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This seal, of unknown provenance, has an Aramaic inscription which is engraved on a scaraboid hematite pierced lengthwise. It measures 17×13 mm, with 9 mm of thickness. The oval surface, which is slightly damaged at one point, is divided by a double line into two registers. Six letters are engraved in the upper, and five in the lower register, giving the following reading:
The letters are fairly large and fill the whole space. All the letters in the upper register stand at the same height on the double line. Normally, however, lamed is higher than the ceiling line of the other letters, while nun and taw are usually drawn with a stroke which goes below the bottom line formed by the other letters. In the lower register the taw and the two nuns seem to go farther down than the alef and the dalet.
1 Professor Dan Barag noticed the seal in the hands of an antique dealer and drew Professor N. Avigad's attention to it. It is from Professor Avigad that we obtained a photograph of this seal. We thank both these scholars for their help.
2 See Naveh, J., The development of the Aramaic Script, Jerusalem 1970.
3 Cf. Tadmor, H., “A note on the seal of Mannu-ki-Inurta”, IEJ 15 (1965), pp. 233–234. On the deity Ninurta cf. Dhorme, E., Les religions de Babylonie et d'Assyrie (Mana, Les anciennes religions orientales), Paris 1949, pp. 102 ff. and pp. 128 ff.
4 Cf. Cowley, A., Aramaic papyri of the fifth century B.C., Oxford 1923, No. 81:11, 37, 127; Grelot, P., Documents araméens d'Egypte, Paris 1974, p. 474;Kornfeld, W., Onomastica aramaica aus Ägypten, Vienna 1978, p. 50;Cantineau, J., Le nabatéen, II, Paris 1932, p. 98.
5 There is of course also a class of Semitic names which start with the element ḥnn-, especially in Syriac; cf. Ḥenanišo, a Vllth-century A.D. person (e.g. Chabot, , Synodicon Orientale, Paris 1902, p. 215 etc.), but this element requires a theophoric element to complement it, while dt in its turn also requires a theophoric element to go with it.
6 Dupont-Sommer, A., “Une plaquette d'argent à inscription araméenne”, Iranica Antiqua 4 (1964), pp. 119–132.
7 Bogoljubov, M. N., “Aramejskaja nadpis 'na serebrjanoj plastinke iz Irana”, Palestinskij Sbornik 21(84) (1970), pp. 87–90.
8 Cf. words such as ḥrzmy, ḥršyn, hptḥpt', mentioned by Bogoljubov, op cit., and perhaps ḥrtk, cf. Greenfield, J. C. and Shaked, S., ZDMG 122 (1972), p. 43f, if the original form was *xwartaka-. See also Bogoljubov, M. N., “Potečnyj titul axemenidskogo voenačal'nika v verxnem Jegipte”, Palestinskij Sbornik 17(80) (1967), pp. 21–25.Henning, W.B., “Ein persischer Titel im Altaramäischen”, In memoriam Paul Kahle, Berlin 1968, pp. 138–145, esp. n. 37.
9 Cf. Bartholomae, Ch., Altiranisches Wörterbuch, col. 1865;Justi, F., Iranisches Namenbuch, 181;Mayrhofer, M., Iranisches Personennamenbuch, Bd. 1, Fasz. 1, Wien 1977, p. 102;Hinz, W., Altiranisches Sprachgut der Nebenüberlieferungen, Wiesbaden 1975, pp. 139 f. The name is attested also in the Elamite texts of Persepolis, if the reconstruction by Gershevitch, I., “Islandbay and the lion”, BSOAS 33 (1970), p. 87 (cf. Mayrhofer, M., Onomastica persepolitana, Vienna 1973, 188, Nos. 8.940, 8.945), is accepted. See also Hinz, W., Neue Wege im Altpersischen, Wiesbaden 1973, p. 112; Idem, Altiranisches Sprachgut der Nebenüberlieferungen, Wiesbaden 1975, pp. 139 f.
