QMI-INS-014e · 65–86 AH
Milestone of ʿAbd al-Malik from Dayr al-Qalṭ
ميل عبد الملك من دير القلط
The monastery of Khoziba near Dayr al-Qalṭ, on the road from Jerusalem towards Jericho and Damascus; now Çinili Köşk, Istanbul Archaeological Museums
- [...] صنعة الأميال [...]
- عبد [الله عبد] الملك أمير [المؤمنين ...]
- [من] دمشق إلى هذا الميل [سبعة] ومائة (؟) ميل
[...] the making of the milestones [...] the servant of [God ʿAbd] al-Malik, Commander of [the Faithful ...] [From] Damascus to this milestone (there are) [one hundred and seven] (?) miles.
A broken marble slab found at the monastery of Khoziba in Wādī al-Qalṭ, on the road that runs down from Jerusalem towards Jericho and the Jordan valley, and now in Istanbul. Six lines survive, with the top and the right side lost. As at Khān al-Ḥathrūra on the same road, the distance is counted not from Jerusalem but from Damascus, the capital (QMI-INS-014f); the number, read as about one hundred and seven miles, is uncertain.
Source: van Berchem, Max. Matériaux pour un Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum, II/3 (Cairo, 1920), pl. II:3; II/1, Jérusalem “Ville” (Cairo, 1922), no. 3, pp. 19, 21; Sharon, Moshe. Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae, vol. III (Leiden: Brill), “Dayr al-Qalṭ”, pp. 94–108. Reproduced in Grohmann, Arabische Paläographie II (1971), p. 83.