In the north of Iraq, 90 km south of Mosul, is Wadi Tartar, four kilometers from which are the ruins of an ancient city, a contemporary of Palmyra and Baalbek, a city that received the name Hatra in ancient sources, and later in Western research literature, which corresponds to the Arabic al-Hadr. Research conducted during the second half of the twentieth century on the history and culture of Hatra was and continues to be of great interest, as the Khatrian kingdom was one of the earliest pre-Islamic city-states between the two great Powers, Rome and Parthia.

Hatra played a significant role in the formation of Arab statehood and, moreover, Arab civilization in Northern Mesopotamia. By its location, the city was a bridge connecting the worlds of Iran and Rome, which were polar in terms of civilization. Suffice it to say that, as in neighboring Palmyra and Dura Europos, Hellenism here shone in a new light-the syncretism of Greco-Roman and Eastern deities. As direct descendants of ancient civilizations such as the Bet Aramaye, some of the tribes that formed the core of the Northern Arab nation inherited cults and beliefs very similar to Assyrian, Babylonian, and Aramaic, although there were also native Arab ones among them.

The Parthians made Ctesiphon their capital in central Mesopotamia, from where Iranian rule extended to Aramaic and increasingly Arab Iraq. This is probably the reason why Hatra (Latin: Hatra, Arabic: al-Hadr) became the center of Arab penetration in this part of Iraq. The settlement was founded in northern Iraq, south of Mosul, sometime in the early first century BC; the names of most of the first rulers of Hatra clearly indicate their belonging to the Arab ethnic group. It appears in the political arena in a series of other Arab principalities founded around the same period in the desert-bordering zone of the Crescent of Fertility, stretching through northern Mesopotamia and Commagene to Urfa (Edessa), Hamat, Emessa and Palmyra. The cities to the west became directly dependent on Rome, while the eastern ones, such as Hatra, came under the political and cultural influence of Parthia. Some Khatri rulers had Iranian names. First rulers (chiefs) The Hatras were called " lords "(mdryd), but since the second century AD, one of the "lords" with the Parthian name Sanatruk is called mlk' dy 'rb ("king of the 'Arab"). It is to the time of his reign that the inscription X79 1 that we are interested in belongs.

1 The inscription X79 in Aramaic is carved on the pedestal of a marble statue of King Sanatruk II, found in the anti-cell of Temple No. 11, dedicated to Nergol.

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Hatra and its environs, due to its geographical position and abundance of water, were of great strategic importance to the Parthian empire; it was directly connected both with the northern regions of the state and with the Syrian cities, since the caravan trade, which was obviously of an intermediary nature, played a significant role in the life of Hatra. At the same time, Hatra was designed to contain the onslaught of nomads who sought to advance from the desert regions to the fertile valleys of the Tigris, deep into Parthian Iraq. In addition to trade routes, military routes passed through Hatra, connecting Upper Mesopotamia with Ctesiphon. It is precisely because of its strategic importance that Hatra is mentioned in two major Roman campaigns against Parthia, and neither Trajan in 117 nor Septimius Severus in 201 were able to capture this fortress. Its significance for northern Iraq in the I-III centuries is confirmed by the huge area of the city at that time (about 400 hectares), which, however, is partly due to the grandiosity of religious buildings.

Speaking of the significance of Hatra, a natural question arises: how did the city defend itself from attack? Was there an army in Hatra? Who did it consist of? We have almost no inscriptions containing terms related to the army of Hatra 2. However, as suggested by R. Calm, the inscription X79 allows us to speak with certainty about the army and even about its structure. For the author of the hypothesis, the existence of an army in Hatra is associated with Arab, gund [AAW, S. 243ff.] 3.

In the reading of R. Shtil, the indicated inscription looks like this:

(slm dsntrwq mlk')

(Statue of Sanatruk-King)

1. zky' dy gndh 'm

the winner, whose army, together with

2. 'lh' br 'bdsmy'

