Tayma II: Catalogue of the Inscriptions Discovered in the Saudi-german Excavations at Tayma 2004-2015

Taymāʾ II is a Catalogue which contains all the inscriptions discovered during the 24 seasons of the Saudi- German excavations at Taymāʾ from 2004–15 which were funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The 113 objects carry inscriptions in different languages and scripts, illustrating the linguistic diversity of the oasis through time. Although the majority are fragmentary, they provide an important source for the history of the oasis in ancient and mediaeval times.

The Babylonian cuneiform inscriptions in this volume confirm for the first time the ten-year sojourn at Taymāʾ of the last Babylonian king Nabû-na’id (556–539 BC). In addition, Imperial Aramaic inscriptions dated by the reigns of Lihyanite kings, based at Dadan (modern al-ʿUlā), reveal for the first time that they ruled Taymāʾ at a period in the second half of the first millennium BC.

As well as editing the volume, Michael C. A. Macdonald edited the Imperial Aramaic inscriptions found from 2010–15, plus those in the form of the Aramaic script which developed in Taymāʾ, and the Nabataean, Dadanitic, and Taymanitic texts. In addition, Hanspeter Schaudig edited the cuneiform inscriptions; Peter Stein, the Imperial Aramaic texts found from 2004–09; and Frédéric Imbert, the Arabic inscriptions. Arnulf Hausleiter and Francelin Tourtet provided archaeological contributions, while Martina Trognitz curated the virtual edition of many of the texts recorded by RTI. The indexes contain the words and names from all known texts from the oasis, including those in the Taymāʾ Museum and other collections which will be published as Taymāʾ III.

Table of Contents

Foreword – Abdullah A. Alzahrani

Preface by the Series Editors – Arnulf Hausleiter, Ricardo Eichmann, Muhammad Al-Najem

Introduction

Inscription sigla, editorial symbols, and dimensions

The Catalogue

Section 1. Cuneiform texts from the Saudi-German Excavations at Taymāʾ Seasons 2004–2015 – Hanspeter Schaudig

Section 2. Die reichsaramäischen Inschriften der Kampagnen 2005–2009 aus Taymāʾ – Peter Stein

Section 3. The Imperial Aramaic inscriptions found in the 2010–2015 seasons

Section 4. Texts in three different forms of the Aramaic script

On the iconography of the ‘Great Nephesh’ TA 10277 from Tayma – Arnulf Hausleiter

Section 5. The Taymāʾ Aramaic inscriptions

Section 6. The Nabataean inscriptions

Section 7. The Dadanitic inscriptions

Section 8. The Taymanitic inscriptions

Section 9. The Arabic inscriptions from the Saudi-German Excavations at Taymāʾ 2004–2015 – Frédéric Imbert

Section 10. Queries

Appendices

Appendix A. Gravestones of men and women at Taymāʾ

Appendix B. Eskoubi 1999, no. 272

Appendix C. On the publication of inscriptions from the Saudi-German excavations at Taymāʾ by means of Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) – Martina Trognitz

Combined indexes of words and names in the inscriptions in this Catalogue and the Catalogue of Inscriptions in the Taymāʾ Museum (Taymāʾ III)

Index of words and Names in the Akkadian inscriptions from the oasis of Taymāʾ – Hanspeter Schaudig

Index of words and names in the Imperial Aramaic, Taymāʾ Aramaic, and Nabataean inscriptions from the oasis of Taymāʾ

Index of words and names in the Dadanitic and Taymanitic inscriptions from the oasis of Taymāʾ

Index of words and names in the Minaic inscription

Index of words and names in the Arabic inscriptions

Lists of the inscriptions

Sigla

References

ARNULF HAUSLEITER is researcher at the DAI’s Orient Department for the Taymāʾ project, funded by the German Research foundation (DFG). He has been field director of the excavations at Taymāʾ since 2004 and has co-directed the project with Ricardo Eichmann.

Frédéric Imbert is Professor at the Institut de recherches et d’études sur les mondes arabes et musulmans, Aix-Marseille University.

Hanspeter Schaudig is Associate Professor of Assyriology at the Seminar für Sprachen und Kulturen des Alten Orients at the University of Heidelberg.

Peter Stein is Associate Professor for Semitic studies at the Faculty of Theology / Ancient Languages Division at the University of Jena.