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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
This seal, of unknown provenance, has an Aramaic inscription which is engraved on a scaraboid hematite pierced lengthwise. It measures 17×13 mm, with 9 mm of thickness. The oval surface, which is slightly damaged at one point, is divided by a double line into two registers. Six letters are engraved in the upper, and five in the lower register, giving the following reading:
The letters are fairly large and fill the whole space. All the letters in the upper register stand at the same height on the double line. Normally, however, lamed is higher than the ceiling line of the other letters, while nun and taw are usually drawn with a stroke which goes below the bottom line formed by the other letters. In the lower register the taw and the two nuns seem to go farther down than the alef and the dalet.
1 Professor Dan Barag noticed the seal in the hands of an antique dealer and drew Professor N. Avigad's attention to it. It is from Professor Avigad that we obtained a photograph of this seal. We thank both these scholars for their help.
2 See Naveh, J., The development of the Aramaic Script, Jerusalem 1970.Google Scholar
3 Cf. Tadmor, H., “A note on the seal of Mannu-ki-Inurta”, IEJ 15 (1965), pp. 233–234.Google Scholar On the deity Ninurta cf. Dhorme, E., Les religions de Babylonie et d'Assyrie (Mana, Les anciennes religions orientales), Paris 1949, pp. 102 ff. and pp. 128 ff.Google Scholar
4 Cf. Cowley, A., Aramaic papyri of the fifth century B.C., Oxford 1923,Google Scholar No. 81:11, 37, 127; Grelot, P., Documents araméens d'Egypte, Paris 1974, p. 474;Google ScholarKornfeld, W., Onomastica aramaica aus Ägypten, Vienna 1978, p. 50;Google ScholarCantineau, J., Le nabatéen, II, Paris 1932, p. 98.Google Scholar
5 There is of course also a class of Semitic names which start with the element ḥnn-, especially in Syriac; cf. Ḥenanišo, a Vllth-century A.D. person (e.g. Chabot, , Synodicon Orientale, Paris 1902, p. 215Google Scholar etc.), but this element requires a theophoric element to complement it, while dt in its turn also requires a theophoric element to go with it.
6 Dupont-Sommer, A., “Une plaquette d'argent à inscription araméenne”, Iranica Antiqua 4 (1964), pp. 119–132.Google Scholar
7 Bogoljubov, M. N., “Aramejskaja nadpis 'na serebrjanoj plastinke iz Irana”, Palestinskij Sbornik 21(84) (1970), pp. 87–90.Google Scholar
8 Cf. words such as ḥrzmy, ḥršyn, hptḥpt', mentioned by Bogoljubov, op cit., and perhaps ḥrtk, cf. Greenfield, J. C. and Shaked, S., ZDMG 122 (1972), p. 43f,Google Scholar if the original form was *xwartaka-. See also Bogoljubov, M. N., “Potečnyj titul axemenidskogo voenačal'nika v verxnem Jegipte”, Palestinskij Sbornik 17(80) (1967), pp. 21–25.Google ScholarHenning, W.B., “Ein persischer Titel im Altaramäischen”, In memoriam Paul Kahle, Berlin 1968, pp. 138–145,Google Scholar esp. n. 37.
9 Cf. Bartholomae, Ch., Altiranisches Wörterbuch, col. 1865;Google ScholarJusti, F., Iranisches Namenbuch, 181;Google ScholarMayrhofer, M., Iranisches Personennamenbuch, Bd. 1, Fasz. 1, Wien 1977, p. 102;Google ScholarHinz, W., Altiranisches Sprachgut der Nebenüberlieferungen, Wiesbaden 1975, pp. 139 f.Google Scholar The name is attested also in the Elamite texts of Persepolis, if the reconstruction by Gershevitch, I., “Islandbay and the lion”, BSOAS 33 (1970), p. 87CrossRefGoogle Scholar (cf. Mayrhofer, M., Onomastica persepolitana, Vienna 1973, 188,Google Scholar Nos. 8.940, 8.945), is accepted. See also Hinz, W., Neue Wege im Altpersischen, Wiesbaden 1973, p. 112Google Scholar; Idem, Altiranisches Sprachgut der Nebenüberlieferungen, Wiesbaden 1975, pp. 139 f.Google Scholar
10 Mayrhofer, , Iranisches Personennamenbuch (above, n. 8), 22 No. 31, and 102 No. 402.Google Scholar
11 According to Milik, J., Biblica 48 (1967), p. 560,Google Scholar it means “Nanai est la chaleur (du rapport conjugal d'oü est issu l'enfant)”. Grelot, , op. cit. (n. 4), p. 481Google Scholar takes into consideration the possibility that the name may mean “Nanay, commande!”, with ḥm derived from Akkadian ḥammu.
