نقوش إسلامية في محافظة بيت لحم : دارسة تاريخية

Abstract EN

This study aims to highlight on a group of five Arabic inscriptions in Bethlehem governorate ,that related to three different historical periods: Fatimid, Mamluk and Ottoman.

Three of them in Artas village, the fourth in the ruins of Vagour village, the fifth found by the Department of Palestinian Antiquities at a citizen home in Bethlehem.

Inscriptions have been moved from their original places to other places, as will be explained below.

The oldest inscription, found in the house of Mohammed Al-‘Ama located in the village of Artas.

It is not clear, and in a bad condition ,we haven’t been able to know the type of establishment for which it was engraved.

It dates back to the Fatimid period by comparing the kufic line with other inscriptions dating back to the same period .

The second inscription related to the Mamluk period, dated the construction of a grinder in Artas village , as an Endowments on the Marastan, Rabat and Tahara in Hebron city.

We have been able to study three inscriptions dating back to the Ottoman period: an inscription built by Sultan Ottoman II, used to establish the ponds castle that known wrongly as Murad castle, the second was found by the Department of Palestinian Antiquities in Bethlehem, it is part of an inscription that we call the "Sobashi inscription , which was part of the possessions of a citizen in Bethlehem, The last inscription back to the Ottoman era, located at the facade of the Ahmadiyya Shrine in Faqour village.