Semitic Inscriptions

) PART IV OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF AN AMERICAN ARCH/EOLOGICAL EXPEDITION TO SYRIA 1899-1 900 SEMITIC INSCRIPTIONS PART IV OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF AN AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPEDI- TION TO SYRIA IN 1899-1900 ## UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF V. EVERIT MACY, CLARENCE M. HYDE, B. TALBOT B. HYDE, AND I. N. PHELPS STOKES # « * # # SEMITIC INSCRIPTIONS BY ENNO LITTMANN, PH.D PUBLISHED BY THE CENTURY CO. NEW YORK MCMIV Copyright, 1904, by The Century Co. Published October, 1904 The DeVinne Press SEMITIC INSCRIPTIONS CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE Syriac Inscriptions 3 CHAPTER II Palmyrene Inscriptions 57 CHAPTER III Nabat/Ean Inscriptions 85 CHAPTER IV Hebrew Inscriptions 96 CHAPTER V Saeaitic Inscriptions 102 CHAPTER VI Arabic Inscriptions 169 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Page Wall containing fragment with Syriac inscription at Kalb Lauzeh 9 Portal in the church at Khirbit Hasan 15 Cast of Syriac inscription on lintel of baptistery at Dehes 23 Lintel of west portal of East Church at Bakirha 28 Fragment of Syriac inscription found near East Church at Bakirha 30 Part of upper story of colonnade at Babiska 34 Pier of portico at Babiska, with Syriac graffito . 38 Jamb in East Church at Ksedjbeh .... 39 Syriac graffito on church at Kasr il-Benat 40 Cast of Syriac inscription from Mektebeh . 42 Jamb with Syriac inscription at Mektebeh 44 Wall in entrance to group of houses at Mektebeh 45 Parapet in basilica at Zebed ..... 47 Squeeze of Greek and Palmyrene inscriptions (after Prince Abamelek Lazarew) 62 Niche in wall of temple in Palmyra .... 65 Tomb-towers at Palmyra ...... 76 Fragment with Palmyrene inscription 81 Fragment with Palmyrene inscription 81 Mohammedan graves with ancient votive altars, at Palmyra 82 Casts of fragments of Nabataean inscription at Si' 86 Stele found near Si' . 9i Altar with Nabataean inscription at Suweda 94 Part of Jewish structure at Kefr il-Barah . 96 Wall in forecourt of synagogue at Tedif 98 Fragment of altar-base from Palmyra 108 Stones with Safaitic inscriptions 1 2— 1 8 at il-Hifneh . 134 Stone with Safaitic inscription 23 at il-Hifneh . 137 Stone with Safaitic inscriptions 24a-c at il-Hifneh 138 Stone showing Safaitic inscription No. 37 at il-Hifneh 142 Stone bearing Safaitic inscriptions Nos. 48 and 49 145 Stone bearing Safaitic inscription 57 at il-Hifneh 147 Stone bearing Safai'tic inscriptions 58-67 at il-Hifneh 148 Arab rider with long lance ..... 168 Entrance to khan at Ezra' ..... 179 Weli on Tell Nebl Ts 191 Mohammedan castle at il-Barah .... 194 201 Arabic inscription (No. 26) at Kal'at il-Mudik Kal'at Sedjar, from the northeast .... 209 21 1 Arabic inscription 34, at Kal'at Sedjar 212 Arabic inscription 34c, at Kal'at Sedjar PREFACE TO PART IV inscriptions published here comprise all epigraphical documents in Semitic languages found by this expedition. No attempt has been made THEto give a complete corpus of any branch of Semitic epigraphy, though all Syriac inscriptions that have been discovered in Northern Syria up to this time are, with a very few exceptions, contained in this volume. The Syriac inscriptions represent a new feature in Syrian epigraphy and throw some new light on the life and the history of the native population of Northern Syria during the fifth and sixth centuries of our era. They afford also material for palaeo- graphical and linguistic studies, but in this respect they do not differ essentially from the Syriac manuscripts written in the same period. The Palmyrene and Nabataean inscriptions are but the gleanings gathered after the work of former laborers in the field, especially that scholar whose explorations suggested our own work, the Marquis Melchior de Vogue. A few of them, however, are noteworthy for the information which they furnish with regard to the build- ing of two of the most important temples of Syria, the temple of Bel in Palmyra and that of Ba'al Samin at Si'. Others contribute to our knowledge of the pagan religion of the Palmyrenes, or, like the Nabataean stele dated according to the Seleucid era, are interesting for historical reasons. Again, the number of Safaitic inscriptions is quite small in comparison with the larger collections of MM. de Vogue, Dussaud, and Macler. But by studying the originals and by taking measurements and photographs I have endeavored to reach a more complete understanding of these curious documents of pre-Islamic North- xii PREFACE Arabian civilization — if it may thus be termed. These documents illustrate the life, the religion, and the language of the Syrian Bedawin, many of whom went over to a settled life in the Hauran and in Palmyra, where they played an important role. The later Arabic, or Mohammedan, civilization is represented in the Kufic and Arabic inscriptions. Its spread is indicated by the presence of these inscriptions at many different localities. These