CSAI

Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions


INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

LanguageAncient South Arabian » Qatabanic » Central Qatabanic
AlphabetAncient South Arabian
Script typologyMonumental writing
Writing techniqueIncision
Measure of letters3.5
Textual typologyConstruction text

GENERAL NOTES

This inscription, as well as the other Qatabanic texts of tomb constructions, belongs probably to the period B

TEXT


   1  Hrʿd w-Mhrʿdm bnw ʿmʿly w-ʾbʿm bn ʾs¹mr
   2  ḏtw Wqht w-Lḥyʿm bn ʿmṣdq w-Hwfʿṯt bn ʿms²bm ḏ-Wq[h]—
   3  t ʿs¹yw ẓrbw qbr-s¹m ʾs¹dḥrm w-ms³wd-s¹ w-nfs¹h-s¹yw glm b-ḥg ʾ—
   4  nby w-ʾl tʿly w-qny Hrʿd rbʿm w-Mhrʿdm w-
   5  ʾbʿm rbʿm w-Lḥyʿm rbʿm w-Hwfʿṯt rbʿm

TRANSLATIONS

English

   1  Hrʿd and Mhrʿdm sons of ʿmʿly and ʾbʿm son of ʾs¹mr
   2  the ones of the family Wqht and Lḥyʿm son of ʿmṣdq and Hwfʿṯt son of ʿms²bm ḏ-Wqh-
   3  t made and gained legal possession of their grave ʾs¹dḥrm and its hall and its inner rooms in its entirety according to the orders of ʾ-
   4  nby and let there be no violation thereof; and Hrʿd possessed one fourth and Mhrʿdm and
   5  ʾbʿm one fourth and Lḥyʿm one fourth and Hwfʿṯt one fourth.

OBJECT INFORMATION

DepositAden, The National Museum, AM 60.1284
Support typeStone inscription
MaterialStone
Measuresh. 25.5, w. 76.3, th. 4.6 (up) 3.5 (down)
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin
Modern siteUnknown
Ancient siteUnknown
Geographical areaUnknown
CountryUnknown
Archaeological contextFunerary context: Tomb ʾs¹dḥrm
Link to site record

CULTURAL NOTES

ʾnby is part of the official Qatabanian pantheon. Similarly to texts for house construction, also in grave construction texts the god appears in the fixed expression "according to the orders of ʾnby, and let there be no violation thereof".
These texts, also, commemorate the name of the tomb and enumerate its parts, which are the same as the parts of a house. Even more than for the texts of the construction of a house, it was crucial for these texts to decree the ownership of the grave and establish who had the right to be buried there.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jamme 1971 b: 132Jamme, Albert W.F. 1971. Miscellanées d'ancient arabe II. Washington. 2019/07/23; https://cuislandora.wrlc.org/islandora/object/cuislandora%3A206497#page/1/mode/1up. [Privately printed]
Hayajneh 2002: 203-205, fig. 14Hayajneh, Hani 2002. Erneute Behandlung einiger altsüdarabischen Inschriften. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy, 13/2: 193-222.