Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless
you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you
may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.
Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=aia.
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed
page of such transmission.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the
scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that
promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Archaeological Institute of America is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
American Journal of Archaeology.
http://www.jstor.org
ilrctatological
3In;tituteof
ZImerica
TEIMA
CVIUE
RUNESDEA
TUMULI FUNERAIRES,, il
SLumFahlu Ro
ENCEINTES.4:
ENCEINTES e/
(Jaussen and Savignac, Mission Archeologique en Arabie, Part II, Atlas, Plate LVIII)
FIGURE 2. MAP SHOWING THE OASIS AND LOCATION OF ANCIENT
RUINS AT TEIMA
view that the whole area of Teima was formerly submerged with
sufficient water to form a lake.1 It is not surprising, therefore, that
sediment thus precipitated produced extremely fertile soil. In addi-
tion, an enormous well springing from an inexhaustible source be-
stows abundant water upon the gardens and groves of the com-
munity.2 There is continuous lifting of water from this well day
and night.
Supplied with an excess of irrigation, Teima is "an island of
palms," producing many kinds of admirable dates.3 Other fruits
are grown and there is tillage of the land for various kinds of cereals.4
However, dates constitute the main article of diet; bread seems to be
eaten rarely.5 It is probable that this is due in large measure to the
extreme scarcity of fuel. The palm groves and gardens at Teima
are protected with walls, and most of the houses are within these
enclosures.6 Watch-towers exist for the purpose of guarding against
imminent danger.7 Very narrow streets run between the walled
sections of the oasis.8 Doughty estimated that there were 200
houses in Teima,9 but Huber put the number at 300.10 A view of a
section of Teima (Fig. 3) presents an alluring appearance.
1 Doughty, op. cit., I, p. 296. Moritz, op. cit., p. 25, quotes Bekri (158)
thus: "Tema liege am Ufer eines Sees von einem Farsach Lange." Arabs assert
that Teima has been repeatedly devastated by floods. Huber's testimony is that
he was informed that Teima was submerged by destructive inundations at three
different times. See Huber, op. cit., p. 378. Doughty, op. cit., I, p. 287, gained the
impression that Teima was flooded twice. After each catastrophe the inhabitants
rebuilt the city on top of the old structural remains. It is natural to assume that
these floods occurred in the depression of the oasis and not on the higher ground
where the oldest ruins are found. If an inland lake of considerable extent existed
at one time where modern Teima is located, the prosperity of ancient Temd,
situated on the border of this body of water, becomes much more intelligible.
Furthermore, that the site must have been exceedingly attractive will be recognized
by all. There is additional reason, therefore, for Nabonidus' long stay at Temd.
See the discussion of "Climatic Changes in the Nearer East" by Olmstead and
Huntington in Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, XLIV, pp. 432-447.
The opinions of Huntington are favored by what is now known concerning ancient
Temd. Cf. Journal of the American Oriental Society, L, pp. 1-25 for the writer's
view concerning "The Sealand of Arabia."
2
292; Jaussen and Savignac, op. cit., II, p. 150.
3 Doughty, op. cit., I, p. 285.
4
Doughty, op. cit., I, p.
Jaussen and Savignac, op. cit., II, p. 149 f.
5 Ibid., p. 294; Jaussen and Savignac, op. cit., II, p. 149.
6 Huber, op. cit., p. 380;
377.
7Huber, op. cit., p.
Doughty, op. cit., I, p. 285, states, "Every well-faring person, when he had
fortified his palms with a high clay-brick wall, built his tower upon it; also in every
suik of the town was a clay turret of defence and refuge for the people of that
street. In a private danger one withdrew with his family to their walled planta-
tion: in that enclosure they might labour and eat the fruits, although his old foes
held him beleaguered for a year or two. Any enemy approaching by daylight was
seen from the watchtower." 8sHuber, op. cit., p. 377.
9
Doughty, op. cit., I, p. 288.
10Jaussen and Savignac, op. cit., II, p. 149. See Sprenger, Die alte Geographice
Arabiens, p. 149, for the following statement: "Tayma hat jetzt 1,000
die zweistockigen, aus Luftziegeln und Pise aufgeftihrten Hauser sind Einwohner;
in Palmen-
pflanzungen und Garten versteckt." This estimate of the inhabitants of Teima
300 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY
(Jaussen and Savignac, Mission Archeologiqueen Arabie, Part II, Atlas, Plate LXIII, No. 1)
FIGURE 3. A TYPICAL SCENE AT TEIMA IN ARABIA
* -
- """ ...- .. -- -_~:':.- 7 ,_
F
(Jaussen and Savignac, Mission Archeologique en Arabie, Part II, Texte, p. 154)
FIGURE 4. PLAN OF AN ANCIENT TUMULUS AT TEIMA
(Jaussen and Savignac, Mission Archeologiqueen Arabie, Part II, Atlas, Plate LXIV, No. 1)
FIGURE 5. SOUTHEAST CORNER OF THE ANCIENT WALL AT TEIMA
views of the wall and the ruins of a house or tower adjoining it. The
nature of the debris in the vicinity of the wall is also indicated.
