Gar Sharahbil A ẒM 1 A
By kind permission of GOAM
INSCRIPTION INFORMATION
| Language | Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Late Sabaic | ||||
| Alphabet | Ancient South Arabian | ||||
| Script typology | Monumental writing | ||||
| Writing technique | Relief | ||||
| Chronology |
| ||||
| Textual typology | Construction text | ||||
| Royal inscription | Yes |
GENERAL NOTES
| The stone block is inscribed on the frontal (Gar Sharahbil A) and on the upper face (Gar Sharahbil B). The inscription is dated to 462 CE. |
TEXT
1 [S²r]ḥbʾl Yʿfr [m](lk )S¹bʾ w-[ḏ-Rydn w-Ḥḍrmwt w-Ymnt w-ʾʿrb-hmw Ṭwdm]
2 [w-Thm]t bnw ʾbkrb ʾs¹ʿd [mlk S¹bʾ] w-ḏ-Rydn [w-Ḥḍrmwt w-Ymnt] w-[ʾʿrb-h]—
3 [mw Ṭw]dm w-Thmt brʾw w-hwṯrn w-ʿḏbn byt-hmw Hrgb (b)[n] (mwṯr)-hw ʿdy s²[q]—
4 [r-hw] w-hgbʾ-hw tbytm ġyr t[b]yt-hw ʾqdmn w-s²mw l-s²yḥ-hw s¹qfn ʿlyn m—
5 [nhmt](m) w-rbʿtm w-ʾlhgm mwglm w-nʿyw l-hw s²rʿtm ʾṯwrm ʿṣbym w-(ʾl)bʾm |
6 w-mʿhrtm ḏhbm byn ʾṯwrn ḏ-
7 ʿṣbyn s¹wn ʿs¹-hw b-ws¹ṭ ms³—
8 wdn w-wzʾw b-hw ʾʿmdm ʿ—
9 ṣbym b-ws¹ṭ mẓlln w-tfrʿ-
10 hw w-s²rʿ-hw ʾṣlmm w-ʾwʿlm w-ʾlbʾm w-ʾnmrm ḏhbm w-ʿḏbw ʿm-hw
11 ʿrmn((ʿrmn)) ḏ-b-Mrb ms¹rm w-s²ṣnm w-brʾw Rḥbm kl ʿwd-hw w-hqs²bw rtḥm |
12 s¹fl ʿrmn((ʿrmn)) b-ʿwdn b-ḫrfm ʾḥd b-nṣr w-rdʾ w-mqm mrʾ-hmw Rḥmnn bʿl
13 s¹myn w-ʾrḍn w-b-ʾḫyl w-rdʾ ʾs²ʿb-hmw w-ʾḫms¹-hmw S¹bʾ w-Ḥmyrm [w]-Ḥḍrmwt w-
14 Ymnt w-[kw]n ḏn mqḥn b-wrḫn ḏ-ʾln ḏ-b-ḫrfn ḏ-l-ṯny w-s¹bʿy w-ḫms¹ mʾtm |
| 1 | for Ymnt see Robin 2013: 131-133. |
| 3 | it is clearly readable Hgrb instead of Hgrm (Garbini). |
| 3-4 | m[rymn] (Garbini), f[rʿ-hw] (Gajda). |
| 4 | ġyr t(qlt)-hw (Garbini). |
| 4-5 | m[...]m (Garbini). |
| 7 | [.]wn ʿ(s¹n)-hw (Garbini). |
| 10 | at the beginning there is hw instead of [...]. |
| 11 | rzḥm (Garbini). ʿrmn: besides being a noun indicating "the dam", ʿrmn was used as the name of the Great Maʾrib Dam (Darles et al. 2014: 9-10). |
| 12 | s¹fl is at the beginning of the line, Garbini: ṣql. ʿrmn: besides being a noun indicating "the dam", ʿrmn was used as the name of the Great Maʾrib Dam (Darles et al. 2014: 9-10). |
| 13 | w-b-ʾḫyl instead of b-ʾḫyl (Garbini). |
TRANSLATIONS
| English | |
1 S²rḥbʾl Yʿfr, king of Sabaʾ, ḏu-Raydān, Ḥaḍramawt, Yamanat and their Arabs of Ṭwdm 2 and of Thmt, son of ʾbkrb ʾs¹ʿd, king of Sabaʾ, ḏu-Raydān, Ḥaḍramawt, Yamanat and their Arabs 3 of Ṭwdm and of Thmt, built, laid the foundations and put in order his house Hrgb, from its foundation to its 4 top, he plastered the facades with unburned plaster. For its completion he erected a high roof with 5 smooth stones and four windows in alabaster; he put on it a gargouille (?) (in the shape) of bulls sculptured, lions 6 and decorative figurines in bronze between sculptured bulls. 