By God, the son of ' Abd-Simya -

3. mlk' dy 'yqmxv lh wbyldh

the king that was set up for him, and where among the people

4. dgnd' dy hdyn bh dylhwn

the troops stood out from their number

5. yhbrmryn w'lkwd4 bn' SmSbrk

Yehav-Barmarin and Ilkaud, sons of Shamshbir

6. br 'Ikwd br SmSbrk br

the son of Ilkoud the son of Shamshbir the son of

7. 'Ikwd w'hryhwn wyhbrmryn

Ilkauda, and their heirs, and Yehav-Barmarin, and

8. w 'Ikwd wbnyhwn wnkyhwn dlbr

Ilkaud, and their children, and their outside allies

9. wlgw bmrn nSr' wbmlkwth wbgnd'

and inside , to Lord Nishra, and his kingdom, and his army

10. d'rb wbsmy' dmSkn' wbgndhwn

the Arabs, and the signs of the temples, and their army, -

11. dsntrwq mlk' wzr'h wbnyhy klhwn

Sanatruk,the king, and his seed, and all his sons, -

12. dl'lm Г Idbrhn w'nS mn bn ddhwn

who will never be exposed, and none of their children,

13. dqtyr m'n' br dsntrwq mlk'

harassment. Ma'na, son of King Sanatruk!

14. dkryn Vim bhtf w'rb y'y5

May they be remembered forever in Hatra and Arabaya [ ... !]

___ 2" Khatrian fire", which, like" Greek fire", should be considered an analog of napalm, is described by Dio Cassius (Dio, 75, 11.2) and Herodian (Herodian, III, 1 and 9). There was a saddlemakers ' association in the town ('snp' ...whbryhy). Judging by the sculptural portraits of the nobles of Hatra, Parthian military fashion was also in use here: a metal necklace around the neck of one of the figures, which usually decorated the commander of the Parthian army, and a belt for fastening weapons.

3 The inscription was commented on in periodicals [Caquot, 1963, p. 2-6; Teixidor, 1964, p. 280; Milik, 1972, p. 358, 364, 366, 370; RIHII, 1972, p. 30; Dijkstra, 1990, p.86-87]. It should be noted that the understanding of gnd' as "army" is found only in AAW, and the authors claim to be the only correct reading of the inscription associated with their interpretation of the word (gnd'), without which "it is impossible to understand this inscription" [AAW, 1978, P. 243].

4 The name 'Ikwd, attested in stk. 5 (not' Ikwr), is found in inscriptions from Sumatra of Harabes: Ilkaud [RIH, 1986, IV, p. 33].

5 From the last line, it is clear that by 'rbyy the initiator means a certain territory that was not included in Hatra. J. Teixidor suggests that during the reigns of kings Sanatruk I, Vologez and 'Abdsamya, the territory of 'rb was a small area around Hatra; if we talk about' Arabaya ('rby'), then This was already a significant area under the rule of Sanatruk II (X202), which included the territories bounded by Khabur, Tigris, and Mesena (Teixidor, 1964, p. 281). However, there are not enough examples to support this view.

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The above inscription refers to the victory of King Sanatruk, whom some researchers call Sanatruk II (circa 195-241), over an external enemy. According to R. Shtil, the meaning of the word gnd' in lines 1, 4, 9 and 10 is crucial for discussion. Naturally, in the inscriptions of Hatra, it is most closely related to gd' ("Fortuna, Tυ χ η"), and the spelling in the form gnd' is just as common. However, ignoring the obvious, the author of the hypothesis under consideration believes that in this case (when this value is implied by the initial gnd' in line 1), "a rather strange phrase dgndh 'm 'lh' " arises, where Gadde enters (by its position in the line) into explicit or implicit competition with 'lh' ("by the gods, by god"). Most likely, 'lh' refers to the main god of Hatra, Shamsh, who defended and defended Hatra-the holy city, according to Dion Cassius: "proj.. tou 'Hliou .. .rustai" [Dio, 68, 31.2]. Probably, we are talking about something else, which is well consistent with the title of King Sanatruk II-zakkaya ("victorious"), and under the term we are interested in is hidden aram, gunda (Bab. Talmud), ser. gudda (Brockelman, LS, 49: turma armen), Mand, gunda (Drover and Macuch, 1963, p. 841) and Greek. jounda (Noldeke, 1875, p. 75); its Arabic counterpart is gund. The author wonders where this word came from in Arabic-from WED-Persian. gunda - " army, large detachment "(in the Parthian tradition winday, probably related to Sanskrit. * vrinda) [Herzfeld, 1946, S. 99, ed. I]6 or aram, (gunda7. It is interesting that in Aramaic, gunda is raised, on the one hand, to kfnduj ("upper dress"), and on the other - to goanda ("team of fighters; squad") [Dalman, 1901, p.78; Fraenkel, 1980, p. 13, cf. Lagarde, 1866, p. 24]8. It is noteworthy in this connection that Hatra, being in the Aramean-Arab environment and at the same time subordinate to Arsacid Parthia, could equally perceive this designation for a military unit from both sources [AAW, 1967, p. 245 et al., Sprenger, 1963, p. 358; Vollers, 1896, S. 611] 9. In the Middle Persian language of the second century A.D., the term gund is not reflected in this form10, but is attested not earlier than the middle of the third century, having been fixed in New Persian in the form of ghund, which is reflected, in particular, in the toponym (VII century) Gndysbwr (Gund-i Shapur); the latter is known in Syriac sources according to the local name of the city - Bet Lapat [Chabot, 1902, p. 668-

