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

INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

Language

Ancient South Arabian » Qatabanic » Central Qatabanic

Alphabet

Ancient South Arabian

Script typology

Monumental writing

Writing technique

Incision

Chronology

Period

Textual typology

Legal text

Royal inscription

Yes

TEXT

Apparatus

9	Avanzini 2004 a: 287: w-mn-ḏ.
20	RES and CSAI read l-s²tyṭ. For l-s²tyṭ(m), see Mazzini 2020: 185, note 129.

TRANSLATIONS

CSAI

English

   1  [... ...] the king of Qatabān and the ma-
   2  gistrate of S²mr will not remove
   3  the seeds-privilege
   4  on the merchandise trad-
   5  ed and sold by the Qatabanians and
   6  those whom the magistrate of S²mr has previously taxed
   7  the commercial activity (any sallings and purchases)
   8  with Qatabān on the market of S²mr,
   9  being a property of Qatabān. And whoever
  10  should have used, among the Qatabanians
  11  or among the Minaeans or among the inhabi-
  12  tants of Tmnʿ his own house and
  13  dwelling as a shopkeeper who exchanges merchandise
  14  in Tmnʿ, he must assign the profit
  15  of his possessions and his goods in the shop
  16  to the king of Qatabān and he who
  17  removes the goods in the shop muist assign
  18  his person. No trade of
  19  any sort is to be conducted by anyone
  20  who comes into Tmnʿ to exchange merchandise
  21  with a foreign tribe instead of
  22  with Qatabān and with
  23  S³fln; the Qatabanians may have their rights
  24  according to the order that was grant for them
  25  by the kings of Qatabān. And may it be placed
  26  the trade that will be done
  27  by Qatabān from S²mr from
  28  shops under the authority of the magistrate of Qatabān
  29  [and according to the laws] of ʾnby that He has [issued
  30  for them] and the command of Qatabān.
  31  And he who shall enlarge or
  32  increase the trade of Qatabān [... ...]

Beeston 1959; 1971

English

   1  ...
   2  [vi] they shall not reckon
   3  a "seeds-privilege"
   4  on any merchandise which is tra-
   5  ded and purchased by Qatabanians or
   6  by those in respect of whom the overseer of S²mr
   7  has assessed a trading-tax on N gold pieces, over and above what
   8  the Qatabanians pay in the market of S²mr,
   9  in Qataban coinage. [vii] Any
  10  Qatabanian,
  11  Minaean, or (other) in-
  12  habitant of Tmnʿ who uses his house or
  13  residence as a place of business, shall
  14  pay the market-tax in Tmnʿ
  15  to the king of Qataban,
  16  either out of that which is included in his (the stall-holder's) possessions and stock-in-trade
  17  or, insofar as it exceeds such stock-in-trade, by means of
  18  his own personal effects. [viii] No business
  19  of any sort may be conducted by any person
  20  who pays the Tmnʿ market-tax with the intention of doing business
  21  with a foreign tribe instead of
  22  with Qataban and S³fln;
  23  (this is) in the order that Qatabanians may have their just rights
  24  according to the sanction which
  25  the kings of Qataban have granted them. [New clause, viii bis] Whatever
  26  trading activity
  27  Qatabanians (themselves) carry on, from S²mr from
  28  stalls (there), shall be by (authorization of) the overseer of Q[ataban ...
  29  (and according to the laws of?)] ʾnby which He has [laid down]
  30  [for them, and] the command of the Qatabanian
  31  people. [Clause viii ter] But any (such activity) which is
  32  more extensive and goes beyond the trade of Qataban ...

1-25	translation by Beeston 1959.
25-32	translation by Beeston 1971.

Beeston 1959	Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1959. The mercantile code of Qataban. Qahtan. Studies in Old Arabian Epigraphy. 1. London: Luzac and Co.
Beeston 1971	Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1971. The Labakh texts. Qahtan. Studies in Old Arabian Epigraphy. 2. London: Luzac and Co..

OBJECT INFORMATION

Support type	Monumental stela
Material	Stone
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin and provenance

Modern site	Hajar Kuḥlān
Ancient site	Tmnʿ
Geographical area	Wādī Bayḥān
Country	Yemen
Found	In situ
Archaeological context	Urban context: Market square S²mr
Link to site record

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Beeston 1959: 2-16	Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1959. The mercantile code of Qataban. Qahtan. Studies in Old Arabian Epigraphy. 1. London: Luzac and Co.
Beeston 1971: 2-5	Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1971. The Labakh texts. Qahtan. Studies in Old Arabian Epigraphy. 2. London: Luzac and Co..
Helfritz 1977: 173, fig. 45	Helfritz, Hans 1977. Entdeckungsreisen in Sud-Arabien. Auf unbekannten Wegen durch Hadramaut und Jemen (1933 und 1935). (DuMont Reiseberichte und Dokumente). Cologne: DuMont Buchverlag.
Mazzini 2020	Mazzini, Giovanni 2020. The Ancient South Arabian royal edicts from the Southern Gate of Timnaʿ and the Ǧabal Labaḫ. (Epigraphische Forschungen auf der Arabischen Halbinsel, 8).