First evidence of Nabonidus in the Ancient North Arabian inscriptions from the region of Taymāʾ Author(s): Hani Hayajneh

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First evidence of Nabonidus in the Ancient North Arabian inscriptions from the region of Taymāʾ Author(s): Hani Hayajneh Source: Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, Vol. 31, Papers from the thirty-fourth

meeting of the Seminar for Arabian Studies held in London, 20-22 July 2000 (2001), pp. 81-95Published by: ArchaeopressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41223673Accessed: 09-06-2015 11:35 UTC

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First evidence of Nabonidus in the Ancient North Arabian inscriptions from the region of TaynuP*

Hani Hay aj neh

Nabonidus, the last Babylonian king, reigned between 556 and 539 ВС and spent 10 years of his reign in Taymã*. Many studies have been dedicated to understanding the motives for his sojourn there, most recently Beaulieu 1989 and D'Agostino 1994. Nor should we forget the lecture 'Nabonidus in Arabia1, given by W.G. Lambert at this seminar in 1973. According to Beaulieu, Nabonidus' conquest of Taymã* was 'an enterprise not fundamentally different from previous Assyrian and Babylonian penetrations into Syria, Palestine and Cilicia' (1989: 174). The Babylonian chronicles tell us that he subjugated not only Taymã5 but also other centres in Arabia, such as UTUDa-da-<nu> (Biblical Dedãn, Arab al-<Ulã' ™Pa-dak-ku (Arab Fadak' ™Hi-ib- ra-a (Arab &aybar' "Îá-di-hu (Arab Yadihu) and Îá-at-ri-bu (Arab Yatrib) (Beaulieu 1989: 150f). Taymã' was the second capital of the Babylonian Kingdom during the sojourn of Nabonidus and it is known that he received embassies from Egypt and Media in his residence there (Högemann 1992: 188). While in ТаупкР, he installed his son Běl-šar-usur (Belshazzar) as regent in Babylon.

The texts presented here belong to a subgroup of the Ancient North Arabian inscriptions,1 called by scholars 'Taymanitic' or 'Taymanite' because as W.W. Müller explains, 'in der Oase Taima, bis zu der das Aramäische als Schriftsprache eingedrungen war, sind als frühste nordarabische Zeugnisse einige Inschriften gefunden worden, die in einem nur hier vorkommenden altertümlichen thamudischen

Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 31 (2001)

Schrifttypus abgefasst sind und daher als Taimanisch bezeichnet werden' (1982: 18). The Taymanitic inscriptions published before 1999 are of uncertain date and give us little information on the sojourn of Nabonidus in Tayma5. Now, however, some newly discovered inscriptions from the same area provide us with reliable and secure epigraphic evidence for the dating of the so-called Taymanitic inscriptions and even give some small clues about the stay of Nabonidus in Tayma' These texts were collected in an area southwest of Taymã' called Ramm and were published in 1999 by Khalid Al- Eskoubi. Some inscriptions in this collection mention the Babylonian king Nabonidus by name, in the form nbnd. The most significant feature of this group of inscriptions is the fact that they contain words and personal names which are unattested both in Ancient North Arabian and in Classical Arabic.

Before presenting these important inscriptions, I would draw attention to a text at al-Habû al-Sarqï near Taymã5, published by van den Branden from a handcopy by H.St.J.B. Philby (Ph 279aw). This inscription was read and translated by van den Branden as follows: sn/h.nd(b)/C)sj

' l/mlk/bbl/ndrh

'Hundub a conservé la lance du roi de Babylone. Il Га consacrée (à la divinité)'. Philby's copy is of very dubious accuracy and as Ephcal has wisely stated, 'we must agree with Winnett that it would be unwise to draw historical conclusions on the basis of this inscription until a photograph or an accurate copy is available' (1982: 185). Thus, the newly published

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HANI HAYAJNEH

inscriptions provide the first secure evidence in Ancient North Arabian for the name of the Babylonian king Nabonidus, and also for his title mlk bbl 'the king of Babylon1.

