Aramaic Inscriptions and Documents of the Roman PeriodAnnotation In the first centuries AD, although much of the Near East was ruled by Rome, the main local language was Aramaic, and the people who lived inside or on the fringes of the area controlled by the Romans frequently wrote their inscriptions and legal documents in their own local dialects of this language. This book introduces these fascinating early texts to a wider audience, by presenting a representative sample, comprising eighty inscriptions and documents in the following dialects: Nabataean, Jewish, Palmyrene, Syriac, and Hatran. Detailed commentaries on the texts are preceded by chapters on history and culture and on epigraphy and language. The linguistic commentaries will help readers who have a knowledge of Hebrew or Arabic or one of the Aramaic dialects to understand the difficulties involved in interpreting such materials. The translations and more general comments will be of great interest to classicists and ancient historians. |
Contents
I HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL INTRODUCTION | 1 |
II EPIGRAPHIC AND LINGUISTIC INTRODUCTION | 26 |
III NABATAEAN ARAMAIC INSCRIPTIONS AND PAPYRI | 52 |
IV JEWISH PALESTINIAN ARAMAIC INSCRIPTIONS AND PAPYRI | 122 |
V PALMYRENE INSCRIPTIONS | 144 |
VI EARLY SYRIAC EDESSAN ARAMAIC INSCRIPTIONS AND PARCHMENTS | 223 |
VII HATRAN INSCRIPTIONS | 276 |
Figures and Plates | 311 |
Lexical Indexes | 329 |
| 349 | |
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Common terms and phrases
1st sing 3rd fem 3rd masc Abbadi Abgar absolute Achaemenid active participle Aggoula Akkadian al-Khraysheh 1986 apael appears Arabic ATTM Baalshamin Bertolino 1995 Beyer Biblical Aramaic byrh Cant Cantineau 1935 Classical Syriac context d<ynr dated denarii dialects Dijkstra diVerent dkyr DNWSI document Drijvers Dushara early Syriac Edessa emphatic glossary Greek H:at:ra H:egra h:yy HALOT Hatran Healey Hebrew hypocoristic imperfect paal inXuence Jastrow Jewish Aramaic Kaizer king ktba Main publications Maliku meaning Milik mlka mn dy MPAT Nabataean Naveh Note noun oYcial p.Yadin pa'el paael Palmyra Palmyrene papyri passive participle PAT glossary perfect Peshitta plur plural pºal preWx pronoun suYx Qumran reading referring reXected Roman root Safaitic script Seleucid Shamash šnt speciWc spelling Stark Syriac inscriptions Targum Teixidor temple tomb inscriptions Vattioni verb word Wrst Yadin Yardeni