The Ḥimà Paleo-Arabic inscriptions are a group of twenty-five inscriptions discovered at Hima, 90 km north of Najran, in southern Saudi Arabia, written in the Paleo-Arabic script. These are among the broader group of inscriptions discovered in this region[1] and were discovered during the Saudi-French epigraphic mission named the Mission archéologique franco-saoudienne de Najran. They were the first Paleo-Arabic inscriptions discovered in Saudi Arabia, before which examples had only been known from Syria. The inscriptions have substantially expanded the understanding of the evolution of the Arabic script.[2] [3]
While the majority of the Hima inscriptions do not carry an absolute date, some of them date either to 470 or 513 AD, which makes the former (Ḥimà- Sud Pal Ar 1) the earliest precisely dated Paleo-Arabic inscription.[4]
Several of the Hima inscriptions are explicitly Christian, and the inscriptions appear to be the product of the activities of a Christian community, especially given their Christian decorative symbols like large and ornate crosses.[5] The calendar used by which dates are referred to was the Bostran era, which begins at the equivalent of 106 AD in the Gregorian calendar in accordance with the date of the establishment of the Roman province of Arabia Petraea. The use this calendar can also be seen in another Paleo-Arabic inscription, the Jebel Usays inscription.[6] The choice of use of the Paleo-Arabic script may have been a conscious choice to align those individuals in the Najran area more closely with their co-religionists in the north, in opposition to the script in use in the Himyarite Kingdom.[7] In addition, the use of the same script for the first time in both southern Arabia, northern Arabia, and Arabic-speaking regions of southern Syria alongside the declining use of Aramaic attests to a significant trend of cultural unification across the Arabs in the fifth and sixth centuries. This may have gone hand-in-hand with a progressive separation from the Roman Empire.[8] Several of the names in the Hima inscriptions are clearly Himyarite, and others are clearly derived from names of figures in the Old Testament, such as Isaac and Moses.
| ʾlʾlh | 1 | Ḥimà-Sud PalAr 8 | |
| ʿbd-ʾlmšyḥ | 1 | Ḥimà-al-Musammāt PalAr 5 | |
| mrʾ-lqyš | 2 | Ḥimà-Sud PalAr 5, Ḥimà-Sud PalAr 8 |
These twenty-five Paleo-Arabic inscriptions, alongside fourteen Sabaic inscriptions, were all published in 2014. The Paleo-Arabic inscriptions were itemized as Ḥimà-Sud PalAr 1–12, Ḥimà-Idhbāḥ PalAr 1–7, and Ḥimà-al-Musammāt PalAr 1–6. The Sabaic inscriptions were itemized as Bi᾿r Ḥimà Sab 1–5, Ḥimà-Sud Sab 1–4, and Ḥimà-al-Musammāt Sab 1–5. The prepositions Ḥimà-Sud, Ḥimà-Idhbāḥ, and Ḥimà-al-Musammāt specify the subregion in Hima that the inscriptions were found.
The only published edition of all the Hima Paleo-Arabic inscriptions only contains a translation into French.
Transliteration1 Ṯwbn Mlkw
2 b-yrḥ brk
3 št 3x100
4 20+20+20+4
Translation
1 Thawbān (fils de) Mālik
2 Au mois de burak
3 de l’an 364
Transliteration᾿sḥq br ῾mr
Translation
Isaac fils de ῾Āmir
Transliteration1 ṯw ..
