Tayma stones
The Tayma stones, also Teima or Tema stones, are a number of Aramaic inscriptions found in Tayma, now northern Saudi Arabia. The first four inscriptions were found in 1878 and published in 1884, and included in the Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum II as numbers 113-116. In 1972, ten further inscriptions were published. In 1987 seven further inscriptions were published. Many of the inscriptions date to approximately the 5th and 6th centuries BCE.
The largest of the inscriptions is known as the "Tayma stone". The second largest is known as the Salm stele. The steles are known as KAI 228-230 and CIS II 113-115.
Discovery
The inscriptions were first discovered in modern times by Charles Montagu Doughty in 1876. He copied two of the texts, and his notes were later published in his 1888 Travels in Arabia Deserta. A handwritten note below the copies stated that: "Another stone with a like inscription is said to be among the fallen down in the ruin of the Hadaj".French explorer Charles Huber saw the steles in situ in 1878, and took copies of them which he published in the Bulletin de la Société de Géographie de Paris. Huber made a second trip to retrieve the steles, but he died before he could publish them. The first publication was made by Theodor Nöldeke on July 10, 1884, with information provided by Julius Euting.
German traveler Julius Euting mentioned that he had found seen the stone on Sunday February 17, 1884 AD during his visit to Tayma, accompanied by Charles Huber.
The Tayma Stone
Description
Carved of limestone weighing 150 kg, length 110 cm, width 43 cm, and thickness 12 cm, and it has an inscription in the Aramaic language of twenty-three lines.It was originally to be sent to Germany, but ultimately was sent to France, where it is now displayed in the Louvre Museum.
The head of the person standing in the upper part of the obelisk resembles the helmets that used to appear on the heads of the warriors of Assyrians and Babylonians.
Text
The inscription tells how the priest Salm-shezeb, son of Pet-Osiri, introduced a new god, Salm of Hagam, into Tema; how his temple was endowed, and how Salm-shezeb founded a hereditary priesthood there. On the side, figures of Salm and Salm-shezeb
Side A
1 … in the year 22 …
3 erah, the gods of Tayma', at Ṣalm of
4 …]his name, on this day ma'
5-8
9 that ve Ṣalmšezib son of Peṭosiris
10 in the temple of Ṣal.
Side B
1 Ṣalmšezib
2 the priest