DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45606#0013
Preface to Division III, Section A.
The territory visited by the Princeton University Archaeological Expedition to
Syria has been divided, for convenience in publication, into two main sections, A,
Southern Syria, and B, Northern Syria. The epigraphical work in Southern Syria, Classi-
cal as well as Semitic, has been in my charge, whereas in Northern Syria my work
was limited to Semitic epigraphy only. The Greek and Latin inscriptions studied by
this expedition are to be issued in Division III of these publications, the Semitic, i. e.
Nabataean, Safaitic, Syriac and Arabic, in Division IV. Of this, the third division,
therefore, only Section A falls to my share. A general preface to Division III will
be published when both sections are complete.
This section contains 806 inscriptions .from Ammonitis and the region of the Hauran,
i.e. the Hauran plain, the Hauran mountains, the Ledja or Trachonitis, the ruined cities
and outposts south and east of the Haurfin mountains. The present part has been
termed “Ammonitis” in keeping with th^. corresponding part of Division II, although
it includes a few inscriptions from Djerash-Gerasa, which lies outside of that district.
Furthermore, the Hebrew inscriptions from cArak il-Emir are published in this part,
because they are too few to form a part by themselves, and because it was thought
advisable to bring them out at the same time as the parallel part of the architectural
division with which they are closely connected.
The following parts of this section will follow approximately the order of the route
pursued by the expedition from October 13th, 1904, to March 1st, 1905, taking up
the Southern Hauran, then the Djebel Hauran and ending with the Ledja. The in-
scriptions from Bosra, Umm idj-Djimal and Sic will appear in special parts corresponding
to those devoted to the monuments of these important sites.
It has been my aim in publishing these Greek and Latin inscriptions merely to
make them accessible — in as accurate a form as I am able to give them — to
those who are specialists in this field: to them I leave a more detailed discussion of
the contents. In transliterating and interpreting these inscriptions I have had the as-
sistance of my friend and fellow-traveller Professor Prentice of Princeton University
and of my colleagues Professor Keil and Dr. Klotz of the University of Strassburg.
Specific acknowledgment of what I owe to them is made in my notes on the inscriptions
themselves.
It is to be added here that the inscriptions nos. 3 and 9 were published in the
Revue Bibliqzie 1905, pp. 596 sq. after the copies of Fr. Fr. M. R. Savignac et M. Abel.
The territory visited by the Princeton University Archaeological Expedition to
Syria has been divided, for convenience in publication, into two main sections, A,
Southern Syria, and B, Northern Syria. The epigraphical work in Southern Syria, Classi-
cal as well as Semitic, has been in my charge, whereas in Northern Syria my work
was limited to Semitic epigraphy only. The Greek and Latin inscriptions studied by
this expedition are to be issued in Division III of these publications, the Semitic, i. e.
Nabataean, Safaitic, Syriac and Arabic, in Division IV. Of this, the third division,
therefore, only Section A falls to my share. A general preface to Division III will
be published when both sections are complete.
This section contains 806 inscriptions .from Ammonitis and the region of the Hauran,
i.e. the Hauran plain, the Hauran mountains, the Ledja or Trachonitis, the ruined cities
and outposts south and east of the Haurfin mountains. The present part has been
termed “Ammonitis” in keeping with th^. corresponding part of Division II, although
it includes a few inscriptions from Djerash-Gerasa, which lies outside of that district.
Furthermore, the Hebrew inscriptions from cArak il-Emir are published in this part,
because they are too few to form a part by themselves, and because it was thought
advisable to bring them out at the same time as the parallel part of the architectural
division with which they are closely connected.
The following parts of this section will follow approximately the order of the route
pursued by the expedition from October 13th, 1904, to March 1st, 1905, taking up
the Southern Hauran, then the Djebel Hauran and ending with the Ledja. The in-
scriptions from Bosra, Umm idj-Djimal and Sic will appear in special parts corresponding
to those devoted to the monuments of these important sites.
It has been my aim in publishing these Greek and Latin inscriptions merely to
make them accessible — in as accurate a form as I am able to give them — to
those who are specialists in this field: to them I leave a more detailed discussion of
the contents. In transliterating and interpreting these inscriptions I have had the as-
sistance of my friend and fellow-traveller Professor Prentice of Princeton University
and of my colleagues Professor Keil and Dr. Klotz of the University of Strassburg.
Specific acknowledgment of what I owe to them is made in my notes on the inscriptions
themselves.
It is to be added here that the inscriptions nos. 3 and 9 were published in the
Revue Bibliqzie 1905, pp. 596 sq. after the copies of Fr. Fr. M. R. Savignac et M. Abel.