The original editor of these inscriptions, Kh. Al- Eskoubi, read many of them incorrectly and so inevitably misinterpreted them. Moreover, he provided no proper philological analysis of the texts in the light of other Ancient Near Eastern languages and did not set them in the historical context of what little is known about the history of Tayma* in the mid-first millennium ВС and its relationship with the Babylonian kingdom. Moreover, the many Aramaic and Nabataean inscriptions which can be seen on the photographs, were not discussed or even identified by him and he completely ignored the rock drawings in his discussion. In view of the historical importance of these texts both for the reign of Nabonidus and for the dating of the Taymanitic inscriptions, and the significance for Semitic philology of the words and personal names which are new to Ancient North Arabian epigraphy, I felt that a new study of these inscriptions was required.

The Texts presented here were written on three different rocks in three separate places in the Ramm area, southwest of TaynnP. Inscriptions 1-3 (Figs 1 and 2) were carved on the same rock, at a place called Mušamraha (?)2 (see Eskoubi 1999: 235).3 Inscriptions 4 and 5 (Figs 3a and b in this paper and page 74 in Eskoubi 1999) come from a place called Wadhah (?). Inscription 6 (Figs 4a and b in this paper and page 251 in Eskoubi 1999) comes from a place called Safat al-Märdah (?).

Inscription 1 (Figs la and b) The text consists of three lines (or four lines if we consider the scattered signs after the third line as part of the text).4 The words are separated by a point.

Text 1) >n /mrdn/ him /nbnd/mlk/ЬЫ 2) >twt/mc /rbslrsl /kyt 3) ...nm/bflsl/tlw/bdt/lcq

Translation 1) I, MRDN the servant of Nabonidus, the king of

Babylon, 2) came with RBS1^1 [or: 'army leader1] (so ?)

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3) ... nm in the attack/invasion [or: 'in the emigration'; 'for inspection/ supervision'] behind the bare (?) desert

The inscription begins with the independent pronoun of the first person singular yn T, which is found occasionally in Safaitic (WH 1403b), Hismaic (KJC 646) and Thamudic D (JSTham 637) but is frequent in Thamudic В and C. Eskoubi's reading zn is not correct.5 The author of this inscription is called mrdn. This is probably a Semitic name from the root mrd which is attested in many Semitic languages with the meaning 'to rebel'.6 Thus, in Safaitic mrdn (ISB 39), mrd (WH 1275) and mrd in Minaic (Arbach 1993: 86) though it should be noted that the last two names may be derived not from the root mrd but from ryd 'want' with a prefixed m-. From the root mrd come the names Mãrid (Caskel 1966, ii: 299) and Murayd (Qämüs 319) in Arabic, Mar-du-u-a in Assyrian (Tallqvist 1914: 128), Mar- di-ni-ia in Neo-Babylonian (Tallqvist 1905: 99), Ma-ar-du in Amorite (Zadok 1993: 326) and Mard in Hebrew (Richter 1996: 148).

The next word, ¿//и, was translated by Eskoubi as •friend' (1999:238). This translation is based on a meaning found in the traditional Arabic léxica such as Lisãn al-cArab. However, these can often be misleading, because of the diversity of meanings gathered under one root or word. Arabic hilm meaning 'friend' is a South Arabian word (see al- Taccan 1968: 44f. and Ghul 1993: 326), which entered the Arabic lexicon after the penetration of Islam into Yemen, i.e. the word Ыт with this meaning is a loan word from South Arabian. Thus, we should not interpret ¿//и in this inscription on the basis of this word, because we cannot consider a borrowing from South Arabian into Taymanitic at such an early date, i.e. 600 ВС. I have taken this word as a variant of glm, with the letter h used to represent the phoneme /g/. In other words, ¿//w is to be understood as glm. In the Semitic languages, words derived from this root mostly relate to 'youth, slave, or servant', cf. Arabic gulãm {Qämüs 1143), ha-la-mi-im in Eblaite texts, glm '1) muchacho, joven; 2) príncipe; el "Prócer"' in Ugaritic (DLU 156), Hebrew celem 'junger Mann' (KBL 790), clym 'child (not yet weaned)' in Old Aramaic, 'slave' in Palmyrene and Nabataean (DNWSI 854f.), and Haymã in Syriac (CSD 415).



