Inscriptions rarely invoke more than a couple of deities at a time, but a few texts suggest that a prayer was more likely to be answered the more widely it was heard. Long lists of gods often accompany very sincere invocations for vengeance, underscoring the petitioner’s resolve.
Khnup 1
l ʾdm bn whbʾl bn ḫl bn whbl bn ʾdm bn ḥḍg bn swr w ḫrṣ f {h} lt nqmt m-ḏkr bn ẓlm f h lt nqmt w h bʿlsmn w śʿhqm w dśr w ʾlh tm w gdḍf w gdnbṭ w ʾlh h-fls nqmt w ʿwr ḏ yʿwr h-sfr w sḥq w mḥq w nqʾt b-w{d}d ḏ yḫbl m-h-sfr
‘By ʾdm son of Whbʾl son of Ḫl son of Whbl son of ʾdm son of Ḫḍg son of Swr and he kept watch so {O} Allāt let there be retribution against Ḏkr son of Ẓlm and again O Allāt let there be retribution! and O Baʿal-Samīn and Shayʿhaqqawm and Dusares and the god of (the tribe) Taym and Gadd-Ḍayf and Gadd-Nabaṭ and the god haf-Fals let there be retribution! And blind him who would efface this inscription and may ruin and misfortune befall him who would efface any part of this inscription and may he (finally) be thrown out of the grave by a loved one.’
A similarly long list accompanies the text of a desperate man whose brother was unjustly killed while peacefully pasturing livestock. He invokes four gods, sincerely expressing his pain and demanding justice.
C 2446
l sʿd bn mrʾ bn nr w wgm ʿ[l-]ʾḫ-h nr qtl-h ʾl-{n}bṭy ⟨⟨m⟩⟩{r}ʿy nʿm ʿwḏ w ḍf f h lt mʿmn w ʾlt dṯn w gd[ʿ](w)ḏ w gdḍf ṯʾr m-ḏ ʾslf w wlh k{b}{r} sḥr ʿl-ʾḫ-h ḥbb-h l-ʾbd
‘By Sʿd son of Mrʾ son of Nr and he grieved {for} his brother Nr whom the Nabataeans killed {when} he {was pasturing} the livestock of (the tribes) ʿAwīḏ and Ḍayf so, O Allāt from ʿmn and goddess of Dṯn and Gadd-ʿAwīḏ and Gadd-Ḍayf, let him have vengeance against the one who committed this act and he was {continuously} distraught with a broken heart over his brother, his beloved forever.’
If the effectiveness of a prayer could be increased by expanding its divine audience, then perhaps it could be amplified by reaching a wider human audience as well. The inscriptions ask the passerby to read and/or invoke (qrʾ, dʿy) the inscriptions. This alone suggests that narrative texts were intended to be viewed and consumed, but why? A small number of men who upon encountering the names and prayers of their kin paused and carved what was normally only said aloud—an oral interaction with the inscription.
SIJ 6881
l ġṯ bn {k}hl bn ---- w w{g}[----] b-rʾy n[]{ṣ}{n} m-ʿśb w {ʾ}[l]{f} mʿ-{h}-mʿzy w gls snt nzz ʾl yhd w wgd ʾṯr hnʾ ḫyr f ql l-ʾl-h h-ʿ{m}r f h bʿlsmn rw{ḥ}
‘By Ġṯ son of Khl son of ---- and he ---- at the rising of (the asterism of) Nisan on account of green pasture and he stayed with the goats; and he halted the year of the expulsion of the Jews; and he found the traces of Hnʾ Ḫyr (or: well preserved?) and said: may his people have long life, so, O Baʿal-Samīn, send the winds.’
Another man finding the traces of the tribespeople of Ḍayf makes an all-encompassing oral prayer to protect them for all time.
