Nabatæan Inscriptions from Egypt–II

Enno Littmann

doi:10.1017/S0041977X00105956

Nabatæan Inscriptions from Egypt–II

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2009

Enno Littmann

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The Site numbers used in the present study are marked in the general map accompanying the first article (BSOAS xv, 1953, p. 28). More detailed maps of the central Eastern Desert and the Eastern Delta appear below, p. 212. The E. Delta map shows two new site numbers: (a) Site 17 (at El-Maḥemdīlya = Gerra ?) is the spot where Clédat actually found inscription No. 82 and it may be that Site 16 (at ancient Mons Casios) does not figure in the present study (see classical notes, p. 242). (b) Site 18 (QaṣEsr Gheiṭ), east of El-Qanṭara on long. 33° E., has a Nabatsæn fragment, No. 83. Nos. 50–1 and 52 (at Sites 11 and 9, see BSOAS xv, p. 17) are briefly repeated here for convenience, as. Winkler's inscriptions from the Leucos Limen road came to light after the first article had gone to press.

Type: Articles
Information: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , June 1954 , pp. 211 - 246

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X00105956 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1954

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^{page 211 note 1} See below, p. 240, n. 6.

^{page 213 note 1} For this identification see p. 236.

^{page 214 note 1} The twelve Greek fragments which Clédat records at this spot are still listed in SB 3976–3987 as 'Guels (Isthmus)'; the Greek dedication found also at this site, SB 982, is called 'Mahemdiya'.

^{page 236 note 1} Pub. by O. Guéraud, Bull. Inst. fr. 41 (1942), 141–196Google Scholar, with a plate showing five of the ostraca.

^{page 236 note 2} Out of some 35 demotic inscriptions (copied by Burton, Wilkinson, Nestor l'Hôte, and Lepsius at the Nectanebo shrine), kindly examined by Dr. Klasens, only three provide dates (Nectanebo I and II, Ptolemy Philadelphus). These graffiti are mostly (probably all) invocations to Min (= the Roman Pan), ‘the god of the mountain’ (i.e. the desert).

^{page 236 note 3} BSOAS 15, pp. 26–7Google Scholar.

^{page 236 note 4} Including some new early Semitic inscriptions (from the Winkler MSS.) which it is hoped to publish later in this series.

^{page 236 note 5} PSBA 31 (1909), PI. 52 (15, 16); see BSOAS 15, p. 17Google Scholar.

^{page 236 note 6} MS. XXXVIII, 147; mentioned by Weigall, Travels in Upper Egyptian Deserts, 69.

^{page 236 note 7} Topog. and Geol. of the Eastern Desert of Egypt: Central Portion (1902), 55.

^{page 236 note 8} MS. XXXVIII, 141; no inscription noted on the door-post, however.

^{page 236 note 9} Cf. note on the station at El-Mweiḥ p. 237.

^{page 237 note 1} Except at Fowakhir, with useful results; see above, p. 236, n. I.

^{page 237 note 2} In Fragm. Hist. Gr. (ed. Müller), iv, 66; Kirwan, , Bull. Soc. roy. de Géog. d’Eg. 25 (1953), 106–7Google Scholar.

^{page 237 note 3} Not by special permission of the Roman emperor, as stated in several references to this area, e.g. Pitzler and PW.

^{page 237 note 4} de Villard, Monneret, Storia della Nubia Christiana (1938), 41 ffGoogle Scholar.

^{page 237 note 5} De XII Gemmis, 244 (17–18), quoted by Monneret, o.c. 46-–7.

^{page 237 note 6} Phœnicon, to-day El-Laqeiṭa, at the junction of the Leucos Limen and the Berenice roads (see map, p. 212); the Hydreuma I of Pliny and the Phœnicon of the Anton. Itin.

^{page 237 note 7} Both authorities are suspect; the Notitia because it was compounded from sources some of which were over 100 years old (Van Berchem in a lecture, London, April, 1953); Olympiodorus as it is unlikely that his Phoinikon, in its context, can be the station at Laqciṭa (cf. Wilcken, , Ostr., 1, 289 ff., 709Google Scholar). It is probably a spot near Syene (Aswān) and his route to the beryl mines was possibly the southern road via El-Abraq, south-west of Berenice.

^{page 237 note 8} Cosmas, Indicopleustes, 339. The Axumites were masters of the Red Sea trade to India from about A.D. 524; Milne, Egypt under Roman Rule, 104, 300. Kirwan, , Annals of Arch, and Anthrop. 24 (1937), 78Google Scholar, quotes late Arab writers to show that the mines remained in the hands of Eastern Desert tribes till the 10th century.