EVIDENCE OF NABONIDUS IN ANCIENT NORTH ARABIAN INSCRIPTIONS

The representation of /g/ by ¿ in these texts can be explained as follows: either the writers of the inscriptions were Arabs who came with Nabonidus from Babylon to Taymã3, or they were Babylonians or Aramaeans who came from Babylon with Nabonidus and wrote in Ancient North Arabian during their stay in Tayma'. It can be presumed that the language of these people, if they were Arabs or Aramaeans, was influenced by Akkadian. We know that Akkadian had no separate sign to express the phoneme /g/, (see GAG § 8.1.i),7 using the sign h to

represent it in foreign words. 'In einigen Wurzeln sind die Laryngale h und g durch h statt > vertreten : z.B. entspricht arab[isch] rhd akk[adisch] rhs, "überschwemmen" und arab[isch] sgr akk[adisch] shr "klein"1 (GAG § 8.1.i).8 Thus in our inscription the word him may represent this phenomenon.

The name of the Babylonian king Nabonidus, which occurs here for the first time in the Ancient North Arabian inscriptions, appears in the form nbnd (= Nabû-NaHd). From the spelling of the name we can deduce that the aleph in the original form nďicř 'praised' was not pronounced at that time.

There is no doubt about the reading of the sentence >twt /mc 'I came with'. The first word is the first person singular of the suffix conjugation of >tw, and the form >twt is a morphological variant of ytyt. The next word, rbshs1, is the key to the inscription and suggests that the writers of these texts may have been Aramaeans. This word rbshs1 contains two elements: the first is rb 'commander, head' in Aramaic and Arabic, and the second is shs1. The latter can be traced back to the Akkadian Sa resi, which was translated by von Soden as 'Hofmeister, Vorsteher' (AHw 974). He believed that this phrase came to mean 'eunuch' and in this meaning was borrowed by Hebrew and Aramaic in the form saris whence Arabic saris 'impotent'. However, the

etymological development of this word is still unclear and there is no scholarly consensus on this matter. Suffice it to say that the original construction ša resi means 'he who is at the head of in Akkadian. Its plural form is sût resi (GAG § 46d and see Meier 1938: 485). It seems that this form was borrowed by Aramaic as one-word srs, srsy, etc. with the

meanings 'high court official and eunuch' (DNWSI 803f.). Some passages in the Old Testament which contain the phrase rab sans may shed some light on

its use in this inscription, since they are particularly concerned with Mesopotamia. One of these passages relates that the King of Assyria sent the rab saris with a huge army to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem (2Kings 18:17): 'The king of Assyria sent the supreme commander, the chief officer (rab sarîs) and the field commander with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem.' Another passage, which contains the word rab sarîs relates to the Babylonian court, after King Nebuchadnezzar had sacked Jerusalem in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim (Daniel 1:3). In these passages rab sarîs has been understood as 'a high political or military officer'. Rbsrs is also attested in an Akkadian- Aramaic inscription from Nineveh. Kedar-Kopfstein (1984: 954) has tried to explain this word as follows: 'Diesem entspricht rbsrs auf einer akk[adischen]- aram[äischen] Inschrift aus Ninive, der Amtbezeichnung einer hochgestellten Persönlichkeit und ähnelt der Siegelabdruck mrsrsj Sargon, "Oberster der sarîsîm des Sargon". Auch wenn das Amt und seine Funktionen uns nicht genau bekannt sind, so ist doch deutlich, daß hier an einen hohen militärischen oder diplomatischen Funktionär zu denken ist, nicht als an den Obereunuchen.1 From a

study of the Old Testament evidence Kedar-

Kopfstein suggested that the word sarîs designated 'den Angehörigen einer von zwei sozial gegensätzlich bewerteten Menschenklassen, einerseits diejenige vornehmer Beamter am

Königshof (1 Chronicles 28:1), andererseits die der von der Volksgemeinschaft ausgeschlossenen Kastraten (Isaiah 56:3)'. It is possible that rbshs1 in our inscription was an official in the army of Nabonidus and participated in the conquest of

Taymâ3. A less likely possibility, is that the rbshs1 was a diplomat or a politician and that Mrdn, the writer of the inscription, and he were engaged on a

diplomatic mission to the Arab tribes in the region of Taymã'10

The reading of the next group of signs kyt is certain, but the etymology of this word is problematic. I am inclined to interpret it in the light of the Syriac particle kit 'that is to say', 'indeed', which is normally preceded by >aw (CSD 214). Arabic kayta wa kayt 'such and such (a person or

thing)' (WKAS i: 481) may be connected with this word etymologically.

