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

Robin 1982 a: pl. 8
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Robin 1982 a: pl. 8
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Grjaznevič 1978: 16, fig. 1
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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

Chronology

Period

C. Conjectural

Textual typology

Construction text - fragmentary

GENERAL NOTES

Stein proposes to date the inscription in the 1st century AD on the basis of the presence of the enclitic particle -m, which was replaced by the long form -mw from the end of the century.

TEXT

Apparatus

1	[... ...Y]zʾn: restoration by Robin. ʿlbm (Lundin). According to Lundin, there is an initial and a final lacuna on every line. According to Robin, the stone is almost complete on the left side.
1-2	w-(n)[qz krf-hmw ... ...hg](r)n (Robin). ḏ-Mṭtm or Ḏmṭtm (Robin).
3	[ʾ]bkrb (Lundin).
3	ʾlw Zʿln is in other occurrences a theonym coordinated to ʿṯtr.
4	ṭ[... ...] (Lundin).
5	Robin: ḏt-Ṯwrn probably as a name of building (a well or a house, on the basis of the possible integration of the word beginning with b at the end of the previous line: bʾr or byt). Lundin: ḏ-Tṯwrn as a lineage name, in relation with -Tṯwrm of the inscription CIH 73 (cf. also MṢM 215).

TRANSLATIONS

CSAI (following Robin 1982)

English

   1  [... ...] Yzʾn, sons of Rbʾwm, of the family ʿgbm, worked to the drilling and excavation
   2  of their cistern [... ...] the town of ḏ-Mṭtm by the help and the power of their two Patrons, ʾlmqh Lord of Rymn
   3  [... ...] Krb and Bṯl and Nmrm, and their Patron ʿṯtr ʾlw Zʿln, and by
   4  [... ...] the town of ḏ-Mṭtm, and during the same year when he worked to repair, finish off and reinforce
   5  [... ...] ḏt-Ṯwrn, and they committed their cistern to the protection of ʿṯtr S²rqn against anyone who may damage it.

1	hklw w-ṯqr: Lundin interprets hklw as from the root KLL ("compete") and ṯqr as from from the root ŠQR ("finish off"), while Robin associates them to the Sem. meaning of nkl ("work") and ṯqr ("excavate").
4	mlʾ: fill in (Lundin).

Grjaznevič 1978: 16	Grjaznevič, Petr A. 1978. Materiali ekspedicii P.A. Grjaznevičia 1966-1967 gg. Južnaja Aravija. Pamjiatniki Drevnej Istorii i Kultury. 1. Moscow: Glavnaja redakzija vostočnoj literatury.
Robin 1982 a: 27-28	Robin, Christian J. 1982. Les hautes-terres du Nord-Yémen avant l'Islam. (2 vols), (Uitgaven van het Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut te Istanbul, 50). Istanbul: Nederlands Historisch-Archaelogisch Instituut te Istanbul.

OBJECT INFORMATION

Support type	Stone inscription
Material	Stone
Measures	h. 40, w. 90 (Lundin); h. 30, w. 61 (Robin)
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Provenance

Modern site	Ghūlat ʿAjīb
Ancient site	ḏ-Mṭtm
Geographical area	Rayda
Country	Yemen
Found	Reemployed. In modern times
Archaeological context	Agricultural irrigation context: Basin
Notes	Reemployed above the mosque's door.
Link to site record

CULTURAL NOTES

Religion

In this inscription the divinities ʿṯtr and ʾlw Zʿln are identified. The latter has become an epithet of ʿṯtr.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Grjaznevič 1978: 16, fig. 1	Grjaznevič, Petr A. 1978. Materiali ekspedicii P.A. Grjaznevičia 1966-1967 gg. Južnaja Aravija. Pamjiatniki Drevnej Istorii i Kultury. 1. Moscow: Glavnaja redakzija vostočnoj literatury.
Robin 1982 a: 27-32, pl. 8	Robin, Christian J. 1982. Les hautes-terres du Nord-Yémen avant l'Islam. (2 vols), (Uitgaven van het Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut te Istanbul, 50). Istanbul: Nederlands Historisch-Archaelogisch Instituut te Istanbul.
Stein 2003 a: 228, fn. 171	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.

CSAI

Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions

Gr 1 Robin-Ġūlat ʿAjīb 1