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

Jamme 1962 a: pl. 17
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INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

Language

Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Central Middle Sabaic

Alphabet

Ancient South Arabian

Script typology

Monumental writing

Writing technique

Incision

Measure of letters

1.4-2.5

Chronology

Period

Textual typology

Dedicatory text

TEXT

Apparatus

10, 13

The reading by Jamme was Ḫwln ʾlddn, but Beeston suggests to correct Ḫwln ʾgddn "the Great Ḫwln" on the basis of other evidences (Beeston 1973: 444).

TRANSLATIONS

CSAI

English

   1  ʾbs²mr ʾwlṭ and Rfʾ ʾs²wʿ,
   2  of the families Ḥfnm and Ḏnm, ʾqwl
   3  of the tribe ʾyfʿ, dedicated to
   4  their Lord ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm,
   5  a statue in bronze that they had promised Him in
   6  praise because He saved His servants ʾbs²mr
   7  and Rfʾ from all the expeditions and wars
   8  in which they performed service for their lord S²mr Yhrʿs²,
   9  king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān and the Ḥaḍramawt and
  10  Ymnt, to the land of Ḫwln ʾgddn,
  11  and his lord S²mr Yhrʿs² had ordered him to
  12  establish a protective force in the town of Ṣʿdtm and to
  13  make a peace settlement with the nomads of Ḫwln ʾgddn after the
  14  campaign of the king [..] and after that they waged war
  15  against the nomads of S³nḥn in the valley Dfʾ, and
  16  their Lord ʾlmqh granted them glory
  17  and casualties and war prisoners and civil
  18  prisoners and loot and booty in great quantity,
  19  and when they made an expedition and waged war with the ʾqwl
  20  whom their lord S²mr Yhrʿs² had ordered to
  21  fight S¹hrtn and Ḥrtn and they waged war on the nomads of
  22  Ns²dʾl in the valley ʿtwd to the north;
  23  they praised the might and the power of ʾlmqh Ṯhwn,
  24  Lord of ʾwm, because He granted His servants
  25  ʾbs²mr and Rfʾ of the families Ḥfnm and
  26  Ḏnm spoils and war prisoners and civil prisoners
  27  and booty in great quantity, and may
  28  ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, continue to grant them
  29  healthy children and soundness of faculties
  30  and material resources and the goodwill and the satisfaction
  31  of their lord S²mr Yhrʿs², king of Sabaʾ and
  32  ḏu-Raydān and the Ḥaḍramawt and Ymnt, and a great amount of
  33  crops and good rainy seasons that will satisfy them.
  34  By ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm.

13	lʾm “to make a peace settlement” (SD: 81); gʾm “to cut off” (Jamme 1962 a: 164).

Jamme 1962 a: 164	Jamme, Albert W.F. 1962. Sabaean Inscriptions from Maḥram Bilqîs (Mârib). (Publications of the American Foundation for the Study of Man, 3). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press.
Beeston et al. 1982 (=SD): 81	Beeston, Alfred F.L., al-Ghūl, Maḥmūd ʿA., Müller, Walter W. and Ryckmans, Jacques 1982. Sabaic Dictionary (English-French-Arabic). Dictionnaire Sabéen (anglais-français-arabe). Louvain-la-Neuve: Éditions Peeters / Beirut: Libraire du Liban.

OBJECT INFORMATION

Support type	Artefact » Base » Of statue with dedicatory inscription
Material	Stone
Measures	Ja 658: h. 45.7-50.5, w. 19.5-21.6, th. 12.8-19.6; Ja 659: h. 42-35.6, w. 21, th. 18.5
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin and provenance

Modern site	Maḥram Bilqīs
Ancient site	ʾwm
Geographical area	Maʾrib
Country	Yemen
Archaeological context	Religious context: Temple of ʾlmqh Ṯhwn bʿl ʾwm
Link to site record

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jamme 1962 a: 163-164, pl. 17	Jamme, Albert W.F. 1962. Sabaean Inscriptions from Maḥram Bilqîs (Mârib). (Publications of the American Foundation for the Study of Man, 3). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press.
Beeston 1973: 444	Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1973. Notes on Old South Arabian lexicography VIII. Le Muséon, 86: 443-453.
Beeston 1976 b: 32-33	Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1976. Warfare in ancient South Arabian (2nd.-3rd. centuries A.D.). Qahtan. Studies in Old Arabian Epigraphy. 3. London: Luzac and Co.
al-Iryānī 1990: 248-251	al-Iryānī, Muṭahhar 1990. Fī-taʾrīḫ al-Yaman. Nuquš musnadiya wa-taʿliqāt. Ṣanʿāʾ: Markaz al-dirāsāt wa-l-buḥūṯ al-Yamanī.