Global InformationRuwafa inscriptions information
The Rūwafa inscriptions (or Ruwwāfa inscriptions, Rawwāfa inscriptions) are a group of five Greek–Nabataean Arabic inscriptions known from the isolated Ruwāfa temple, located in the Hisma desert of Northwestern Arabia, or roughly 200 km northwest of Hegra. They are dated to 165–169 AD. The inscriptions are numbered using Roman numerals, running from Inscriptions I to Inscription V.[1] Two of the five inscriptions describe the structure as a temple and that it was constructed by the εθνος/šrkt of Thamud in honor of the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus.[2] The Thamud tribe is otherwise well-attested to have existed in this region of Arabia from at least the 8th century BC. At the time of the composition of these inscriptions in the second century, northwestern Arabia was known as Arabia Petraea, a frontier province of the Roman Empire that had been previously conquered in 106 AD.[3]
The location of the inscriptions are curious, given that they are found at the southern extremities of the Roman province of Arabia with little else nearby, which has been described by some as the "last place" where a set of inscriptions recognizing the imperial authority of the Roman Empire would be found, though it adds to the significance of the inscription, indicating that this distant region of Arabia alongside the allied auxiliary unit still received attention from the emperors.[4] It may have been that the empire was recruiting some of the inhabitants of the region into the army.[5] Today, the inscriptions are housed at the National Museum of Saudi Arabia except for the Inscription V which is lost.[4]
- ^ MacDonald, Michael (2015). "Arabs and Empires before the Sixth Century". In Fisher, Greg (ed.). Arabs and empires before Islam. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. pp. 44–56. ISBN 978-0-19-965452-9.
- ^ Fiema, Zbigniew .T; al-Jallad, Ahmad; MacDonald, Michael C.A.; Nehmé, Laïla (2015). "Provincia Arabia: Nabataea, the Emergence of Arabic as a Written Language, and Graeco-Arabica". In Fisher, Greg (ed.). Arabs and empires before Islam. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. p. 377. ISBN 978-0-19-965452-9.
- ^ Bowersock, Glen Warren. "The Greek-Nabataean bilingual inscription at Ruwafa, Saudi Arabia". Le monde grec: Hommages à Claire Preaux. Brussels. pp. 513–522.
- ^ a b Fisher, Greg (2022). The Roman world from Romulus to Muhammad: a new history. London New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. pp. 423–424. ISBN 978-0-415-84286-0.
- ^ Fisher, Greg (2020). Rome, Persia, and Arabia: shaping the Middle East from Pompey to Muhammad. London New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. pp. 51–56. ISBN 978-0-415-72880-5.