Two wall mosaic inscriptions from the Umayyad market place in Bet Shean/Baysān

Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies

Volumn 64, Issue 2, 2001, Pages

  Khamis, Elias ^a  

^a HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM   (Israel)

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EID: 60949219486     PISSN: 0041977X     EISSN: 14740699     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/s0041977x0100009x     Document Type: Article

References (73)

1. See also: M. Sharon, Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae (CIAP), II, Brill, 1999, 207-14, which depends on the Hebrew version, but unfortunately the precise title of my article is not included in Sharon's bibliographical list. The excavations at Bet Shean are being carried out under the direction of Professor Yoram Tsafrir and Professor Gideon Foerster, to whom, as to all my fellow-members of the expedition, I wish to express my gratitude and appreciation for their generous help and encouragement in writing this article. The work on this site area was carried out for several seasons by Shoshana Agadi, Danny Abuhazeira, Oded Ron, Shulamit Hadad and Shira Nahari. Plans and stratigraphic analysis are by Bennie Arubas. Computer drawings are by Bennie Arubas, and Ronnie Shraer of the preservation section of the Antiquities Authority at Bet Shean, which extracted the mosaics from the site and worked on their preservation and restoration. Photographs are by Gabi Laron. My thanks are due to Professor Amikam Elad, who generously gave of his time, read the article, made valuable comments and referred me to additional sources. I also wish to thank Professor Rubin Amitai for his valuable comments and Professor Moshe Sharon, who accepted my reading of the inscriptions. It is hardly necessary to add that the responsibility for reading and translating the texts is entirely mine
2. Yāqūt al-Hcombining dot belowamawī says that people talk of a great number of palm trees, but he himself saw only two; he adds that wine was produced there, see: Shihāb al-Dīn Abū 'Abdallāh Yāqūt al-Rūmī al-Hcombining dot belowamawī, Mu'jam al-Buhlān, Leipzig, 1868, I, 788
3. For further discussion of the economic situation of Bet Shean in the early Muslim period, see: A. Elad, 'The Caliph Abu 'l-'Abbās al-Saffāh, the First 'Abbāsid Mahdī: implications of an unknown inscription from Bet Shean (Baysān)', in E. Fleischer, M. A. Friedman and J. A. Kraemer (ed.), Mas'at Moshe, Studies in Jewish and Islamic Culture Presented to Moshe Gil, Jerusalem, 1998, 25-32 (Hebrew)
4. On the dating of the earthquake to 749, in light of the written sources and the numismatic evidence, see: Y. Tsafrir and G. Foerster, 'The dating of the "Earthquake of the sabbatical year" of 749 C.E. in Palestine', BSOAS, 55, 1992, 231-5
5. On the most recent findings concerning this site and the dating of the shops to the Umayyad period, see: Y. Tsafrir and G. Foerster, 'Urbanism at Scythopolis - Bet Shean in the fourth to seventh centuries', Dumbarton Oaks Papers 51, 1997, 138-40
6. on the Bet Shean excavations on the site of the shops, see: G. Foerster and Y. Tsafrir, 'The Bet Shean project: B. Center of Bet Shean-north; The amphitheater and its surroundings', Excavations and Surveys in Israel (ESI) 6, 1987-88, 25-43
7. G. Foerster and Y, Tsafrir, 'The Bet Shean project - 1988: Hebrew University Expedition', ESI 7-8, 1988-89, 15-22
8. Y. Tsafrir and G. Foerster, 'Bet Shean excavation project - 1988/89', ESI 9, 1989-90, 120-8
9. G. Foerster and Y. Tsafrir, 'The Bet Shean excavation project (1989-1991): city center (north). Excavations of the Hebrew University expedition', ESI 11, 1992, 3-32
10. Y. Tsafrir and G. Foerster, 'The Hebrew University excavations at Bet Shean, 1980-1994', Qadmoniot 27 nos. 3-4, 1994, 99-112 (Hebrew)
11. Y. Tsafrir and G. Foerster, 'From Byzantine Scythopolis to Arab Baysān - changing urban concepts', Cathedra 64, July 1992, 3-30 (Hebrew)
12. This passage contains three further words, 'even though the polytheists hate it', but the full version is too long to fit neatly and becomingly into three lines. For inscriptions of the Umayyad period containing the full text of the verse, see: Max Van Berchem, Matériaux pour un Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum, Jerusalem (CIA): 'Haram' II, Cairo, 1927, 250, no. 217
