| Language | Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Central Middle Sabaic | ||
| Alphabet | Ancient South Arabian | ||
| Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
| Writing technique | Incision | ||
| Chronology |
| ||
| Textual typology | Dedicatory text |
| Iryānī transcribed the text in a paragraph arrangement that did not respect the original disposition of the lines. |
| 1 | In Iryānī's South Arabian transcription: b-ḍrm ḍrrw. |
| 2 | In Iryānī's South Arabian transcription: hgrn w-ʾhl s²ʿbn Ḥs²dm. In Iryānī's Arabic transcription: drm w-bʿww ḏ-bn ʾʿrbn; b-ʿm-hw. |
| 3 | In Iryānī's Arabic transcription: w-hdrkhhw; b-llyn b-mʿqrn; w-ʾlbʾ[..]. mʿqrn and s²rḥtn are nouns according to Ryckmans 1974: 246 and in Beeston et al. 1982: 18, while they were considered names in Beeston 1976 b: 24. The emendation ʾlbs¹ is proposed by Beeston 1978 b: 205. Stein (2003 a: 108, fn. 478) notes that s¹bʾy w-mʾn ʾs¹dm is probably an error for s¹bʾy w-mʾt ʾs¹dm (cf. ll. 4, 6). |
| 4 | In Iryānī's Arabic transcription: ḫms¹n instead of ḫms¹; ḥys²m instead of gys²m. ʾzd is a name of tribe according to Beeston (1976 a: 24). Ryckmans (1974: 246) and Beeston (1976 a: 24) interpret gys²m, ḥrbm and ʿlyn as names. According to Beeston, also ʾzd is a name "the Azdites". However, in Beeston et al. 1982 ʾzd and gys²m are considered nouns. |
| 5 | In Iryānī's Arabic transcription: tʾwly instead of tʾwln; b-yrytm instead of b-brytm. |
| 6 | In Iryānī's Arabic transcription: mrg-hmw instead of mhrg-hmw; w-ṯlṯy mʾn ʾʾblm. |
| 7 | In Iryānī's Arabic transcription: Ḥywʿtr instead of Ḥywʿṯtr. |
| 8 | In Iryānī's Arabic transcription: ys²wʿn insteas of ys²wʿnn; w-ʾbrṯ l-qtdmn. |
| English | |
1 Wfym ʾḏrḥ, son of [… …] dedicated to ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, the statue and the bull in bronze when his lord S²ʿrm ʾwtr, king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, appointed him to protect and perform garrison duty on the borders of the tribe Ḥs²dm in the war that the Abyssinians and their supporters from S¹whrn and Ḫwln waged, 2 and he protected all the borders of the town and of the population of the tribe Ḥs²dm and those that were with them among the descendants of the bedouins in all the years in which he received commendation for the service and the garrison duty he performed on the borders of the Ḥs²dm, until the Abyssinians made peace, except for the time that the Abyssinians advanced and made an assault with two thousand and five hundred men and some bedouins too made an assault in the valley ḏ-Wʿrm in the west of Ḥs²dm; 3 Wfym ʾḏrḥ mounted an offensive against them - and with him there were one hundred and seventy men among the bedouins - and he pursued them on the second night in pursuit (?) of the protection force (?) and they did an assault in the middle of their camp during the night and they killed and took them from their camp and they seized among them five hundred prisoners and abundant equipment and garments that they appropriated, 4 and when his lord S²ʿrm ʾwtr king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān and his brother Ḥywʿṯtr Yḍʿ, sons of ʿlhn Nhfn king of Sabaʾ, appointed him to go on an expedition and lead a vanguard detachment from the army of six hundred men to wage war on the troops of a detachment and of a … (?) (sent) from those of Ḫwln, 5 and they waged war on their troops on the pass of Mḥrbn (?) in the camp of ḏ-S¹hrtn, and ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, granted to His servant Wfym ʾḏrḥ and to the men who are with him the return in soundness and with spoils and loot and booty in abundance, 6 and their killings were two hundred and ten wounded warriors, and one hundred and thirty prisoners, and four hundred children and women that they killed, and three hundred camels, and one thousand and three hundred bovines, and two hundred and seventy asses, and ten thousand small cattle. 