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

Robin 1982 a: ii, pl. 4
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INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

Language

Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Central Middle Sabaic

Alphabet

Ancient South Arabian

Script typology

Monumental writing

Writing technique

Relief

Chronology

Period

Textual typology

Legal text

Royal inscription

Yes

GENERAL NOTES

Yhʿn w-bny-hw Hḥyʿṯt w-S²fʿṯt w-Whbʾwm are also mentioned in Fa 119 and Ja 589.

TEXT

Apparatus

1	ʾmht-hmw: between the "h" and "m" of the suffix pronoun there is incised a small letter "y".
7	Mrb: scriptio defectiva; ḏ-(t)qwmw: "ceux qui ont servi de témoins" G. Ryckmans (1952), but ḏt-qwmw could be more reasonable because of the "l-qbly ḏt" in the l. 8 (A. Korotayev 1995, 93). ʿlm(n) or w-gm(w) or w-lm(w): the difficulties of reading are due to the bad preservation of this part of the text and to the similarity of the shape of the letters "l" and "g" in the Sabaic inscriptions of this period. In addition to that, the letter "ʿ" in Fa 76 is sometimes almost indistinguishable from the letter "w". Here and in the line 8 the reading of the SD: w-gmw is accepted.
9	The l. 9 is inscribed at the bottom edge of the stone, outside the frame.

TRANSLATIONS

CSAI

English

   1  Ns²ʾkrb Yʾmn Yhrḥb, king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, son of ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb and Yʾzl Byn, the two kings of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, handed over, granted, transferred and gave possession to
   2  his vassals Yhʿn and his sons Hḥyʿṯt, S²fʿṯt and Whbʾwm and to all their brothers and their children and their descendants, of the family ʿṯkln ʿṣyt, of all the men and women
   3  that are named ʾs¹lm, Mlkm, Whbm, Gys²m, S¹ʿdm and ʾlġz and their mother and sisters: Mḥyt, Ms²nʾt, Ḥmd and Nʿmlt and Ḥlk and all
   4   their brothers. And all those women, their sisters, their daughters , their sons and their descendants, of the family Mḫbḍm Ḍḫrn, mqtwy of the family ʿṯkln, so that those men ʾs¹lm and
   5  all his brothers and the women Mḥyt, and all his sisters and daughters and all his sons and the children of their children and their descendants would be to the house and to the part of the house of their lords, the
   6  family ʿṯkln ʿṣyt, so that these men ʾs¹lm and his brothers and Mḥyt and all his sisters and his daugheters and their descendants would be similar to and (with) the legal status of their subordinates, the vassals
   7  of the family ʿṯkln, that on the city of Mrb, Ns²qm and Nashshān. And everyone should accept this document who had established that they not belong to the family ʿṯkln. And the house ʿṯkln gave legal effect and decided in tribal assembly to fulfil (the obligations).
   8  And may this document be binding for those men and women that are mentioned in this decree according to what their lords, the kings, decreed about the family ʿṯkln and made the rule irrevocable and maintained in proper order and decided in tribal assembly
   9  to fulfil (the obligations) like and with the legal status of their tribe ʾmrm, vassals of the king.

5	by(t w)-ẓbr by(t ʾ)[m]rʾ-hn: "to the house of their (fem.) lo[r]ds, Banū ʿṯkln ʿṣyt, as its integral part", literally "(belong) to the house, and the corner of the house" i.e." be an integral part of the house (=clan) (A. Korotayev, 1995). See also the translation of Fa 3, 6.
8	l-qbly ḏt hftḥw b-ʿm bn ʿṯkln: "because the Royal Power has made the judicial decision in favour of Banū ʿṯkln".

Korotayev 1995: 93	Korotayev, Andrey V. 1995. Were there any truly matrilineal lineages in the arabian peninsula?. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 25: 83-98.

OBJECT INFORMATION

Support type	Stone inscription
Material	Stone
Measures	h. 47, w. 270
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Provenance

Modern site	Maʾrib
Ancient site	Mryb / Mrb
Geographical area	Maʾrib
Country	Yemen
Found	Reemployed
Link to site record

CULTURAL NOTES

Society

The scholar A. Korotayev found in the inscription Fa 76 the proof of the existence of a few distinctly matrilineal autonomous corporate lineages in southern Arabia in the third century AD. The king of Sabaʾ, Ns²ʾkrb Yʾmn Yhrḥb, gives to the clan ʿṯkln ʿṣyt a certain group of people, the clan Mḫbḍm Ḍḫrn, whose family relationships mentioned are matrilineal. According to the scholar, the clan Ḍḫrn is a distinctly autonomous well integrated corporate matrilineage. He suggests the localization of the probable area of habitation of the south Arabian matrilineal groups in the area of Mārib, Nashq and Nashshān. See also A. Avanzini (1991).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fakhry 1952: i, 108, n. 123, fig. 56	Fakhry, Ahmed 1952. An archaeological Journey to Yemen (March-May 1947). (3 vols), Cairo: Government Press.
Ryckmans, Gonzague 1952: ii, 49-50	Ryckmans, Gonzague 1952. Epigraphical texts. Ahmed Fakhry, An archaeological Journey to Yemen (March-May 1947). ii. Cairo: Government Press.
Robin 1982 a: ii, pl. 4	Robin, Christian J. 1982. Les hautes-terres du Nord-Yémen avant l'Islam. (2 vols), (Uitgaven van het Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut te Istanbul, 50). Istanbul: Nederlands Historisch-Archaelogisch Instituut te Istanbul.
Avanzini 1991: 158	Avanzini, Alessandra 1991-1993 [1992]. Remarques sur le "matriarcat" en Arabie du sud. Pages 157-161 in Christian J. Robin (ed.). L'Arabie antique de Karibʾîl à Mahomet. Nouvelles données sur l'histoire des Arabes grâces aux inscriptions. (Revue du Monde Musulman et de la Mediterranée, 61). Aix-en-Provence: Édisud.
Korotayev 1995: 92-94	Korotayev, Andrey V. 1995. Were there any truly matrilineal lineages in the arabian peninsula?. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 25: 83-98.