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

Bron and Gajda 2005: 121, fig. 1

Bron and Gajda 2005: 121, fig. 1
Bron and Gajda 2005: 121, fig. 2
Bron and Gajda 2005: 122, fig. 3
Bron and Gajda 2005: 122, fig. 4

INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

Language

Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Central Middle Sabaic

Alphabet

Ancient South Arabian

Script typology

Monumental writing

Writing technique

Incision

Measure of letters

2.8

Chronology

Period

Textual typology

Legal text - fragmentary

GENERAL NOTES

The inscription was probably carved on two adjacent blocks, but the right one has not been found.

TEXT

Apparatus

	The reading of the text on the photograph is difficult. Bron and Gajda's edition has been followed. Note that the editors do not mark the uncertain reading.
5	In the text: ʿgrw, corrected in ʿkrw by the editors on the basis of the frequent occurrence of the formula ʾhn-mw ʿkrw in the juridical texts.

TRANSLATIONS

Bron and Gajda 2005

French

   1  [... ...]
   2  [... ...], Yarsumites, [... ...] de la ville de Šibām, depuis [... ...] et pièces de monnaie dans tout [... ...] qu'ils ordonnent [... ...]
   3  [... ...] descendants des descendants [... ...] l'homme qui commande ordonnera, interdira, détruira et demandera la faveur (?) [... ...] ces femmes, trésorières du dieu de Ḫasaʾ [... ...] cet acte et
   4  [... ...] qu'ils produisent les documents des rois et des qayls par lesquels ils ont reconnu les trésorières et [... ...] banū Suḫaym et Rasam et les étrangers et tout [... ...]
   5  [... ...] restrictif et ce qu'ils n'imposent pas; s'il est fait opposition, qu'ils soient notifiés à ses servantes, trésorières du dieu; et tous leurs écrits et leurs documents et [leurs] proclamations [... ...]
   6  [... ...] documents contraignants et instructions et tous documents qu'ils ont reconnu pour gagner de l'argent, s'enrichir et amasser des biens, qu'ils soient garantis aux trésorières du dieu de Ḫasaʾ et à leurs descendants. Quant au roi, il continuera à promettre et à [... ...]
   7  [... ... à la charge de ces femmes, trésorières du dieu, pour les soumettre [... ...] que le roi a signé et décrété pour les trésorières du dieu, leurs filles et leurs descendants, pour gagner de l'argent dans tous [... ...]
   8  [... ... banū Suḫay]m et Rasam et les étrangers avant ce document, de tous ceux qui (le) reconnaîtront après ce document. Et celui qui conteste et efface (?) ce document contraignant, cette directive et ce document
   9  [... ...] ce document [... ...]

wrq: in absence of context, it is difficult to decide whether it refers to vegetal products or coins, according to the two interpretations proposed by Beeston et al. 1982 (Bron and Gajda 2005: 117).
yqrʾnn: the verb is attested only here and in CIH 581/9 with the meaning "to order, command" (Bron and Gajda 2005: 117).

qrs²t: discarded the interpretation of the word as a lineage name from the Qurayš tribe (cf. qrs²htn in Ja 919/5), Bāfaqīh and Robin hypothesize that it has to be linked to the Ar. qaraš/qarraš "to earn, to save money" or to Yemeni Ar. qāriša "beast". They prefer the latter interpretation for the dual form qrs²ty in BR-Yanbuq 28/1: "guardians of the cattle". Müller, instead, keeps to the Ar. meaning "to save" for the translation of the masculine qrs² in Schm/Marib 3, interpreted as a name of function.
The qrs²t in Dar al-Šukr text are therefore considered "treasurers" of the god (Bron and Gajda 2005; cf. also the text YM 17189).

Bron and Gajda 2005: 116	Bron, François and Gajda, Iwona 2005. Un texte juridique fragmentaire de Šibām al-Ġirās. Pages 115-123 in Amida Sholan, Sabina Antonini and Mounir Arbach (eds). Sabaean Studies (Dirāsāt Sabaʾiyya). Archaeological, epigraphical and historical studies in honour of Yūsuf M. ʿAbdallāh, Alessandro de Maigret, Christian J. Robin on the occasion of their sixtieth birthdays. Naples: Università degli studi di Napoli l'Orientale. [University of Ṣanʿāʾ; Yemeni-Italian Centre for Archeological Reserches Ṣanʿāʾ; Centre français d'archéologie et de sciences sociales de Ṣanʿāʾ]
Bāfaqīh and Robin 1979 a: 39-40	Bāfaqīh, Muḥammad ʿA. and Robin, Christian J. 1979. Inscriptions inédites de Yanbuq (Yémen démocratique). Raydān, 2: 15-76.

OBJECT INFORMATION

Deposit	Ṣanʿāʾ
Support type	Stone inscription
Material	Stone
Measures	h. 31, w. 134
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin. Conjectural

Modern site	Shibām al-Ghirās / Shibām Sukhaym
Ancient site	S²bmm
Geographical area	Banī Ḥushaysh
Country	Yemen
Notes	The origin of the object is assumed from the mention of the city name Šibām and of the "god of Ḫasaʾ", epithet of the god Qynn worshipped in the area of Šibām al-Ġirās and al-Madīnatayn.
Link to site record

CULTURAL NOTES

Society

This juridical text concerns a category of women called qrs²t of the god of Ḫs¹ʾm, considered "treasurers" of the god (Bron and Gajda 2005; cf. also the text YM 17189).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bron and Gajda 2005: 115-119, 121-122 (figs 1-4)	Bron, François and Gajda, Iwona 2005. Un texte juridique fragmentaire de Šibām al-Ġirās. Pages 115-123 in Amida Sholan, Sabina Antonini and Mounir Arbach (eds). Sabaean Studies (Dirāsāt Sabaʾiyya). Archaeological, epigraphical and historical studies in honour of Yūsuf M. ʿAbdallāh, Alessandro de Maigret, Christian J. Robin on the occasion of their sixtieth birthdays. Naples: Università degli studi di Napoli l'Orientale. [University of Ṣanʿāʾ; Yemeni-Italian Centre for Archeological Reserches Ṣanʿāʾ; Centre français d'archéologie et de sciences sociales de Ṣanʿāʾ]

CSAI

Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions

Dār al-Šukr