The Stele of Teima — also written Tayma Stele — is an old-Syriac inscribed gravestone found in 1883 by the German scholar Professor Euting of Strasbourg and the French scholar Dr. Huber on their scientific journey in the interior of Arabië, in the territory of the emir Ibn Rasjid at Haïl. The stele’s text was deciphered from Euting’s drawing by Professor Nöldeke, and the stele thereby became famous — a fame that triggered the French government’s order to the French vice-consul De Lostalot at Djidda to ensure that the stele should find its way to Paris, and that led, through De Lostalot’s subsequent lies against Snouck Hurgronje, to the latter’s expulsion from Mekka on 5 August 5 August 1885.
The 1883 Discovery
In 1883 Professor Euting from Strasbourg and the French Dr. Huber made a scientific journey in the interior of Arabië, and were long guests of the emir Ibn Rasjid in his territory. They left with their host a gravestone with old-Syriac inscription — the later famous Stele of Teima — and departed thence; first Euting and then Huber, by different routes. Euting reached the harbour-place el-Wedj, but had to kill some men to be able to arrive there alive. Huber had it easier: without incident he succeeded in reaching Djidda. But although the authorities dissuaded and even forbade him, he left Djidda to enter the interior again; and that venture cost him his life.
The Nöldeke Decipherment
The text of the Stele of Teima was, in the meantime, deciphered by Nöldeke from Euting’s drawing, and the stele thereby became famous. The decipherment, by the principal German orientalist of the late 19th century, established the stele as one of the principal old-Syriac inscriptions then known, and made it the object of European archaeological ambition.
The De Lostalot Lies
The fame of the stele triggered the French government’s order to the French vice-consul De Lostalot at Djidda — received after De Lostalot’s return to Djidda in October 1884 — to ensure that the goods of the murdered Huber, including the stele, should find their way to Paris. De Lostalot, “a man of small mind, but who wished to be held for a clever fellow”, fabricated for Snouck Hurgronje the most dangerous fantasies. On the stone had been hunted, he claimed — from Damascus by Professor Euting, from Mekka “par un autre savant du nom de docteur Snouck Busyrouse (read: Hurgronje), portant le nom d’Abdul-Gaffar depuis sa conversion à l’islam”, from all sides by the Ottoman government, which, as a consequence of the indiscretions of that pair of scholars, had sought to make itself master of it. But he, De Lostalot, had secured the prize!
The stone was indeed won for France; but that was not the merit of De Lostalot. The lies, however — which found their way first into the French and later also into the Turkish and Arab press — broke De Lostalot’s promise to Snouck Hurgronje to keep his residence at Mekka secret from Europe, and brought him into great life-danger. A “Frank” who gathers science of the Holy Law can be respected as a pious Muslim; but a Frank who takes interest in old stones is surely an unholy merchant, if not a treacherous spy.
The Expulsion of Snouck Hurgronje
When the Temps of 5 July 5 July 1885 published De Lostalot’s account, and the Turkish and Arab papers took it over, Snouck Hurgronje was given notice on 5 August 5 August 1885 that he had to leave Mekka immediately. Only a few hours were granted him to pack his trunks; and then the journey went back to Djidda, under the guidance of two Turkish police-soldiers. The Stele of Teima, through the lies of De Lostalot, brought about the premature end of Snouck Hurgronje’s scientific exploratory journey.
Significance
The Stele of Teima is the archaeological object whose discovery by Euting and Huber in 1883, decipherment by Nöldeke, and pursuit by the French vice-consul De Lostalot — through De Lostalot’s lies against Snouck Hurgronje — brought about the expulsion of Snouck Hurgronje from Mekka on 5 August 5 August 1885. The stele is, for Atjèhse history, the immediate occasion of the premature end of Snouck Hurgronje’s Mekka journey — the journey that had awakened his Atjèh interest and that would culminate, in the Verslag of 23 May 23 May 1892, in the foundational document of the modern Dutch understanding of the Atjèh-oorlog.
See Also
- C. Snouck Hurgronje
- Snouck Hurgronje’s Mekka journey (1884-1885)
- Euting
- Huber
- Ibn Rasjid
- Nöldeke
- De Lostalot
- Mekka
- Djidda
- Arabië
- Aceh War
- Atjeh-oorlog
- 5 July
- 5 August
- 1883
- 1884
- 1885
- 1892
Source
Drie Atjeh-mannen: Snouck Hurgronje — Van Heutsz — Van Daalen, door H. T. Damsté (September 1936). OCR-filename: 20260718_105749_DLP-111-Drie_Atjeh_mannen_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt, pp. 8–9.