a new reading of the petra temple inscription (1989) - jones

7/26/2019 A New Reading of the Petra Temple Inscription (1989) - Jones

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A New Reading of the Petra Temple InscriptionAuthor(s): Richard N. Jones

Source: Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 275 (Aug., 1989), pp. 41-46Published by: The American Schools of Oriental ResearchStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1356878.

Accessed: 20/04/2011 21:26

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2/7

N e w

eading

o f

t h

e t r a

T e m p l e

nscription

RICHARDN. JONES

Middle East Center

University

of

Utah

Salt Lake

City,

Utah

84112

The

important

ragmentary

Nabataean

inscription rom

the

Temple of

the

Winged

Lions at Petra was edited

previously

by

Hammond,

Johnson,

and

Jones

(1986:

77-80).

The

present paper provides

a corrected

readingof

the

Nabataean

text

with

a

new

translation

and

notes. A

line

drawing of

the

inscription

and

corrected

chart

of

letters s also included. These

mprovements

larify

our

under-

standingof

the

text,

which deals with the

misappropriation

f

temple

ncome

and

the

formal

allotment

of

various

donations

to

templepriests.

The

inscription

also

provides

a

partial

ist

of

itemsthat constituted he

temple

ncome.

INTRODUCTION

E xcavations at Petra

in

southern

Jordan

during

the

1981 season recovered a

sub-

stantial

fragment

of a Nabataean

inscrip-

tion

from the

Temple

of

the

Winged

Lions;

it

was

first

published

by

Hammond,

Johnson,

and

Jones

(1986: 77-80). At that time, the authors believed

that

the first

edition

of the

inscription represented

an

essentially

correct

treatment of the text.

How-

ever,

subsequent

research

on the

inscription

showed

the

present

writer that the earlier

reading

con-

tained errors that

directly

affected

our

under-

standing

of

the text. While that

edition was

an

important

contribution to

Nabataean studies

as

an

editio

princeps,

it is now

clearly necessary

to

make

corrections

and

improvements

to the

reading,

translation,

and

understanding

of the

text in

this

new edition of the inscription.'

THE

TEXT

The

original

report

contained a

photograph

of

the

inscription

that

is

of

some

use but

which

lacked the

quality

necessary

for a

critical

study

of

the

text and

important

features of the

script.

The

line

drawing

presented

here

will

assist

scholars in

future

studies

of the

text

(fig.

1).

This

drawing

was

prepared

from a

plaster

cast of

the

inscription

made from a latex rubber mold of the

original,

and then

checked

against

the

original,

which

is

now

housed in the Petra

museum.

The

point

of

departure

for

my

discussion

of

the

text

is the

original reading

and translation

of

the

text

proposed

by

Hammond, Johnson,

and

Jones

(1986:

77-80):

Line

1.

mh

dy y't'

Ih

mn

ksp

wdhb

wqrbwn

wzwn

klh wmn

ksp'

wnh[5]...

Line

2.

wlkmry'

plg'

'hrn'3

m

'klt

'kryz

Cwn

qdm

dnh

pythlqwn...

Line

3.

l'why dy

Cbd

kyr

kl

dy

'I

ktyb

pyprc

mh

dy

ystkh...

Line 4.

bywm

'rbch

b'b

snt

tltyn

wsbc

Ihrtt

mlk

nbtw

rhm

'mh

wtw...

Line

1:

Whatever

comes

to him of

silver,

or

gold, or offerings, or provisions, alto-

gether

[all

of

it],

or

of

silver

(coinage)

or bronze

(coinage)...

Line 2:

And

to

the

priests,

the

other

portion

[will

be

allotted];

on

the

condition that

a

proclamation

of

delinquency

be

com-

pleted

before

this

(time),

then

shall

they

allot...

Line

3:

Concerning

the

one

who

did

other

than all of

that

which

is

written

above,

then

shall

he

repay

that

which

was

discovered

['neglected/forgotten']

...

41


3/7

RICHARD N.

JONES

T

V k

1S

~~d~~~3jp~~~~~d

~~

r~~~~~uTd~~~~~i~~~o~~~9~~~d~~~i6~~~~~~h1

~

6

Fig.

1.

Line

drawing

of

the

fragmentary nscription

from

the

Temple

of the

Winged

Lions,

Petra.

Line 4:

On

the

fourth

day

of

'Ab,

the 37th

year

of

Aretas,

king

of

the

Nabataeans,

who loves

his

people.

And ...

A

close

study

of the

reading

and

translation,

especially

line

2,

reveals several difficulties

in

how

the text

was both

read and

interpreted originally.

Line

1.

