A wooden tablet propped underground on a stalagmite in a cave on the Indian Ocean island of Socotra. Dated July 258 A.D, the text asks for blessings in ancient Palmyrene and politely requests that future visitors leave the tablet undisturbed. Photographed in situ in the 21st century [855×1051]

[Writing Tablets from Ancient Palmyra (Part II): “The Forgotten Island”](https://judithweingarten.blogspot.com/2016/05/writing-tablets-from-palmyra-part-ii.html)

“*In the month of Tammuz, day 25 of the year 569 (*258 A.D)*, I, Abgar, son of Abbshamay, ‘navigator'[or ’emissary’], have come here, to the country of Nysy; bless the god who has brought us here, and you, the man who reads this tablet, bless me [us] as well and leave the tablet in this place [where you find it].* ”

>The cave was first explored by Belgian speleologists less than 15 years ago.  The spelunkers found plenty of ancient pottery in the two long galleries inside (1200m/1300 yards; 800m/900 yards long), mostly containers used to collect water that dripped from the ceiling into natural basins. Much more remarkable were the grafitti found scratched into the walls of the shorter gallery by sailors and merchants who took refuge on the island when the monsoon winds unexpectedly turned against them.  As far as they can be read, some 250 inscriptions record men’s names scrawled in the scripts of ancient India ([Brāhmī](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmi_script)), Ethiopia ([Guèze](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ge'ez_language)), Yemen (S. Arabian), and Bactria — all written between the 1st and 6th centuries CE.*  

>…
Though the odds are hugely against it, there’s a very good chance that we know something about Abgar’s family.   His father’s name *Abbshamay* means “servant of Heaven”, so they were probably worshippers of the Palmyran god, Balshamin (whose small, [perfect temple](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Baalshamin) was blown up by ISIS last year).  The name is only known at Palmyra in two inscriptions, both from the tomb of Nasrallât in the southwest necropolis. The inscriptions are dated to 574 (262-263 CE) et 576 (264-265 CE), and both refer to a Julius Aurelius Yedibêl, son of ‘Abdshamaya’, son of Malkû.  Given the rarity of the family name as well as the closeness in dates, it seems more than likely that Abgar and Yedibêl are related, possibly even brothers.

Niether a wood expert or a cave expert. That wood in that enviromment looks maybe 1 to 2 centuries old or less, at best.