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

Beeston and al-Ghūl 1984: 40, photo
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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
Textual typology	Dedicatory text

GENERAL NOTES

The photographs published in CIH are of copies of parts of the original inscription. One is Glaser's manuscript (Glaser 29) based on one of the rabbi Yaḥyā Qāfiḥ's notes. The other two are modern bronze copies of Rehatšek XI (in the middle) and Rehatšek X (on the left). The original text could be restored comparing Glaser 29 (or Glaser 1209, the same text), Prideaux III, Miles 3, Rehatšek XI, Rehatšek X and Prideaux I.
Beeston in 1984 published the photo of the inscription by Ch. Robin. Grjiaznevič in 1998 provided measures and new photos.

TEXT

Apparatus

	We have adopted Beeston's reading, based on Gl 1209. The main points which differ between Beeston's and CIH's edition are the reading of some nouns (see down here) and the subdivision of the words in the lines.
1	Dhrm; nṣf (CIH); final word separator (Rhodokanakis).
2	[w]-bn-hw (CIH); Yhrḫm (Rhodokanakis).
3	Rḥbm (CIH).
4	b-Ybyn (CIH).
5	Rḥbm; wṣf instead of wḥrt; M[ʿ]hrm instead of Mḥr; hnṣf b-kn instead of hnṭf b-ḏn (CIH).
5-6	yhnʿmn instead of ẓrn ʿmn (CIH).
6	b-ktnfm instead of b-kn ts²m (CIH)
7	ḏ-Ybyn Ns¹rn Byḥn w[k]-ḏt w-Ḫlqn w-Ytʿ w-ʿḏb byn ms¹bʾ instead of ḏt-(Ẓ)[by]n w-ḫlqn yrtʿ w-ʿḏb ms¹bʾ (CIH).
8	Ybyn instead of Ẓbyn (CIH).
8-9	w-lknhn instead of w-lbʾnhn (CIH).
9	w-mkrbn instead of w-mṣrbn; Ybyn instead of Ẓbyn (CIH).
11	mqltm instead of mqldtm; ʾdf instead of ʾḫlf (CIH).
11-12	w-hʿhn w-ẓrn instead of w-ywm ʿs¹n w-ḍrk (CIH).
12	Ryd kwrn instead of Ryd-hw [ʿ]dy (CIH).
13	Qdm instead of Qmm; Ytʿ instead of Yṯʿt; w-gnʾn instead of w-gnʾ (CIH).
14	CIH restores Ṯmd; w-mḥfrn instead of w-mḥfn; mḥfdn; ḏ-Lʿn instead of Ḍlʿn (CIH).

TRANSLATIONS

Beeston 1984

English

   1  Mʿhrm son of Ghḍ of the clan Ḏḫrm, executive of Tʾlb lord of Trʿt, dedicated to Tʾlb
   2  Rymm Yhrḫm himself and his sons ʾws¹ʾl and Ḥfnm and all his children and
   3  possessions; for he has been put in charge of the (construction of) the "high-place" and the constructional work of on the ?shrine? Rḥbn, and the cult-stone of Nws²m and
   4  all the works which had initiated for Tʾlb in Trʿt and Itwat, when he ?declared his will?, and in Ẓbyn and Myfʿ,
   5  together with the canal of Rḥbt, according to the decree of Tʾlb; and he received the statute which has been promulgated on this rock from
   6  Tʾlb, when Tʾlb appointed Mʿhrm as executive, when Tʾlb ?declared his will?. Also,
   7  he was put in charge of (constructing) the well of Ẓbyn and the ḫlq (?channel?) Yrtʿ, and putting in order the watercourse of the citadel, and putting in order the water-supply at Mhʾnfm,
   8  and the wall of Ẓbyn towards Byḥn, and the temple of Itwat and the incense-altars at the foot of the mountain,and the two lions
   9  and the mṣrb-altar and the two incense-altars that are in Itwat, and the bronze ms¹lm-altar which is in front of Ẓbyn, and the bronze ms¹lm-altar of
  10  Myfʿ. And Mʿhrm was in charge of all these operations in accordance with Tʾlb's decree. Furthermore
  11  he was in charge of (constructing) a hundred basins in front of the high-place; and he also put in order the gates of Ḥdqn;
  12  he dug out and stone-faced the cistern which belongs to the citadel; he was in charge of the construction of the approach-path of the citadel dhu-Marmar from the bottom
  13  to top; and he constructed and dug (the foundations of) the high-place of Tʾlb at Yṯʿt; he built and walled the town
  14  Thimād and the enclosure-wall which is at Ḍilāʿan.

3	Beeston 1981 b: 22 establishes for the verb hyʿ the meaning of "carry out building operations".

Beeston and al-Ghūl 1984: 40-41	Beeston, Alfred F.L. and al-Ghūl, Maḥmūd ʿA. 1984. The pilgrimage at Itwat. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 14: 33-41.
Beeston 1981 b	Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1981. Two epigraphic South Arabian roots: HYʿ and KRB. Pages 21-34 in Roswitha G. Stiegner (ed.). al-Hudhud. Festschrift Maria Höfner zum 80. Geburtstag. Graz: Karl-Franzens-Universität.

OBJECT INFORMATION

Support type	Rock inscription
Measures	h. 80, w.124
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin and provenance

Modern site	Hajar Zahra
Ancient site	Unknown
Geographical area	Arḥab
Country	Yemen
Found	In situ
Archaeological context	Religious context: Temple of Tʾlb Rymm bʿl Trʿt
Link to site record

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Rhodokanakis 1932: 173-186	Rhodokanakis, Nikolaus 1932. Altsabäische Texte II. Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, 39: 173-226.
Beeston 1937 a: 36-39	Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1937. Sabaean inscriptions. Oxford.
Beeston and al-Ghūl 1984: 40-41 (photo)	Beeston, Alfred F.L. and al-Ghūl, Maḥmūd ʿA. 1984. The pilgrimage at Itwat. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 14: 33-41.
Grjaznevič 1998: 51, photos 159 а, б, в, г, д	Grjaznevič, Petr A. 1998. Materiali ekspedicii P.A. Grjaznevičia 1970-1971 gg. Južnaja Aravija. Part 2: Epigraficheskie pamjiatniki drevnego Jemena. 2. (2 vols), Moscow: Glavnaya redakziya vostochnoy literatury.

CSAI

Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions

CIH 338 Gl 1209; Gr 173