6 "Oz b. Ayatkar e Zareran (recollection of Zareran - I. N.) gund ist auf der Altstufe der sprache nicht vertreten, klingt wie aus Ar. * vrnda entstanden". Cf.: [Horn, 1893, P. 179].

7 In turn, the Aramaic word probably goes back to acc. gududu. This point was made in an oral conversation with Professor M. A. Dandamayev, and we take this opportunity to express our gratitude to him.

8 Most likely, the word got into Arabic from Aramaic, which, in turn, took it from Pahlavi. In the gund form, the word was borrowed to denote an army in Armenian, and in the gund form, the word was borrowed to denote a village in Kurdish.

9 The Aramaic words gnd' and gung ' are attested on magic goblets, where they are associated with the lords of evil spirits (Montgomery, 1913, p. 285).

10 First of all, we should refer to the opinion of H. S. Nyberg, who pointed out that gwnd in the meaning of "troops" first appears in Manichaean-Parthian, i.e. at a later time [Nyberg, 1974, p.86]. The Iranian epic tradition, based on the traditions of the Sasanian era ("Khvaday namak"), attributes the construction of Gund-i-Shapur to Ardashir I Papakan (Shah-nama. VII, 164, Beits 158-159): this is the "army (camp) of Shapur". However, historically the creation of the city is usually associated with the son of Ardashir Shapur I, while tradition allows us to reproduce the original name of the city - Beh az Andev-i Shapur ("Better than Antioch Shapur") [Noldeke, 1879, S. 40 - 42]. We also consider it appropriate to mention the combination vaspurakan gund, found in the Armenian chronicler of the seventh century. Sebeos, which means by this phrase the Armenian province of Vaspurakan, literally, "a place of encampment of a special army" or" troops of the prince " (Hubschmann, 1904, p. 261). At the same time, according to V. Henning, vaspurakan should be understood as "special, special", which means that the name of the province was the designation of the domain of the Sasanian king [Henning, 1964, p. 97]. R. Frye [Frye, 1969, p. 4] suggested that the name of the province should be considered as "special".vaspurakan gund "the military province of Vaspurakan", and M. Shaki [Shaki, 1974, p.336] - a fief allocated to a large military unit (gund). The latter term is also attested in a bull from Dvin (the capital of Persarmenia).: "Armenia; possession of the Armenian army "[Kalantaryan, 1982, p. 43].

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669]11. In any case, it is noteworthy that after the Roman campaign (ser. III century), Shapur I settled prisoners in Gund-i Shapur [Schwarz, 1921, p. 346 with reference to al-Ya'qubi]. In addition, in the trilingua SKZ written by Shapur I (c. 260), this toponym is presented in three variants:

The Spurs.

why

ndywk Shpwhr

(stk.

32)

Parf.

why

' ntywk Shpwhr

(stk.

26)

Greek.

go

YEANTIOX XABΩP

(stk.

62)

A. Kolesnikov notes that Vekh Andiok Shapur appears in the inscription in connection with the satrap of the city Periok, is mentioned in the list of court officials of Shapur I, and points out that "there is no question of the foundation of the city, it is perceived as already existing" [Kolesnikov, 1988, p.78]. If we compare this last remark with al-Ya'qubi's account, we can postulate that the place name Gund-i Shapur could have been an alternative to the former name as early as the third century; however, it would be wrong to overlook the fact that the Arab historiographer describes events quite a long time later.

The word was borrowed into Arabic quite early, as evidenced by the verses of al-A'shi and ' Alqama [Geyer, p. 24].

