The Nabataean timing system

Abstract

Archaeological remains yield remarkable information concerning the Nabataeans’ timing system; excavations and surveys revealed water clocks, sundials and ground shadow clocks in Nabataean sites, namely Petra and Hegra. Besides, certain Nabataean inscriptions expose a good deal of evidence regarding the Nabataean timing terminology: ywm ‘day’; šnt ‘year’; yrḥ ‘month’; šch ‘hour’; šbc ‘week’, lyly’ ‘night’ and zmn ‘time’ are the most frequently used terms found in the different Nabataean texts. Moreover, the excavations uncovered some archaeological evidence concerning the Nabataean annual calendar. The study adopts a comparative historical and linguistic perspective in investigating the different aspects of time measurement in Nabataean civilisation.