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Banu al-Samayda (Arabic: بنو السميدع) were an Arab tribe that flourished in Hauran, Syria in the second century AD. They had a role in the administration of the city of Dionysias-Soada.

Archaeological evidence

During his travels in Syria in the 1850s, Josias Leslie Porter discovered an inscription in the city of As-Suwayda. It was found a short distance east of a mosque and dates to the consulate of Gaius Domitius Dexter. The exact year is debated and could be 183, 186, or 196 AD. The inscription reads: "To the good fortune of the Lord Caesar (M. Aurelius) Antoninus, after Domitius Dexter (was) Consul, Hetolipus from the Gepi from Gousarea, and Nathon Aphetathon (from the) Orsovi, prepared and constructed both the temple to Minerva in Gerrha, with the statues, (and) instituted overseers of the tribe (of the) Somaetheni". According to William Henry Waddington, the inscription attests to the existence of the Samayda (Somaetheni) tribe, long thought to be legendary.

The Somaetheni are also mentioned in an inscription from Vitrolles mentioning "Tubal" of Adra commander of the Somaetheni and Arrhus (chief) of Atta, armored cavalryman of the Somaetheni. The inscription is written in Greek and Tubal is written "Tubalos", and with the elimination of the Hellenizing ending, one is left with a recognizable Semitic name "Tubal" or "Tu-ba-lu".

References

Citations

1. ^ Oikonomides 1978, p. 164.
2. Porter 1855, p. 243.
3. Porter 1855, p. 247.
4. ^ Porter 1868, p. 487.
5. Porter 1855, p. 259.
6. Waddington 1870, p. 530.

Sources

• Oikonomides, Alcibiades N. (1978). "Misread Greek Inscriptions as Documents of the Samothracian, Tarentine, Gallic, and Illyrian Languages". The Ancient World. 1 (4). Ares Publishers. ISSN 0160-9645.
• Porter, Josias Leslie (1855). Hogg, John (ed.). "Greek Inscriptions from Syria and the Hauran, Discovered by the Rev J. L. Porter. M.A. Communicated and Edited with Notes by John Hogg, M.A., F.R.S., FOR. SEC. R.S.L., &C". Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature of the United Kingdom. second. 5. John Murray. OCLC 897727120.
• Waddington, William Henry (1870). Inscriptions Grecques et Latines de la Syrie: Recueillies et Expliquées (in French). Firmin Didot Frères, Fils et Cie. OCLC 458810633.
• Porter, Josias Leslie (1868). A Handbook for Travellers in Syria and Palestine; Including an Account of the Geography, History, Antiquities, and Inhabitants of These Countries, the Peninsula of Sinai, Edom, and the Syrian Desert; with Detailed Descriptions of Jerusalem, Petra, Damascus and Palmyra. Vol. 2. John Murray. OCLC 988623330.

• Ancient Arab peoples
• Tribes of Arabia
• Roman Syria