CSAI

Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions


By kind permission of GOAM

INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

LanguageAncient South Arabian » Qatabanic » Marginal Qatabanic
AlphabetAncient South Arabian
Script typologyMonumental writing
Writing techniqueIncision
Measure of letters4
Chronology
PeriodC
Date(24 ʾbʿly bn Rtʿ)
Textual typologyConstruction text - fragmentary

TEXT


      [... ...]
   1  [... ... ]w-ḏt S²bʿn w-ʾs²ms¹-hmw w-b-rdʾ ʾmrʾ-hmw bnw Bʿgm w-s²ʿb-hmw ḏ-Ḥlzwm w-b-ḥg ʾnby
   2  [... ... w-Bs²mm ]w-Blw w-ʾl tʿly wrḫ-s¹ Ṣrb qdmn ḏ-b-ḫrfn ḏ-l-ʾrb(ʿt) (w)-(ʿ)s²ry bn ḫrf ʾbʿly bn Rtʿ

Apparatus
1The reading Bʿgm instead of Bʿlm was given by Müller, Walter W. 2010: 7.

TRANSLATIONS

English

   1  [... ...] and ḏt S²ʿbn and their ʾs²ms¹, and by the help of their lords banū Bʿgm and their tribe ḏ-Ḥlzwm, according to the orders of ʾnby
   2  [... ...] Bs²mm and Blw, and let there be no violation thereof; at the beginning of the month Ṣrb, in the year twenty-four of ʾbʿly descendant of Rtʿ.
Prioletta 2013: 122Prioletta, Alessia 2013. The town of Ḥalzaw (Ḥlzwm) between Qatabān, Radmān and Ḥimyar: an essay on political, religious and linguistic history. Semitica et Classica, 6: 109-130.

OBJECT INFORMATION

DepositAden, University Museum, UAM 327
Support typeStone inscription
MaterialStone
Measuresh. 13, w. 92, th. 38.5
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin
Modern siteUnknown
Ancient siteUnknown
Geographical areawādī Lajiya
CountryYemen
Link to site record

CULTURAL NOTES

The inscription is dated according to the era of Radmān (24 ʾbʿly, ca 98 AD) and is the earliest text that follows this era. Bāṭāyiʿ and Arbach, though considering the text as Awsanitic, already suggested the possibility that at that time the Radmān's tribe had extended its influence up to the western borders of Awsan. Two other inscriptions found in wādī Lajiya are in fact commissioned by members of the Radmanite clan Mʿhr. To these, one can add RES 4336=CSAI II, 14. All these inscriptions come from the city of ḏ-Ḥlzwm, chief lieu of wādī Lajiya, and are written in Marginal Qatabanic rather than Awsanitic. The same can be said of UAM 327, which employs the pronouns in h (never found elsewhere in the Awsanitic texts). All these clues seem to corroborate the idea of a real control of Radmān over the region from the end of the first century AD (see Prioletta 2013).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bāṭāyiʿ and Arbach 2001: 108-110, figs 8-9Bāṭāyiʿ, Aḥmed and Arbach, Mounir 2001. Nouvelles inscriptions du Musée de l'Université d'Aden. Raydān, 7: 103-124.
Müller, Walter W. 2010Müller, Walter W. 2010. Sabäische Inschriften nach Ären datiert. Bibliographie, Texte und Glossar. (Veröffentlichungen der Orientalischen Kommission, 53). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.
Prioletta 2010: 178, photoPrioletta, Alessia 2010. I musei dello Yemen 3. Le iscrizioni del wādī Lajiya al Museo dell'Università di Aden. Egitto e Vicino Oriente, 33: 169-186.
Prioletta 2013: 122-124 (fig. 11)Prioletta, Alessia 2013. The town of Ḥalzaw (Ḥlzwm) between Qatabān, Radmān and Ḥimyar: an essay on political, religious and linguistic history. Semitica et Classica, 6: 109-130.