Two New Greek Inscriptions with the nameϒTWRfrom Umm al-Jimāl

Abstract

TWO NEW GREEK INSCRIPTIONS WITH THE NAME YT D WR FROM UMM AL-JIM m AL1 Salah Said Among the several hundred new Greek funerary inscriptions collected by the Al al-Bayt Expedition from Umm al-Jimm al, two mention the name YT D WR. Both of these are funerary stele inscriptions, bearing the name and patronym of the deceased, and both mention the age of the deceased. After discussion of the new texts, some observations about their significance will be offered. The Ituraeans' kingdom, located in the Biqa' valley near Baalbek in Lebanon in the first century bce, is attested amply in literary sources. What is now clear is that even earlier, in the second century bce, the Ituraeans had infiltrated the Hauran of southern Syria, Northern Transjordan and Galilee. Since they are designated as 'Arab' in both biblical and classical sources, it is assumed that they were 'nomads', fiercely independent and warlike. But other evidence now suggests that they were of sedentary character. At Umm al-Jimm al, the name Yat D m ur appeared in a number of Nabataean and Greek inscriptions. Since the texts are of a funerary nature, they appear to be from the settled population.A century ago, in 1904-5 and 1909, the great Princeton expedition conducted a survey of Southern Syria. During this campaign, 107 Nabataean inscriptions and 800 Greek and Latin inscriptions were collected from the region. Of these, 290 Greek and Latin inscriptions (Littmann, Magie and Stuart 1913, nos. 232-522) and 30 Nabataean inscriptions (Litmann 1914, nos 38-68) were collected from the ancient town of Umm al-Jimm al, which is located 20 km to the east of Mafraq (see Fig. 1). Between the middle of November 1996 and the end of January 1997, the Al al-Bayt University survey team explored the area extending from Umm es-Surab in the west to Kum al-Ahmar in the east and from the Syrian border in the north to the Bagdad Highway in the south, an area of about 200 km2. During this intensive survey, numerous new inscriptions were found in the region. Many of these inscriptions are in Greek, Latin Nabataean and Safaitic.2 These texts are now being prepared for publication; the purpose of this essay is to draw attention to two new Greek texts.Among the several hundred new Greek funerary inscriptions collected by the Al al-Bayt Expedition from Umm al-Jimm al, two mention the name YT D WR. Both of these are funerary stele inscriptions on basalt stone, bearing the name of the deceased and the patronym and, as is typical of Greek funerary inscriptions, both mention the age of the deceased. Neither was found in its original place; both were found scattered throughout the ruins of the ancient town of Umm al-Jimm al. It is clear from the fragmented and broken state of the surviving tombstones of the early Roman town that these two tombstones were robbed from the necropolis of the earlier pre-Christian community and reused in the construction of the later Byzantine community in late continuity. The original settlement was south-east of the town. To judge from the content and palae...