CSAI

Corpus of Sabaic Inscriptions (work in progress)

DASI

Nāmī NAG 12 Ir 11


Higher fragment
Image free from copyright

INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

LanguageAncient South Arabian » Sabaic » Central Middle Sabaic
AlphabetAncient South Arabian
Script typologyMonumental writing
Writing techniqueIncision
Chronology
PeriodD
Textual typologyDedicatory text
Royal inscriptionYes

TEXT


   1  (S²)[ʿ](rm) ʾwtr mlk S¹bʾ bn (ʿlhn) (Nhfn)
   2  mlk S¹bʾ hqny ʾlmqh bʿl ʾwm ḏn
   3  ṣlmn ḥg-n k-tflw b-ʿm ʾlmqh bʿl ʾwm l-
   4  ḏt wqh-hmw ʾlmqh b-ms¹ʾl-hw l-s²ym ḥrb—
   5  m b-mḥrmn ḏ-ʾwm w-wkbw mlʾm l-Ḥywm bn
   6  Ġṯrbn l-ḥrb byn tʿmtn b-wrḫ ḏ-ʾlʾlt ḏ-ḫ—
   7  rf Wddʾl bn Ḥywm bn Kbr-Ḫll ḫms¹n w-ʾ—
   8  l ḥrb b-hwt wrḫn ʿl-n ḏ-ʾl tqrʿ s¹lṭm w-ys¹—
   9  rw S¹ʿdtʾlb bn Dwmn l-ḥrb b-hw b-ywm ṯm—
  10  nym ḏ-Frʿ wrḫ ḏ-ʾbhy ḏ-m-ḏn ḫrfn w-ḥrb b-hw
  11  ʿdy ghmy ywm ʾrbʿm ḏ-Fqḥy w-ʾl mhn hrʾy-
  12  hmw ʾlmqh b-ṣdġ hwt ʾys¹n S¹ʿdtʾlb w-ts²—
  13  ryw ʾlmqh b-ms¹ʾl-hw w-wkbw mlʾm k-ʿl-n ḏ-[ʾ]—
  14  l ḥrb ḥrbn b-hwt wrḫn ḏ-ʾlʾlt w-ʿl-n [ḏ-ʾ]—
  15  l ḥrb Ḥywm ḥg-n hwkb l-hw mlʾm w-ʿl-n ḏ-ʾ—
  16  (l qm)[ʿ ↯Ḥywm] ʿdy ʾwm l-s¹tydʿn w-tḍʿn b-ʿm
  17  [ʾlmqh ... ...]s¹bʾ ḥrbn l-ḥrb w-rʾ k-wqh ʾl—
  18  [mqh ʿbd-hw] S²ʿrm ʾwtr mlk S¹bʾ l-hqnyn-hw ḏ—
  19  [n ṣl]mn tkrm l-qbly ḏ-ʾl hwfyw kl ḏ-s¹ṭ—
  20  r b-ḏt hqnytn w-ʾlmqh bʿl ʾwm f-rʾ k-ṣ—
  21  ry b-ms¹ʾl-hw ʿbd-hw S²ʿrm ʾwtr mlk S¹bʾ w-b—
  22  ytn S¹l(ḥn)( w)-Ġmdn w-ʾdm-hw S¹bʾ w-Fys²n w-b—
  23  ʿd-hw f-[s¹bʾw] Ḥywm bn Ġṯrbn l-ḥrb byn
  24  tʿmtn b-ywm ḫms¹n ḏ-Fqḥy wrḫ ḏ-ʾbhy ḏ-m-ḏ—
  25  n ḫrfn ḥg-n wqh ʾlmqh l-s¹bʾ Ḥywm l-ḥr—
  26  b w-ḫwd-hmw ʾlmqh b-ṣdġ hwt ʾs¹n Ḥywm
  27  [b]n Ġṯrbn l-ʾrḫ nḍʿw b-ʿbr ʾlmqh ḏ-hrḍw-
  28  [hmw] b-ʿṯtr w-Hbs¹ w-ʾlmqh w-b-ḏt Ḥmym
  29  [w-b-ḏt Bʿdn] w-b s²ms¹-hmw Tnf

Apparatus
4-5Ryckmans: ḥrbn, but on the photograph one can clearly read ḥrbm.