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HANI HAYAJNEH

FIGURE 2a. Photograph of the left side of the rock bearing Inscription 3 and the ends of Inscriptions 1 and 2 (from Eskoubi 1999: 239).

FIGURE 2b. Facsimile of the same section of rock. Drawing: Hani Hayajneh (from the photograph).

84




FIGURE la. Photograph of the right side of the rock bearing Inscription 1, six signs of Inscription 2 and accompanying rock drawings (from Eskoubi 1999: 237).

FIGURE lb. Facsimile of the same section of rock. Drawing: Hani Hayajneh (from the photograph).

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HANI HAYAJNEH

The first two letters of line three are damaged and only the letters nm of the first word remain. The next word isfls] and notflt as read by Eskoubi (1999: 239). There are three possible etymologies for this word. First, from Akkadian palašů 'durchbohren; einbrechen1 (AHw 815), pališu 'durchstoßend', pallišu 'Einbrecher' (AHw 816), pilšu 'Einbruchistelle), Loch, Bresche' (AHw 863-4). Cf. also Syriac plaš 'to break through, undermine, dig through a wall'; paisa 'violation', pales 'to force a way into, to pierce' (CSD 449) and pûhsa 'Stoß, Schlag' and plas 'spalten, zerreißen, auseinanderreißen', palaš 'spalten, ... aufsuchen, nachsuchen; offen stehen, durchbrochen sein' in the Hebrew of the Talmud and Midrash (Levy 1924, iv: 55, 58). Secondly, Sabaic^ 'put to flight' (SD 44), Gecez fal'âsa 'depart, emigrate, to go over to, be transferred, be removed, be banished, ...secede, split off, separate oneself, sojourn abroad' (CDG 160), Amharic fölläsa 'to migrate, emigrate ... to be uprooted (tree); ...to be destroyed; to be broken ... etc' (AED 2263), Tigre falsa 'auswandern, vertrieben werden' (WTS 651), Tigrinnya fdläsa 'finire, perire molta gente per malattia, guerra ecc' (Da Bassano 1918: 980). Thirdly, it could be connected with Hebrew tdpallès and mdpallës in the sense 'beobachten' (KBL 832). Thus, we have three possible meanings for this word: 1. attack, invasion; 2. go out, exit, exile, expulsion, sojourn; 3. observation, inquiry.

The reading of the cluster of the words at the end of this line as tlw bdt l€q is not in doubt. The first two words mean literally 'behind the desert', where the first word is an adverb 'behind, after', cf. Arabic tilw (Qãmus 1265). For the word bdt cf. Arabic badw, bãdíyah, badãt, ba/idãwah (Lisãn xiv: 67). The main problem here is the etymology of the last word lcq, which means in many Semitic languages 'to lick'. This literal meaning is not appropriate to the context of this inscription. Nevertheless this meaning must be used as a starting point for an interpretation. In some Biblical passages we find verbs derived from the root Ihk 'to lick', used in the meaning of 'devastation' especially in Numbers 22:4. Ringgren comments on this passage 'wo es heißt, daß das Rind das Grün des Q'aeraq) Feldes aufleckt oder frißt, als Bild der Verwüstung, die die Israeliten nach der Befürchtung Balaks anstellen werden.'

86

(Ringgren 1984: 538). In another passage (1 Kings 18:38) the piel-Fonn of this root has a similar meaning '(das Land) kahl fressen', 'das Feuer JHWHs, das vom Himmel fallt, verzehrt das Brandopfer, das Holz, die Steine und die Erde und leckt das Wasser im Graben auf, so daß nichts übrigbleibt...' (Ringgren 1984: 537 and see also KBL 499). Through these Biblical passages it becomes clear that the root Ihk can have the connotation 'graze bare'. Thus, the translation of lcq as Ъаге' would assume that a similar semantic development had taken place in this root as is seen in the Old Testament passages quoted above. However, I would like to stress that this etymology is not certain.

It is possible that the word lcq here is the name of the bdt 'desert'. But I have to admit that no toponyms related to lcq in North Arabia are known to me.

Inscriptions 2 and 3 (Figs la and b, 2a and b)

Preliminary remark Eskoubi read the remaining signs on the rock as one inscription. His reading is as follows:

hhm/f m/tm> s¡ktrb/bns!rtn/>tw/ m'/rbs1

(Eskoubi 1999: 239f.)