KRS 10152
l śḥl bn nṣrʾl bn śkrʾl bn nṣrʾl bn ġbdy w wgd ʾṯr ʾl ḍf w rb-h qyl hy lt slm w b-ʾn-h slm w {k}m-h ʾbd w h lt {l}ʿn m-ḫbl mʿl-ḥwq
‘By Śḥl son of Nṣrʾl son of Śkr son of Nṣrʾl son of Ġbdy and he found the traces of the lineage of Ḍayf and exalted them saying: O Allāt may they be secure and in the present time secure and remaining so forever and, O Allāt, may whosoever effaces (this) from jealousy be cursed.’
Such inscriptions provide only a glimpse at what must have been an oral tradition of interacting with inscriptions. The repetition of prayers contained within the text, or making a prayer upon the text’s author and kin, would seem to be a way to increase its effectiveness. If more people prayed for one’s security, it was more likely that the gods would provide it. This notion could have motivated the sincere to carve prayers into stone in hopes that others would lend them their voice. This practice foreshadows what we encounter centuries later in Islamic Arabic inscriptions, which invoke Allāh to have mercy upon or forgive the writer and reader of the text.3
The connection between the narrative and the prayer also helps us understand the contents of the Safaitic inscriptions in general. The narrative section deals with very limited themes, mainly activities involving danger and uncertainty. This is hard to explain if authors were writing as if logging entries in a diary. Why should they mention primarily droughts, migrations, warfare, and pasturing? Why are there no clear references to the birth of children? marriages? Or even mentions of abundant rain? If we regard the narrative as a description of difficult circumstances, which the following prayer is meant to address, then the restriction of subjects to those involving uncertainty is easily explained.
Nevertheless, there are many texts that contain only narratives without a prayer and others that contain a prayer with no narrative. But these continue to express the same limited repertoire of themes. I would therefore suggest that they should be understood in light of the more elaborate texts. Carving an inscription is laborious and time consuming. It is likely that not all authors wished to put into writing what was obvious under such circumstances. Clear evidence of this approach is found in prayers for rain. Baʿal-Samīn is almost always called upon to rwḥ “send relief” or “send the winds,” but only in rare cases do authors add on the completely redundant mṭr “rain.” Another example is the curse formula meant to protect the inscription. The full form of the curse is ʿwr m(n) ʿwr h-sfr “blind whosoever effaces this writing.” But often times authors simply write ʿwr m(n) ʿwr “blind whosoever effaces,” with writing implied. And an even more compressed form is known, simply ʿwr “blind!.” In all situations, the meaning of this curse is known and its appearance on rock simply reflects the desire of the author to carve it all out. But here a crucial point needs to be made: are we to assume that only authors who wrote this phrase at the end of their texts wanted them to remain unspoiled by vandals? I doubt it. Likewise, those texts containing only a narrative or even a name could be understood in a similar way: while the prayer is not put into writing, the very presence of the text could have sufficed as a request for it. And a kinsman, loved one, or just a sympathetic person would know what to do upon encountering the inscription—to recite a prayer for the author’s security. This scenario is proven by SIJ 688, which contains a transcription of an oral prayer upon finding the inscription of a man named Hnʾ. A text bearing this name comes from the same site (Tell al-ʿAbd), which simply states:
SIJ Extra 26
l hnʾ bn śhm bn ḫṭst
‘By Hnʾ son of Śhm son of Ḫṭst.’
This interpretation is given in Al-Jallad (2018c); the editio princeps understands the inscription as: “By Ġṯ son of Khl son of ---- and he ---- at the appearance of … green pasture. And … a shelter of goats. And he set (it) up the year of the expulsion of the people of the Jews. And he found the traces of the excellent (people) and he examined (them). Verily he is the builder. And, O Bʿls¹mn, [grant] relief.” On inscriptions dating to the “expulsion of the Jews,” see Al-Jallad, (forthcoming).
Upon examining the photograph again closely, it seems better to read what I have taken previously as {q}m as rather {k}m, equating it with Classical Arabic kamā, giving us the phrase kamā-hu ʾabada “as it is forever.”
See Lindstedt and Harumaki (2016: 77–78).