Nihm/al-Quṭra 1 MAFRAY-Quṭra 1
Robin 1979 a: 186, fig. 3
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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 | 5.7 | ||
| Chronology |
| ||
| Textual typology | Legal text |
TEXT
1 w-l-k-ḏy ʾl-s³n ns²ʾ bn hgrn M(ṭ)—
2 rtm kl ḥṣmm blty qht w-
3 ʾḏn bn S¹ḫymm w-ʾl-s³n ʿḏbn
4 bn bnt hgrn Mṭrtm ʿdy s¹—
5 ʾrt brṯm w-hgrm ġyr hgrn M—
6 ṭrtm w-ʾl s³n hrg bnt-hw b—
7 n-kl s²ʿbn ḏ-Mṭrtm|
TRANSLATIONS
| English | |
1 It is forbidden to expel (bring out) from the city of Mṭ- 2 rtm all ḥṣmm without the order and 3 the permission of the family S¹ḫymm; it is forbidden to marry 4 some of the daughters of the city of Mṭrtm, in 5 every place and city other than the city of M- 6 ṭrtm; it is forbidden to kill its daughters 7 belonging to all the tribe ḏ-Mṭrtm. |
| 2 | ḥṣmm is not easy to translate. Robin 1979 a: "emporter ... moisson"; Robin 1991-93 a: "intenter tout procès"; Müller 1983: " levy taxes"; Beeston and Jamme prefer to consider ḥṣmm a category of persons. Frantsouzoff 2016: "un fugitif". |
| 6-7 | Robin 1991-1993 a: "et interdit de tuer sa fille à toute la tribu dhū-Maṭira". |
| Robin 1979 a: 185 | Robin, Christian J. 1979. Mission archéologique et épigraphique française au Yémen du Nord en automne 1978. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres: 174-202. |
OBJECT INFORMATION
| Support type | Stone inscription |
| Material | Stone |
| Measures | h. 46, w. 55 |
| Link to object record |
ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE
| Modern site | Quṭra |
| Ancient site | Mṭrtm |
| Geographical area | Nihm |
| Country | Yemen |
| Link to site record |
CULTURAL NOTES
The clause 1 of the decree is not clear: the decree prevents the inhabitants of the city of Mṭrtm from exporting goods or expelling people which are indispensable for the life of the town. The second and the third clauses are particularly interesting as a father must not give his daughters to a stranger nor kill them (according to the editor, the decree is referring to infanticide).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
| Robin 1979 a: 185-190, fig. 3 | Robin, Christian J. 1979. Mission archéologique et épigraphique française au Yémen du Nord en automne 1978. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres: 174-202. |
| Jamme 1981: 106-107 | Jamme, Albert W.F. 1981. Pre-islamic Arabian Miscellanea. Pages 95-112 in Roswitha G. Stiegner (ed.). al-Hudhud. Festschrift Maria Höfner zum 80. Geburtstag. Graz: Karl-Franzens-Universität. |
| Beeston 1981 a: 21-25 | Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1981. Miscellaneous Epigraphic Notes. Raydān, 4: 9-28. |
| Beeston 1981 b: 28-29 | Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1981. Two epigraphic South Arabian roots: HYʿ and KRB. Pages 21-34 in Roswitha G. Stiegner (ed.). al-Hudhud. Festschrift Maria Höfner zum 80. Geburtstag. Graz: Karl-Franzens-Universität. |
| Müller, Walter W. 1983: 275-276 | Müller, Walter W. 1983. Altsüdarabische Dokumente. Pages 268-282 in Diethelm Conrad (ed.). Dokumente zum Rechts- und Wirtschaftsleben. Otto Kaiser (ed.), Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testaments. 1.3. Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn. |
| Nebes 1987: 92 | Nebes, Norbert 1987. Zur Konstruktion von Subjekt und Objekt abhängiger Infinitive in Sabäischen. Pages 75-98 in Christian J. Robin and Muḥammad ʿA. Bāfaqīh (eds). Ṣayhadica. Recherches sur les inscriptions de l'Arabie préislamique offertes par ses collègues au professeur A.F. L. Beeston. (Arabie préislamique, 1). Paris: Librairie orientaliste Paul Geuthner. |
| Robin 1991-1993 a: 141-143 | Robin, Christian J. (ed.) 1991-1993 [1992]. L'Arabie antique de Karibʾîl à Mahomet. Nouvelles données sur l'histoire des Arabes grâces aux inscriptions. (Revue du Monde Musulman et de la Mediterranée, 61). Aix-en-Provence: Édisud. |
| Frantsouzoff 2016: 122-124, pl. 40 | Frantsouzoff, Serguei A. 2016. Nihm. Fasc. A: Les documents. Fasc. B: Les planches. With contribution by Christian J. Robin. Inventaire des inscriptions sudarabiques. (8 vols), Paris: De Boccard. [Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres; Collège de France, Laboratoire des Études Sémitiques anciennes; Académie des sciences de Russie Institut des manuscrits orientaux] |