Sharʿabī as-Sawā 1
Robin 1994 e: pl. 47
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INSCRIPTION INFORMATION
| Language | Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Southern Middle Sabaic | ||
| Alphabet | Ancient South Arabian | ||
| Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
| Writing technique | Incision | ||
| Measure of letters | 3.5 | ||
| Chronology |
| ||
| Textual typology | Construction text |
TEXT
1 [Kly](b) (Yhʾ)m(n)[ b](n) (Ys²m)r Yhḥmd ḏ-Mʿfrm w-Ḍbʾm w-[..]r(yn) (w)-[.]—
2 [.]n bn Klʿn w-ʾʿs¹yfr w-ḏ-Ḥblm hfʿl w-hqs²b mḥrm ʾlhn
3 [ḏ-S¹mw]y ʾlh ʾmrm ḏ-b-brḥtn Ṣyrtn ḏ-tḥt hgrn S³wm w-ʾlhn ḏ-
4 [S¹mwy] (ʾ)lh ʾmrm (f)-(l)-(y)s²mn wfy w-s²rḥ w-s²wft Klyb Yhʾmn
5 [w-bn]y-hw bny ḏ-(M)[ʿfrm ʾ]bʿl bytn S²bʿn (w)-[w](f)y kl ḏ-qn(y)[w]
| 1 | The reading of the patronymic is dubious. It could be possibly S²mr. |
TRANSLATIONS
| English | |
1 Klyb Yhʾmn son of Ys²mr Yhḥmd ḏ-Mʿfrm and Ḍbʾm and [..]ryn and [.]— 2 [.]n of the family Klʿn and ʾʿs¹yfr and ḏ-Ḥblm made and built the temple of the god 3 ḏ-S¹mwy, god of the ʾmrm, which is in the plain Ṣyrtn, below the city of S³wm. May ḏ- 4 S¹mwy, god of the ʾmrm, grant safety, security and protection to Klyb Yhʾmn 5 and to his sons, of the family Mʿfrm, lords of the palace S²bʿn, and the safety of everything they own. |
OBJECT INFORMATION
| Support type | Stone inscription |
| Material | Stone |
| Measures | h. 20, w. 75 |
| Link to object record |
ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE
| Modern site | as-Sawā |
| Ancient site | S³wm |
| Geographical area | al-Maʿāfir |
| Country | Yemen |
| Found | Reemployed. In modern times |
| Archaeological context | Religious context: Temple of ḏ-S¹mwy ʾlh ʾmrm |
| Link to site record |
CULTURAL NOTES
Since Abdallāh's edition of the text, the name of the author Klyb Yhʾmn has been put in relation with the Χόλαιβος attested in the Periplus of the Erithrean Sea (§22). In this document of the 1st century AD, Χόλαιβος is said to be the "tyrannos" (probably the qayl) of the land of Mapharitide (here Mʿfrm), settled in the town of Sauē (as-Sawā, here S³wm).
The lineage names mentioned in the text are found in other inscriptions: Mʿfrm since the Early Sabaic RES 3945, Klʾn in the Late Sabaic CIH 621, ʾʿs¹yfr in the Qatabanic RES 3878 (suggesting that the territory was previously under Qatabanian control).
The god of the Amīr tribe, ḏū-Samāwī, is invoked in this inscription. This deity was the protector of the trade by land: representations of camels are related to his cult and the Amīr - who settled in Najrān - were engaged in trading activities. The site of as-Sawā was rather linked to the maritime commercial traffic of the Red Sea (the very Periplus states that it was located inland, at a distance of three days from the port of Muza). Avanzini assumes the god protected the long distance trade, by land but also by sea, or that as-Sawā was an important junction between land and sea commercial routes.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
| ʿAbdallāh 1988 c: 105-106, 112-113 (photo) | ʿAbdallāh, Yūsuf M. 1988. Madīna al-Sawā fī "Kitāb al-Ṭawāf ḥawl al-baḥr al-Irītirī". Raydān, 5: 101-113 (Arabic section). |
| ʿAbdallāh 1988 e | ʿAbdallāh, Yūsuf M. 1988. Madīnat as-Sawā fī "Kitāb aṭ-Ṭawāf ḥawl al-baḥr al-Irītirī". Dirāsāt Yamaniyya, 34/Oct-Dec: 30-49. |
| Bāfaqīh 1991: 31-48, fig. 1 | Bāfaqīh, Muḥammad ʿA. 1991. Naqš al-Sawā: al-naṣṣ wa-l-tāʾriḫ. Pages 31-48 in Études sud-arabes. Recueil offert à Jacques Ryckmans. (Publications de l'Institut Orientaliste de Louvain, 39). Louvain-La-Neuve: Université Catholique de Louvain, Institut Orientaliste. |
| Robin 1991 a: 11-12, pl. 2 | Robin, Christian J. 1991. L'Arabie du sud et la date du Périple de la mer Erythrée (nouvelles données). Journal Asiatique, 279: 1-30. |
| Robin 1994 e: 91-95, pl. 47 | Robin, Christian J. 1994. Kulayb Yuhaʾmin est-il le Χόλαιβος du Périple de la mer Érithrée?. Raydān, 6: 91-99. |