CSAI

Corpus of Northern Middle Sabaic Inscriptions (work in progress)


Christian J. Robin
Arbach 1996: 250, fig. 3

INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

LanguageAncient South Arabian » Sabaic » Northern Middle Sabaic
AlphabetAncient South Arabian
Script typologyMonumental writing
Writing techniqueIncision
Chronology
PeriodD
Textual typologyCommemorative text
Royal inscriptionYes

TEXT


   1  S²ʿrm ʾwtr mlk S¹bʾ w-
   2  ḏ-Rydn bn ʿlhn Nhfn m—
   3  lk S¹bʾ b-kn s¹bʾ l-ḥg(g)
   4  [ʾl](h)n ʿdy mḥr(mn) ḏ-Y(ġ)rw

Apparatus
Below the inscription, three letters are engraved: ʾbk. According to Arbach, this could be a personal name, attested for the first time in South Arabia, or the noun ʾb followed by the second person singular suffix pronoun -k "your father".

TRANSLATIONS

English

   1  S²ʿrm ʾwtr, king of Sabaʾ and
   2  ḏu-Raydān, son of ʾlhn Nhfn, king
   3  of Sabaʾ, when he came on the expedition to perform the pilgrimage
   4  of the god to the sanctuary ḏ-Yġrw.

OBJECT INFORMATION

Support typeRock inscription
Measuresh. 64 (inscribed surface)
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin and provenance
Modern siteUnknown
Ancient siteUnknown
Geographical areawādī Shuḍayf
CountryYemen
FoundIn situ
NotesThe text, found on a rock surface in the wādī Shuḍayf by the French archaeological mission in 1980, commemorates the pilgrimage for the god ḏ-S¹mwy to the sanctuary ḏ-Yġrw.
Link to site record

CULTURAL NOTES

Arbach notes that the pilgrimage of the king S²ʿr ʾwtr to the sanctuary in the wādī Shuḍayf is explained by the need to control the strategic route linking the Jawf to Najrān and to Qaryat al-Fāw.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bāfaqīh 1994 d: 38, fig. 7Bāfaqīh, Muḥammad ʿA. 1994. Ḏū Yaġruw wa-Amīr wa-Ḥanān fī ḍawʾ al-nuqūš. Pages 21-38 in Norbert Nebes. Arabia Felix. Beiträge zur Sprache und Kultur des vorislamischen Arabien. Festschrift Walter W. Müller zum 60. Geburtstag. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Arbach 1996: 247-248, 250 (fig. 3)Arbach, Mounir 1996. Deux nouvelles inscriptions sudarabiques provenant du sanctuaire de dhū-s-Samāwī à Yaghrū. Egitto e Vicino Oriente, 19: 243-250.