The Digital Corpus of the Nabataean and Developing Arabic Inscriptions
DiCoNab
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About

DiCoNab aims at recording in a database easily accessible online the Nabataean and Developing Arabic inscriptions from the various countries and regions where they have been discovered since the mid-nineteenth century, primarily Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Egypt.

Nabataean (or Nabataean Aramaic) is the name given to the language and script used by the Nabataeans, an Arab tribe the presence of which is attested in southern Jordan, in the region of Petra, from the late fourth century BCE onwards. The members of this tribe established a kingdom which, at its greatest extent, reached from Damascus in the north to the Ḥijāz in the south. This kingdom remained independent until 106 CE, when the Romans annexed it and named it the Province of Arabia.

The Nabataeans produced thousands of inscriptions, the vast majority of which are carved on stone, but only a little more than twenty Nabataean papyri have survived. They also minted vast numbers of coins with legends in the Nabataean script.

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Contents

Sites

The collection of georeferenced sites related to the inscriptions.

Inscriptions

The Nabataeans produced thousands of inscriptions, the vast majority of which are carved on stone, but only a little more than twenty Nabataean papyri have survived. They also minted vast numbers of coins with legends in the Nabataean script.

References

A large number of bibliographical references, thus providing the user with an up-to-date bibliography on Nabataean and Developing Arabic epigraphy.

Index and attestations

Consultation of indexes and lists of attestations of all the words automatically extracted from the texts.

Team

Laïla Nehmé

CNRS, UMR 8167 Orient & Méditerranée (Paris)

Project Manager

Michael C.A. Macdonald

Honorary Fellow, Wolfson College, Oxford
Fellow of the British Academy

Researcher

Jérôme Norris

Université de Lorraine, EA 1132 HISCANT-MA, Nancy

Researcher

John Healey

Professor Emeritus of Semitic Studies, The University of Manchester Fellow of the British Academy

Researcher

Ahmad Al-Jallad

Sofia Chair of Arabic Studies, Ohio State University

Researcher

Matteo Gallo

Digital Heritage IT Specialist (Pisa)

Developer

Media

BNab 123 photo

© L. Nehmé.

JSNab 16 photo Raguet

Nabataean tomb inscription from Hegra © H. Raguet.

Jabal Usays photo

Pre-Islamic inscription from Jabal Usays. © M.C.A. Macdonald.

LPNab 79 photo

Nabataean funerary stele from Buṣrā © L. Nehmé.

UJadhNab 41 photo

Nabataean commemorative inscription from Umm Jadhāyidh © L. Nehmé.

MPNab 691 photo

Inscribed Nabataean nefesh from Petra © L. Nehmé.

MPNab 177 photo

Nabataean graffito from Petra © L. Nehmé.

HSDA 1 photo

Developing Arabic inscription from Ḥimā © Christian Robin.

JSNab 43 photo Nehmé 1

Nabataean inscription claiming ownership of a place from Hegra © L. Nehmé.

Contact

Postal address:

Laïla Nehmé
CNRS - UMR8167 Orient & Méditerranée
27 rue Paul Bert
94204 Ivry sur Seine Cedex
FRANCE

Email:

laila.nehme@cnrs.fr