Ancient Columns. Both Doughty and Huber examined what the
former describes as "antique pillars" lying a short distance "out of
(Jaussen and Savignac, Mission Archeologiqueen Arabie, Part II, Atlas, Plate LXIII, No. 3)
FIGURE 6. ARCHITECTURALRUINS ADJOINING THE ANCIENT WALL AT TEIMA
the town (yet within the walls) eastward" in the vicinity of "the
great mosque," I and the latter designates "troncons de colonne" in
1 Doughty, op. cit., I, p. 531 f. See ibid., p. 288.
304 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY
(Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum, Pars II, Tomus I, Tabulae, Tab. X, No. 114)
FIGURE 7. AN ARAMAIC INSCRIPTION FOUND AT TEIMA
Held by the horns of the altar is the head of a bull, the symbol of the
moon god in South Arabia.2 Below the altar and the worshiper ap-
pear the words "Salm-shezeb, the priest." Whoever delineated the
human figures upon the stone was swayed to a considerable extent by
the art which had developed in the Tigris-Euphrates valley. An-
other indication of Mesopotamian influence is seen in certain words
'Ward, The Seal Cylinders of Western Asia, p. 396. See also Babylonian
Boundary Stones and Memorial Tablets in the British Museum, Plate XCII.
2 The head of a
bull, on account of the horns, was regarded as typifying the new
moon, and hence it became a symbol of the moon god. See Nielsen, Die alt-
arabische Mondreligion, p. 110 f., and Nielsen, Handbuch der altarabischen Alter-
tumskunde, pp. 214 and 244. The horns of the altar should be compared with the
sacral horns found at Cnossus. See Evans, The Palace of Minos, II, Part I, p. 159.
308 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY
pire.' The data furnished by these clay documents will now be dis-
cussed.
In 1882 Professor T. G. Pinches published a cuneiform text belong-
ing to the British Museum.2 This record (Fig. 11) is known as the
Nabonidus Chronicle because it contains an annalistic account of
events in the reign of Nabonidus who ruled as king of Babylon 556-
539 B.C. It states that Nabonidus spent the seventh, ninth, tenth,
and eleventh years of his reign at a city called Tgmd, while the heir
to the throne, the princes, and his troops were in the land of Akkad,
i.e., Babylonia. This crown prince, designated by the title "the son
of the king," was Bgl-sar-usur, the Biblical Belshazzar. Until re-
cently scholars were mainly of the opinion that the Temd where
Nabonidus spent a large part of his reign was located in Babylonia.3
It has been proven now that Temd in Arabia, the ancient city de-
scribed above, was the scene of Nabonidus' unusual sojourn.4 All
the evidences in favor of this view cannot be presented in this brief
article, but reference should be made to three other cuneiform texts
which are important links in the chain of demonstration.
A Babylonian contract tablet belonging to Goucher College con-
tains a decisive clue.5 This clay document (Fig. 12) is diminutive
in size but extremely important in contents. It states that a man
was provided with flour and a camel 6 in order that he might make a
journey from Babylonia to the land of Tmad in the fifth year of
Nabonidus' reign, thus indicating that Babylonia was interested
in the land of Temd early in that sovereign's period of rule. Desert
terrain had to be crossed in making the journey and the amount
1 That Arabiawas controlledby the Persians in the reign of Cyrus followingthe
Neo-Babylonian period is indicated by an article entitled "The 'Shalamians' of
Arabia" published by ProfessorLangdon in The Journal of the Royal Asiatic So-
ciety, 1927, pp. 529-533.
2 Transactionsof the Society of Biblical
Archaeology,VII, pp. 139-176. Addi-
tional publications of the text appear in KeilinschriftlicheBibliothek,III, 2, pp.
128 ff.; Beitrdgezur Assyriologie,II, pp. 214-225; 235-257; Sidney Smith, Baby-
lonian Historical Texts, pp. 98-123; Plates XI-XIV.
3 Hommel on p. 192 of the first
part of Ethnologieund Geographiedes alten
Orientspublishedin 1904 connects Nabonidus' absence from Babylon with a stay
at Temdin Arabia,but suggests that he was internedthere on account of insanity.
Cuneiform texts furnish no basis for the view that Nabonidus was exiled from
Babylonia for any reason whatsoever.
4 See Journal of theAmericanOriental
Society,XLI, p. 458 f; XLII, pp. 305-316;
Dougherty, Archivesfrom Erech, Time of Nebuchadrezzar and Nabonidus (1923),
p. 35; Sidney Smith, op. cit., pp. 27-97. Dougherty op. cit., p. 34 f.
6In ibid., p. 34, the cuneiform characters were translated "road
Reliable observersin Arabiahave praisedthe ass as "hardly less than thedonkey."
camel as
a beast of the desert" and "no whit the inferior of the camels in endurance of
thirst." See Doughty, op. cit., I, pp. 69 and 281; Philby, The Heart of Arabia, I,
pp. 12 and 44. However, the cuneiformsigns on the tablet clearly representthe
camel, which adds importance to this document upon clay. The necessary cor-
rection has been made in Dougherty, Nabonidusand Belshazzar,p. 116. Ibid., pp.