For the moment, if we ignore the X79 inscription, it seems important to draw the reader's attention to the text of the X58 inscription, which suggests that the army of Hatra may have been quite large:

1. dkyr 'd' brksy' br

May ' Udda, the son of Katziyya, the son of

2. 'bs' qdm gnd' dy

'Abs, before the Reptile

3. ksry' Itb wlSnp[yr]

militum, for good and happiness.

In the comments to the inscription, A. Kako rightly points out that in the expression qdm gnd' dy ksry', the last word is probably associated with Arab, ksr ("castle"), with the difference of the first indigenous due to dissimilation of emphatics [Caquot, 1955, p.263]. We agree with his conclusion: qasr and ksry', in turn, are borrowed from Latin and are related to castra ("camp"). If we accept the general interpretation of gnd 'dy ksry' as "Fortuna castrorum" or "Fortuna militum", we should note that the close palaeography of the adjacent inscription X214, dated 98/99, suggests that the text X58 should be roughly dated to 80-110, i.e., a period long before the presence of the Roman garrison in Hatra. The fact that the genealogy of the inscription character is Semitic, most likely Arabic, indicates that ksry' refers to a military formation of local residents, a military militia of the city, created on a permanent basis and having its own god of Luck. If the accepted constructions are correct, * kasra should be understood as a "fortified camp", which, in fact, was Hatra, al-hadr.

Let's return to the text of X79. According to some researchers, line 4 deals with the personal god of King Sanatruk-Ganda and his birth 12. The given interpretation of byldh //

11 According to A. I. Kolesnikov, " the name Gund-i Shapur, which appeared in the seventh century, is Arabic. Junday Sabur) was, in fact, a folk etymology - "the army (camp) of Shapur", which has a solid foundation " [Kolesnikov, 1988, p. 78]. According to the historical tradition (al-Mas'udi), all the early Sasanian shahinshahs before Khormuzd II (302 - 309) had their residence in Junday Sabur. See [Schwarz, 1921, P. 347].

Byldh dgnd' A. 12 Kako interprets as "his happy birthday". J.'s translation seems to be more reasonable. Teixidor: "on the birthday of his deity (Gadde)" [Teixidor, 1964, p. 280-284]; in any case, he takes into account the peculiarities of the Syriac language and, possibly, the Khatri variant of East Aramaic, where the pronominal suffix-h returns to the determinative introduced by the genitive particle d (cf. stk. 10). At the same time, all this does not contradict the interpretation of byldh (or wbyldh) as "at the place of birth", indicating the place of birth according to the horoscope, the connection of the planet with the zodiac sign at the time of birth. Cf. mwld ' of the astrological text 4 of Qumran, as suggested by Zh. STARKEY: Sire. byt yld ' is associated with the birth of a star on the horizon (Starcky, 1964, pp. 61-62). Our reading: wbyldh // dgnd' - "on the birthday of his Gadde", i.e. on the birthday of King Sanatruk.

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dgnd' ("by birth Gadde"), according to R. Shtil, should be rejected on the grounds that the deity of Fortune, being a personal god (in our case - the king), can not be born when the "protected" is already a victorious monarch, a fully mature person. Fortune (Gadde) is a god who accompanies a person from birth to death. And then: "This anomaly in interpretation disappears if we compare the yldh of our text with ser. yalda" [PS, 1879, S. 1594 - 1595]. In this case, yldh dgnd' can be considered as a parallel to ser. yaldeh (plural) d-etta, "filii ecclesae", " children of the church "(PS, 1879, S. 1595). The text continues with a phrase that separates the Bedouin army (gnd ' d'rb) from the king's military units (guards), his family and his sons (stk. 9-10 and 10-11).

Let us now turn our attention to the end of the inscription, which says that "I will never again be subjected to the oppression of Ma'na, the son of Sanatruk the king." It has been suggested in the literature that this Ma'na was King of Arabia at the beginning of the second century and had a residence in Singara13. However, this is not about Tom Ma'neh at all, but about the son of Sanatruk II and the grandson of King 'Abdulya. There is no information about his oppressions (... bqtyr' ...) either in narrative sources or in inscriptions, so most researchers have come to the opinion that after this word one should put an end to the thought, and with the name Ma'na' begin the final benevolence in honor of the latter, as well as his father, King Sanatruk. We will present our position on the final part of the inscription a little lower, and now we will try to figure out what kind of victory (remember the epithet zakkiya/zakkayya - "victorious") is being discussed in the inscription? Hatra is known to have survived two Roman campaigns, but the inscription X79 cannot be attributed to either of them. There is no reason to speak about the time of Trajan (115-117), since this is contradicted by the patronymic of Sanatruk, who was the son of King ' Abdsimya; during the siege of Hatra by the army of Septimius Severus in 200-201, according to most researchers, it was 'Abdsimya who was the king of Hatra. Therefore, we must implicitly assume that the text reflects a certain stage that resolved some internal conflict, most likely it concerned the relations of the Khatri people with the Arab tribes surrounding the city.

