The Harrah's epigraphic heritage: Arabic graffito from the Black Desert in north‐eastern Jordan referring to the Umayyad caliph Hishām b. ʿAbd al‐Malik

Abstract

The aim of this article is to republish, reread and interpret an Arabic inscription from the Black Desert, north‐eastern Jordan, to shed light on the practice of the dating system used before the Umayyad era, in which the dating of the inscription is linked to a specific event. The inscription was re‐discovered by the present authors during the 2019 Badia Epigraphic Survey. It dates to the death of Hishām, who, as can be assumed, is the Umayyad caliph Hishām b. ʿAbd al‐Malik (r. 724–743CE). In addition, this paper argues that according to the epigraphic records, when a caliph died, his title was removed.