Language | Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Central Middle Sabaic | ||
Alphabet | Ancient South Arabian | ||
Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
Writing technique | Incision | ||
Chronology |
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Textual typology | Dedicatory text |
The text between brackets was still extant when Iryānī and Ghul copied the inscription. | |
1 | Ghul's reading Ydfṯ (see Bron 1992) confirms ʿInān's transcription, instead of Iryānī's Ydf. |
8 | Beeston transcribes w-tʾwlw, but the absence of the final w is clear on the photograph. |
32-33 | Beeston division of the epithet Ṯhwn between the lines is wrong. |
33 | Both Beeston and Bron transcribe ġbt instead of ġbṭ. |
English | |
1 Krbʿṯt Ydfṯ and S¹ʿdʿṯtr Ys¹kr, of the families Grt and 2 ḏ-Zbnr w-Tzʾd, ʾqwl of the tribe Ḏmry, quarters of S¹mhrm, 3 dedicated to ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, two statues in bronze, 4 in praise because they came back and were safe their lords ʾls²rḥ 5 Yḥḍb and his brother Yʾzl Byn, kings of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, sons of Frʿm 6 Ynhb, king of Sabaʾ, with their army and their cavalry from the expeditions 7 they made and fought against the Ḥbs²t and ʿkm and ḏ-S¹hrtm 8 and all their supporters in S¹hrtn, and they returned from those expeditions 9 and fightings in safety and with enemy casualties and spoils and prisoners and booty 10 and loot in quantity, which satisfied and gratified their lords ʾls²rḥ 11 Yḥḍb and his brother Yʾzl Byn, kings of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān; in praise 12 because His servant Krbʿṯt, of the family Grt, came back and was safe 13 from those expeditions and fightings that they made and (during which) they accompanied their lords ʾls²rḥ 14 Yḥḍb and his brother Yʾzl Byn, kings of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, in safety and with 15 enemy casualties and prisoners and booty of which satisfied them; may ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord 16 of ʾwm, continue to destroy and humiliate and overwhelm and crush every enemy and ill-wisher of their lords 17 ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb and his brother Yʾzl Byn, kings of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān; 18 in praise because ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, saved His servants 19 Krbʿṯt and S¹ʿdʿṯtr, of the family Grt, in all the favours and requests and 20 favourable oracles and good announcements that they had sought and requested from ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord 21 of ʾwm, in all the autumns and rainy seasons before this dedication; in 22 praise because He granted and bestowed favours to His servants Krbʿṯt and S¹ʿdʿṯtr, 23 of the family Grt, in the works and the completion they did and built and completed 24 and finished off in their house, in the house of Grt in the town of Nʿḍ; may 25 ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, continue to grant their servants Krbʿṯt 26 and S¹ʿdʿṯtr, of the family Grt, the goodwill and the satisfaction of their lords ʾls²rḥ 27 Yḥḍb and his brother Yʾzl Byn, kings of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, and may He 28 grant them soundness of faculties and material resources and healthy male 29 children and abundance of spring and autumn and summer and winter 30 and thunderstorms and rains and autumn harvests and good healthy crops 31 in abundance in all their land that the family Grt have cultivated and will cultivate 32 in the East and in the highland; may ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, 33 Lord of ʾwm, deliver them from the malice and the maleficence and the envy and the slander of any enemy 34 and evildoer, the one they are aware of and the one they are not aware of. By ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, 35 Lord of ʾwm, and by their lords ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb and his brother Yʾzl 36 Byn, kings of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān. |
Deposit | Muscat, The National Museum |
Support type | Artefact » Base » Of statue with dedicatory inscription |
Material | Stone |
Link to object record |
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 |
Sharafaddīn 1961: 43 (photo) | Sharafaddīn, Aḥmad H. 1961. Yemen. Arabia Felix. Taʿizz. |
Sharafaddīn 1967: ii, 51, fig. 44 | Sharafaddīn, Aḥmad H. 1967. Taʾrīḫ al-Yaman al-ṯaqāfī. Cairo. |
al-Iryānī 1973: 114-119 | al-Iryānī, Muṭahhar 1973. Fī taʾriḫ al-Yaman. Cairo. |
Ryckmans, Jacques 1974 a: 503-505 | Ryckmans, Jacques 1974. Himyaritica 4. Le Muséon, 87: 493-521. |
Beeston 1975 a: 190-192 | Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1975. Notes on Old South Arabian Lexicography IX. Le Muséon, 88: 187-198. |
ʿInān 1976: 245-251 | ʿInān, Zaid b. ʿA 1976. Taʾriḫ ḥaḍāra al-Yaman al-qadīm. Cairo. |
al-Iryānī 1990: 148-152 | al-Iryānī, Muṭahhar 1990. Fī-taʾrīḫ al-Yaman. Nuquš musnadiya wa-taʿliqāt. Ṣanʿāʾ: Markaz al-dirāsāt wa-l-buḥūṯ al-Yamanī. |
Bron 1992: 79-83 (photos) | Bron, François 1992. Mémorial Mahmud al-Ghul. Inscriptions sudarabiques. Paris: Librairie orientaliste Paul Geuthner / Sanʿāʾ: Centre français d'études yéménites. |
Beeston 1994: 37-39, pls 15-16 | Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1994. Lineation of the Sabaic text Ir 19. Raydān, 6: 37-39, pls 15-16. |