Zabad inscription

[1] The Zabad inscription records the benefaction carried out by Arabic-speaking Christians in the Roman Empire.

The individuals mentioned in the inscription are not otherwise known, but were the ones who played a role in the sponsoring and construction of the structure.

[2] While it was once thought that the three inscriptions were created in different times, more recent scholarship considers them to have all been incised together.

[3] The decision to include an Arabic portion of the inscription can be seen as a reflection of the desire to express the cultural identity of the author as, otherwise, Greek was the imperial language and Syriac was the ecclesiastical of the Miaphysite Church supported by the Ghassanids who, in turn, were closely linked to the cult of St.

[5] The Greek and Syriac portions of the inscription indicate that construction began in the year 823 of the Seleucid era (in accordance with the calendar being used in Syria at the time), or 512 AD.

The Syriac text lists the name of the individual who wrote the inscription, Mārā.

The use of the formula 'may God remember' in Zabad is also found in DaJ144PAr 1 (548–549) and the Islamic-era inscription of Yazīd.