Arabian Epigraphic Notes

An Open Access Online Journal on Arabian Epigraphy.

Strategoi in the Nabataean Kingdom : a reflection of Central Places?

Abstract

This contribution examines the function and characteristics of the official known as ʾsrtgʾ (strategos) in the Nabataean inscriptions and ancient literary sources. It provides an updated list of the texts which mention a strategos as well as a list of the strategoi mentioned in them, as well as a general commentary on their role, distribution, career, prestige, etc. It appears that the strategoi are very much related to the Nabataean provincial system, the places where a strategos is known to have had an authority being central places in the Nabataean kingdom.


Keywords

Administration Military titles Nabataean inscriptions Province of Arabia

A New Dedicatory Nabataean Inscription Dated to AD 53

Abstract

This paper presents a new Nabataean inscription dedicated to the Nabataean chief god Dushara and dated to the thirteenth year of the reign of the Nabataean king Malichus II (ad 40–70). It mentions the dedication of ʿlyʾ, a cultic feature rarely attested in Nabataean.


Keywords

Cultic practice Dushara Nabataean inscriptions

A New Nabataean Inscription from the Moab Plateau

Abstract

This paper deals with a new unpublished Nabataean inscription found in al-ʿAdnāniyah town, which is located to the north of Muʾtah in the Governorate of Karak in southern Jordan.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.


Keywords

Aramaic Cultic practice Nabataean inscriptions Nabataean religion Nabataeans

New dated inscriptions (Nabataean and pre-Islamic Arabic) from a site near al-Jawf, ancient Dūmah, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

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).


Keywords

Nabataean inscriptions Old Arabic Roman army Dumah Saudi Arabia

The Nabataeans against the Ḥwlt – once again. An edition of new Safaitic inscriptions from the Jordanian Ḥarrah desert

Abstract

This paper examines three Safaitic graffiti recently discovered during a survey of the Wādī Salmā area in the ḥarrah desert, north-eastern Jordan. While one of these texts consists exclusively of onomastica, the other two contain new references to the Ḥwlt tribe, one of which is in a prayer asking Dushara to avenge the Nabataeans against them. This provides further evidence of a conflict that took place between the Nabataeans and the Ḥwlt, a mysterious event that has recently been brought to attention by Sabri Abbadi. The decipherment of the texts is followed by an updated list of the documents referring to this war and by some remarks on its historical context. The question that is asked is whether it could have occurred during the Nabataean takeover of northern Arabia during the first century bc.


Keywords

Ancient North Arabian Nabataean inscriptions Safaitic Northwest Arabia Tribes of Pre-Islamic Arabia

New Nabataean Inscriptions from Umm al-Jimāl

Abstract

This article presents four new Nabataean inscriptions from Umm al-Jimāl in north-eastern Jordan. The first text, which is dedicatory, is dated to year fifty-five of the Roman Province of Arabia, ad 161. The second one mentions the dedication of a mqrtʾ ‘hollow basin’, a word that is not attested previously in the Nabataean inscriptions. The remaining two texts are tombstones whose shape and contents are similar to the previously published tombstones from the Ḥawrān region.


Keywords

Aramaic Funerary Inscriptions Nabataean inscriptions Province of Arabia Umm al-Jimāl