105-160, contains a full discussion of Nabonidus' stay at Temd.
310 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY
the temple against the sale of the camel by the one who was com-
missioned to take the food to Temd. However, the main revelation
of the inscription lies in the fact that it shows that Babylonian temples
contributed food for royal consumption in Temd and at the same
time furnished transportation by camel to that land. So perfectly
does this fit into the situation suggested by the Nabonidus Chronicle
and the Goucher Tablet that the three texts taken together prove
with finality that Nabonidus had his court at Temd during an ex-
tended period of time.
1Dougherty, Records from Erech, Time of Nabonidus (1920), Text No. 134,
translated in Dougherty, Nabonidus and Belshazzar (1929), p. 114 f.
2 The
important part of this text is the indication that the king, i. e., Nabonidus,
was in the "land" of Temd in the tenth year of his reign. The Nabonidus Chroni-
cle asserts that he was in the "city" of Temd in that year. The Yale tablet's
reference to the "land" of Tmmdpoints definitely to the well-known district by
that name in Arabia. A settlement called Temd or Teimah is located at the
northern edge of the Druze Mountains in the Hauran district about sixty-five
miles east of the Sea of Galilee. No evidences that this Temd ever had any im-
portance are at hand. That the region in which it is located was known as the
"land" of Temd cannot be proved by any reference in extant literature. On the
other hand, the territory in Arabia in which ancient Temd prospered and where
modern Teima exists was known as the "land" of Tmmd. See Isaiah xxi: 14. Cf.
references in note 1, p. 312. The Goucher text also mentions the "land" of Tema.
DOUGHERTY: A BABYLONIAN CITY IN ARABIA 311
Another text of the British Museum, published by Sidney Smith
in 1924, serves as a keystone to this arch of proof.' The obverse of
this tablet is reproduced in Figure 14. The second column contains
a passage which informs us that Nabonidus, after entrusting govern-
mental affairs in Babylonia to his eldest son, i. e., Belshazzar, made
a campaign against Temd from the region of Syria in the,third year
of his reign.2 In this text Tema is described as an extremely distant
locality. It was attacked and subdued by Nabonidus who then
made it his residence. The city was glorified by him until it equaled
the palace of Babylon in attractiveness. The circumstantial char-
acter of the narrative and its obvious historical significance stress the
importance of the inscription for the period under discussion.
Nabonidus' sojourn at Temd is revealed as more than a transient
episode in his career. It was in truth the distinctive political
phenomenon of his reign. The city of Temd where he dwelt and in
which he showed kingly interest must be accorded much greater
prestige than former data had implied.
Although it is unexpected that a Babylonian king should have es-
tablished his court so far away from the capital of his empire, there
1 Sidney Smith, op. cit., 27-97. Smith calls the inscription "A Persian Verse
Account of Nabonidus."
2
Ibid., p. 88 f. Olmstead believes that Nabonidus' attack upon Temd occurred
in the fourth year of his reign. See A.J.A., XXXIV, p. 275. The text to which
he refers is important though fragmentary, but it is by no means certain that it
supports his view.
312 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY
is positive basis for the belief that the Temd specified in the cuneiform
inscriptions which have been discussed and the Teima in Arabia
whose archaeological remains have been described are identical.
The inscriptions of Tiglathpileser III of the eighth century B.C.
link the inhabitants of Temd with other Arabian peoples.) There
is no possibility, therefore, of disassociating the Temd of the Naboni-
dus inscriptions from the Arabian city by that name. That it ex-
isted for a time as a Babylonian city is indicated by all the evidence
now at our disposal. Furthermore, although no extensive investiga-
tions have been carried on in its debris and although no Babylonian
antiquities have been found in its superficial remains, its extreme
importance in ancient times has been demonstrated.
What might not the spade of the excavator reveal at Teima if a
scientific expedition could be maintained there for a sufficient period
of time? The prospect is most alluring to the archaeologist. Un-
fortunately the recovery of antiquities buried at Teima would be an
exacting and dangerous task on account of the following serious diffi-
culties: (1) Approach to Teima would be attended by extreme
hazard. Musil, who attempted unsuccessfully to reach the site in
1909, states that the desert paths leading to Teima are known as
durub al-mawt,2"roads of death." (2) The dwellers at the oasis are
reputed as being unfriendly to long stays on the part of foreigners.3
(3) According to Huber excavations at Teima would be resisted by
the inhabitants on account of extensive Arab burials.4 These ob-
stacles do not minimize the value of Teima as an archaeological site.
The gain would be all the greater if its antiquities could be unearthed
and placed at the disposal of the world's scholars. That such an
achievement would throw much light upon events in southwestern
Asia during the sixth century B. C. can hardly be questioned.5
RAYMOND P. DOUGHERTY
YALE UNIVERSITY
1 Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek, II, p. 20, line 53; Delitzsch, Wo lag das Paradies?
p. 301 f.
2 Musil, Arabia Deserta, "Oriental Explorations and Studies" of the American