DASI: Digital Archive for the Study of pre-islamic arabian Inscriptions: Epigraph details

al-Nāshirī 2024: 227, pl. 7

al-Nāshirī 2024: 227, pl. 7
al-Nāshirī 2024: 228, pl. 7

INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

Language

Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Central Middle Sabaic

Alphabet

Ancient South Arabian

Script typology

Monumental writing

Writing technique

Incision

Chronology

Period

Textual typology

Dedicatory text

GENERAL NOTES

Iryānī transcribed the text in a paragraph arrangement that did not respect the original disposition of the lines. The lines are here divided, with some corrections, after the new photo available in Raydān journal.

TEXT

TRANSLATIONS

CSAI

English

   1  S²fʿṯt ʾs²wʿ and his son Zydm ʾymn
   2   and of the third of Ḥs²dm ...
   3  the quarter of Rydt, dedicated to their Lord ʾlmqh
   4  Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, this statue
   5  may He grant them the goodwill and the satisfaction of their lord
   6  S²mr Yhrʿs², king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, and
   7  in praise because He granted him the protection and the
   8  safety of His servant S²fʿṯt ʾs²wʿ of the family Hmdn
   9  and of Fys²n and S¹ʾrn from the expedition he undertook
  10  and conducted against the nomad groups of S¹fln and Yʾmm and of Qryt
  11  and Ḏʾbn and ʾrs²m, when they waged war on the land
  12  of Ḥs²dm, and he caught them at Kwrnhn, and they killed
  13  among them three hundred and twenty men, fatally wounded,
  14  and seized all their prisonsers and their booty;
  15  and from the expedition they undertook in Tdḥn against ʿkm
  16  and the expedition they undertook in ʿtwd and Rymm against Dwʾt, and they came back
  17  from all those expeditions with enemy casualties and spoils
  18  and prisoners and booty and loot that satisfy their hearts;
  19  may ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, grant them
  20  good undertakings and the goodwill and the satisfaction of the their lord S²mr
  21  Yhrʿs², king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, and may He grant them the safety of
  22  the persons of His servant S²fʿṯt ʾs²wʿ and his son
  23  Zydm of the family Hmdn and Fys²n and S¹ʾrn, and may He
  24  grant them good harvests in their valleys and their fields
  25  irrigated by canals and their cultivated areas, and may He deliver them from the subjection
  26  [... ...] of any enemy. By ʾlmqh, Lord of ʾwm.

2	For the identification of the toponyms, see Ryckmans 1974 a: 500-502.

Ryckmans, Jacques 1974 a: 500-502	Ryckmans, Jacques 1974. Himyaritica 4. Le Muséon, 87: 493-521.
Beeston 1976 b: 32	Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1976. Warfare in ancient South Arabian (2nd.-3rd. centuries A.D.). Qahtan. Studies in Old Arabian Epigraphy. 3. London: Luzac and Co.

OBJECT INFORMATION

Deposit	Ṣanʿāʾ, al-Kuhālī collection (Private collection)
Support type	Artefact » Base » Of statue with dedicatory inscription
Material	Stone
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin and provenance

Modern site	Maḥram Bilqīs
Ancient site	ʾwm
Geographical area	Maʾrib
Country	Yemen
Archaeological context	Religious context: Temple of ʾlmqh Ṯhwn bʿl ʾwm
Link to site record

BIBLIOGRAPHY

al-Iryānī 1973: 99-106	al-Iryānī, Muṭahhar 1973. Fī taʾriḫ al-Yaman. Cairo.
Ryckmans, Jacques 1974 a: 500-502	Ryckmans, Jacques 1974. Himyaritica 4. Le Muséon, 87: 493-521.
Beeston 1976 b: 32	Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1976. Warfare in ancient South Arabian (2nd.-3rd. centuries A.D.). Qahtan. Studies in Old Arabian Epigraphy. 3. London: Luzac and Co.
al-Iryānī 1990: 134-142	al-Iryānī, Muṭahhar 1990. Fī-taʾrīḫ al-Yaman. Nuquš musnadiya wa-taʿliqāt. Ṣanʿāʾ: Markaz al-dirāsāt wa-l-buḥūṯ al-Yamanī.
al-Nāshirī 2024: 227, 228, pl. 7	al-Nāshirī, ʿAlī Muḥammad 2024. Nuqūš min ʿahd al-malikayn al-ḥimyarīyayn Yāsir Yuhanʿim w-abnuhū Šammar Yuharʿiš. Raydān, 15: 152-232.