Harran Inscription: A Pre-Islamic Arabic Inscription From 568 CE

Islamic Awareness

© Islamic Awareness, All Rights Reserved.

First Composed: 8th March 2005

Last Modified: 29th January 2008

submit to reddit

Assalamu ʿalaykum wa rahamatullahi wa barakatuhu:

(a)

(b)

Harran Inscription: (a) Full text of the inscription and (b) only the Arabic part of the text is shown here.

Date

568 CE.

Script

It is a Greek-Arabic bilingual inscription on the martyrium of St. John.

Contents & Comments

Arabic: [I] Sharaḥīl, son of Talimu built this martyrium in the year 463 after the destruction of Khaybar by a year.

Greek: I, Sharahil, son of Talimu (Gr. Saraēlos Talemou) built this martyrium of the holy John in the year 463, may the writer [of this] be remembered.

The date is equivalent to 568 CE, i.e., 463 plus 105, the Bosra era.

Location

Harran in Leija district, south of Damascus, Syria.

Bookmark and Share


References

[1] P. Schroeder, "Epigraphisches aus Syrien", Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 1884, pp. 530-534 and Pl. I.

[2] A. Grohmann, Arabische Paläographie II: Das Schriftwesen. Die Lapidarschrift, 1971, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften Philosophisch - Historische Klasse: Denkschriften 94/2. Hermann Böhlaus Nachf.: Wein, p. 14 and p. 17.

[3] J. A. Bellamy, "The Arabic Alphabet", in W. M. Senner (Ed.), The Origins Of Writing, 1989, University of Nebraska Press, pp. 98-99.

[4] B. Gruendler, The Development Of The Arabic Scripts: From The Nabatean Era To The First Islamic Century According To The Dated Texts, 1993, Harvard Semitic Series No. 43, Scholars Press: Atlanta (GA), p. 14.

[6] R. Hoyland, "Epigraphy And The Linguistic Background Of The Qur'ān" in G. S. Reynolds (Ed.), The Qur'ān In Its Historical Context, 2008, Routledge Studies in the Qur'an, Routledge: London & New York, pp. 55-56 and p. 66 note 14.

The images above are reproduced from the stated sources under the provisions of the copyright law. This allows for the reproduction of portions of copyrighted material for non-commercial, educational purposes.

With the exception for those images which have passed into the public domain, the use of these images for commercial purposes is expressly prohibited without the consent of the copyright holder.

Back To The Arabic & Islamic Inscriptions