various classes of inscriptions fall naturally into two groups, according to the languages in which they are written, a North-Semitic and a South- Semitic group. This division has been followed in the order of chapters of this part: the first four chapters contain inscriptions in North-Semitic languages, while in the last two those in Arabian or South-Semitic dialects have found their place. In the former of these two groups it has been thought advisable, in keeping with the arrangement in the other parts of these publications and with the route of the expedition, to follow a geographical order from north to south. By this it has been made possible to put the Syriac inscriptions, which are most closely connected with the work of the expedition, in the first place. From a historical point of view, however, they should have been placed after the Nabataean and Palmyrene. The inscriptions in Hebrew char- acters, which contain many Arabic words and sentences, belong, as it were, to both the North-Semitic and the South-Semitic group, and have therefore been placed between the two In the last chapter, the Arabic inscriptions have been arranged according to their dates, and only in a very few cases has this order been disregarded for topographical reasons. The geographical position of the various towns and other localities where the Syriac and Arabic inscriptions were found has not been indicated in this volume, except where it was required for an accurate understanding of the monuments. For more geographical information the reader is referred to Part I, which contains the maps. In restoring the text of many inscriptions, square and round brackets have been used : the former indicate simple restorations, the latter corrections. Letters or words which are now obliterated on the stones but are to be restored with reasonable are in those which have been corrected from obvious or certainty put [] ; mistakes, are in But in have been omitted on the stone, or are not read with certainty, put (). a number of cases the distinction was not absolutely clear, and it is possible that my use of square and round brackets has not been altogether consistent. PREFACE xiii A great many Semitic words, in particular all the Arabic words used in the com- are in mentary, given transliteration, largely owing to the difficulty of obtaining Arabic type. In these transliterations ordinary long vowels are indicated by long marks, while circumflexes are used only for long vowels that bear the accent. This accent has been expressly noted, with a few exceptions, only in words which I myself heard pronounced, i.e., names of persons and of places, or words of the modern vernacular Syrian Arabic. The consonantal aleph has been expressed by a spiritus lenis ordinarily only in the middle of words. The indices are in the main vocabularies of the inscriptions, but they include also the Syriac and Safai'tic words which occur in the introductions to Chapters I and V. I am indebted, in the publication of these inscriptions, to my colleagues of the for their constant assistance to Professor Dr. expedition ; furthermore, Noldeke, Schroder, Dr. van Berchem, M. Dussaud, and Dr. Lidzbarski. To Professor Noldeke I owe very helpful suggestions in the interpretation of the Syriac inscriptions. Dr. Schroder, consul-general of the German Empire at Beirut and one of the pioneers in Phenician epigraphy, placed several of his copies of inscriptions at my disposal, and by his kind interest I have been encouraged in my own work. Dr. van " Berchem, the editor of the Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum," was kind enough to read my manuscript of Chapter VI, to add a number of comments and suggestions, and to place three of his own photographs at my disposal. M. Dussaud was of great assistance to me in the deciphering of the Safai'tic alphabet by sending me his copies before they were published. Dr. Lidzbarski lent me a facsimile which was inaccessible to me and assisted me in the interpretation of a Palmyrene inscription. Specific acknowledgment of all that I owe to these scholars is also made in the com- mentaries on the inscriptions themselves. Enno Littmann. Princeton University, May, 1904. SEMITIC INSCRIPTIONS FROM NORTHERN CENTRAL SYRIA, PALMYRA AND THE REGION OF THE HAURAN < SEMITIC INSCRIPTIONS FROM NORTHERN CENTRAL SYRIA, PALMYRA AND THE REGION OF THE HAURAN CHAPTER I SYRIAC INSCRIPTIONS Syriac inscriptions published here are all from Northern Syria, the Aramean this THEdistrict side of the Euphrates, where the influence of Antioch, i.e., of Hel- lenistic culture, was the strongest. This influence has been considered one of the main reasons for the fact that we know of very little literary activity in Syriac through- out this region. Undoubtedly this explanation is correct. It is true that the literary productions of Northern Syria are not nearly so numerous as those of Mesopotamia, the center of the Syriac language, literature, and civilization.

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