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

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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

3.4-4

Chronology

Period

Textual typology

Dedicatory text

TEXT

Apparatus

4, 8, 20, 28, 29

Some variants in Nāmī's reading have to be considered errors: b-tmlʾ (l. 4), Tnʿm (l.8), lbb-hmw (l. 20), S²ʿḥ[... ...] (l. 28-29), mrṯdw (l. 29).

TRANSLATIONS

CSAI

English

   1  Hwfʿṯt Yzʾ[n and the family Kbs¹ym, ʾqwl of the tribe]
   2  Tnʿmm and Tnʿmt dedicated to ʾlmqhw Ṯhwn, Lord of
   3  ʾwm, the statue, in praise because ʾlmqhw fulfilled His servant
   4  Hwfʿṯt, of the family Kbs¹ym, with the favour and the good news he asked Him for,
   5  so that He irrigated and enriched their land with the cereals harvest of the winter, in
   6  the month in which they sought favours from Him, and ʾlmqhw fulfilled them
   7  in that favour and good news, and He irrigated their two valleys ḏ-Yʿd
   8  and ʾtb, and the one from the land of Tnʿmm in that month;
   9  may ʾlmqhw continue to promise and to announce good news to His servant Hwfʿṯt
  10  and the family Kbs¹ym that He will irrigate and satiate and fill with rain their
  11  basin ḏ-Yfd and all their land in all the rainy seasons of spring
  12  and autumn with continous rain; may ʾlmqhw continue to fulfill and gratify
  13  His servant Hwfʿṯt and the family Kbs¹ym in all the
  14  favours they requested and will request from Him, and may ʾlmqh
  15  grant His servant Hwfʿṯt of the family Kbs¹ym the goodwill and the
  16  satisfaction of their lords S¹ʿds²ms¹m ʾs¹rʿ and his son
  17  Mrṯdm Yhḥmd, kings of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, sons of
  18  ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb, king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, and may
  19  ʾlmqhw grant them prosperity and safety and good
  20  luck which will satisfy their hearts, and may ʾlmqhw
  21  grant them good crops and harvests from all
  22  their land and their valleys, and for their safety and the safety
  23  of their land and their tribe Tnʿmm, and so that
  24  ʾlmqhw may deliver His servant Hwfʿṯt and the family
  25  Kbs¹ym and their tribe from any evil and mischief and
  26  from all the maleficence and the malice of any enemy. By ʿṯtr and Hwbs¹
  27  and ʾlmqhw and by ḏt Ḥmym and ḏt Bʿdnm
  28  and by the solar deity of the king Tnf, and by ʾlmqhw Lord of S²wḥṭ
  29  and by their solar deity, Lady of the qyf-monument of Rs²m, and they committed their
  30  dedication to ʿṯtr S²rqn and ʾlmqhw, Lord of ʾwm.

OBJECT INFORMATION

Support type	Artefact » Base » Of statue with dedicatory inscription
Material	Stone
Measures	h. 149, w. 53.5, th. 39
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 Ṯhwn bʿl ʾwm
Link to site record

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Nāmī 1954 (NAG): 24-29 (photo between p. 24 and 25)	Nāmī, Khalīl Y. 1954. Nuqūš ʿarabiyya ǧanūbiyya (2nd collection). Majallat kulliyat al-ʾĀdāb bi-jāmiʿt Fuʾād al-ʾawwal (Cairo university), 16: 21-43. 2024/02/19; https://search.mandumah.com/Record/169998.
Jamme 1962 a: 125-126	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.
Ryckmans, Jacques 1974: pl. III/c	Ryckmans, Jacques 1974. Himyaritica 3. Le Muséon, 87: 237-263.