| Language | Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Central Middle Sabaic | ||
| Alphabet | Ancient South Arabian | ||
| Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
| Writing technique | Incision | ||
| Chronology |
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| 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 Arabic transcription: bny ḏ-S¹ḥr, w-bny-hw, ḏ-s²fty-hw ḥmdm, ʿdy hgrn Ns²qm. The particle s¹n in stead of s³n might be, according to Stein, a transcription error. |
| English | |
1 Brlm ʾrs³l and Krbʿṯt ʾzʾd, of the family of S¹ḥr and his son S¹mhkrb of the family [... ...] mqtwyy of Ns²ʾkrb Yʾmn Yhrḥb, king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, son of ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb and Yʾzl Byn, kings of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, dedicated to ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, the statue in bronze which he had promised Him in praise because ʾlmqh granted and bestowed on His servant Krbʿṯt ʾzʾd he of S¹ḥr [... ...] in the favour he requested from Him, that he would kill the two lions that were (?) in Ns²qm, and an alert was given regarding a lion and he mounted an offensive against it - and with him (there were) eighteen men who are near to him - and indeed ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, granted His servant Krbʿṯt ʾzʾd ḏ-S¹ḥr to kill that lion in the pit; in praise because ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, granted His servant Krbʿṯt ʾzʾd of S¹ḥr to kill a man and to seize his horse, 2 when they performed service with their lord Ns²ʾkrb Yʾmn Yhrḥb, king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, when he came to the rescue against the army of the Ḥaḍramawt, and may ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, continue to grant His two servants Brlm ʾrs³l and Krbʿṯt ʾzʾd, of the family of S¹ḥr, satisfaction in all the favours they will request from Him, and may ʾlmqh grant them a good amount of casualties and prisoners and booty in all the battles in which they will perform service with their lord Ns²ʾkrb Yʾmn Yhrḥb, king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, and whenever he will command and appoint his two servants Brlm ʾrs³l and Krbʿṯt ʾzʾd, of the family of S¹ḥr; 3 may ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, grant them soundness of faculties and material resources and the goodwill and the satisfaction of their lord Ns²ʾkrb Yʾmn Yhrḥb, king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, son of ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb and Yʾzl Byn, kings of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, and may ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, deliver them from the harm and the malice of any enemy, the one they are aware of and the one they are not aware of. By ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, and by ʿṯtr and S¹ḥr. |
| 1 | hʾtn: Ryckmans suggested to consider hʾtn the h- form of the perfect of a verb ʾtn "qu'on a traqué", comparing it with Ar. "faire halte dans un lieu" (Ryckmans 1974 a: 506, fn. 2). However, as Sima (2000: 109-110, fn. 371) notes, a relative pronoun is missing after the determinate state of the noun. He suggests that hʾtn might be considered a dual oblique demonstrative, though this form is not elsewhere attested and the demonstrative is not postponed in Sabaic. As Stein 2003 a: 143, fn. 87 remarks, an error in Iryānī's transcription cannot be excluded. For fgrt and mfgrt, the Sabaic Dictionary gives the translation "waterhole (?), pit, trench" (cf. Ryckmans 1974 a: 506, "fosse (?)"). |
| Ryckmans, Jacques 1974 a: 505-510 | Ryckmans, Jacques 1974. Himyaritica 4. Le Muséon, 87: 493-521. |
| Beeston et al. 1982 (=SD): 43 | 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. |
| Sima 2000: 109-110 | Sima, Alexander 2000. Tiere, Pflanzen, Steine und Metalle in den altsüdarabischen Inschriften. Eine lexikalische und realienkundliche Untersuchung. (Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur. Veröffentlichungen der Orientalischen Kommission, 46). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. |
| Stein 2003 a: 143, fn. 87 | Stein, Peter 2003. Untersuchungen zur Phonologie und Morphologie des Sabäischen. (Epigraphische Forschungen auf der Arabischen Halbinsel, 3). Rahden: Marie Leidorf GmbH / Westf.: Marie Leidorf GmbH. |
| 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 |
| al-Iryānī 1973: 123-125 | al-Iryānī, Muṭahhar 1973. Fī taʾriḫ al-Yaman. Cairo. |
| al-Iryānī 1990: 156-159 | al-Iryānī, Muṭahhar 1990. Fī-taʾrīḫ al-Yaman. Nuquš musnadiya wa-taʿliqāt. Ṣanʿāʾ: Markaz al-dirāsāt wa-l-buḥūṯ al-Yamanī. |
| Stein 2003 a: 213, fn. 48 | Stein, Peter 2003. Untersuchungen zur Phonologie und Morphologie des Sabäischen. (Epigraphische Forschungen auf der Arabischen Halbinsel, 3). Rahden: Marie Leidorf GmbH / Westf.: Marie Leidorf GmbH. |