CIAS 39.11/o 5 n° 3 Ry 375
By kind permission of GOAM
INSCRIPTION INFORMATION
| Language | Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Central Middle Sabaic | ||
| Alphabet | Ancient South Arabian | ||
| Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
| Writing technique | Incision | ||
| Measure of letters | 1.3 | ||
| Chronology |
| ||
| Textual typology | Dedicatory text |
TEXT
1 [... ... w-](ʾ)ḫy-hw S¹[... ...]
2 [... ...] bny Rḥbn ʾrymn hqnyw [ʾ]—
3 [lmq]h-bʿl-ʾwm ṣlmn ḏ-ḏhbn l-qb—
4 ly ḏt ʾl ḥyw l-hw wldm w-rʾ
5 k-s¹tydʿ w-s²ft ʾlmqh k-mʿn-mw
6 yḫmrn-hmw wldm ʾs¹m f-ʾw ʾṯ(t)—
7 (m) bn ʾṯt-hmw ʾbṣdqm-{ḏ}-ḏt Rḥ—
8 [b]n w-rʾ k-ḫmr-hmw ġlmm ḏ-ys¹—
9 [m]yn Yʿmr w-rʾ k-hwfyw ʾlmq—
10 [h] hqnytm l-hwfy(n) l-hmw bn-h—
11 [mw] Yʿmr w-wfy grybt-hmw w-ʾw—
12 [ld]-(h)mw w-ʾṯmr-hmw w-ʾfql-hmw
13 b-ʾlmqh-bʿl-ʾwm
| 8-9 | ḏ-yn[b]yn (G. Ryckmans). |
TRANSLATIONS
| English | |
1 [... ...] his brother S¹[... ...] 2 of the clan Rḥbn, of the tribe Rym, dedicated to 3 ʾlmqh Master of ʾwm the statue in bronze, because 4 any child survived to (=lived for) him (=them), so 5 they sought (the favour) from and made the promise to ʾlmqh as soon as 6 He should grant them a male or female child 7 from their wife ʾbṣdq of the clan Rḥbn, 8 and then He granted them a male child whose 9 name is Yʿmr, and then they offered to ʾlmqh 10 a dedication for the safety for them of their 11 son Yʿmr and the safety of their persons and their 12 children and their fruit crops and their harvests, 13 by ʾlmqh Master of ʾwm. |
OBJECT INFORMATION
| Deposit | Aden, The National Museum, NAM 1583=AM 104 |
| Support type | Artefact » Base » Of statue with dedicatory inscription |
| Material | Stone |
| Measures | h. 21, w. 7, th. 10.5 |
| Link to object record |
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 |
CULTURAL NOTES
The woman, ʾbṣdq, is wife of both the dedicants. This is one of the texts that would testify to the practice of polyandry in South Arabia.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
| Ryckmans, Gonzague 1949 a: 69-72 | Ryckmans, Gonzague 1949. Inscriptions sud-arabes. Huitième série. Le Muséon, 62: 55-124. |
| Ryckmans, Jacques 1954: 339-340 | Ryckmans, Jacques 1954. Le sens de ḏʾl en sud-arabe. Le Muséon, 67: 339-348. |
| Jamme 1956 c: 177-180 | Jamme, Albert W.F. 1956. Le pronom démonstratif sabéen mhn et les conjonctions composites lqbl(y)/d(t). Cahiers de Byrsa, 5: 173-180. |
| Müller, Walter W. 1974 e: 131 | Müller, Walter W. 1974. Sabäische Texte zur Polyandrie. Neue Ephemeris für Semitische Epigraphik, 2: 125-138. |
| Müller, Walter W. 1986 a: 156-157 | Müller, Walter W. 1986. Altsüdarabische Inschriften. Pages 149-157 in Manfried Dietrich (ed.). Deutungen der Zukunft in Briefen, Orakeln und Omina. Religiöse Texte. 1. Otto Kaiser (ed.), Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testaments. 2. Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn. |
| CIAS: ii, 75-77, photo | Beeston, Alfred F.L., Pirenne, Jacqueline and Robin, Christian J. 1977-1986. Corpus des inscriptions et antiquités sud-arabes: Vol. I (1977): Tome 1. Inscriptions. Tome 2. Antiquités; Vol. II (1986): Le Musée d’Aden. Tome 1. Inscriptions. Tome 2. Antiquités. Louvain: Peeters. [Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres] |