As the analysis of the Kh79 inscription shows, its meaning is not to say that the combined forces of Hatra and the Arabs defeated some external enemy (along the Shtil-Trajan River), and there were attacks from the king's son Ma'na. The meaning of this inscription is to show the loyalty of the surrounding Arabs to King Sanatruk II (c. 230-241) and to record the decision not to commit hostile actions against the latter. This conclusion is based on the following considerations.

First, in the interpretation of yldh dgnd', the point of view of A. Kako, supported by X, looks more convincing. The inscription and statue were made on the occasion of the birth (or birthday) of King Sanatruk II and, accordingly, his personal patron deity, who is born together with a person and accompanies him through life [Drijvers, 1980, p. 134; Caquot, 1963, p. 3].

Secondly, the position of gnd 'before' lh 'does not mean that there is a contradiction between" God/Shamsham" and Gaddeh. After all, 'lh' may well be understood as plural "gods", and in this case the invocation dy gndh ' m ' lh ' is translated as "whose Gadde - together with the gods".

Third, we believe that the connection of gnd' with Arab, gund (derived from the Middle Persian, gunda - "army, combat unit") is unlikely, because the term itself is in Middle Persian

13 Dio Cassius gives the names of those kings and rulers between whom the territories bounded by Rome and Parthia were divided: Mebarsap, king of Adiabene; Manisar, king of Gordiene; Manus, head of the limitrophic region of Arabia (Dio, 68, 21 and 22). Cf.: [AAW, 1967, P. 267].

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It is found no earlier than the middle of the third century (and, we should add, it was established as ghund in the New Persian), i.e., it could not have appeared in the Arab environment of Mesopotamia at the beginning of the third century. It is more likely to be connected with aram, gunda, which in turn is connected with Greek. y o v δ α ("team of fighters"), but even in this case, the word in the meaning of "army" does not fully correspond to the text.

Fourth, the interpretation of the term 'rb. R. Shtil, in particular, understands all phrases with' rb as referring to Arabs ("Arabic", "Arabs"). J. Teixidor and B. Aggula consider the term as a toponym, but the final word ('rby'y) in X79 is interpreted differently.. From our point of view, by ' Arab the Khatriyans understood the territories surrounding Hatra and inhabited by nomadic Arabs (inscriptions X336, X343). In Edessa, the area and semi-nomadic population around the city were also referred to by the word 'rb.

Fifthly, it is difficult to believe the interpretation, where the gods and troops are listed interspersed:

9. wlgw bmrn nSr' wbmlkwth wbgna

and inside , to Lord Nishra, and his kingdom, and his army

10. d'rb wbsmy' dmSkn' wbgndhwn

the Arabs, and the signs of the temples, and their army, -

11. dsntrwq mlk' wzr'h wbnyhy klhwn

Sanatruk,the king, and his seed, and all his sons...

At the same time, the phrase wbsmy ' wbgndh is attested repeatedly. It should be emphasized that my interpretation of the inscription, according to which the main idea of the Khatri is to reconcile the clans of the Khatri entourage with the king, does not imply any participation of "the army of Sanatruk, which is together with the gods."