After a careful examination of the photograph, I am convinced that these signs belong to two different inscriptions. One of them (Inscription 2) starts above the middle of the first line of Inscription 1 (Figs la and b) and continues far to the left of it (Figs 2a and b). The other (Inscription 3) is written above line one of Inscription 2 (see Figs 2a and b). Thus, Eskoubi's reading of these letters, quoted above, should be abandoned.

Inscription 2 (Figs la and b, 2a and b) Text 1) sJktrsJl/bn/sJrtn/>t[w] 2) m</rbslr[sl]

Translation 1) S1 KTRS1 L son of SJRTN came 2) v/iihrbs^fs1]




The reading of the first name as s1 tors1 I is certain. Eskoubi read s]ktrbl (1999: 240), but it is clear from the photograph that the fourth sign is s1, not b. This personal name s1 tors1 I has no parallels either in Ancient North Arabian Epigraphy or in the Classical Arabic sources. On the other hand, sak-kud is found as an element in Babylonian personal names, for example sak-kud-muballit and ibni-sak-kud (Ranke 1905: 206). Sikkût also occurs in the Old Testament (Amos 5:26) as the name of a foreign deity (see KBL 711). Akkadian Sakkut was understood in Babylon as a representation of Ninurta (see Tallqvist 1938: 440). The second half of the name consists of the elements rs1 + /. The first is probably related to Akkadian ríšu 'umjubelť (AHw 989) from riašum 'jauchzen' (AHw 979), whereas the second may represent the theophoric element ilu. Thus, one can suggest the vocalization sakkut-ríši-ili for this personal name.

The patronym, sJrtn, is also not an Arabian name. The root sht is unproductive in Arabic, both onomastically and lexically. However, shtn could be connected with the Neo-Babylonian names la-rid and ša-ri-du (Tallqvist 1905: 200), or it may be a sentence-name šarru-iddin 'the king has given' (Stamm 1939: 118).

The verb in this inscription has been read as >t[w] 'he came', though since the end of the word is cut by the edge of the photograph it is not certain that it is in the third person singular.

Inscription 3 (Figs 2a and b)

Text 1) hhm/f 2) m/tm>

Commentary The signs in the first line are hard to identify on the photograph and the reading above is that of Eskoubi. The reading of tm3 in the second line is certain, but it is uncertain whether this represents the name of the oases of Taymã5. The interpretation of the text as a whole is very difficult. The signs hhm represent the Ancient North Arabian definite article A- plus h.m meaning 'tent' either as a collective or in the singular.

The accompanying rock-drawings (Figs la and b) As can be seen on the photograph, these texts were accompanied by several rock-drawings. The most important of these is in the top left-hand corner of the photograph (Figs la and b) and appears to represent a boat in the middle of which is a standing figure. To the right of the figure, at the back of the boat, is what may be an animal head of some sort.11 Below it is a diagonal line which stretches down in front of it which may be a rudder. At the left end of the boat are two parallel horizontal lines which may also represent rudders.

In the top right-hand corner of the photograph are rock drawings showing a battle-scene. A man on foot is carrying what may be a bow which he is aiming forward. What are probably two horses with riders can be seen in front of him. Each of these is holding the halter of his horse with his right hand and has his left arm raised. The tail of each of the horses is raised indicating that they were engaged in a battle.

Some other inexplicable drawings can also be seen on the rock.

Inscription 4 (Figs 3a and b) The fourth inscription of this collection (Eskoubi 1999: 74) does not mention Nabonidus by name but gives his title mlk bbl. It is very interesting that this inscription is accompanied by an Aramaic text (Inscription 5), which was ignored by Eskoubi.

Text >n /'nds1 /sldn /mlk/bbl/ntrt

Translation 'I, 'NDS1, the overseer of the king of Babylon, have guarded'

This inscription is very significant despite its brevity. After the first person independent pronoun, >n T, incorrectly read as zn by Eskoubi, we have the name *ndslt which is not an Arabian name. Because the texts of this collection are related to the Babylonian king Nabonidus, we may look further afield for parallels. The form is similar to some types of Elamite name which occur in the cuneiform texts, for example: in-da-su, un-taš and ú-un-ti-iš (Zadok 1984: 67, 81, 82). We cannot exclude the possibility, that Elamite personal names were used in Babylonia.