TRANSLATIONS

CSAI
English

   1  S²ʿrm ʾwtr, king of Sabaʾ, son of ʿlhn Nhfn,
   2  king of Sabaʾ, dedicated to ʾlmqh, Lord of ʾwm, this
   3  statue as they had implored from ʾlmqh, Lord of ʾwm,
   4  because ʾlmqh had ordered them in His oracle to perform a procedure for obtaining an
   5  oracle in the temple of ʾwm and they received an oracle for Ḥywm of
   6  the family Ġṯrbn to perform the procedure between two twilights (?) in the month ḏ-ʾlʾlt of the fifth
   7  year of Wddʾl, son of Ḥywm, of the family Kbr-Ḫll but they did not
   8  perform the procedure in that month since he did not draw divinatory arrows, and they sent
   9  S¹ʿdtʾlb, of the family Dwmn, to perform the procedure in it (the sanctuary) in the eighth day
  10  of ḏ-Frʿ of the month of ḏ-ʾbhy of this very year and he performed the procedure in it
  11  until the last two parts of the night of the fourth day of ḏ-Fqḥy, but ʾlmqh did not show
  12  them anything in the oracular manifestation of that man S¹ʿdtʾlb, so
  13  they sought the protection of ʾlmqh in His oracle and received an oracle that since
  14  he did not perform the procedure in that month ḏ-ʾlʾlt and since
  15  Ḥywm did not perform the procedure as He gave him the oracle and since
  16  Ḥywm did not penetrate into ʾwm to seek the oracular knowledge and implore
  17  [ʾlmqh ... ...] to constrain the one performing the procedure to perform it, and indeed ʾlmqh
  18  ordered His servant S²ʿrm ʾwtr, king of Sabaʾ, to dedicate to Him this
  19  statue as an amend because they did not fulfill everything that was inscribed
  20  in this dedication and indeed ʾlmqh, Lord of ʾwm, gave a favourable
  21  decision in His oracle to His servant S²ʿrm ʾwtr, king of Sabaʾ, and to
  22  the palace S¹lḥn and Ġmdn and to His vassals Sabaʾ and Fys²n and after
  23  that they constrained Ḥywm, of the family Ġṯrbn, to perform the procedure between
  24  the two twilights (?) in the fifth day of ḏ-Fqḥy of the month of ḏ-ʾbhy of this very
  25  year, as ʾlmqh had ordered to constrain Ḥywm to
  26  perform the procedure; ʾlmqh announced (an oracle) to them in the oracular manifestation of that man Ḥywm,
  27  of the family Ġṯrbn, regarding what they had implored from ʾlmqh, that satisfied them.
  28  By ʿṯtr and Hbs¹ and ʾlmqh and by ḏt Ḥmym
  29  and by ḏt Bʿdn and by their solar deity Tnf.
Ryckmans interprets the key verb and substantive ḥrb as "to combat, the combat", while the SD proposes for the instances of this text "procedure for obtaining an oracle".
12-13w-ts²ryw ʾlmqh: "alors ils firent amende honorable envers ʾlmqh" (Ryckmans)
13-14k-ʿl-n ḏ-[ʾ]l ḥrb ḥrbn: "parce qu'on n’avait pas effectué le combat" (Ryckmans).
26w-ḫwd-hmw ʾlmqh .... l-ʾrḫ nḍʿw b-ʿbr ʾlmqh: "und ʾLMQH verkündete ihnen (einen Orakelspruch) .... bezüglich der Angelegenheit, in welcher sie sich gegen ʾLMQH vergangen hatten" (Stein)
Ryckmans, Jacques 1968 a: 263Ryckmans, Jacques 1968. La mancie par ḥrb en Arabie du Sud ancienne: l'inscription NAMI NAG 12. Pages 261-273 in Erwin Gräf (ed.). Festschrift Werner Caskel zum siebzigsten Geburtstag 5. März 1966: gewidmet von Freunden und Schülern. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
Beeston et al. 1982 (=SD): 70Beeston, Alfred F.L., al-Ghūl, Maḥmūd ʿA., Müller, Walter W. and Ryckmans, Jacques 1982. Sabaic Dictionary (English-French-Arabic). Dictionnaire Sabéen (anglais-français-arabe). Louvain-la-Neuve: Éditions Peeters / Beirut: Libraire du Liban.
Stein 2003 a: 193Stein, Peter 2003. Untersuchungen zur Phonologie und Morphologie des Sabäischen. (Epigraphische Forschungen auf der Arabischen Halbinsel, 3). Rahden: Marie Leidorf GmbH / Westf.: Marie Leidorf GmbH.

OBJECT INFORMATION

DepositṢanʿāʾ, al-Kuhālī collection (Private collection)
Support typeArtefact » Base » Of statue with dedicatory inscription
MaterialStone
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin and provenance
Modern siteMaḥram Bilqīs
Ancient siteʾwm
Geographical areaMaʾrib
CountryYemen
Archaeological contextReligious context: Temple of ʾlmqh bʿl ʾwm
Link to site record

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Nāmī 1960 (NAG): 53-61 (photo)Nāmī, Khalīl Y. 1960. Nuqūš ʿarabiyya ǧanūbiyya (4th collection). Majallat kulliyat al-ʾĀdāb bi-jāmiʿt Fuʾād al-ʾawwal (Cairo university), 22: 53-63. 2024/02/19; http://search.mandumah.com/Record/170998.
al-Iryānī 1973: 64-66al-Iryānī, Muṭahhar 1973. Fī taʾriḫ al-Yaman. Cairo.
Ryckmans, Jacques 1968 a: 261-273Ryckmans, Jacques 1968. La mancie par ḥrb en Arabie du Sud ancienne: l'inscription NAMI NAG 12. Pages 261-273 in Erwin Gräf (ed.). Festschrift Werner Caskel zum siebzigsten Geburtstag 5. März 1966: gewidmet von Freunden und Schülern. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
Müller, Walter W. 1986 a: 152-154Müller, 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.
al-Iryānī 1990: 96-99al-Iryānī, Muṭahhar 1990. Fī-taʾrīḫ al-Yaman. Nuquš musnadiya wa-taʿliqāt. Ṣanʿāʾ: Markaz al-dirāsāt wa-l-buḥūṯ al-Yamanī.