Aramaic inscription of Yanouh

The Yanouh inscription is crafted from local sandstone. The stone block measures 75 cm × 40 cm (30 in × 16 in), and 40 cm (16 in) in thickness.^[3] It bears a fragmentary inscription of two surviving lines in Aramaic that reads as follows.^[4]

Line	Aramaic text[4]	Reconstruction[4]
(1)	[...] šnt 203 lʾnt [...]	[...] year 203 for (the deity) ’nt [...]
(2)	[...] zy bnw byt ’lh’ [...]	[...] who built the house of god(s) [...]
Missing text is enclosed in [square brackets].

The date "203" is based on the Seleucid era calendar, placing the inscription in 110–109 BC.^[a][6] The reference to "’nt" remains unclear, but may denote a local deity. The script displays features resembling Nabataean (e.g., beth, lamed, nun), Edessan (e.g., aleph, taw with a loop), and Palmyrene (yodh) letter forms. However, it does not conform entirely to any known Aramaic script, suggesting a regional variant derived from Imperial Aramaic. Comparisons have been drawn to the El-Māl inscription (late 1st century BC) and the Sr‘ bilingual (dated to 203 of the Seleucid era, 110–109 BC), though the Yanouh script appears more developed.^[7] The text is considered significant as the first attested use of Aramaic as a public language in Mount Lebanon; it provides evidence of linguistic Aramaization among the Itureans, as suggested by scholars P. Bordreuil and F. Briquel-Chatonnet.^[8][9]

The use of Aramaic in Yanouh contrasts with contemporary Phoenician inscriptions in Byblos, implying a different political or cultural authority in the region.^[10] Scholars propose that the inscription was commissioned by the Ituraeans, people of Arab-origin, who established a principality in the Beqaa Valley and northern Lebanon by the 1st century BC. This hypothesis is supported by the presence of Aramaic letters (beth and mim) on a coin of Lysanias, an Ituraean ruler, interpreted as Bar Ma‘nay ("son of Mennaios"). The inscription's date (110–109 BC), predating the known consolidation of Ituraean power under Ptolemy, son of Mennaios (c. 84 BC). The inscription thus suggests that the Ituraeans were already established in the northern Lebanon mountains by the late 2nd century BC, challenging earlier assumptions that they were nomadic raiders. The dedication of a temple indicates that the Ituraeans had adopted Aramaic for official use while maintaining distinct cultural practices. The inscription's location near Byblos, a Phoenician stronghold, may reflect Ituraean expansion into the hinterland.^[11]

• Aliquot, Julien (2003). "Les Ituréens et la présence arabe au Liban du IIe siècle a.C. au IVe siècle p.C." Mélanges de l'Université Saint-Joseph (in French). 56.
• Aliquot, Julien (2009b). "Chapitre 4: La tradition des ancêtres". La Vie religieuse au Liban sous l'Empire romain. Bibliothèque archéologique et historique (in French). Beyrouth: Presses de l’Ifpo. pp. 129–154. ISBN 9782351592991. Retrieved 2025-04-09.
• Aliquot, Julien (2009a). "Liban-Nord". La Vie religieuse au Liban sous l'Empire romain. Bibliothèque archéologique et historique (in French). Beyrouth: Presses de l’Ifpo. pp. 233–271. ISBN 9782351592991. Retrieved 2025-04-09.
• Briquel-Chatonnet, Françoise; Bordreuil, Pierre (2001). "Une nouvelle écriture araméenne au mont Liban (Appendix to Mission de Yanouh et de la haute vallée du Nahr Ibrahim Rapport Préliminaire 1999-2000)" [A new Aramaic script in Mount Lebanon]. Bulletin d'Archéologie et d'Architecture Libanaises (in French). 5. Beirut: Ministère de la culture [du Liban], Direction générale des antiquités: 148–152.
• Briquel-Chatonnet, Françoise (2005). al-Ghul, Omar; Zeyadeh, Afaf (eds.). The newly published Aramaic inscription of Yanouh (Lebanon) and the question of the Itureans. Proceedings of Yarmouk Second Annual Colloquium on Epigraphy and Ancient Writings 7th-9th October 2003. Yarmoukh University. pp. 1–10. Retrieved 3 April 2025.