Roads of Arabia

20 Arabie US_p372-385_BAT.qxd 23/06/10 22:02 Page 384
ROADS OF ARABIA
227. Stele with a Greek inscription
3rd–2nd century BC
Limestone
29 x 42 x 9 cm
Tarut, al-Rufayah
National Museum, Riyadh, 1289
228. Coins
1st century BC–1st century AD (?)
Bronze
Diam. between 1 and 2.5 cm
Thaj
National Museum, 4880, 4881, 4876, 4868 and 4184
229. Figurine
3rd–1st century BC
Painted terracotta
H. 15 cm; Th. 10 cm
Thaj
National Museum, Riyadh, 3107
230. Jug
3rd–1st century BC (Seleucid period)
Earthenware
H. 18 cm; Max. diam. 19 cm
Thaj
National Museum, Riyadh, 781
Bibliography: Jamme 1970, p. 132 and p. 139, no. 6; Potts 1990b, pl. III;
“Habib’il Salutation”.
This stele adorned with a rose bears one of the few Greek inscriptions
known today in East Arabia (the others come from the island
of Bahrain 1 ). Nonetheless these finds do not mean that the central
coasts of the Arabian Gulf were, like Failaka, ruled by the Graecoseleucids.
Bahrain and the coasts of East Arabia were more likely
used as ports of call for the Seleucid ships which controlled the
major sea trade routes. M. C.
These six very worn bronze coins awkwardly copy the silver coins
struck by Hagar/Gerrha, which themselves imitated the Alexander
coins of the Hellenistic world. In the left margin of the coin in the
right column, at centre, we recognize the letter shin, perhaps the initial
of Shams, the sun-god. C. R.
Bibliography: Riyadh 2009, p. 179.
Thaj was one of the main centres producing figurines of this type
which were exported throughout East Arabia, i.e. to ed-Dur, 1 Mleiha,
Qal’at al-Bahreïn and even Najran. 2 However we know nothing
about the religious significance of these figurines characterized by
thick thighs and a rough-hewn head. M. C.
1. Daems 2004, p. 94, fig. 2.
2. Zarins et al. 1983, pl. 27-18, 19.
This coarse pottery jug took on a whitish colouring from an ineffectual
firing, as proved by the sunken form. Locally made bowls, jars
and cooking pots were plentiful on the site; they were associated
with fine ware imported from Seleucia, Seleuco-Parthian glazed ware
or Greek black-burnished ware. A Rhodian amphora handle bearing
a stamp dated between 250 and 225 BC was found as well. M. C.
1. Marcillet Jaubert 1990, pp. 665–73, fig. 1.
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