Harran inscription

The use of Arabic in the composition of inscription was probably important to the cultural identity of the authors, as otherwise Greek was the imperial language of the Byzantine Empire which controlled the region at the time.

4. by one year[3]Two figures are named in the inscription: the constructor Sharahil ibn Zalim, who held the military title of phylarch, and Saint John, to whom the martyrium is dedicated to.

[4] The name srḥyl, which can either be interpreted as Šarāḥīl or Šarāḥʾil, also occurs in one other early Arabic inscription, found in a church in Knidos, Cyprus dating to the end of the seventh century.

[5] The Arabic portion of the inscription contains this information, with the addition that it was constructed one year after the "rebellion of Khaybar," little of which is known about aside from that it is also mentioned in the Kitāb al-maʿārif ("Book of Knowledge") of Ibn Qutaybah (828–889).

[1] Unlike the version in Ibn Qutayba, Michael MacDonald reads the inscription as indicating a rebellion on the part of Khaybar as opposed to an expedition.