^{page 237 note 9} Greek Ostr. in the Bodleian Library, ed. Tait, , 1, pp. 110–125Google Scholar, Nos. 220–304; ii (ed. Préaux, in the press), Bodl. Nos. 1968–1871, together with O. Brüssel-Berlin 7 (ed. Viereck). They are mainly archives or receipts of the Nicanor desert transport business between Coptos and both Myos Hormos and Berenice from 18 B.C. to A.D. 68.

^{page 237 note 10} An inscription on the rock face records a turma of Ala Vocontiorum, probably under Trajan; Dess. 9142; Reinach, , Bull. Soc. arch. d’Alex. 12, 111 ff.Google Scholar; Rev. des Etudes Anciennes 13 (1911)Google Scholar.

^{page 238 note 1} See below, p. 239, in connexion with Sites 13 and 14; Nos. 75, 77, 78.

^{page 238 note 2} Cf. Tarn, , Hellen. Civilization, 3rd ed., 160Google Scholar, on the influence of Greek among Babylo nian priests (1st cent. B.C.) and in Nabatæan epitaphs.

^{page 238 note 3} Brief notes in JEA 38 (1952), 102, 105Google Scholar, with Wilkinson MS. plan in Fig. 4, p. 103.

^{page 239 note 1} MS. XXXVIII; to appear in Chron. d’Egypte (1954); for the suggested date I am indebted to Mr. Eric Birley.

^{page 239 note 2} OGIS 674; SB 8904; IGR i, 1183.

^{page 239 note 3} CIL iii, 6627 (Dess. i, 2483); A. H. M. Jones, Cities, 307 (473, n. 13

^{page 239 note 4} Ephem. Epig. 5 (1884), 5, No. 15Google Scholar.

^{page 239 note 5} Periplus of Erythr. Sea, 19.

^{page 240 note 1} Discussed by Dittenberger (OGIS 202, n. 3); Charlesworth, , Trade Routes, 64 (and note, p. 254Google Scholar); Warmington, , Commerce, 16, 334–5, 309, 391Google Scholar; Kortenbeutel, Der ägypt. Süd. und Osthandel, 63–4; Rostovzeff, , S.E. Hist. Hell. World, 3, 1648, n. 203Google Scholar; Wallace, Taxation, 256–7, 461; Pr00E9;aux, Earn, royale, 377; De Laet, Portorium, 306.

^{page 240 note 2} Archiv 3, 195 ff. His earlier opinion in his Gr. Ostr., 1, 398 ff.

^{page 240 note 3} Archiv 4, 306 ff.

^{page 240 note 4} S.E.H.H.W., 111, 1648, n. 203.

^{page 240 note 5} Op. cit., 307, nn. 3 and 4.

^{page 240 note 6} vi, 84. Cf. my note on this in connexion with two new inscriptions (from the Berenice road, date A.D. 6) in JRS 43 (1953), about a freedman of the same tax farmer.

^{page 240 note 7} Rostovzeff, , J. ofEcon. and Business Hist. 4 (1932), 767.Google Scholar

^{page 240 note 8} Tarn, JEA 14, 246 ff.; 15, 21–3; Hellen. Civil. (1952), 249; Rostovzeff, op. cit., 740–3.

^{page 240 note 9} xvi, 4, 23 (780); men and camels moving like an army.

^{page 240 note 10} Pliny, vi, 144; Miller, Itin. Rom., map 262; CAH, x, 248; Tarn, Hellen. Civil., 245.

^{page 240 note 11} Hæresis, Adversus Manichseos, 16 (Migne, P. Gr., 42). Reference supplied by Jones, A. H. M..Google Scholar

^{page 240 note 12} Pliny, xii, 63–5. An inheritance from the Ptolemies, cf. P. Cairo Zen. 59009 (on the frankincense tax at Gaza), 59011, 59069, etc.; P. Cairo Zen. 59015 recto shows import dues on a sliding scale from 20 to 50 per cent exacted at Pelusium in 259 B.C. See also Wallace, op. cit., 256, and Pr00E9;ux, op. cit., 376–7.

^{page 241 note 1} First pub. by Huber, J. d'un voyage en Arabic, 408, and later Euting, , Tagbuch einer Beise, 2, 250Google Scholar (with a note by Littmann).

^{page 241 note 2} As in Ptolemy, vi, 7, 29, on lat. 26° (Tkaĕ in PW, s.v. Egra 2).

