CIAS 49.10/o 1 n° 2 RES 3902 N° 137; Ja 104; CSAI III, 3
By kind permission of GOAM
INSCRIPTION INFORMATION
| Language | Ancient South Arabian » Qatabanic » Awsanite | ||
| Alphabet | Ancient South Arabian | ||
| Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
| Writing technique | Incision | ||
| Measure of letters | 2 | ||
| Chronology |
| ||
| Textual typology | Dedicatory text |
TEXT
1 ʾbs²bm ḏ-ʿmydʿ s¹qny m—
2 rʾ-s¹ Yṣdqʾl Frʿm S²rḥʿ—
3 t mlk ʾws¹n bn Wdm *ṣ*l—
4 m ḏhbn ʿd mḥrm-s¹ Nʿmn
5 ḥg w(qh ʾb)-s¹ Wdm b-ms¹ʾl-s¹
| 3 | Ẓlm instead of ṣlm. The epigraphic explanation suggested by Pirenne: "on constate que l'on écrit ṣ avec son arc de cercle complet lorsque la lettre précédente laisse, en bas, un vide où l'excès de largeur du ṣ peut se compenser: c'est le cas après le Y de Yaṣduq'il") has to be rejected, as the other example quoted by her, CIAS F59/s 4 49.10 n. 4 shows, in fact, the name of the same king with ẓ instead of ṣ. Therefore, we probably deal with a fluctuation of the phonemes ṣ and ẓ, which is well attested in ASA languages, instead of with two graphic variants of the phoneme ṣ in the Awsanite inscriptions. |
TRANSLATIONS
| English | |
1 ʾbs²bm he of ʿmydʿ dedicated to his 2 lord Yṣdqʾl Frʿm S²rḥʿ- 3 t king of Awsan son of Wdm a bronze 4 statuette in His temple Nʿmn 5 as his father Wdm ordered in His oracle. |
| Avanzini 2004 a: 540 | Avanzini, Alessandra 2004. Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions I-III. Qatabanic, Marginal Qatabanic, Awsanite Inscriptions. (Arabia Antica, 2). Pisa: Edizioni Plus-Università di Pisa. |
OBJECT INFORMATION
| Deposit | Aden, The National Museum, NAM 1655=AM 60.757 |
| Support type | Artefact » Base » Of statue with dedicatory inscription |
| Material | Alabaster |
| Measures | h. 12, w. 16, th. 7 |
| Link to object record |
ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE
| Modern site | Unknown |
| Ancient site | Unknown |
| Geographical area | wādī Markha |
| Country | Yemen |
| Archaeological context | Religious context: Temple of Wdm ḏ-S¹bln ʿd Nʿmn |
| Link to site record |
CULTURAL NOTES
In this inscription an individual dedicates a statuette in the temple of Wdm for the king, who is son of the god.
There we have the only sure occasion in pre-Islamic Southern Arabia of a king deified during his life (see also the other Awsanite inscriptions CIAS 49.10/o 1 n. 1, n. 3 and n. 4).
There we have the only sure occasion in pre-Islamic Southern Arabia of a king deified during his life (see also the other Awsanite inscriptions CIAS 49.10/o 1 n. 1, n. 3 and n. 4).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
| CIAS: ii, 149-150, photo | Beeston, Alfred F.L., Pirenne, Jacqueline and Robin, Christian J. 1977-1986. Corpus des inscriptions et antiquités sud-arabes: Vol. I (1977): Tome 1. Inscriptions. Tome 2. Antiquités; Vol. II (1986): Le Musée d’Aden. Tome 1. Inscriptions. Tome 2. Antiquités. Louvain: Peeters. [Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres] |