CSAI

Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions


By kind permission of Mission Qatabān

INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

LanguageAncient South Arabian » Qatabanic » Central Qatabanic
AlphabetAncient South Arabian
Script typologyMonumental writing
Writing techniqueIncision
Chronology
PeriodB1

TEXT


   1  Yṯʿkrb bn ʿbdʾl ḏ-S²bʿn
   2  qẓr rs²w ʿmm((ʿmm)) ʿmʿly b—
   3  n ʿbdʾl ḏ-S²bʿn
   4  qyn rs²w ʿmm((ʿmm))

OBJECT INFORMATION

Support typeRock inscription
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin
Modern siteUnknown
Ancient siteUnknown
Geographical areawādī al-Ḥanī
CountryYemen
Link to site record

CULTURAL NOTES

This text belongs to a series of rupestrian inscriptions from the wādī al-Ḥanī. The inscriptions are by private individuals from prominent Qatabanian families who carry out rites having to do with the religious offices usually held by the king: qyn, qẓr, rs²w ʿmm. Qyn and qẓr were already known as titles which were also taken on by private individuals, but the office of rs²w ʿmm is more interesting. We may interpret this title as "priest of ʿm" (even though "high priest" is still a possibility).
It should be noted that "priest of ʿm for the second time" never appears, as if "repeating the rite, taking an office for the second time" was a legacy exclusively for the king.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lundin 1981: 31-32Lundin (=Loundine), Avraam G. 1981. Spisok ž retsov ʿAmma. Palestinskiy Sbornik, 27: 23-39.