The Aramaic Inscriptions

Until the late third century AD, Palmyrenes spoke a dialect of Aramaic and used the Palmyrene alphabet which is a script from Aramaic. its two systems of writing—a monumental script and a Mesopotamian cursive—reflect the city’s position between East and West. The use of Latin was minimal, but Greek was used by wealthier members of society for commercial and diplomatic purposes,[56] and it became the dominant language during the Byzantine era. After the Arab conquest, Greek was replaced by Arabic, from which a Palmyrene dialect evolved. The items under this category is a documentation of a study by Khaled Al-Asʿad, Michal Gawlikowski and Jean-Baptiste Yon, entitled « Aramaic Inscriptions in the Palmyra Museum », Most of the items given in this chapter were found in excavations conducted by the Palmyra museum in the North wall area. Over many years Khaled Asaad was clearing systematically the outer face of the city wall commonly attributed to Diocletian between the museum and the Diocletian camp at the western end of the ancient ruins. During this work several hundreds of fragmentary sculptures were found, some of them inscribed. It is obvious that they were reused as building materiel in the fabric of the wall. Nearly all these monuments are funerary and were most probably taken form the tombs of the northern necropolis which is extending in front of the wall.

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The Aramaic InscriptionsBisher2020-07-10T20:08:08+00:00