L'inscription de Qasr al-Hammâm : nouveau déchiffrement et nouvelle lecture de son contexte archéo-historique

Abstract

AbstractThis article is a reassessment of an inscription dated to 473 H. / AD 1080–81 from Qasr al-Hammâm, in the hinterland of Lepcis Magna. The inscription is contextualised within the historical literature of the period and a new reading is proposed; following a careful analysis of the architecture it is suggested that the original plan of the qasr is of medieval date rather than earlier. The inscription appears to corroborate the reliability of Ibn Khaldoūn regarding the settlement of the āl-Sālim tribe in the vicinity of Lepcis: the late eleventh century ‘Émir Sālim’ referred to by Khaldoūn is in all probability the same man as the emir mentioned in the inscription.