7 [... ...] in direction to the guard room he erected (columns) in stone in the middle of the hall; 8 there he added sculptured columns 9 in the middle of the covered room. He completed it 10 and provided it with statues of men, ibexes, lions, panthers in bronze. He also repaired 11 the dam of Mrb with soil and with a coating of rough stones; he built Rḥbm, and constructed a support of stones 12 in the lower part of the dam, in the structure, for one year, with the help and the power of their Lord Rḥmnn, the Master 13 of the heaven and of the earth, and with the might and the help of their tribes and their armies of Sabaʾ, Ḥimyar, Ḥaḍramawt and 14 Yamanat. These works were completed in the month of ʾln, in the year five hundred seventy-two. |
| 4 | "he rearranged ornaments of plants without ornaments of plants on the facades" (Müller). |
| 6 | "bells" instead of "decorative figurines" (Müller). |
| 11 | ms¹rm translated as "with a discharge" (Müller). |
OBJECT INFORMATION
| Deposit | Ẓafār, Museum |
| Support type | Inscription on architectural structure |
| Material | Stone |
| Measures | h. 80, w. 120, th. 60 |
| Link to object record |
ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE
| Modern site | Ẓafār |
| Ancient site | Ẓfr |
| Geographical area | Ẓafār |
| Country | Yemen |
| Archaeological context | Urban context: Royal palace Hrgb |
| Link to site record |
BIBLIOGRAPHY
| Garbini 1969: 559-566, pls I-III | Garbini, Giovanni 1969. Una nuova iscrizione di Šaraḥbiʾil Yaʿfur. Annali dell'Istituto Orientale di Napoli, 29/4: 559-566. |
| Gajda 1997: 46-49 | 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). |
| Yule 2007: fig. 23 | Yule, Paul 2007. Himyar: Spästantike im Jemen (= Himyar, Late antique Yemen). Aichwald: Linden Soft. |
| Müller, Walter W. 2010: 75-76 | Müller, Walter W. 2010. Sabäische Inschriften nach Ären datiert. Bibliographie, Texte und Glossar. (Veröffentlichungen der Orientalischen Kommission, 53). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. |
| 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. |
| Müller, Walter W. 2014: 77-95, figure | Müller, Walter W. 2014. Umbau und Ausschmückung eines königlichen Schlosses in der himjarischen Hauptstadt Ẓafār. Pages 75-95 in Magdalena Długosz (ed.). Vom 'Troglodytenland' ins reich der Scheherazade. Archäologie, Kunst und Religion zwischen Okzident und Orient. Festschrift für Piotr O. Scholz zum 70. Geburstag. Berlin: Frank und Timme. |
| Darles, Robin and Schiettecatte 2014 | Darles, Christian, Robin, Christian J. and Schiettecatte, Jérémie 2014. Contribution à une meilleure compréhension de l'histoire de la digue de Maʾrib au Yémen. Pages 9-70 in François Baratte, Christian J. Robin and Elsa Rocca (eds). Regards croisés d'orient et d'occident. Les barrages dans l'antiquité tardive. Actes du colloque, 7-8 janvier 2011, Paris, Fondation Simone et Cino del Duca. Organisé dans le cadre du programme ANR EauMaghreb. (Orient & Méditerranée, 14). Paris: Éditions de Boccard. 2019/11/29; https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1b7x6sv. |