DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3388#0051
THE ARAMAIC LABELS
41
23'3 inches long, tang 5'8, total 29'1 inches long, and
1*9 wide at the shoulder. This is probably of the
Persian age. (Cairo.)
Two more pieces of the great pylon were found,
and are shewn on pi. xxxi. The upper piece with
palanquins joins the scene on pi. vi, and the lower one
with Tahuti joins pi. v, of The Palace of Apries.
These have been sent to join the scenes in museums.
71. The principal discovery at the palace was
at the west end of the fosse, on the southern side.
There, beneath a berm which contained a late
Ptolemaic coin, we found a layer of dust and rubbish,
which contained the sweepings of an office that
had existed in the upper part of the building above
it. In this dust were dozens of clay sealings from
parcels—none from papyri—mostly bearing im-
pressions of seals, and a dozen labels of wood split
very thin. As many of the seals are Persian, the
whole may be dated to the vth century B.C., during
the Persian occupation.
With these seals and labels were many small
objects : an ivory eye for a bull's head, life-size; a
piece of scale-pattern Greek pottery, like that of
Defneh, vith cent. ; some inlay of coloured glass ;
part of a mottled blue and black glazed bowl; long
barrel glazed beads ; a rude papyrus sceptre, and
Anubis, of light blue glaze; a Cypraea shell with
brown pattern (249) ; and a bronze palmetto for
inlaying with glass or stone (266). The series of
arrowheads shews that many different types were
used together, the solid triangular head (252-4) for
piercing armour, the short three-bladed ones (255-260)
for face wounds, the long-blade heads (261-3) for limb
wounds. One of the longest blades (261) has been bent
round into a finger-ring. One of the short heads
(256) still has the casting duct attached to the point;
as the point and edges had to be ground sharp it was
best to grind off the duct in this way. The numbers
here refer to figures in the plates of the paper on
glazing factories, in the volume of Historical Studies
of this year.
72. The Aramaic labels which were found here
(pi. xxxiv) are mostly made of naturally split slips
of wood, so thin as to be elastic originally. Only M,
which is an incised slip, is of artificially smoothed
wood and thicker than the others. Each label had a
small hole toward the tapering end, evidently in order
to tie it on to the parcel. From the delicate thick-
ness of the label, and the small hole for the string, it
is evident that these labels were attached to small
parcels of only a pound or two in weight. A heavy
parcel could hardly be handled without dragging off
such a label. It seems most probable therefore that
they belonged to the parcels on which the seals were
placed, that were found with them in the same
stratum. The labels and seals are now in the Ash-
molean Museum, excepting two of the clearest, C and
H, which were kept at Cairo; there can be no question
in the reading of these two.
The black ink upon the dark brown wood of the
label does not shew clearly in a photograph ; one,
however, is given in the Historical Studies volume,
fig. 267, which is label C here in the plate xxxiv.
As soon as the labels were found, and before there
was any chance of deterioration, owing to a some-
what powdery surface of some of them, I drew them
to double the original size; the plate shews them
here of the actual size. The drawings were made
with the aid of a strong magnifier, to examine the
labels in different lights, repeatedly comparing them
with the copy. Mr. A. Cowley of the Bodleian
Library, after examining the labels and the drawings,
states : " The copies are so accurate that the originals
add very little to the chances of decipherment."
I have particularly to thank Mr. Cowley for bring-
ing to bear on these labels his knowledge of Aramaic,
which is so well known through his masterly work
in connexion with the Aswan Papyri. I here place
together Mr. Cowley's observations, first made on the
copies, and later on the originals. The labels are
distinguished by letters, and only the Aramaic side is
considered at present. The first or second lines are
marked 1 or 2 after the reference letter. Ai and Ci
are the same, apparently Trmusi or Trmnsi, for which
a suggestion has been made of the Aramaic for
" beans," the modern Arabic tirmes, " lupins," but
such labels could not belong to heavy goods, such as
field produce. Di is probably the same as Fi, but
no reading is proposed. Fi ends in bilk, house.
M reads Adon, " lord," but is probably incomplete.
Turning now to the second lines, C2, D2, E2, and
perhaps J2, all apparently begin with the letter beth ;
and, if so, the following letters are probably names of
months. In C2 we may read Pakhons; in D2 a
possible spelling for Paophi (cf. Aswan Papyri H, I).
E2, G2, and J2 are apparently the same, and seem to
read Phamenoth. The first van and final pe are in
accord with the original Egyptian form Pen Amunkotep
for the name of the month. F2 ends in ti, though
Pharmuthi hardly seems possible.
