Bone Plates with Aramaic (Arameographic) Inscriptions from Dedoplis Gora (I c AD): Issues of Linguistic-Paleographic Studies

International audienceOld Aramaic was one of chief written languages of Iberia before adoption the Christianity (IV century AD).A number of original Aramaic inscriptions were found in Mtskheta, the capital of Iberia and its vicinity, as well as in other ancient historical points of Central Georgia . The greater part of these Aramaic inscriptions is executed in a variety of the North-Mesopotamian type of Aramaic script, known as ;Armazian (G. Tsereteli), one of the outgrowths of the Imperial (Official) Aramaic writing, widely used in Achaemenian Empire. In 1986, during excavations at Dedoplis Gora 25 gaming plates, probably made of antler are found. These plates are of local origin and dated by I c AD, most of them have depictions of fighting scenes of riders, others – different animals and fantastic creatures. Seven of them have Armazian inscriptions; they are short and seem to be magic. These playing and fortune-telling plates with the description and transcription of all seven inscriptions were published by I. Gagoshidze, Tsotselia (1991), Gagoshidze (1992, 2008). The inscriptions on the plates are incised with a pointed tool on the area, free from a picture, mainly behind the horsemen's backs. A translation was proposed, as long as the shortness and the, supposedly, magic content, as well as the state of preservation allowed it. The longest inscription was read as: h tzq w[d] ḥbln znh swsy. ḥbh;"Dark and destroying is this horse. One is winning"; Our paper presents contemporary linguistic-paleographic interpretations of these inscriptions, with additional unpublished material