Beth Shean Columns in Lower Egypt

摘要

particularly valuable inscription reads: “[This is] the writing of Ahmad ibn Sa’id ibn al-Khattab al-Bajali, in the spring of the year 190 [= January–March, 806].” The remainder of the graffiti, judging from their script, also date from the 9th or 10th century. Beth Shean throughout the ‘Abbasid period was a popular point for traffic of various kinds to ford the River Jordan, on the route from Syria to Egypt. But the graffiti have another connotation. Column IV carries two Arabic inscriptions; one reads, alluding to Q. 48:2, “O God, forgive Ahmad ibn Jami’ his sins, what came before and what will follow. Amen.”Ahmad’s contrition and the toppled column, however, are linked. The sight of an ancient ruin frequently provided an ‘ ibra in Arabic, a Qur’anic term (e.g. Q. 12:111) meaning a moral or contemplative lesson from history. The medieval traveler could not help but be struck by the grandeur of past civilizations, yet also could not help but notice that God had eventually erased them and sundered their monuments.