It is evident that very hasty writing is to be
expected here, as shewn by the variants of AI and
6
41
23'3 inches long, tang 5'8, total 29'1 inches long, and
1*9 wide at the shoulder. This is probably of the
Persian age. (Cairo.)
Two more pieces of the great pylon were found,
and are shewn on pi. xxxi. The upper piece with
palanquins joins the scene on pi. vi, and the lower one
with Tahuti joins pi. v, of The Palace of Apries.
These have been sent to join the scenes in museums.
71. The principal discovery at the palace was
at the west end of the fosse, on the southern side.
There, beneath a berm which contained a late
Ptolemaic coin, we found a layer of dust and rubbish,
which contained the sweepings of an office that
had existed in the upper part of the building above
it. In this dust were dozens of clay sealings from
parcels—none from papyri—mostly bearing im-
pressions of seals, and a dozen labels of wood split
very thin. As many of the seals are Persian, the
whole may be dated to the vth century B.C., during
the Persian occupation.
With these seals and labels were many small
objects : an ivory eye for a bull's head, life-size; a
piece of scale-pattern Greek pottery, like that of
Defneh, vith cent. ; some inlay of coloured glass ;
part of a mottled blue and black glazed bowl; long
barrel glazed beads ; a rude papyrus sceptre, and
Anubis, of light blue glaze; a Cypraea shell with
brown pattern (249) ; and a bronze palmetto for
inlaying with glass or stone (266). The series of
arrowheads shews that many different types were
used together, the solid triangular head (252-4) for
piercing armour, the short three-bladed ones (255-260)
for face wounds, the long-blade heads (261-3) for limb
wounds. One of the longest blades (261) has been bent
round into a finger-ring. One of the short heads
(256) still has the casting duct attached to the point;
as the point and edges had to be ground sharp it was
best to grind off the duct in this way. The numbers
here refer to figures in the plates of the paper on
glazing factories, in the volume of Historical Studies
of this year.
72. The Aramaic labels which were found here
(pi. xxxiv) are mostly made of naturally split slips
of wood, so thin as to be elastic originally. Only M,
which is an incised slip, is of artificially smoothed
wood and thicker than the others. Each label had a
small hole toward the tapering end, evidently in order
to tie it on to the parcel. From the delicate thick-
ness of the label, and the small hole for the string, it
is evident that these labels were attached to small
parcels of only a pound or two in weight. A heavy
parcel could hardly be handled without dragging off
such a label. It seems most probable therefore that
they belonged to the parcels on which the seals were
placed, that were found with them in the same
stratum. The labels and seals are now in the Ash-
molean Museum, excepting two of the clearest, C and
H, which were kept at Cairo; there can be no question
in the reading of these two.
The black ink upon the dark brown wood of the
label does not shew clearly in a photograph ; one,
however, is given in the Historical Studies volume,
fig. 267, which is label C here in the plate xxxiv.
As soon as the labels were found, and before there
was any chance of deterioration, owing to a some-
what powdery surface of some of them, I drew them
to double the original size; the plate shews them
here of the actual size. The drawings were made
with the aid of a strong magnifier, to examine the
labels in different lights, repeatedly comparing them
with the copy. Mr. A. Cowley of the Bodleian
Library, after examining the labels and the drawings,
states : " The copies are so accurate that the originals
add very little to the chances of decipherment."
I have particularly to thank Mr. Cowley for bring-
ing to bear on these labels his knowledge of Aramaic,
which is so well known through his masterly work
in connexion with the Aswan Papyri. I here place
together Mr. Cowley's observations, first made on the
copies, and later on the originals. The labels are
distinguished by letters, and only the Aramaic side is
considered at present. The first or second lines are
marked 1 or 2 after the reference letter. Ai and Ci
are the same, apparently Trmusi or Trmnsi, for which
a suggestion has been made of the Aramaic for
" beans," the modern Arabic tirmes, " lupins," but
such labels could not belong to heavy goods, such as
field produce. Di is probably the same as Fi, but
no reading is proposed. Fi ends in bilk, house.
M reads Adon, " lord," but is probably incomplete.
Turning now to the second lines, C2, D2, E2, and
perhaps J2, all apparently begin with the letter beth ;
and, if so, the following letters are probably names of
months. In C2 we may read Pakhons; in D2 a
possible spelling for Paophi (cf. Aswan Papyri H, I).
E2, G2, and J2 are apparently the same, and seem to
read Phamenoth. The first van and final pe are in
accord with the original Egyptian form Pen Amunkotep
for the name of the month. F2 ends in ti, though
Pharmuthi hardly seems possible.
It is evident that very hasty writing is to be
expected here, as shewn by the variants of AI and
6