12 Cross, F. M., “An ostracon from Heshbon”, Andrews University Semitic Studies 7 (1969), pp. 223–229.Google Scholar
13 Naveh, J., “Aramaic ostraca from Tel Arad”, in: Aharoni, Y., Arad inscriptions, Jerusalem 1981, p. 158, No. 12.Google Scholar
14 Delaporte, L., Épigraphes araméens, Paris 1912, No. 71.Google Scholar
15 Vattioni, F., Le iscrizioni di Hatra, Naples 1981, p. 23 No. 1.Google Scholar
16 Lidzbarski, M., Altaramäaische Urkunden aus Assur, Leipzig 1921,Google Scholar No. 1, line 4; No., 6, line 9.
17 Stark, J. K., Personal names in Palmyrene inscriptions, Oxford 1971, pp. 39, 99.Google Scholar
18 Vattioni, , op. cit. (n. 14), p. 24, No. 4.Google Scholar
19 Bartholomae, , Altiranisches Wö;rterbuch, col. 1041;Google ScholarJusti, , Iranisches Namenbuch, pp. 220 f.;Google ScholarMayrhofer, M., Iranisches Personennamenbuch, I, 1, Wien 1977, p. 63,Google Scholar No. 227.
20 Cf. Henning, W. B., Sogdica, London 1943, p. 77.Google Scholar Apart from nnyntk we also encounter in Sogdian the name nny'r In the Mug documents the name nnyprn is attested, cf. Livšic, V. A., Sogdijskije dokumenty s Gory Mug, II, Moscow 1962, p. 53.Google Scholar
21 Donner-Rüllig, , Kanaanäische und Aramäische Inschriften, No. 258;Google ScholarKoopmans, J. J., Aramäische Chrestomathie, II, Leiden 1962, pp. 167 f.;Google ScholarHanson, R. S., “Aramaic funerary and boundary inscriptions from Asia Minor”, BASOR 192 (1968), p. 8.Google Scholar Various names composed of Nana, Neni and similar forms, to which several suffixes are attached, are attested in Lycian onomastics, the base element meaning “uncle” or “aunt” cf. Sundwall, Joh., Die einheimischen Namen der Lykier nebst einen Verzeichnisse kleinasiatischer Namenstamme, Leipzig 1913 (Klio, Beiheft 11), p. 196, as well as pp. 165 ff., 272 f., 288Google Scholar.
22 Cf. Gadd, C. J. in Pope, A. U. (ed.), A Survey of Persian Art, Oxford 1938, vol. I, pp. 383 ff.Google Scholar
23 Cf. Avigad, N., Qedem 4 (1976), Fig. 18.Google Scholar
24 For Iranian 
Bartholomae, , Altiranisches Wörterbuch, col. 320 f.;Google ScholarGray, Louis H., Foundations of the Iranian religion (Journal of the K.R. Cama Oriental Institute 15), 1929, p. 130.Google Scholar
25 See lately Frye, R. N., “The ‘Aramaic’ inscription on the tomb of Darius”, Iranica Antiqua 17 (1982), pp. 85–90,Google Scholar with plates I–IX, where previous literature is listed.
26 A seal with a similar design, but a different inscription, is described in Galling, K., “Beschriftete Bildsiegeln des ersten Jahrtausends n. Chr”, ZDPV 64(1941), pp. 121–202, esp. p. 197, No. 169, Tafel 11Google Scholar.
27 Kent, R. G., Old Persian, 2nd ed., New Haven, Conn. 1953, p. 213;Google ScholarHinz, , Neue Wege im Altpersischen, p. 136.Google Scholar
28 Cf. Mayrhofer, , Onomastica persepolitana, Wien 1973, No. 8.432; on p. 306Google Scholar Mayrhofer decides that the name is not Iranian.
29 Gershevitch, I., “Amber at Persepolis”, Studia … Pagliaro II (1969), p. 177.Google Scholar
30 Cf. Mayrhofer, , op. cit., 8.1729, 8.1732,Google Scholar where references to the works of Benveniste and Gershevitch will be found. Two dialectally different forms of this name occur in Elamite: one has the reading umitra, and the other is a reflection of the expected Old Persian form, and reads umiša