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HANI HAYAJNEH

FIGURE 3a. Photograph of Inscriptions 4 and 5 (from Eskoubi 1999:74).

FIGURE 3b. Facsimile of Inscriptions 4 and 5. Drawing: Hani Hayajneh (from the photograph).

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Eskoubi's translation of the word sldn as hfldim 'servant' is doubtful. Words derived from the Arabic the root sdn refer to religious personnel rather than secular servants, e.g. the substantives sãdin, (pl. sadanaturi), sadan and sidãnah and the verbal forms sadana, yasdunu (al-Ansãn 1984: 142). The sãdin is the religious equivalent of the hãgib in Arabic: 'the first term denoting the guardian of a shrine, and the second, the "door-keeper" of a palace, hence "chamberlain".' (Fahd 1995: 728). Moreover, the root sdn in the Semitic languages is unlikely to have produced a meaning such as 'servant', cf. sãdin •leinene Hülle, Tuch' in the Hebrew of the Talmud and Midrash (Levy 1924, iii: 479 and 480), sãdin in Biblical Hebrew (KBL 702), seddõnã 'a cloth, loin- cloth, piece of cloth, towel* in Syriac (CSD 316) and sadln = sitr 'curtain' in Arabic (Lisãn xiii: 208). Consequently, we cannot be sure that the religious connotation which sdn has in Classical Arabic, also existed in the Late Babylonian period. I prefer, therefore, to translate the word as 'overseer or guardian', which is close to the original meaning of the root. Of course, this meaning is also secondary, but a similar development occurred in the word hãgib 'door-keeper (of a palace)' in Arabic, which is related to hagaba 'to veil, to cover'.

Syntactically, the word s]dn forms a genitive compound with mlk bbl 'king of Babylon'. The final word of the text is a verb, which must be read as ntrU not ntr as Eskoubi assumed (1999: 74). This verb is in the suffix conjugation and means 'I watched, I guarded', not 'I saw' as is the case with its Arabic cognate nazara. The subject of this verb is the first person singular pronoun >n T, at the beginning of the inscription referring to >nds. It would seem that ntrt, which occurs here for the first time in the Taymanitic inscriptions, is an Aramaized form (DNWSI 754ff.). However, it is worth mentioning that, to the best of my knowledge, no sign for the phoneme /?/ is yet attested in the Taymanitic inscriptions (see the script tables in Eskoubi 1999: 480ff., Winnett & Reed 1970: 205, Roschinski 1981: 41, illustration Nr 1, and Macdonald 2000: 34). Thus, it is possible that the people of Taymã5 used the sign for t to represent the two phonemes lil and /?/. The present sign probably designates etymological /t/, hence the word has been explained from the North- West Semitic ntr 'to guard,

to watch'. The task of >nds] was most likely 'guarding' or 'watching' in the region. This would fit well with the interpretation of the word sldn as 'overseer'.

Inscription 5 (Figs 3a and b) A short Aramaic inscription can be seen on the same rock just above the previous text. Eskoubi ignored it (1999: 74).

Text >nh/nbwntn

Translation lamNBWNTN

The inscription begins with the Aramaic form of the independent first person singular pronoun ynh T (see Segert 1990: 165). The personal name nbwntn %Nabü has given' consists of two elements, the theophoric element nbw, and the verbal form ntn 'to give'. This name is already attested in Egyptian Aramaic (Silverman 1985: 156).

Inscription 6 (figs 4a and b) Text >n >nds him nbnd mlk bbl

Translation I am >NDS servant of Nabonidus, the king of Babylon

The words of this text have already been discussed in the previous inscriptions. For >nds! see Inscription 4 and for the word him see Inscription 1.

Conclusions Finally, I would like to turn to some historical conclusions which can be drawn from this new reading of these inscriptions. 1. The personal names in these texts mrdnt >ndsJ,

shtn, and s]ktrs!l are hitherto unattested both in the Ancient North Arabian inscriptions and in the Classical Arabic sources. Only the first name, mrdn, might have onomastic parallels in Arabic or Ancient North Arabian. This suggests that the bearers of these names were not natives of the oasis of Taymã'.

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HANI HAYAJNEH

FIGURE 4a. Photograph of Inscription 6 (Eskoubi 1999: 251).

FIGURE 4b. Facsimile of Inscription 6.

