Robin 1
By kind permission of British Museum
INSCRIPTION INFORMATION
| Language | Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Central Middle Sabaic | ||
| Alphabet | Ancient South Arabian | ||
| Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
| Writing technique | Cast | ||
| Chronology |
| ||
| Textual typology | Dedicatory text |
GENERAL NOTES
| According to Robin Ẓafār is not the capital of Ḥimyār, but another village on the plateau. |
TEXT
1 Whb{|}tʾlb bn
2 Ḥṣmn Yrs¹myn ʿbd
3 bny S¹ḫmn hqny s²—
4 ym-hmw Tʾlb Rymm ym—
5 nn ʿdy qyf-hw ḏ-Qbrt
6 b-hgrn Ẓfr l-wfy-hmw
TRANSLATIONS
| English | |
1 Whbtʾlb, son of 2 Ḥṣmn, the Yrs¹myn, subject 3 of the family S¹ḫmn, dedicated to their 4 patron Tʾlb Rymn the right 5 hand in His stela shrine ḏ-Qbrt 6 in the city of Ẓfr, for their well-being. |
| 5 | like Robin, we could translate "near the stela", but qyf could be referred to a building;ʿdy should be translated "in" rather than "alongside". There is an example of such a meaning of qyf in CIH 19, 5-6, a dedication of a statue to the god Tʾlb: [b-qyf-h]w [ḏ-h]qr[w] b-hgrn Mryb. |
OBJECT INFORMATION
| Deposit | London, The British Museum, BM 139443=1983,0626.2 |
| Support type | Artefact » Sculpture in the round » Part of human body |
| Material | Bronze |
| Measures | h. 19.7, w. 11, th. 4, wt. 979.70 g |
| Link to object record |
ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE
| Modern site | Ṣanʿāʾ (from the region of) |
| Ancient site | Ṣnʿw |
| Geographical area | Sanʿāʾ |
| Country | Yemen |
| Link to site record |
| Modern site | Ẓafār dhī-Bīn |
| Ancient site | Ẓfr |
| Geographical area | dhī-Bīn |
| Country | Yemen |
| Archaeological context | Religious context: Temple of Tʾlb Rymm, ḏ-Qbrt |
| Link to site record |
BIBLIOGRAPHY
| Robin 1985: 315-319, pls V-VI | Robin, Christian J. 1985. L'offrande d'une main en Arabie pré-islamique. Essai d'interprétation. Pages 307-320 in Christian J. Robin (ed.). Mélanges linguistiques offerts à Maxime Rodinson par ses élèves, ses collègues et ses amis. (Comptes rendus du Groupe linguistique d'études chamito-sémitiques. Supplément, 12). Paris: Librairie orientaliste Paul Geuthner. |
| Simpson 2002: 173, cat. 221 | Simpson, St John (ed.) 2002. Queen of Sheba. Treasures from the ancient Yemen. London: British Museum Press. [Catalogue of an exhibition held at the British Museum, London] |
| Jändl 2009: 51-52, 162-163 | Jändl, Barbara 2009. Altsüdarabische Inschriften auf Metall. (Epigraphische Forschungen auf der Arabischen Halbinsel, 4). Tübingen: Wasmuth / Berlin: Wasmuth. |