CSAI

Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions


al-Ḥasanī 2017: 45

INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

LanguageAncient South Arabian » Sabaic » Southern Middle Sabaic
AlphabetAncient South Arabian
Script typologyMonumental writing
Writing techniqueIncision
Measure of letters2.5
Chronology
PeriodD
Textual typologyConstruction text

TEXT


   1   ʾls²rḥ ʾṣdq w-bny-hw ʾls²r w-ʾ(l)ʿ[... ...]
   2  Nhym w-ḏ-Ydm brʾw w-ṯwb w-hqs²b w-s¹tqḥw [...]
   3  ḫlf w-gnʾ w-ṣwbt hgr-hmw Ṣyrtn w-mḥfdn Yf[ʿn]
   4  w-bytnynhn Nʿmn w-S²bʿn f-ṯwbw bn mwṯrn ʿdy mrymn
   5  w-mḥfdtn Rdʿm w-Rznm w-Yʿrm w-Mḥfdm ((mḥfdm)) s¹wn ḫf—
   6  (r)tn w-mḥfdn Yhwnʿ f-hqs²bw bqyrtm ((b-qyrtm)) bn hwṯrn ʿdy mrymn w-mqbr—
   7  (tn) Mḥwrn f-ṯwbw w-mwrmm ((Wmwrmm)) w-b-ʿly-hw rfqm f-ṯwbw w-rḥb w-gyrn w-l[...]
   8  [... ...](b)[.]lʾn b-ms¹qy hgr-hmw f-ṯwbw w-gyrn bʿd-n-ḏt dhrw w-ḥf[...]
   9  [hgr-hmw Ṣ](y)rtn ḫms¹ ʾḥbs²n b-ywm kwn ḍrm l-ḫms¹ Ḥm[yrm] [...]
  10  [... ...] b-rdʾ w-mqm ʿṯtr S²rqn w-ʾs²ms-hmw
  11  [... ...] (ʾl)-hmw S²yʾn w-Ḥbr w-b-s¹ʿd w-mqm ʾm—
  12  [... ...] [... ...]s¹l[.] w-ws²ʿn ʾdm-hmw ʿs²r-hmw
  13  [... ...] [ḫr]yfn ḏ-l-ṯmnt w-ts¹ʿy
  14  [... ...]-hmw wn[... ...]

Apparatus
3Yf[ʿn], integration by the editor.
6bqyrtm could be interpretated: b-qyrtm, but qyrt is a hapax in ASA, perhaps we can compare with Arabic qīr "tar".
7For w-mwrmm the editor thinks of mwr "way of access", but the morphological analysis is not easy. It is difficult to imagine two scribe's errors: we should remove the first w and the second m.

TRANSLATIONS

English

   1  ʾls²rḥ ʾṣdq and his sons ʾls²r and ʾlʿ[......]
   2  Nhym and of the family Ydm built, repaired, constructed, and completed [...]
   3  the gate, the walls, the construction associated with the walls of their city Ṣyrtn, the tower Yfʿn,
   4  the two houses Nʿmn and S²bʿn, then they repaired from the foundations to the roof,
   5  and the towers Rdʿm, Rznm, Yʿrm and Mḥfdm (or: and a tower) towards the protection
   6  and the tower Yhwnʿ; they constructed a levelled field (or: with tar (?) from the founding to the roof and the
   7  burial place Mḥwrn, then they repaired Wmwrmm (?) and on it a rfq (?); then they repaired and plastered [...]
   8  [... ...] in the irrigated land of their city; then they repaired and plastered after that the Abyssinian army
   9  burned and [...] their city Ṣyrtn, when there was a war to the army of Ḥmyrm [...]
  10  [... ...] with the help and the power of ʿṯtr S²rqn and their solar deities [...]
  11  [... ...] their god S²yʾn and Ḥbr and with the beneficence and the power of [...]
  12  [... ...] and the directive of their people, their group [... ...]
  13  [... ...] the year 98 (or: 198)
  14  [... ...]

OBJECT INFORMATION

DepositUnknown, Unknown
Support typeStone inscription
MaterialStone
Measuresh. 39, w. 95, th. 5
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Provenance
Modern siteJabal Ḏaẖār
Ancient siteunknown
Geographical areaJuban
CountryYemen
Archaeological contextUrban context
Link to site record

CULTURAL NOTES

This inscription recalls the construction works in the city of Ṣyrtm after its destruction by the Abyssinian army.
The date of the text could be based on the Radmanite era and could be: 98 or [1]98.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

al-Ḥasanī 2017al-Ḥasanī, Jamāl Muḥammad Nāṣir 2017. Naqsh tiḏkārī ḥmiyarī min al-Ḍāliʿ (Ḥimyari memorial inscription from Ḍaliʿ). Majallat Jamiʿat ʿAdan al-iliktrūniyya, 7/January: 29-50.