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2. We can conclude that the language of the

inscriptions is very close to Arabic or to Ancient North Arabian, on both the morphological and the syntactical level. We have also noticed that several words, such as rbs^rs1, s^dn, fls1 were not of Arabic origin. With rbshs1, 1 think we are dealing with the Aramaic form of the word and not the Akkadian. Aramaic was widely spoken and written in Mesopotamia in the first millennium ВС.

3. Consequently, I would repeat that the writers of these inscriptions were very probably not natives of the oasis of Tayma5. The occurrence of the verbs >twt ?I came' and ^w 'he came1 with the preposition mc 'with', makes it clear that mrdn and slktrsll came with rbshs1 and so supports this hypothesis. The same is probably true of 'nds1, who is attested in two different texts, in one as s]dn and in the other as ¿//w, though we cannot be certain whether or not it is the same person. The words rbshs1 and sldn refer to two offices under the Babylonian king Nabonidus. This suggests that the writers of the inscriptions came with Nabonidus on his expedition to TaynûP. The question of the ethnicity of the writers is something of a problem. We have non- Arabic names, some words that might be close to Aramaic or Akkadian, but Arabic syntax and morphology. I am inclined to think that they were ethnically Arabs who bore non-Arabic names and were resident in the Babylonian Kingdom. They apparently participated in Nabonidus1 expedition to Taymã3. Nabonidus no doubt found it useful to bring people from Babylon who knew the language of the region he wanted to conquer. The alternative, which I find much less convincing, is that they were Aramaeans or Babylonians who were acquainted with the Taymanitic script and language. The first theory is supported by the following facts. We know from Neo-Assyrian and Neo- Babylonian texts, that the Assyrians and Babylonians gave their children Aramaic names and that Arameans gave theirs typically Akkadian names. It is likely that Arabs who lived in Mesopotamia did the same, giving their ] children Babylonian, Aramaic or other names '

common in Babylonia. We have a cuneiform document from the time of Nabonidus, in which an Arab and his father bear Akkadian names, though their Arabian origin is expressed by a nisbah. The army of Nabonidus must certainly have included soldiers and officers of different ethnic origins because we know that the population of Mesopotamia in the Neo- Babylonian period was made up of many different ethnicities. It would be no great surprise if Arab soldiers took part in Nabonidus1 expedition to Tayma3.12 Why not? Arabs were present in Babylonia. In his article 'Arabians in Babylonia / Babylonians in Arabia', Livingstone says, 'The presence of Arabians in Babylonia in the 5th and 6th century is hardly surprising; after all, there were Arabians in Athens in the 5th century B.C. Arabs figure in the Bible from the time of the kingdom of David, about the 10th century B.C., in contact with Assyria from the 9th century, and from then on in various contexts and roles until over a millennium later (Nemara, fourth century A.D.) they begin to assert a collective political identity1 (1989: 97). Ran Zadok stated also, on the basis of personal names that Chaldaean, Aramaean and Arabian tribes lived in Babylon between 626 and 331 ВС (1977: 11). Livingstone quotes a Babylonian letter which mentions Taimanite families which had somehow fallen foul of the situation in Eridu and were journeying to take refuge with a group of Qedar encamped in the vicinity' and he comes to the conclusion that 'although of course Arabians formed a small minority in relation to other ethnic groups, they owned land, occupied at least one specifically Arabian city or settlement, conducted business and trade, maintained links with Arabian towns such as Taima, and participated generally in the Babylonian society1 (Livingstone 1989: 99). Cuneiform textual evidence from the seventh century ВС proves that Arabs were present in Bit Dakuri and Nippur and in south-east Babylonia.

As explained in the introductory section of this paper, the inscriptions studied here come from southwest of the city of Taymã3. It is possible, that

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the writers of these inscriptions, especially the first two texts in which the verb 'twtftfw] occurs, 'came' with the rbshs1, not directly from Babylon but from the city of Taymã5 itself, from which Nabonidus directed operations. In other words, it is possible that the writers 'came' with the rbshs1 to attack Arabian tribes in the region southwest of the city. This suggestion is not, of course, inconsistent with the proposal that the writers of these texts came originally from the Babylonian Kingdom.

Notes * A fuller article on this subject will be found in

Hayajneh 2001. I am deeply indebted to Mr Michael CA. Macdonald (Oriental Institute and Wolfson College, Oxford) for his careful reading of the present paper and his useful comments on it.