13. E. Combe, J. Sauvaget and G. Wiet, Répertoire chronologique d'épigraphie Arabe (RCEA), I, Cairo, 1931, 22, no. 25. The same inscription appears on Umayyad gold dinars, but without the last three words (which do, however, appear on dirhams of the same period)
14. For the meaning of these inscriptions of the 'Abd al-Malik period, see: O. Grabar, 'The Umayyad Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem', Ars Orientalis 3, 1959, 52-60
15. O. Grabar, The shape of the Holy: early Islamic Jerusalem, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996, 65-71
16. A. Welch, 'Epigraphs as icons: the role of the written word in Islamic art', in J. Gutman (ed.), The image of the word, Missoula, Montana, 1977, 66-7
17. C. Kessler, "Abd al-Malik's inscriptions in the Dome of the Rock: a reconsideration', JRAS 1, 1970, 2-14
18. see there also two inscriptions of al-Walīd b. 'Abd al-Malik, 12, no. 12, and 16-17, no. 18, the latter being the dedicatory inscription of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus: '...ordered the building of this mosque and demolition of the church that was within it 'Abdallāh al-Walīd...'. On the dedicatory inscription from al-Muwaqqar: '...ordered the building of this pool 'Abdallāh Yazīd...', see: L. A. Mayer, 'Note on the Inscription from al Muwaqqar', Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine (QDAP) 12, 1946, 73-4, pl. XXIII, 1
19. The first to use the appellation 'Abdallāh was Muhammad himself, to be followed by the caliphs. The first inscription to mention the name of a caliph is a Greek inscription of Mu'āwiya, A.H. 42, at Hammat Gader; the caliph's name is preceded by the term 'Abdallāh, see: J. Green and Y. Tsafrir, 'Greek inscriptions from Hammat Gader: a poem by the Empress Eudocia and two building inscriptions', Israel Exploration Journal (IEJ) 32, 1982, 94-6, pl. II, A (Inscription No. 3)
20. Also in another Mu'āwiya inscription, dated A.H. 58, in Arabic on a dam at al-Tcombining dot belowa'if in the Hcombining dot belowijāz, the term 'Abdallāh appears before the caliph's name, see: G. C. Miles, 'Early Islamic inscription near Taif in the Hijaz', Journal of Near Eastern Studies 7, 1948, 237, pl. XVIII, A
21. See: M. A. Shaban, Islamic history, A.D. 600-750 (A.H. 132), a new intepretation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971, 56-7
22. On several aspects of the evolution and meaning of this term see a review by M. J. Kister of Shaban's book in Hamizrah Hahadash 24, 1974, 100-01 (Hebrew)
23. cf. also M. Sharon, 'The birth of Islam in the Holy Land', in idem (ed.), Pillars of smoke and fire, Johannesburg, 1986, 226-30
24. Muhammad b. Sa'd, Al-Tcombining dot belowabaqāt al-Kubrā, Beirut, 1958, v, 176, 224, 233-4
25. Ibn al-Faqīh, Kitāb al-Buldān, 157
26. See also: Ibn 'Asākir, Ta'rīkh, VIII, 873, who tells a story of Caliph Hishām asking 'Who stands at the head of the tribes of al-Urdunn?' and is answered 'Ubāda b. Nussay'
27. See: M. Gil, A history of Palestine, 634-1099, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992, 115-6
28. Khalīfa b. Khayyāt al-'Uscombining dot belowfurī, Kitāb al-Tcombining dot belowabaqāt, Baghdad, 1967, 310
29. Ibn Sa'd, Al-Tcombining dot belowabaqāt, VII, 456
30. Ibn Hcombining dot belowajar, Tahdhīb, V, 114
31. Y. Grumel, La Chronologie, Paris, 1958, 282
32. The argument about the date of the construction of al-Aqscombining dot belowā mosque has recently been revived in the work of A. Elad, who ascribes the building to 'Abd al-Malik, but does not rule out the possibility that al-Walīd was responsible for the mosaic decoration, see: A. Elad, Medieval Jerusalem and Islamic Worship, Leiden, 1995, 35-9
33. Abū 'l-Hcombining dot belowasan 'Alī b. 'l-Hcombining dot belowasan b. 'Alī al-Mas'ūdī, Murūj al-Dhahab wa-Ma'ādin al-Jawhar, Beirut, 1970, vol. III, 366
34. Ahmad b. Muhcombining dot belowammad Ibn 'Abd Rabbihi, al-'Iqd al-Farīd, Cairo, 1940, IV, 296
35. On the restoration of the decorations and the place of the quranic verses within them, as well as on the dedicatory inscription of al-Walīd in al-Madīna, see: J. Sauvaget, La Mosquée Omeyyade de Mèdin, Paris, 1947, 66, 80, fig. 3
36. On the decoration with quranic inscriptions of the mosque in al-Madīna, and what is known of al-Walīd's calligrapher, see: Muhcombining dot belowammad Ibn Ishcombining dot belowāq Ibn al-Nadīm, Kitāb al-Fihrist, Leipzig, 1871, 6