Line

1 can

be

accepted

with little

change

as read

and

translated

in the earlier

report.

The earlier

article sees

Ih

as

referring

to

any

individual

in

a

broad

sense,

but

it is

likely

that

here,

Ih

to

him,

actually

refers

to a

specific

temple

official-per-

haps

a chief

priest-who

receives

the various

donations

and

offerings

itemized

in

this

line. That

person probably

was identified

on one

of

the

preceding panels.

The

sense of

qrbwn

seems

very

close

to the

Jewish

qorban,

known

from sources

contemporary

with that

inscription

to mean

pious

donations,

gifts

to

god

(Fitzmyer

1959

=

Fitz-

myer

1974:

93-100;

Fitzmyer

1979:

11).

The

earlier

article

appears

correct to see

here

a

distinc-

tion between

silver

and

gold

bullion

associated

with

the

use

of

the absolute

state,

and bronze

and

silver

coinage

associated

with

the

emphatic

state.2

Further

support

for that view

comes

from

the fact

that Nabataean

coins

of bronze

and

silver

(and

sometimes

lead)

are

typical,

whereas

no Nabataean

gold

coins are

known

(Meshorer

1975).

However,

the distinction between

bullion and

coinage

is still

only

contextual.

The

earlier

report

takes

zwn

to

be

provisions,

(following

Jean

and

Hoftijzer

1965:

73).

Zwn

is

a rare word

and

to

my

knowl-

edge,

it is

found

in

only

one

other

place,

Papyrus

10,

lines

10

and

17,

from

Upper

Egypt,

edited

by

Cowley

(1923:

29-32).

Cowley

thinks that zwn

is

to

be

equated

with mzwn

meaning

food

in a

general

sense.

In the

present

inscription,

zwn is

translated food

(compare

the

root ZWN to

nourish ).

Klh all

of

it,

with

the

singular

suffix

goes

with

zwn,

all

of

the food.

I

am

assuming

here

that

klh

does

not

equal

kl'

(see

Fitzmyer

1957;

1979).

Line

2.

As it

stands,

line 2 is

very

difficult

as read

in

the

earlier

article,

especially

the

portion

'klt

'kryz

'wn. This

sequence

is

illegible

and the

proposed

translation is

impossible.

However,

we

can

pro-

pose

a

slight

change

in the

reading

and division

of

the

Nabataean

letters,

which

greatly

improves

the

text.

This

is

clearly

a text

whose

palaeography

is

unique

in some

respects.

Some

letters are

notable

for their exuberance

and

length.

One

of

them,

the

tail of a final

nun

in line

1,

descends

to

and

perhaps

through

line

2

near

the

previously

pro-

posed

word

'wn,

specifically

the

presumed

'ayin,

which

is the

source

of the

difficulty.

Taken

as an

'ayin,

the

letter

is

peculiar

and

not at all character-

istic

of other

examples

in this

inscription

(see

Hammond,

Johnson,

and

Jones

1986:

79,

fig.

2,

reproduced

here as

column

1

in

fig.

2;

the

letter in

question

is

the second

from the

left in the

row of

'ayins).

Here,

instead

of

reading

an

Cayin,

a

he

is

preferable. Indeed,

note

that the

Cayin

s

actually

the

left half

of a

he,

which

is

dissected

from

top

to

bottom,

a

point

that

is

particularly

obvious

when

the

two

other

nonfinal hes

in this

inscription

are

compared

to

it.

These

letters

at this

point

are

I ------ -

a

-

---

- - - -

42

BASOR 275


4/7

A NEW READING OF THE PETRA TEMPLE INSCRIPTION

crowded

and

that

is reflected somewhat in the

shape

of

this

he,

but

the letter is otherwise

very

typical.

The

next letter

is waw and the letter after

that

is also

a waw

and

not a final nun

as read in

the

early

report.

Both waws are of similar size and

shape and are also typical (fig. 2). With these

corrections,

the

reading

of this

portion

of the text

is

now

possible:

Ikmry' plg'

'hrn' 'm 'klt'

kryz

hww

and

to the

priests

are

assigned

the other

portion together

with the

food....

'klt'

appar-

ently plural

emphatic,

is

probably

a

grain

food of

some

kind;

compare

Ugaritic

and

Ammonite

'kl

grain

(and

farther afield

compare

also Akkadian

akalu

bread,

but

also the related

Aramaic

'wkl,

Hebrew

'klh,

Syriac

'wkl',

and Arabic

'kl

mean-

ing

food

in

a

general

sense).

The

'klt'

was

very

probably

part

of the

larger category

of foods

above,

the zwn.

