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

Müller, Walter W. 1976 a: pl. IV/5-6
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INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

Language

Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Late Sabaic

Alphabet

Ancient South Arabian

Script typology

Monumental writing

Writing technique

Relief

Chronology

Period	E
Date	614 Ḥim

Textual typology

Construction text

TEXT

Apparatus

3	the king's epithet is written Ynwf in Gar Antichità 9d,2.
4	for Ymnt see Robin 2013: 131-133.
6	at the beginning, the two first words are read by Müller. The end of the line is based on the editor's reading; the text is not readable from the photo.

TRANSLATIONS

CSAI

English

      [... ...]
   1  in bronze. They built all (the construction) in undressed stones and in smooth stones of their house Ykrb in one year; and in that year they undertook (the construction)
   2  by completing (the work). Moreover, they provided their house Yrs¹ with two lions in bronze and all the bronze (objects) with which they provided their two houses belong
   3  exclusively to them. They built their house with the assistance and the help of Rḥmnn, most merciful, and with the assistance and the aid of their lord Mrṯdʾln Ynf
   4  king of Sabaʾ, ḏu-Raydān, Ḥaḍramawt, Yamanat, their Arabs of Ṭwdm and of Thmt, and with the assistance and the aid of their lords, their protectors,
   5  Lḥyʿt Ynf ḏ-Hṣbḥ and S²rḥbʾl ʾs¹ʿd ḏ-Mʿfrm and with the assistance of their brother Wfym Yrḫm ḏ-ʿṯkln and with the
   6  assistance, the protection and their brothers and the tribal confederation of Sabaʾ Khln. In the month of ḏ-Mḏrʾn of the year six hundred fourteen. May Rḥmnn give prosperity to Ykrb and to Yrs¹.

2	"they provided it with plant ornamentation" (Müller).

OBJECT INFORMATION

Support type	Inscription on architectural structure
Material	Stone
Measures	h. 36, w. 195
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Provenance

Modern site	Maʾrib
Ancient site	Mryb / Mrb
Geographical area	Maʾrib
Country	Yemen
Found	Reemployed. In modern times
Archaeological context	Urban context: Private house Yrs¹
Link to site record

CULTURAL NOTES

Religion

The God's epithet mtrḥm has been compared by Ryckmans, Jacques 1964 to the Quranic formula ar-Raḥmān ar-raḥīm. However, the scholar also asserted, in other occasions, a Jewish character of this expression.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ryckmans, Gonzague 1952: 46-49	Ryckmans, Gonzague 1952. Epigraphical texts. Ahmed Fakhry, An archaeological Journey to Yemen (March-May 1947). ii. Cairo: Government Press.
Müller, Walter W. 1976 a: 62-67, pl. IV/5-6	Müller, Walter W. 1976. Neuinterpretation altsüdarabischer Inschriften: RES 4698, CIH 45+44, Fa 74. Annali dell'Istituto Orientale di Napoli, 36/1: 55-67.
Schmidt 1987: 139, 140, pls 14/d, 18/a	Schmidt, Jürgen 1987. Antiken aus dem Stadtgebiet von Mārib. Archäologische Berichte aus dem Yemen, 4: 131-142.
Gajda 1997: 68-70	Gajda, Iwona 1997. Ḥimyar gagné par le monothéisme (IVe-VIe siècle de l'ère chrétienne). Ambitions et ruine d'un royaume de l'Arabie méridionale antique. (Université d'Aix-en-Provence).
Müller, Walter W. 2010: 89-90	Müller, Walter W. 2010. Sabäische Inschriften nach Ären datiert. Bibliographie, Texte und Glossar. (Veröffentlichungen der Orientalischen Kommission, 53). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.
Ryckmans, Jacques 1964	Ryckmans, Jacques 1964. Le christianisme en Arabie du Sud préislamique. Pages 413-543 in L'Oriente cristiano nella Storia della Civiltà. Atti del Convegno Internazionale sul tema: l'Oriente cristiano nella Storia della Civiltà. (Roma 31 marzo-3 aprile 1963; Firenze 4 aprile 1963). Rome: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei.
Robin 2013	Robin, Christian J. 2013. À propos de Ymnt et Ymn: « nord » et « sud », « droite » et « gauche », dans les inscriptions de l'Arabie antique. Pages 119-140 in Françoise Briquel-Chatonnet, Catherine Fauveaud and Iwona Gajda (eds). Entre Carthage et l’Arabie heureuse. Mélanges offerts à François Bron. (Orient & Méditerranée, 12). Paris: de Boccard.