Perhaps the most important thing for understanding the meaning of the X79 text is the interpretation of the stc. 7, or rather, the words w'hryhwn, understood by most researchers as "and others (who) are with him". Meanwhile, G. Ingholt (supported by B. Aggula) points out the probability of finding two words here: the verb ' hdw and the independent personal pronoun pl. h. hwn(y) [Ingholt, 1967, p. 20]. Both epigraphists, however, do not give proper comments on this interpretation, except for B. Aggul's translation of the verb "s'attacher" (RIHII, 1972, p. 31); cf.: (Degen, 1978, p. 101). K. Dijkstra is more specific; according to his version, in some cases the word under consideration ('hd - "to take, to seize") appears in a different, metaphorical meaning: for example, in DISO, p. 10, the clause 'hz bknp m[r]'h - "il s'est soumis a son seigneur" is given, il s'est mis sous la protection de son seigneur "[Cowley, 1923, p. 171; cf. Dijkstra, 1990, p. 86-87]. In Syriac, the combination 'hd 'yd' is noted in the meaning of "adjuvit" ("to help, to promote"), i.e. " verb 'hd here also has an allegorical character' [Brockelmann, 1928, p. 11]. Based on DISO, p. 10, for the verb, according to the author, the meaning "to promise, to make a vow" can be suggested. If the accepted reading is correct, one should look for the end of the oath in the text, and this, as analysis shows, is contained in the final lines concerning the identity of the king's son Ma'na.

Attempts to make sense of lines 12 - 13 of the inscription, made by F. Safar, A. Kako, H. Ingholt, R. Degen, B. Aggula, and R. Shtil cannot be considered sufficiently thorough, although each of them proceeded from their own search criteria: all these researchers believe that Ma'na, the son of King Sanatruk, is the subject of the verb combination: Idbr bqtyr M'n - " Ma'na... Meanwhile, by connecting this phrase with the beginning of the oath (w'hdw hwn), it is easy to establish that Ma'na can also be the object of the sentence ("will not be taken away ...by force"), and then " Yahbarmarin and Ilkaud... they make a vow... in front of Nishra... that Ma'na, the son of Sanatruk the king, will no longer be oppressed in Hatra and 'Arab' (Dijkstra, 1990, p.87).

14 The understanding of ' rby'y has led to quite far-reaching conclusions. However, I note that since the word is preceded by the name of the city (htr'), it should indicate the territorial limits, as was the case in Osroen (cf.: Segal, 1953, p. 104). However, it is most likely that 'rby'y consists of two parts: 'rb and y'u (obviously the beginning of a new word and most likely a verb).

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Accepting the proposed interpretation of the clause Idbr bqtyr', we note, in the form of a gloss, that aram, 'hz with the meaning" schliessen "(to make a conclusion, make a decision) [Dalman, 1901, p.12] is quite consistent with the context of the inscription X79: "...And the decision (w'hdw hwri) was made by Yahbarmarin and Ilkaud... in the name of our Lord Nishra (bmrn nsr')... in that never (more) Ma'na, the son of Sanatruk the king, will not be taken away by force." This correction will avoid complex constructions when explaining rare cases of using the verb ' hz (DISO, 1965, p. 10) to get a satisfactory meaning.

Combining all the above arguments together, we offer our own reading of the Khatri inscription N 79, which in its main sections does not contradict the understanding of most researchers:

(slm dsntrwq mlk')

(Statue of Sanatruk-King)

1. zky' dy gndh 'm

the winner whose Gadde along with

2. 'IK br 'bdsmy

By the gods, the son of ' Abd-Simya -

3. mlk' dy 'yqmw Ih wbyldh

of the king, which was set for him, (and) on the day of his birth

4. dgnd' dy hdyn bh dylhwn

his Gadde, for their joy on this occasion,

5. yhbrmryn w'lkwd bri SmSbrk

Yehav-Barmarin and Ilkaud, the sons of Shamshbi-rakh

6. br 'Ikwd br smsbrk br

the son of Ilkoud the son of Shamshbir the son of

7. 'Ikwd w'hryhwn wyhbrmryn

Ilkauda, and they made up their minds, Yehav-Barma-rin and

8. w 'Ikwd wbnyhwn wnkyhwn15 dlbr

Ilkaud, and their children, and their outside allies

9. wlgw bmrn nSr' wbmlkwth wbgnd'

and inside - in the name of our Lord Nishra, and his kingdom, and Gade

10. d'rb wbsmy' dmSkn' wbgndhwn

'Arab (Arabs?), and the Signs of the temples, and the Gadde of them, -

11. dsntrwq mlk' wzr'h wbnyhy klhwn

Sanatruk,the king, and his seed, and all his sons, -

12. dl'lm 1' Idbrhn w'nS rnn bn' ddhwn16

that they and none of their children will suffer forever,

13. dqtyf m'n' br dsntrwq mlk'

To the oppression of Ma'na, the son of King Sanatruk!

14. dkryn Vim bhtr w'rb y'y

May they be remembered forever in Hatra and Arabaya [ ... !]