2 Ṯwbn br
3 Mlkw
Translation
1 Croix (type 2) (Christian cross)
2 Thawbān fils de
3 Mālik
Transliterationṯw Ṯwbn br Mlk(w)
Translation
ṯw Thawbān fils de Mālik
Transliteration1 Ṯwbn br Mlkw ktb
2 ᾿ly᾿ br Mr᾿lqys ktb
Translation
1 Thawbān fils de Mālik a écrit
2 Élie fils de Mar᾿ al-Qays a écrit
TransliterationṮwbn bn Mlkw
Translation
Thawbān fils de Mālik
TransliterationṮwbn br Mlkw
Translation
Thawbān fils de Mālik
Contains a large cross
Transliteration1 Ṯwbn br Mrṯd
2 Rby῾h br Mwsy
3 Ṯwbn br Mrṯd
4 ᾿ly᾿ br Mr᾿lqys br Ty(m)w
5 ᾿l-᾿lh …
Translation
1 Thawbān fils de Marthad
2 Rabī῾a fils de Moïse
3 Thawbān fils de Marthad
4 Élie fils d’Imru᾿ al-Qays fils de Taym
5 Dieu…
Partial English translation
1 Ṯawbān son of Marṯad
5 Elie son of Imruʾ al-Qays son of Taymū
6 God ----
TransliterationṮwbn br Mlkw
Translation
Thawbān fils de Mālik
Transliteration1 M῾wyh
2 N῾mn br Mlk(.)w
3 …
4 Croix (type 3) (Ṯwbn) br Mrṯd ᾿l-᾿l(h)..
5 (l-)M῾wyh br ᾿l-Ḥrṯ
6 … … … (?)
7 … … … (?)
8 … … … (?)
Translation
1 Mu῾āwiya
2 Nu῾mān fils de Mālik
3 …
4 Croix (Christian cross) (type 3) (Thawbān) fils de Marthad al-Ilāh…
5 Mu῾āwiya fils d’al-Ḥārith
6 … … … (?)
7 … … … (?)
8 … … … (?)
Transliteration(Mnd)rw br ᾿(l)-Ḥr)[ṯ]
Translation
Mundhir fils d’al-Ḥāri[th]
TransliterationṮwbn br Mlkw
Translation
Thawbān fils de Mālik
TransliterationQysw br Mlkw
Translation
Qays fils de Mālik
TransliterationḤrmlh br Ḥnẓlh
Translation
Ḥarmala fils de Ḥanẓala
TransliterationK῾bw br Ṯ῾lbh
Translation
Ka῾b fils de Tha῾laba
TransliterationḤnẓlh br (Q)šyrw [ou (῾)šyrw]
Translation
Ḥanẓala fils de …
Transliteration῾mr br …
Translation
῾Āmir fils de …
TransliterationM῾wyh br ᾿l-Ḥrṯ
Translation
Mu῾āwiya fils d’al-Ḥārith
According to the publication, an assured reading of this inscription is presently not possible.
Transliteration1 [..](s)w br Hdšw
2 5+1+1+1
3 …](᾿)l-m᾿tmr snt 4x100
Translation
1 (Qays ?) fils de Khidāsh
2 [translation not provided ]
(3) [au mois de] al-mu᾿tamir 40(2)8
Transliteration1 ῾dyw
2 br Smy῾w br ῾dyw
Translation
1 ῾Adī
2 fils de Sumay῾ fils de ῾Adī
Transliteration1 Smy῾w
2 br ῾dyw
Translation
1 Sumay῾
2 fils de ῾Adī
Transliteration1 …
2 … Mlkw br Bḥrw …
3 … ṭ fy ᾿l-…
4 ….. br ᾿l-ml(k)
5 … ᾿l-mlk ᾿l-Ḥsn Qys br
6 zmn hlk M(.)rw br ᾿l-Ḥrṯ
Translation
1 … …
2 … Mālik fils de Baḥr …
3 …
4 … le fils du roi
5 … le roi al-Ḥasan Qays fils de …
6 quand mourut Murr fils d’al-Ḥārith
Transliteration(Christian cross)
῾bd ᾿l-Msyḥ
Translation
(Christian cross)
῾Abd al-Masīḥ
English translation[10]
(Christian cross)
The servant of Christ
Transliteration(Christian cross)
῾mrw br Mr(d).
Translation
(Christian cross)
῾Amr fils de Murād (?)