CSAI

Corpus of Sabaic Inscriptions (work in progress)


By kind permission of GOAM

INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

LanguageAncient South Arabian » Sabaic » Early Sabaic
AlphabetAncient South Arabian
Script typologyMonumental writing
Script cursusBoustrophedon
Writing techniqueIncision
Measure of letters4.4
Chronology
PeriodA
Textual typologyConstruction text

GENERAL NOTES

The photo, published here for the first time, confirmed that the stone is broken on the left side, where about two letters are missing. On the other hand, this was clear from the first editions of the text (RES, following Jaussen: "pierre tronquée de tous côtés" and Mordtmann-Mittwoch). On the contrary, Jamme's reading seemed to indicate a perfectly complete stone.
The publication of Ghul's estampage by Hayajneh has indeed confirmed Jamme's reading. The only possible explanation for this contradiction is to suppose the existence of different copies of the same text, of which one is complete, and the other one is fragmentary. This seems to be true as Hayajneh declares that in Ghul's Nachlass there are four pieces with siglum RES 3902bis n. 131 (=AM 60.1313).

TEXT


   1  ʾbʾmr bn Ṣbḥm bn[ Lzn]
   2  [bny ]w-kll mʾḫḏ-hw Yfd ḏ-
   3  ys¹qyn nḫl-hw Grbḥ (b)-[ʿṯ]—
   4  tr w-b ʾlmqh w-b ḏt Ḥmy(m)

Apparatus
The text between brackets is only in Ghul's estampage (following Jamme's former edition).
1Jamme restores bn[w] Lzn.
2-3ḫ reversed.

TRANSLATIONS

English

   1  ʾbʾmr son of Ṣbḥm of the family Lzn
   2  constructed and completed his basin Yfd, which
   3  irrigates his palmgrove Grbḥ, by ʿṯ‒
   4  tr and by ʾlmqh and by ḏt Ḥmym.

OBJECT INFORMATION

DepositAden, The National Museum, NAM 2364=AM 60.1813
Support typeStone inscription
MaterialStone
Measuresh. 20, w. 43, th. 7.5
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin
Modern siteUnknown
Ancient siteUnknown
Geographical areaUnknown
CountryUnknown
Archaeological contextAgricultural irrigation context
Link to site record

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jamme 1952 b: 130Jamme, Albert W.F. 1952. Pièces épigraphiques sud-arabes de la collection de K. Muncherjee, I. Le Muséon, 65: 95-137.
Hayajneh 2001: 243-245, fig. 9Hayajneh, Hani 2001. Anmerkungen zu einigen altsüdarabischen Inschriften anhand von Abklatschen aus dem Nachlass Mahmud al-Ghul. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy, 12/2: 236-248.