son of ʿqrb of the lineage of ʿmrt, may he be secure’ HaNSC 27 l ʿqrb bn s¹ʿdl s¹lm ‘By ʿqrb son of S¹ʿdl, may he be secure’ HaNSC 25-27

• Members of ʾl ʿmrt were literate in Nabataean, cf. Safaitic and Nabataean inscriptions on a panel at Burquʿ (Milik 1980). • In a Nabataean-Greek bilingual funerary inscription from Madaba the father of the deceased identifies himself as dy mn ʾl ʿmrt. It is dated to the third year of Provincia Arabia, i.e. 108/109 AD. The Madaba inscription (Milik 1958: 244). The ʾl ʿmrt and the Dayr al-Kahf tombs

The inscriptions (Macdonald 2006) • Aramaic inscription: MDK 1 MDK 2 DK.ARAM dʾ mʿrt-|| ʾ dy {ʿ}bd ḥly[pw] {w- }{ʾ}{ḥ-}why bny ʾwšw br {ḥ}[ly]{p}w br ʾwšw || br md/r {n}{p}št-hm ‘This is the hypogeum which {Ḥlypw} made,

[he] and his {brothers} the sons of ʾwšw son MDK 3 MDK 4 of {Ḥlypw} son of ʾwšw son of {Mr/d…} --- - their funerary monuments.’ • Safaitic inscriptions: MDK 1 l ḫlf bn ʾ{s¹} MDK 2 l ʾs¹ bn ʾs¹ MDK 3 l ʾ{b}{g}{r} {b}n ʾs¹ MDK 4 l hnʾl bn ʾs¹

→ MDK 3 l ʾ{b}{g}{r} {b}n ʾs¹ = HASI 8 l ʾbg{r} bn ʾs¹ bn ḫlf bn ʾs¹ ḏ ʾl ʿmrt HASI 8, inscription by ʾbgr son of ʾs¹ (cf. MDK 3). Photo: OCIANA. Concluding remarks

• Palaeographic features can be correlated with the socio-cultural background of the inscriber. • Complex interplay of scripts, languages, and affiliations in the context of the ‘epigraphic habit’. • The desert and the sown as a ‘social continuum’ (Macdonald 2014).

KhNSJ 5

https://osf.io/tebj7