Sigla: C 3095; Dunand 800  Script: Safaitic

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Transliteration
l drʾl bn hḏr bn lʿṯmn bn rġḍ w wgm ʿl- ḥbb w ʿl- ʾs²yʿ -h ws¹qn h- mhr m- gnt h- d{r} qnt

Translation
By Drʾl son of Hḏr son of Lʿṯmn son of Rġḍ and he grieved for a loved one and for his companions who were driving the colts from the gardens of this {place} to Qnt

Apparatus Criticus
Macdonald 1993: p. 333 n. 195: w wgm ʿl- ḥbb w ʿl- ʾs²yʿ -h ws¹ qn h- mhr m- gnt h- dr qnt - and he mourned for Ḥbb [or a loved one] and for his companions who were driving the colts from the gardens of this place to Qnt.
C: ʿs¹q nhm hrm (s¹)nt h- drqlt for ws¹qn h- mhr m- gnt h- d{r} qnt

Commentary
The inscription was found near Zelaf which has several wells and is close to the Ruḥba, so the idea of gardens (presumably for fruit and vegetables rather than flowers) is not impossible in this case.

It is possible that qnt is the Decapolis city of Qanatha on the western slopes of Ǧabal al-ʿArab (cf. Hebrew qnt in Numbers 32:42, 1 Chronicles 2:23 and see Schûrer 1973–1987, vol. 2: 140–142).

Subjects
Genealogy Grieving Domestic animals Place-name

Country: Syria
Region: Rif Dimashq
Site: Zalaf (k) "On the left bank of Wādī al-Shām, about 3 km upstream towards Zalaf" (C p. 381).
Latitude: 32.9269
Longitude: 37.3296
Present Location: In situ
Find date: 1920s and 1930s
Field collector: Maurice & Mireille Dunand
Notes: Zalaf itself consists of three, or possibly more, wells and some trees, but the Dunands used its name to cover a large area surrounding the place itself. This is subdivided into areas to which we have given the names Zalaf (a) to Zalaf (m). C (p. 199), following the Dunands, says that Zalaf is about 10 km south of Riǧm Qaʿqūl, but in fact it is more like 5.5 km to the south-south-west. Since "Zalaf" is used in C of a wide area, and the descriptions of the sub-areas are often very vague, the co-ordinates given here are necessarily approximate. C's description of the location the present inscription is useless since it does not give the starting point from which the site is "3 km upstream towards Zalaf".

References:
[C] Ryckmans, G. Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum: Pars Quinta, Inscriptiones Saracenicae Continens: Tomus I, Fasciculus I, Inscriptiones Safaiticae. Paris: E Reipublicae Typographeo, 1950–1951.

[Dunand] Safaitic inscriptions copied by Maurice and Mireille Dunand in the basalt desert of southern Syria in the 1920s and 1930s and published in G. Ryckmans (ed.), Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum. Pars V. Inscriptiones Saracenicas continens, Tomus 1. Inscriptiones Safaiticae. (2 volumes). Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1950-1951.

Schürer, E. The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 B.C.-A.D. 135). A new English version revised and edited by G. Vermes, F.Millar and M. Black. Literary editor P. Vermes, organizing editor M. Black (Volumes 3 and 4 with M. Goodman in place of M. Black). (4 volumes). Edinburgh: Clark, 1973-1987.

URL of this record (for citation): http://krc.orient.ox.ac.uk/ociana/corpus/pages/OCIANA_0006299.html