10 Mayrhofer, , Iranisches Personennamenbuch (above, n. 8), 22 No. 31, and 102 No. 402.
11 According to Milik, J., Biblica 48 (1967), p. 560, it means “Nanai est la chaleur (du rapport conjugal d'oü est issu l'enfant)”. Grelot, , op. cit. (n. 4), p. 481 takes into consideration the possibility that the name may mean “Nanay, commande!”, with ḥm derived from Akkadian ḥammu.
12 Cross, F. M., “An ostracon from Heshbon”, Andrews University Semitic Studies 7 (1969), pp. 223–229.
13 Naveh, J., “Aramaic ostraca from Tel Arad”, in: Aharoni, Y., Arad inscriptions, Jerusalem 1981, p. 158, No. 12.
14 Delaporte, L., Épigraphes araméens, Paris 1912, No. 71.
15 Vattioni, F., Le iscrizioni di Hatra, Naples 1981, p. 23 No. 1.
16 Lidzbarski, M., Altaramäaische Urkunden aus Assur, Leipzig 1921, No. 1, line 4; No., 6, line 9.
17 Stark, J. K., Personal names in Palmyrene inscriptions, Oxford 1971, pp. 39, 99.
18 Vattioni, , op. cit. (n. 14), p. 24, No. 4.
19 Bartholomae, , Altiranisches Wö;rterbuch, col. 1041;Justi, , Iranisches Namenbuch, pp. 220 f.;Mayrhofer, M., Iranisches Personennamenbuch, I, 1, Wien 1977, p. 63, No. 227.
20 Cf. Henning, W. B., Sogdica, London 1943, p. 77. Apart from nnyntk we also encounter in Sogdian the name nny'r In the Mug documents the name nnyprn is attested, cf. Livšic, V. A., Sogdijskije dokumenty s Gory Mug, II, Moscow 1962, p. 53.
21 Donner-Rüllig, , Kanaanäische und Aramäische Inschriften, No. 258;Koopmans, J. J., Aramäische Chrestomathie, II, Leiden 1962, pp. 167 f.;Hanson, R. S., “Aramaic funerary and boundary inscriptions from Asia Minor”, BASOR 192 (1968), p. 8. Various names composed of Nana, Neni and similar forms, to which several suffixes are attached, are attested in Lycian onomastics, the base element meaning “uncle” or “aunt” cf. Sundwall, Joh., Die einheimischen Namen der Lykier nebst einen Verzeichnisse kleinasiatischer Namenstamme, Leipzig 1913 (Klio, Beiheft 11), p. 196, as well as pp. 165 ff., 272 f., 288.
22 Cf. Gadd, C. J. in Pope, A. U. (ed.), A Survey of Persian Art, Oxford 1938, vol. I, pp. 383 ff.
23 Cf. Avigad, N., Qedem 4 (1976), Fig. 18.
24 For Iranian 
Bartholomae, , Altiranisches Wörterbuch, col. 320 f.;Gray, Louis H., Foundations of the Iranian religion (Journal of the K.R. Cama Oriental Institute 15), 1929, p. 130.
25 See lately Frye, R. N., “The ‘Aramaic’ inscription on the tomb of Darius”, Iranica Antiqua 17 (1982), pp. 85–90, with plates I–IX, where previous literature is listed.
26 A seal with a similar design, but a different inscription, is described in Galling, K., “Beschriftete Bildsiegeln des ersten Jahrtausends n. Chr”, ZDPV 64(1941), pp. 121–202, esp. p. 197, No. 169, Tafel 11.
27 Kent, R. G., Old Persian, 2nd ed., New Haven, Conn. 1953, p. 213;Hinz, , Neue Wege im Altpersischen, p. 136.
28 Cf. Mayrhofer, , Onomastica persepolitana, Wien 1973, No. 8.432; on p. 306 Mayrhofer decides that the name is not Iranian.
29 Gershevitch, I., “Amber at Persepolis”, Studia … Pagliaro II (1969), p. 177.
30 Cf. Mayrhofer, , op. cit., 8.1729, 8.1732, where references to the works of Benveniste and Gershevitch will be found. Two dialectally different forms of this name occur in Elamite: one has the reading umitra, and the other is a reflection of the expected Old Persian form, and reads umiša
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