Archaeology and epigraphy at Tayma (Saudi Arabia)

Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy

Volumn 17, Issue 2, 2006, Pages 163-176

  Eichmann, Ricardo ^a   Schaudig, Hanspeter ^b   Hausleiter, Arnulf ^a  

^a GERMAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE   (Germany)

^b Seminar für Sprachen und Kulturen des Vorderen Orients Assyriologie   (Germany)

Author keywords

Babylonia; Lihyan; Nabataeans; Nabonidus; Northwest Arabia; Tayma

Indexed keywords

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE; ARCHAEOLOGY; EXCAVATION;

ASIA; CENTRAL EUROPE; EURASIA; EUROPE; GERMANY; MIDDLE EAST; SAUDI ARABIA;

BABYLONIA;

EID: 33845579361     PISSN: 09057196     EISSN: 16000471     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0471.2006.00269.x     Document Type: Article

References (51)

1. The contributions by R. Eichmann and H. Schaudig are based on papers presented at the 51st Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale at Chicago in 2005. The authors' sincere thanks go to Tessa Rickards for correcting the English text.
2. For an overview cf. http://www.dainst.org/index_3258_de.html; cf. Eichmann R, Hausleiter A, al-Najem M & al-Said S. Tayma -Spring 2004. ATLAL 19: In press.
3. The correct spelling of the transliteration is Taymā'. We use the English transliteration of the toponym.
4. Cf. Avanzini A, ed. Profumi d'Arabia. Atti del convegno. Rome: L'Erma di Bretschneider, 1997.
5. Bawden G, Edens C & Miller R. Preliminary archaeological investigations at Tayma. ATLAL 1980: 4: 69-106.
6. Cf. Macdonald MCA. Trade routes and trade goods at the northern end of the "incense road "in the first millennium B.C. In: Avanzini, Profumi d'Arabia: 333-349.
7. Khalil Ismail B. Die Statthalter von Suhu und Mari im 8. Jh. v. Chr. BaM 21: 1990: 321-456, especially 351.
8. Schaudig H. Die Inschriften Nabonids von Babylon und Kyros'des Großen samt den in ihrem Umfeld entstandenen Tendenzschriften. Textausgabe und Grammatik. Münster: AOAT, 256: 2001: 9-23.
9. Such as e.g. Müller WW & al-Said S. Der babylonische König Nabonid in taymanitischen Inschriften. In: Nebes N, ed. Neuere Beiträge zur Semitistik. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2002: 105-121 see note 21.
10. Buhl F -[Bosworth CE]. Tayma'. EI 10: 2000: 401-402.
11. Leibniz Labor für Altersbestimmung. Christian-Albrechts-Universität, Kiel, sample no. KIA24635 (26 January 2005).
12. Cf. e.g. Khan M. Prehistoric Rock Art of northern Saudi Arabia. Riyadh: Ministry of Education, 1993: 104-108
13. Khan M. Schematisation and form in the rock art of northern Saudi Arabia. ATLAL 11: 1988: 95-99, Pl. 95 (representation from southwest of Tayma).
14. Arsebük G. Addendum: Microlithic assemblage from the Tülintepe Chalcolithic. In: Keban Project 1971 Activities. Ankara: Middle East Technical University, Keban Project Publication Series, I/4: 1974: 155-159
15. Arsebük G. An assemblage of microlithic engravers from the Chalcolithic levels of Deǧirmentepe (Malatya). Anadolu Araştιrmalarι 10: 1986: 131-136.
16. To be seen on several satellite images of the 1990s. Cf. also the cover of Abu Duruk H. Introduction to the archaeology of Tayma. Riyadh: Department of Antiquities, 2 1998.
17. Cf. Abu Duruk, Introduction: Pl. 140, Fig..3 (see also Bawden, Edens & Miller, Preliminary archaeological investigations: Pl. 61).
18. The author observed the effects of such sudden rainfall in the desert area of Jordan and Iraq in November 2000.
19. Cf. Roaf M. Nabonid. B. Archäologisch. RlA 9: 1998-2001: 12.
20. See Eichmann et al., Tayma.
21. Rothenberg B. Who were the "Midianite" copper miners of the Arabah? In: Rehren T, Hauptmann A & Muhly JD, eds. Metallurgica Antiqua. In honour of Hans-Gert Bachmann and Robert Maddin. Bochum: Der Anschnitt Beiheft, 8: 1998: 197-212.
22. Cavigneaux & Khalil, Statthalter: 350-351.
23. For a first publication see al-Taima'i MH. Mlintaqa Rujum Sa's'a bi-Tayma. Riyadh: 2006 (in Arabic).
24. For similar statues cf. Jaussen JA & Savignac R. Mission archéologique en Arabie. Cairo: Institut français d'archéologie orientale, 1909-22 [reprint 1997]): Pls. 28, 2.3 29-31.
25. Peter Stein (Jena), pers. comm.
26. Netzer E. Nabatäische Architektur. Mainz: Von Zabern, 2003: 162-163, Abb. 222. This type occurs on the Nabataean rock-tomb façades from c. 50 BC until the end of the first century AD, according to Netzer, Architektur: 53-54.
27. Faris NA. The book of the idols. Being a translation from the Arabic of the kitab al asnam by Hisham ibn-al-Kalbi. Translation with introduction and notes. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1952. Scanned by Andrew Vargo (http://www.geocities.com/mabcosmic/articles/boi.html; 7.11.2005): P. 49 ("lt was the statue of a huge man, as big as the largest of human beings, covered with two robes, clothed with the one and cloaked with the other, carrying a sword on his waist and a bow on his shoulder, and holding in [one] a spear to which was attached a standard, and [in the other] a quiver full of arrows.").
