CSAI

Corpus of Sabaic Inscriptions (work in progress)


By kind permission of British Museum

INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

LanguageAncient South Arabian » Sabaic » Early Sabaic
AlphabetAncient South Arabian
Script typologyMonumental writing
Writing techniqueCast
Chronology
PeriodA
Textual typologyDedicatory text

TEXT


   1  [ ... ...]ʾl bn ʿmʾns¹ rs²w Rhmw hqny Rhmw Lḥyʿ←ṯt w-Ṣbḥhmw ywm ← [q](yn) ʿṯtr ḏ-Ms¹wʿtm b-ʿṯtr

Apparatus
1Lundin and Frantsouzoff read the verb: [ṣ](yd) "led a sacred hunt", but the third letter couldn't be a d, as ]yn is clearly legible. We integrated: q]yn.

TRANSLATIONS

English

   1  [... ...]ʾl son of ʿmʾns¹, priest of Rhmw, dedicated to Rhmw Lḥyʿṯt and Ṣbḥhmw, when he was the qyn of ʿṯtr ḏ-Ms¹wʿtm. By ʿṯtr.

OBJECT INFORMATION

DepositLondon, The British Museum, BM 135323+BM 135324=1970,0604.1-2
Support typeArtefact » Altar
ShapeSquared
MaterialBronze
Measuresh. 66, w. 110, th. 34.5
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin
Modern siteUnknown
Ancient siteUnknown
Geographical areaUnknown
CountryUnknown
NotesMārib as the place of origin for the altar is purely hypothetical and only suggested by the splendour of the bronze altar.
Link to site record

CULTURAL NOTES

A man, priest of the god Rhmw, dedicated two men to Rhmw, when he was "qyn" (reading not sure) of another god, ʿṯtr ḏ-Ms¹wʿtm.
The god is unknown apart from this inscription. The city of Rmw, mentioned in CIH 616, which was located on the high plateau, probably has no link with the theonym.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lundin and Frantsouzoff 1997: 384-391Lundin (=Loundine), Avraam G. and Frantsouzoff, Serguei A. 1997. An Inscribed Sabean Bronze Altar from the British Museum. St. Petersburg Journal of Oriental Studies, 9: 384-391.
Simpson 2002: 169, cat. 213Simpson, St John (ed.) 2002. Queen of Sheba. Treasures from the ancient Yemen. London: British Museum Press. [Catalogue of an exhibition held at the British Museum, London]
Jändl 2009: 49-50, 146Jändl, Barbara 2009. Altsüdarabische Inschriften auf Metall. (Epigraphische Forschungen auf der Arabischen Halbinsel, 4). Tübingen: Wasmuth / Berlin: Wasmuth.