Kryz

is

found

so far

in Nabataean

only

in

legal

documents,

the

only

other instance

being

a Nabataean

papyrus

from Palestine

(Rabinowitz

1955;

Fitzmyer

and

Harrington

1978).

It is

used

in contexts where

properties

or

posses-

sions

of various kinds are

formally

decreed,

as-

signed,

or allotted

to

specific

individuals. The

reading

kryz

hww,

while

clearly

a

participle

with

the

perfect plural

of the verb HWY

to be

(that

form

of

the

verb

is also found for the first

time in

Nabataean in this

inscription)

is here translated

more

simply

are

decreed,

assigned,

allotted,

as

is

common with

this

type

of construction

in

Aramaic.

The maintenance

of

temple

priests by

giving

them a

portion

of the

temple

offerings,

often

food,

is

an almost

universal cultic

practice

in

the ancient

Near East.

Qdm

dnh

is

understood

in

the earlier

article to mean before this

(time).

However,

to

understand

the

phrase temporally,

seems

unlikely

in

this context and

is built

upon

the earlier

misreading

of the first

part

of

the line.

A

better

reading

would be

before/in

the

presence

of

this

(one,

individual),

the masculine demon-

strative

pronoun

referring

to

a

priest

or

some

official mentioned

in

a

missing

portion

of

the

inscription,

or

possibly

the

Ih

mentioned

in line

1.

Before this

(one),

i.e.,

before

him,

seems

to

mean

that the

offerings

are

placed

under

the

individual's

supervision.

Hence the

preposition

1-

with

kmry',

priests,

may

be better

understood

as

for rather than

to. The verb

ythlqwn,

to

divide

up, suggests

that what followed had

to

do

with further

distribution

or

assignments

of

the

temple

wealth.

The

subject

of

this

verb is

not

clear. It

probably

means

here

they [i.e.,

the

donations]

will be divided

up,

unless

it

should

be

translated

they

shall divide

up

among

themselves,

with

priests

as

subjects

(somewhat

comparable

to

the Hebrew

Hithpa'el

of the same root as it is

generally

understood in Josh

18:5;

see also Koeller

and

Baumgartner

2:

310a).

Line

3.

At the

beginning

of

this

line,

the text is

already

dealing

with

infractions

and

penalties

of

some

sort.

Therefore,

the

sense seems

to be

against/re-

garding

him

who

did

other

than

that which is

written above.

This translation

gains support

from

the

next clause

(here

note

again

the

particle

p introducing

a

consequence

or

condition),3

pyprc

mh

dy ystkh

he shall

pay

for that

which was

found,

or he shall

repay

that

which was

found.

Compare

the verb

pr'

in

Mishnaic

Hebrew,

where

it

means

to

pay

a

debt.

Following

the

verb

ystkh

is

found

an

cayin

and a

portion

of

another

letter in

shape

and

hang

compatible

with a

lamed

(compare

the

shape

of the

same

letters in the

word

'I'

earlier in the

line)

so that the lost

word

might

be

'/why,

against

him. For

this verb

in

Aramaic

with a

following

'Iwhy,

compare

Dan

6:5,

wkl

slw

wshyth

1'

hstkht

'Iwhy

and

no error

or fault

could be found against him. It also is possible

that

the

partially

lost

word

is

'mwhy

with

him,

which

may

be

appropriate

if

the text here

actually

is

dealing

with the

misappropriation

of

temple

income.

Line

4.

Year

37

of

Aretas is

better

placed

at

A.D.

28/29

than the

previously

proposed

A.D.

27/28.

The

remnant of a

final

word wtw

... is

clear,

along

with a

portion

of one additional letter. It

may

be

another name

beginning

with the

letters

tw///

following

the

conjunction

waw

(compare

entries

in

Kornfeld

1978;

Harding 1971),

perhaps

a

priest.

My

reading

and

translation of the

Petra

Temple

Inscription

is

as follows. The

sigla

are:

brackets

=

restorations

and

parentheses

=

elaborations of

the

translation.

Line

1.

mh

dy y't'

Ih mn

ksp

wdhb

wqrbwn

wzwn

klh wmn

ksp' wnh[s' w]

//

Line

2.

wlkmry'

plg'

'hrn'

m

'klt'

kryz

hww

qdm

dnh

pythlqwn

///

Line

3.

Iwhy dy

Cbd

k'yr

kl

dy

q'

ktyb

prpr'

mh

dy

ygtkh

'[lwhy]

///

43

989


5/7

RICHARD

N. JONES

I I

jt

.ji,

.

\

51)

1.5

..il__

t 3 ^

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