Thus, the text of the inscription allows us to see in this epigraphic monument an act of reconciliation, the completion of a certain conflict that occurred between Sanatruk II and the named leaders of the Bedouin tribe. Judging by the stk. 8 and 9, the mentioned Arab leaders enjoyed considerable influence in Hatra and its surroundings (dlbr wlgw), so serious that their tribe (or tribal association) managed to capture the king's son during the conflict, which may have been a "bargaining chip" in this confrontation.

Unfortunately, there is no epigraphic material concerning the character and structure of the Khatrian army, as well as those fragments that have been left to us by Greek and Latin writers.-

15 The translation of nkyhwn has caused controversy: according to A. Caquot [Caquot, 1963, p. 3-4], this is a defective spelling of nk(s)yhwn - "favorable to them" in the texts from Palmyra, see [Cantineau, p. 6, 11], compare also [Cowley, 1923, p. 265]. J. Teixidor, with reference to M. Jastrow [Jastrow, 1950], sees here nk(d)yhwn "their descendants" from nkd ("younger son") [Teixidor, 1964, p. 275-276]; R. Shtil - nk(r)yhwn from Ser. nakkar ("alien") [AAW, 1967, p. 249]. B. Aggul's correction looks most attractive: nkyhwn ("their relatives") [RIHI, 1969, p. 96], however, in our opinion, the place in the context of ser. nkryhwn exactly corresponds to the ahlaf component, which the Arab historian Hisham ibn Muhammad al-Kalbi (X century) refers to Hira's allies in defense (compare Tabari, I, 821).

A double reading is possible: ddhwn and drhwn, both of which are related to the clan (dd "uncle") [Eph'al, 1976, p. 233], where bny dwdy denote cousins; the word dr (Hebrew dor) means "circle, chain; generation", and also " clan, clan"[see Koehler and Baumgartner, 1953, p. 206; cf. DISO, p. 60].

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However, there are not enough available sources to draw more definite conclusions. And yet, an approximate estimate of its number can be given. Based on the comparability of the population of Hatra with Palmyra (18-25 thousand people), the urban military formation (which obviously had the character of a militia) could also account for about a quarter of the total population, i.e., four to six thousand people. In addition, it is known from Greek sources (Herodian) that Hatra was famous not only for its "fire", but also for excellent archers, a detachment of which was even sent by the king of Hatra Barsemios to help Pescennius Niger during his struggle with Septimius Severus, later the Roman Emperor [Herodian, III, 1, 3 and III, 9, 1]. At the same time, the situation with Septimius Severus was very critical: the king of Hatra could not fail to realize the punitive consequences if Severus succeeded. Indeed, Septimius Severus punished all the states and principalities that sided with Niger, even defeated the king of Parthia, Vologases IV, but he could not take Hatra, despite a long siege. This shows once again that the city was a very "tough nut to crack", with strong walls and well-established defenses. 17 Moreover, the above facts could also indicate that the dependence of this "Arab" center on the Parthian power was only nominal: the Khatrian king makes the decision to support this or that rival independently. This should also point to the city's strong external ties with the surrounding Bedouins, which, according to the Kh79 inscription, were no longer disturbed until the fall of Hatra in 240. [Nadirov, 2001, p. 119].

ABBREVIATIONS

X

The sigl we have adopted for inscriptions from Hatra and Hatrena.

AAW

Altheim F., Stiehl R. Die Araber in der Alten Welt.

BAH

Bibliotheque archeologique et historique. P.

Dio

Cassius Dio Cocceianus, Historia Romana.

DISO

Dictionnaire des inscriptions semitiques de l'Ouest. Leyden, 1965.

EPRO

Etudes preliminaire aux religions orientales dans l'empire romain

JNES

Journal of Near Eastern Studies. Chicago

JSS

Journal of Semitic Studies

MUSJ

Melanges de l'Universite de Saint Joseph

NESE

Neue Ephemeris fur semitische Epigraphik. I-III, Wiesbaden, 1972 - 1978.

PS.

Payne-Smith R. Thesaurus Syruacus

RIH

Aggoula B. Remarques sur les inscriptions hatreennes.

SBAW

Sitzungsberichte der bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften

Tabai

Noldeke Th. Geschichte der Perser und Araber zur Zeit der Sasaniden.

ZDMG

Zeitschrift der Deutsche Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft

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