CSAI

Corpus of Sabaic Inscriptions (work in progress)


INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

LanguageAncient South Arabian » Sabaic » Central Middle Sabaic
AlphabetAncient South Arabian
Script typologyMonumental writing
Writing techniqueRelief
Chronology
PeriodD

GENERAL NOTES

As the text is fragmentary we cannot determine whether the verb hḥdṯw entails here a dedication to the god or it is employed as a construction verb.

TEXT


   1  [... ...]m hḥdṯw qyf S²ms¹-hmw bʿlt Gḥft w-l ḥ[... ...]
   2  [... ...] w-hflgn s²rʿtm ʾrḍ-hmw ḏ-Ġl[.] w-ʾqyḍ tqyḍw [... ...]
   3  [... ...]bqln hs²[..] ʾ[ʿ]nb w-ʾklʾ wyn-hmw b-ʾwr((b-ʾwr)) [... ...]

Apparatus
The three travellers and epigraphists, who saw the inscription, all reported different transcriptions.
The text was then emended by Hommel, whose interpretation was accepted, except for a few slight alterations, by Beeston. His reading, though impossible to be entirely confirmed on the basis of the photo, is here reported.
1]m is probably the end of a proper name.
2We prefer to read hflgn following Hommel contra Beeston (hflln) (but he then corrected himself in SD: 44).
The name of the land is read as Ġlb (Glaser) and Ġls¹ (Beeston).
3At the end of the line ḏ-ʾwr as the name of the vineyard is also possible.

TRANSLATIONS

English

   1  [... ...] they renewed the stela of their S²ms¹, Mistress of Gḥft and [... ...]
   2  [... ...] and cut a water channel for their land ḏ-Ġl[.] and (for ?) the wells they cut [... ...]
   3  [... ...] planted .... the vines and the young herbage of their vineyard in (?) ʾwr[... ...].
"renewed the altar-stone of their sun-goddess the lady of Gḥft ..." (Beeston).

OBJECT INFORMATION

Support typeStone inscription (qyf)
MaterialStone
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Provenance
Modern siteUnknown
Ancient siteUnknown
Geographical areaUnknown
CountryUnknown
FoundReemployed. In modern times
NotesThe inscription was seen reemployed in one of the Ṣanʿāʾ mosques by Cruttenden, Halevy and Glaser.
Link to site record

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Beeston 1937 a: 5Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1937. Sabaean inscriptions. Oxford.