37. For the mosaics in al-Walīd's mosques in Damascus and al-Madīna, see: B. Finster, 'Die Mosaiken der Umayyadenmoschee von Damaskus', Kunst des Orients, VII (1970,-71), Heft 2, 83-141
38. For the mosaics that decorated al-Aqscombining dot belowā, see: Creswell, EMA, I, 2, 374
39. In another inscription from the Umayyad period, this time a pavement mosaic depicting a mihcombining dot belowrāb excavated in a house in Ramla, the script is square and amateurish, appearing in three lines, see: M. Rosen-Ayalon, 'The first mosaic discovered in Ramla', IEJ 26, 1976, 104-19, pl. 23, c
40. Abbott, Arabic script, 17-30
41. Y. H. Safadi, Islamic calligraphy, London, 1978, 10-17
42. Ibn al-Nadīm, al-Fihrist, 7-8, 20-21
43. Pederson, The Arabie book, Princeton, 1984, 69
44. Kessler, 'Abd al-Malik's inscriptions, 2-14, pls. 1-3
45. On the reason why the diacritical marks appear in some places and not in the whole inscription, see: Grabar, The holy, 62
46. Abbott, Arabic script, 38-9, 55
47. For the earliest Qurans and the structure of their script, see: F. Déroche, The Abbasid tradition. Qur'āns of the 8th to the 10th centuries AD, Oxford, 1992
48. G.-R. Puin, Qur'anic manuscripts, 9-17, 32-61
49. M. Ben-Dov, The dig at the Temple Mount, Jerusalem, 1982, 293-322
50. N. Luz, 'The construction of an Islamic city in Palestine. The case of Umayyad al-Ramle', JRAS (third series) 7, 1997, 36-45
51. Gil, Palestine, 107-9
52. A. Elad, 'The coastal cities of Palestine during the Early Middle Ages', The Jerusalem Cathedra, 2, 1982, 146-67
53. On Ramla, see: M. Rosen-Ayalon, 'The first century of Ramla', Arabica 43, 1996, 250-63
54. O. Grabar, J. Perrot, B. Ravani and M. Rosen, 'Sondages à Khirbet el-Minyeh', EIJ 10, 1960 226-43
55. L. A. Mayer, 'Ascombining dot below-Scombining dot belowinnabra', Eretz-Israel 1, 1951, 169-70 (Hebrew)
56. Y. Hirschfeld, The Roman baths of Hammat Gader, Jerusalem, 1997
57. M. Sharon, 'An Arabic inscription from the time of the caliph Abd al-Malik', BSOAS 19, 1966, 367-72, pl. I
58. A. Elad, 'The Southern Golan in the early Muslim period, the significance of two newly discovered milestones of 'Abd al-Malik', Der Islam 76, 1999, 33-88
59. 'Fatzael', HA 46, 1973, 9-13 (Hebrew)
60. Connected wells (foggaras) constitute a sophisticated system of drawing on the aquifer by means of gravitation, without pumping. The method originated in Iran and was introduced into Palestine by the Umayyads, see: Y. Porath, 'Connected wells (foggaras) in the Jordan Valley', Teva Vaaretz 12, April-May 1970, 128-32 (Hebrew)
61. H. W. Hamilton, Khirbit al-Mafjar, Oxford, 1959
62. For a detailed discussion of the traditions linked to Bet Shean, see: Elad, al-Safāhcombining dot below, 38-49
63. On Hishām's building undertakings, see: EMA, I, 2, 498-577
64. G. R. Hawting, The First Dynasty of Islam, the Umayyad Caliphate A.D. 661-750, Carbondale, 1987, 81
65. Yāq̄t, Mu'jam, IV, 408, 889, 994
66. Shaban, Islamic history, 160-6
67. On Hishām's exploitation of market conditions in order to fix prices, see: J. Wellhausen, The Arab kingdom and its fall, London, 1973, 349
68. Wellhausen recounts that Hishām was envious of his governor in Iraq, Khālid b. 'Abdallāh al-Qāsrī, and prevented him from selling his crops before Hishām himself, for such a sale might have lowered prices. For the same story, see: al-Balādhurī, Ansāb, VIb, 218
69. Hawting, The First Dynasty, 81-3
70. According to al-Bakrī the markets of Qayrawān stretched from the Great Mosque to the town gates. They were two-and-a-third miles in length, and one enormous roof covered the entire market. For the division by crafts, see: al-Muqaddasī, Ahcombining dot belowsan al-Taqāsīm, 216
71. Yāqūt, Mu'jam, IV, 108
72. One of the stories about Hisham's limitless greed for landed property tells that when he visited a fruit orchard belonging to a monastery, and the orchard found favour in his eyes, he proposed to the monk to buy it from him, with much insistence. The monk was astonished and said to him: 'I hope that all people will die except you alone, so that you will fulfil your desire to possess the whole world'. See: al-Balādhurī, Ansāb, VIb, 70
73. On his estates on the Rumān River in Iraq, see: Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil, IV, 436