1 For a recent analysis of the division and localization of the Ancient North Arabian inscriptions see Macdonald 2000, where the terms used here for the different groups of these inscriptions (Hismaic, Taymanitic, etc.) are explained. The pronunciation of these place names is not certain because Eskoubi cites them without vocalization.

3 The three inscriptions are shown in the photographs on Eskoubi 1999: 237 (Fig. la here, with a facsimile made from this photograph on Fig lb), 239 (Fig. 2a here, facsimile on Fig. 2b), and 243. Inscription no. 1 can be seen on Figs la and b, with the ends of the lines repeated on Figs 2a and b. The beginning of Inscription no. 2 is on Figs la and b and the end on Figs 2a and b, and no. 3 is on Figs 2a and b. Eskoubi's reading of the whole text is as follows (1999: 237): zn / mrdn /him / nbnd / mlk / bbl / >twt/mc /rbshs1 /kyt ynm/bflt/tlw/bdt/tq/ It should be noted that, while the work of Eskoubi was still unpublished, al-Diyïb (1998: 173f.) re-read the inscription and corrected the reading of the first word from zn to yn. However, apart from this, his reading is no different from that of Eskoubi. He also tried to read the

scattered signs after line three as follows: b ...xg...dyhs1s...) without interpreting them.

6 See for example Safaitic mrd 'to rebel' (WH 78), mrdt 'rebellion' (WH 2815), Arabic marada 'to be rebellious' (Qämüs 319), Hebrew mãrad 'sich auflehnen, empören' (KBL 597). 7 The city-name Gazzat is attested in Neo- Babylonian and Late Babylonian as Ha-az-za-ti (see Zadok 1977: 247 and 263~ for the correspondence of Arabic /g/ with /h/ in Neo- Babylonian and Late Babylonian). On the correspondence between the phonemes /g/ and ¡У in Semitic see also Růžička (1954: 82f.) and Tropper(1994:52f.). It is worth noting in this context the words ahlamû (compared by von Soden with the reconstructed form *aglãm 'Jungmannschaft'?) as a designation of the Aramaeans, and the word âh-la-me-e which indicates a type of soldier, and in some contexts 'Steppensoldaten' (Ahw, p. 21). 9 See Stamm 1939: 244 for names which have the element nďid. The name Nabu-NaHd occurs in the form nbny in The Prayer of Nabonidus, a manuscript of the second half of the first century ВС written in Official Aramaic (see Meyer 1989: 73f.). This suggests that the aleph in this name was not pronounced at the time this manuscript was written.

10 For an overview of the functions of the king's assistants in the Neo-Babylonian court, see Högemann 1992: 185ff. and note 47, p. 189 on rbsrs.

11 Representations of boats with animal heads are well-known in Mesopotamia, see, for instance, De Graeve 1981: PL XXXII, Fig. 67; PL XXXIV, Fig. 71; PL XXXV, Fig. 72. On the origins of the soldiers in the Neo- Babylonian armies see Högemann 1992: 171f.

Sigla AED Kane 1990 AHw von Soden 1965-1981 CDG Leslau 1991 CSD Payne Smith 1903 DLU Olmo Lete & Sanmartín 1996 DNWSI Hoftijzer & Jongeling 1 995 GAG von Soden 1969

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ISB Safaitic inscriptions in Oxtoby 1968

JSTham Taymanitic, Hismaic and Thamudic В, С and D inscriptions in Jaussen & Savignac 1909-1922

KBL Koehler & Baumgartner 1967- 1990

KJC Hismaic inscriptions in King 1990 Lisãn Ibn Manzur n.d. Ph Taymanitic, Hismaic and

Thamudic В, С and D inscriptions in Van den Branden 1956

Qãmus Al-Firuzabâdï 1998 SD Beestoneía/. 1982 WH Safaitic inscriptions in Winnett &

Harding 1978 WKAS Ulimann 1970-1991 WTS Littmann & Höfher 1 962

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Contributor's address Dr Hani Hayajneh, P.O. Box 3557, 21110 Irbid, Jordan, email: [email protected]

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Documents

First evidence of Nabonidus in the Ancient North Arabian inscriptions from the region of Taymāʾ Author(s): Hani Hayajneh