28. Bietak M. Avaris: The capital of the Hyksos. London: British Museum Press, 1996: 10-21.
29. Cf. Kennet D. On the eve of Islam: Archaeological evidence from eastern Arabia. Antiquity 79: 2005: 107-118, especially 115.
30. For a history of his reign and his inscriptions see Beaulieu PA. The Reign of Nabonidus, King of Babylon, 556-539 B.C. New Haven and London: Yale Near Eastern Researches, 10: 1989; Schaudig, Inschriften Nabonids.
31. Eph'al I. The Ancient Arabs. Nomads on the Borders of the Fertile Crescent, 9th-5th Centuries B.C. Jerusalem and Leiden: Magnes Press, 1982: 241, map.
32. Dalley S & Goguel A. The Sela'Sculpture: A Neo-Babylonian Rock Relief in Southern Jordan. ADAJ 41: 1997: 169-176; sketch: Fig. 8.
33. Börker-Klähn J. Altvorderasiatische Bildstelen und Nergleichbare Felsreliefs. Mainz: Baghdader Forschungen, 4: 1982: no. 203.
34. Ellis RS. Foundation Deposits in Ancient Mesopotamia. New Haven and London: Yale Near Eastern Researches, 2: 1968: 132-133.
35. Ambos C. Mesopotamische Baurituale aus dem 1. Jahrtausend v.Chr. Dresden: ISLET, 2004: 71-75.
36. This has been put forward in the discussion of the paper by Wilfred G. Lambert and Eckart Frahm.
37. a.
38. Cf. Schaudig, Inschriften Nabonids: 535, summarising the evidence and the discussion, supports Moortgat-Correns U. Noch einige Zuweisungen an Nabonid. Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici 39: 1997: 114, in attributing the Uruk-stele to king Nabonidus instead of Marduk-apla-iddina; the cuneiform inscription, though visible, apparently has not been recognised by
39. H. Lenzen (quoted by Becker A. Uruk -Kleinfunde I. Stein. Mainz: Ausgrabungen in Uruk-Warka Endberichte, 8: 1993: 60; but the author herself does not comment upon the visible remains of the inscription either).
40. A recent macroscopic comparison with the "Tayma-stone" in the Musée du Louvre shows close similarities of the raw material of both monuments (mywarmest thanks go to B. André-Salvini).
41. Cf. Gadd CJ. The Harran Inscriptions of Nabonidus. Anatolian Studies 8: 1958: Pl. 2a-b.
42. Cf. Hanspeter Schaudig's article (above) quoting Sennacherib's King's Road stele from Nineveh (Fig. 9). The inscription area of the latter, however, is not elevated.
43. Cf. Dalley S and Goguel A. The Sela'sculpture; an earlier Assyrian object with a similar arrangement of image and inscription is the eighth-century BC monument of Bēl-ȟarran-bēlī-uṡur (Börker-Klähn, Bildstelen: 218-219); (remains of) a possible edge at approximately the same location as the upper end of the panel of the Tayma stele (are) is visible on a stele in the British Museum, usually attributed to Nabonidus (Schaudig, Inschriften Nabonids: No. 3.4 ["Tarif-Stele"]).
44. A similar distribution of inscriptions and imagery as on the Sela'relief can be found at the monumental rock-relief of Darius I at Behistun, dating some twenty years after the fall of Babylon.
45. Cf. e.g. the summary by Börker-Klähn, Bildstelen: 71-72.
46. Cf. both stelae from Harran. A winged sun disk is represented on the stele in the British Museum.
47. Moortgat-Correns, Noch einige Zuweisungen: 118, discussing the attribution of a terracotta plaque from Nippur; as has been pointed out by other scholars before, the "kudurru" of Marduk-apla-iddina of Babylon also shows a "royal" staff. A figure with a similar iconography is depicted on the left side of the "Tayma-Stone" in the Louvre which until recently has led to the attribution of this stele to king Nabonidus (Moortgat-Correns, Noch einige Zuweisungen: 121-123; see also Novák M. Zur Verbindung von Mondgott und Wettergott bei den Aramäern im 1. Jahrtausend v. Chr. UF 33: 2001: 449 ["vermutlich"]). The well-published Aramaic inscription, not discussed by either author, dates to the "5th/4th centuries BC": Calvet Y & Robin C, eds. Arabie heureuse -Arabie déserte. Paris: Éditions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 1997: 261-263 (with further references). Whereas Moortgat-Correns does not take into account a later carving of the inscription (as she does for the stele found in Tayma in 1979 (Moortgat-Correns, Noch einige Zuweisungen: 127-130), Roaf, Nabonid: 12, thinks of a copied image.
48. Cf. Boehmer RM. Kopfbedeckung. B. In der Bildkunst. RlA 6: 1980-83: 208 arguing in favour of a soft material of the "cap" basically because of the assumed soft material of the appendix; Roaf, Nabonid, speaks of the "typical royal Babylonian crown", without discussing the material.
49. This statement pertains merely to the general scheme of representation, since there are clear differences between Assyrian and Babylonian iconography.
50. Cf. Eichmann et al., Tayma.
51. For the previous evidence cf. Roaf, Nabonid: 12, contradicting the view of Beaulieu PA. King Nabonidus and the Neo-Babylonian Empire. In: Sasson JM, ed. Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, New York: Scribners, 2: 1995: 974 who recognised a "large Neo-Babylonian style building that is likely to be Nabonidus's palace". 974 who recognised a "large Neo-Babylonian style building that is likely to be Nabonidus's palace". 12