7 May ʾlmqh Ṯhwn continue to grant him the goodwill and the satisfaction of their lords S²ʿrm ʾwtr, king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, and his brother Ḥywʿṯtr Yḍʿ, sons of ʿlhn Nhfn, king of Sabaʾ, 8 and may ʾlmqh Lord of ʾwm continue to grant his servant Wfym spoils and booty in whatever occasion they will perform service for their lords S²ʿrm ʾwtr, king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, and his brother Ḥywʿṯtr Yḍʿ, and (whatever) occasion he will dispatch them to lead protection near and far; 9 may ʾlmqh grant them soundness of faculties and material resources and may ʾlmqh Lord of ʾwm deliver them from the malice and the maleficence of any enemy, far and near, by ʾlmqh Lord of ʾwm and by their lords S²ʿrm ʾwtr king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān and his brother Ḥywʿṯtr Yḍʿ sons of ʿlhn Nhfn king of Sabaʾ. |
| 2 | nḥql-mw: "in particular" (Beeston 1976 b: 24); "except for" (Beeston et al. 1982: 69 and Stein 2010: 391-392). |
| 3 | b-mʿqrn ḏ-s²rḥtn: "en une poursuite pleine de succès (?)" (Ryckmans 1974: 246), "at the mʿqr of al-Sharḥah" (Beeston 1976 b: 24). mʿqr "land watered by rain", s²rḥt "support column, protective force" (Beeston et al. 1982: 18, 134). |
| 4 | l-ḥrb ʾzd gys²m w-ḥrbm bn ʿlyn ʾḫwln: “to fight against the Azdites (who were under the command) of Gayyāsh and Ḥarb bin al-ʿAlī the Khawlanites” (Beeston 1976 b: 24). Ryckmans 1974 too had interpreted the sequence of words as names, except for ʾzd “effectifs supplémentaires” or “approvisionnements”. In the SD ʾzd is “troops, contingent”, gys² “unit, detachment” (Beeston et al. 1982: 10, 52). ḫms¹n s¹ṯ mʾtm: “650 hommes” (Ryckmans 1974: 246) |
| Ryckmans, Jacques 1974: 246 | Ryckmans, Jacques 1974. Himyaritica 3. Le Muséon, 87: 237-263. |
| Beeston 1976 b: 24 | 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. |
| Beeston et al. 1982 (=SD): 10, 18, 52, 69, 134 | 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. |
| Stein 2010: 391-392 | Stein, Peter 2010. Die altsüdarabischen Minuskelinschriften auf Holzstäbchen aus der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek in München. (Epigraphische Forschungen auf der Arabischen Halbinsel, 5). Tübingen: Wasmuth. |
| Deposit | Ṣanʿāʾ, al-Kuhālī collection (Private collection) |
| Support type | Artefact » Base » Of statue with dedicatory inscription |
| Material | Stone |
| Link to object record |
| 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 |
| Sharafaddīn 1967: iii, 71-73 | Sharafaddīn, Aḥmad H. 1967. Taʾrīḫ al-Yaman al-ṯaqāfī. Cairo. |
| al-Iryānī 1973: 67-73 | al-Iryānī, Muṭahhar 1973. Fī taʾriḫ al-Yaman. Cairo. |
| Ryckmans, Jacques 1974: 245-247 | Ryckmans, Jacques 1974. Himyaritica 3. Le Muséon, 87: 237-263. |
| Beeston 1976 a: 415 | Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1976. Notes on Old South Arabian lexicography X. Le Muséon, 89: 407-423. |
| Beeston 1976 b: 23-24 | 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. |
| Beeston 1978 b: 205 | Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1978. Notes on Old South Arabian Lexicography XI. Le Muséon, 91: 195-209. |
| al-Iryānī 1990: 100-108 | al-Iryānī, Muṭahhar 1990. Fī-taʾrīḫ al-Yaman. Nuquš musnadiya wa-taʿliqāt. Ṣanʿāʾ: Markaz al-dirāsāt wa-l-buḥūṯ al-Yamanī. |