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

Main part = MaMB 139
Jamme 1962 a: pl. 27
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INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

Language

Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Central Middle Sabaic

Alphabet

Ancient South Arabian

Script typology

Monumental writing

Writing technique

Incision

Measure of letters

1.5

Chronology

Period

D. Conjectural

Textual typology

Dedicatory text

TEXT

TRANSLATIONS

CSAI

English

   1  ʿbydm and S¹ʿdm, of the family Ḥywm, the two
   2  mqtwyy of Ns¹rm ʾḥṣn of Mqrm,
   3  dedicated to ʾlmqh, Lord of ʾwm, these two statues in silver
   4  and a statue in bronze in praise because granted
   5  him ʾlmqh, Lord of ʾwm, to His servant S¹ʿdm
   6  to save and deliver the person of His servant
   7  S¹ʿdm because of this: the woman Brlt, she of Ns²n,
   8  bondwoman of Mqrm, asked him to obtain
   9  for her her son from her husband Rbs¹lm, and he,
  10  S¹ʿdm, entered against Rbs¹lm, as he had been asked; and,
  11  between both of them, an exchange of blows was caused for that child, and
  12  S¹ʿdm striked Rbs¹lm with a stick, and Rbs¹lm snatched
  13  the dagger of S¹ʿdm from his waist, and they struggled together
  14  for the dagger; and Rbs¹lm perished at
  15  his hands (in) the house; the hand of S¹ʿdm was slashed by the mark (inflicted by) Rbs¹lm.
  16  And ʾlmqh, Lord of ʾwm, may continue to help and to safeguard and to protect
  17  His servant S¹ʿdm.

6	Following Irvine 1967: 287-288, instead of Jamme 1962: 190 which translates "to act pleasingly for and to inflame with zeal". Both Jamme and Irvine connect hẓm to a root W/ʾẒM, instead Beeston in Addenda to Irvine's article connects hẓm to the root NẒM "save, deliver".
9	To take the pronouns -hw as having a feminine reference, as in our translation, is possible. Beeston in his Addenda to Irvine's article thinks that the pronouns could have a masculine reference and he translates ʾs¹ "head of the clan". In this case the ownership of the son of Brlt had been claimed by Rbs¹lm in virtue of his headship of the clan.
14-15	Beeston in his Addenda to Irvine's article notes that "Rbs¹m perished at his hands" is of good sense, but somewhat otiose, pehaps bn ydy-hw could be translated "in front of him" "on the spot". But this entails some rethinking about bytn at l. 15. For Beeston bytn could be a conjuction "while". We prefer the banal translation of the sentence.

Jamme 1962 a: 190-191	Jamme, Albert W.F. 1962. Sabaean Inscriptions from Maḥram Bilqîs (Mârib). (Publications of the American Foundation for the Study of Man, 3). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press.
Irvine 1967: 286-288, 292	Irvine, Arthur K. 1967. Homicide in pre-Islamic South Arabia. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 30: 277-291.

OBJECT INFORMATION

Deposit	Mārib
Support type	Artefact » Base » Of statue with dedicatory inscription
Material	Stone
Measures	h. 36.2, w. 24.8, th. 13
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 bʿl ʾwm
Link to site record

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jamme 1962 a: 190-191, pl. 27	Jamme, Albert W.F. 1962. Sabaean Inscriptions from Maḥram Bilqîs (Mârib). (Publications of the American Foundation for the Study of Man, 3). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press.
Irvine 1967: 286-288, 292	Irvine, Arthur K. 1967. Homicide in pre-Islamic South Arabia. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 30: 277-291.
Nebes 1987: 79, 92	Nebes, Norbert 1987. Zur Konstruktion von Subjekt und Objekt abhängiger Infinitive in Sabäischen. Pages 75-98 in Christian J. Robin and Muḥammad ʿA. Bāfaqīh (eds). Ṣayhadica. Recherches sur les inscriptions de l'Arabie préislamique offertes par ses collègues au professeur A.F. L. Beeston. (Arabie préislamique, 1). Paris: Librairie orientaliste Paul Geuthner.
Maraqten 2021 b: 185-186	Mohammed Maraqten 2021. The Management of Homicide Incidents in the Kingdom of Sabaʾ: A Study of a Sabaean Legal Procedure. Pages 171-198 in Sabina Antonini de Maigret and Alessio Agostini (eds). Missione Archeologica Italiana in Yemen Studi di materiali inediti e rivisitazioni alla memoria di Alessandro de Maigret / Italian Archaeological Mission in Yemen Essays on Unpublished and Newly Revised Materials in Memory of Alessandro de Maigret. Perugia: OL3.