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presenting the person, the individuality of the deceased.(74) But it is employed more frequently about the aniconic funeral stele,(75) and four times even about the tomb itself.(76)

is past part. of "to bury",(77) while is the construct state of , "land", which has not been found before in Palmyra, but is common in BiblicalAramaiç Jewish-Aramaic and Syriac. Similar to and in Biblical-Aramaiç(78) the in our inscription must mean "the lower part of".

has been found recently in a Palmyrene inscription with the meaning "instead of",(79) which we would prefer here to "under", prevalent in Jewish-Aramaic and Syriac.(80) We must then suppose-, that the bust of 'Alâ, daughter of Yarhai, for some reason or another, had been removed and our bust put in its place. In this connection, it is interesting to note that we possess no less than two dated busts-from 113 to 114 A.D.-of a certain 'AIâ, daughter of Yarhai, (son of) 'Abab, maybe the same person alluded to in our inscription.(81) Perhaps an inscription near the niche mentioned "'AIâ, daughter of Yarhaï, and therefore it was thought best to state on the bust replacing hers, that a change had taken place.

V

Double bust of a man and a woman, a Palmyrene inscription of seven lines engraved between the heads (pl. X, 1):

"Zebîdâ, son of Yedî'bel, alas! 'Ambai, daughter of 'Ogeilù, his mother, alas! "(82) Back of Zebîdâ alone is seen the funerary drapery, which indicates that he is the deceased, while the mother, 'Ambai, survives.(83) She is represented in mourning

75. Spoer, Journal of the American Oriental Society, XXV, 1904, p. 314, nr. 1; Ephemeris fuer semitische Epigraphik, 11, p. 313, Va; Ephemeris, III, p. 29-31-Lidzbarski, Handbuck der nordsemitischen Epigraphik, p. 481 (bilingual from Rome), p. 482, nos. 2-3 (bilinguals from Africa).
76. Vogué, Syrie Centrale, Inscriptions Sémitiques, Pans 1868-77, p. 38, nr. 31; Cantineau, Inventaire, fasc. IV, Beyrouth 1930, p. 28, nr. 19, line 1.-Cantineau, op.cit.p.14,nr.7a.Cf. Stanley A. Cook, The religion of ancient Palestine in the light of archaeology, London 1930, P. 19-20. 		    77. Cf. past part. fem., Cantineau, Revue Biblique, XXXIX, 1930, p. 539, nr. 9.
78. Daniel 11, 39 and VI, 25.
79. Cantineau, Revue Biblique, XXXIX, 1930, p. 548, nr. 14, line 4.
80. Jewish-Aramaic and Syriac thôt. Cf. also In "under", in the Palmyrene tarif, 1, 4.
81. Studier, p. 55-58, PS 31 and 32; pl. X, 2 and 3.
82. I.N. 33.12. Height 44, width 58 cm. Littmann, Syria, XIV, 1933, p. 193, compares to the Greek
83. Cf. supra p, 37.

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