^{page 241 note 3} Cf. De Laet, Portorium, 376

^{page 241 note 4} Seyrig, , Syria 22 (1941), 220.CrossRef Google Scholar

^{page 241 note 5} Seyrig, o.c, 219–220; he gives the references to Jaussen et Savignac, Mission archéol. en Arabie (Nabatæan and Greek). J. and S. are inclined to see in Seyrig's No. 12 (mounted guards) the dromedary escort of a caravan.

^{page 241 note 6} Van Berchem, , l’Armée de Dioclétien (1952), 67, 85, 87Google Scholar.

^{page 242 note 1} Store-City of Pithom, 36. Known till the Notit. Dign. (5th cent.). Mommsen thinks it may be the fortified town called Arabia by Hierocles (6th cent.). If so, it is probably the equally unidentified Arabius given by George of Cyprus (A.D. 606) in the same eparchy. Maspéro (l’Egypte byzanline, 135) gives Arabia as a πόλις (as distinct from a mere castrum) till the 6th–7th century.

^{page 242 note 2} Ball, Eg. in the Class, Geographers, 141–2.

^{page 242 note 3} Sethe, Vrhunden, ii, 94; see Tarn, , JEA 15 (1929), 16Google Scholar.

^{page 242 note 4} e.g. at Qaṭīya.

^{page 242 note 5} v, 12–13.

^{page 242 note 6} Cumont, Religions orientales, 104, 254, n. 35; Salac, , Bull. de corresp. hellenique (1922), 160–189Google Scholar.

^{page 242 note 7} xvi, 2, 32–3 (760).

^{page 242 note 8} v, 68.

^{page 242 note 9} Syrie centrale, 96, No. 5 (PI. 13); 102–5, No. 4 (PI. 14).

^{page 242 note 10} Baal Zephon, Zeus Kasios, 38. Littmann, see above, p. 231.

^{page 242 note 11} Archäol. Anzeiger (1920), 86–7.

^{page 242 note 12} Achilles Tatius, iii, 6 (dated by Gazelee as the end of the 3rd cent.).

^{page 243 note 1} Ann. Serv. 14 (1914), 82; the two fragments repub. in SB 5689, 4527, with restored Hadrian titles (Clédat had restored Antoninus titles).

^{page 243 note 2} Hellen, Civil., 343; no authority given.

^{page 243 note 3} Found by Cledat, , Acad. Inscr. (1905), 608Google Scholar; SB 982, IGR i, 1109, Ann. Epig. (1906), 5 1; Stein, Präfekten, 19.

^{page 243 note 4} ii, 6, 158; iii, 5. Notes by Wiedemann, , Herod. Zweites Buch, 61–4, 563–4.Google Scholar

^{page 243 note 5} Ann. Sen. 10 (1910), 215 (fig. 2), 217 (fig. 4)Google Scholar; a selection, omitting four fragments that seem to be part of the same metrical epitaph, is given in SB 3976–3987.

^{page 243 note 6} Van Berchem, l’Arme'e de Diocletien, 63–4

^{page 243 note 7} Maspero, l’Egypte byzantine, 28–9, 32.

^{page 243 note 8} Youtie and Winter, Pap. and Ostr. from Karanis, 2nd series, viii, Nos. 465–6. These confirm Dess. 5834,5845a (viam [novam] a finibus Syriae usque ad mare Rubrum); references by Rostovzeff, , Storia econ. e sociale, 183, n. 19Google Scholar, and Turner, , JRS 42 (1952), 133Google Scholar. Dess. 5842, 5843, 5845b, are from the same highway.

^{page 244 note 1} Ann. Serv. 12 (1912), 145–168Google Scholar, with a plan of the sanctuary, a sketch of the altar and a facsimile of the Nabatæan fragment (p. 157). A selection of the tiny inscription fragments appears in SB 5732–5741.

^{page 244 note 2} Help kindly given by Professor A. H. M. Jones with the identification and dating of fragments from El-Maḥemdīya and Qaṣr Gheiṭ.

^{page 244 note 3} Cf. Cledat's fig. 5 at Qaṣr Gheiṭt in Ann. Serv. 12, 154, with the following at Medain Ṣaliḥ: (a) Doughty, Travels in Arabia Deserta, ii, quoting De Vogüé on the Nabatæan architecture of the tombs, as illustrated in Acad. des Inscr., Documents épig. recueillis … par M. Charles Doughty (1884), Pls. XLV (40, 41), XLVI (42, 43); (b) Jaussen et Savignac, op. cit., Atlas vol., Pl. LV (2), pp. 416 (fig. 205), 419 (fig. 208), 429 (fig. 219), 430 (fig. 220), 434 (fig. 224).

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