‘Theodore Bent’s Dhofari 1 inscriptions, Qalansiyah, Soqotra’ by Prof. Ahmad Al-Jallad

“… and yesterday T and I went a long distance and found some inscriptions on a smooth rock, also a little hamlet, very clean (Haida), as is Kalenzia.” ‘Kalenzia I. of Sokotra 1897’ (17.5 x 25 cm), Bent’s watercolour from early 1897 (undisclosed collection, reproduced with permission).

First an introduction by us (or skip directly to Professor Al-Jallad’s article).

The Bents’ final journey together (1896/7) sees the couple on the island of Soqotra in the Indian Ocean.

Mabel Bent’s diary for Monday, 21 December 1896 notes:

“We have not for years enjoyed such peace and safety. The people are most pleasant and do not worry us a bit by coming round our tents. We can walk about alone all over the place and yesterday T[heodore] and I went a long distance and found some inscriptions on a smooth rock, also a little hamlet, very clean (Haida), as is Kalenzia.” [our emphasis]

When the widowed Mabel Bent was writing up the event for her Southern Arabia (1900,  p. 351) she says:

“One day we two went some distance in the direction of the mountains, and came on a large upright rock with an inscription upon it, evidently late Himyaritic or Ethiopic, and copied as much of it as was distinguishable. Not far off was the tidy little hamlet of Haida.” [our emphasis]

Theodore Bent copied the inscriptions into his notebook on the spot, and Southern Arabia includes a copy of this (from an uncredited source, not Bent, as he died a few days after returning to London in May 1897).  Mabel’s ‘smooth rock’ has not been found; the text is in Dhofari.

To our knowledge the inscriptions have never been interpreted. Dhofari expert Professor Ahmad Al-Jallad has very kindly prepared the following short article (November 2025) for the Bent Archive. As his commentary includes a variety of symbols and diacritics we offer it as a pdf (click on the image below to access).

‘Theodore Bent’s Dhofari 1 inscriptions, Qalansiyah, Soqotra’ by Prof. Ahmad Al-Jallad (Nov. 2025)

Copy of the Dhofari 1 inscriptions from Theodore Bent’s 1896/7 travel notebook, pp. 9-10 (Hellenic Society Archive/School of Advanced Study, University of London; CC).

 

Recommended background reading:

For a very valuable introduction, see J. Jansen van Rensburg (2018), Rock Art of Soqotra, Yemen: A Forgotten Heritage Revisited. Arts 7(4). See also D.B. Doe (1970), Socotra. An Archaeological Reconnaissance in 1967, Coconut Grove, Fla, Field Research Projects; V.V. Naumkin and A.V. Sedov (1993), Monuments of Socotra, Topoi, Orient-Occident 1993(3-2): 569-623.