DASI: Digital Archive for the Study of pre-islamic arabian Inscriptions: Epigraph details

INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

Language

Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Late Sabaic

Alphabet

Ancient South Arabian

Script typology

Monumental writing

Writing technique

Incision

Measure of letters

4.5

Chronology

Period	E
Date	473 or 483 Ḥim

TEXT

Apparatus

2	l-ʾḫr (Müller).
4	for Ymnt see Robin 2013: 131-133.

TRANSLATIONS

CSAI

English

   1  [... ...] the ʾqwl of the tribe of S¹mʿy, section of ḏ-Ḥmln [... ...]
   2  [... ...] their Lord, Lord of Heaven, let Him hear the prayer [... ...]
   3  [... ...] their lords Ṯʾrn Yhnʿm and his son [... ...]
   4  [... ...] two kings of Sabaʾ, ḏu-Raydān, Ḥaḍramawt and Yamanat and let the Lord of Heaven listen [... ...]
   5  [... ...] on the month of ḏ-Ḫrfn of the year three [... ...]

2	"let Him take away the worry" (Müller).

OBJECT INFORMATION

Deposit	Ṣanʿāʾ, The National Museum, YM 1950
Support type	Stone inscription
Material	Stone
Measures	h. 29.5, w. 40, th. 14
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin and provenance

Modern site	Bayt Ghufr
Ancient site	Unknown
Geographical area	Hamdān
Country	Yemen
Link to site record

CULTURAL NOTES

Religion

This is the first mention of a "Lord of Heaven" (Bʿl s¹myn). This appellative is an innovation in south Arabia (compared to the well known near-eastern god Bʿlšmn) and indicates a break with the old tradition, with the introduction of the new monotheistic cult. According to Robin 2003: 103, the monotheistic character of this text is also confirmed by the formula w-l-ys¹mʿn (l.4) which doesn't belong to the lexicon of the polytheistic inscriptions. The "rejection" of the polytheism must be happened in [47]3 or [48]3 (l.5, in lacuna) following the scholar's historical reconstruction.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gajda 2005: 22-26, fig. 1	Gajda, Iwona 2005. The earliest monotheistic south Arabian inscription. Archäologische Berichte aus dem Yemen, 10: 21-29.
Müller, Walter W. 2010: 57	Müller, Walter W. 2010. Sabäische Inschriften nach Ären datiert. Bibliographie, Texte und Glossar. (Veröffentlichungen der Orientalischen Kommission, 53). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.
Robin 2003	Robin, Christian J. 2003. Le judaïsme de Ḥimyar. Arabia. Revue de Sabéologie, 1: 97-172.
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.