YM 18350
Arbach and Audouin 2007: 81, cat. 51
INSCRIPTION INFORMATION
| Language | Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Early Sabaic | ||
| Alphabet | Ancient South Arabian | ||
| Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
| Script cursus | Boustrophedon | ||
| Writing technique | Incision | ||
| Measure of letters | 4 | ||
| Chronology |
| ||
| Textual typology | Dedicatory text |
TEXT
1 Nwḍm bn ʾbkrb
2 ʿbd S¹mhʿly
3 kbr Ktlm hqn—
4 y ʾlmqh Ḥywm
5 ywm bny ms²s³ʿ H—
6 rbn w-ʾṯlm((ʾṯlm)) ms²s³—
7 ʿ Ṣqbn w-ʾṯlm((ʾṯlm)) |
| 1 | The line is inscribed on an intermediate frame of the false-window motif, while the rest of the text is engraved on the most recessed surface, underneath the crescent with disc. |
TRANSLATIONS
| English | |
1 Nwḍm son of ʾbkrb, 2 servant of S¹mhʿly, 3 kbr of Ktlm, dedicated 4 to ʾlmqh Ḥywm, 5 when he built the ms²s³ʾ of 6 Hrbn and ʾṯlm (?) and the ms²s³ʾ 7 of Ṣqbn and ʾṯlm (?) . |
| 5, 6-7 | Regarding the word ms²s³ʿ, Bron notes: "l'un des ms²s³ʿ porte le nom de Hrbn, qui se retrouve dans YM 18352/11, dans un contexte qui se réfère à l'irrigation; ms²s³ʿ pourrait donc désigner un ouvrage d'irrigation, que l'on construit". The root means "to be far", so ms²s³ʿ could point to a separate, far away building. |
| 6, 7 | For the word ʾṯl, Bron rejects the translation "tamaris" proposed by the editors. On the basis of the comparison with RES 4646/9,13, he suggests that it could be related to the irrigation ("on rappellera l'expression arabe taʾaṯṯala biʾr, «il a creusé un puits»"). |
OBJECT INFORMATION
| Deposit | Ṣanʿāʾ, The National Museum, YM 18350 |
| Support type | Artefact » Stela » Stela with framework |
| Top | Concave |
| Material | Alabaster |
| Measures | h. 95, w. 50.5, th. 13 |
| Link to object record |
ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE
| Modern site | Kharibat Saʿūd |
| Ancient site | Ktlm |
| Geographical area | wādī Raghwān |
| Country | Yemen |
| Archaeological context | Religious context: Temple of ʾlmqh |
| Notes | The editors maintains Jidfir ibn Munayḫir as the site of provenance, because the stela is part of a group of pieces acquired by the GOAM as coming from illegal excavation in the site. However, we accept Schiettecatte's suggestion that some of these stelae most probably come from the nearby sites of Kharibat Saʿūd and al-Asāḥil (see Schiettecatte 2011: 49, n.25 for the argumentation). In this case, the author is kabīr of Ktlm (Kharibat Saʿūd). |
| Link to site record |
CULTURAL NOTES
The author of the inscriptions YM 18350 and YM 18351, who is a servant of the Sabaean king S¹mhʿly, is also kabīr of the Sabaean town Kutālum in the Jawf.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
| Arbach and Audouin 2007: 81-82, cat. 51 | Arbach, Mounir and Audouin, Rémy 2007. Collection of Epigraphic and Archaeological Artifacts from al-Jawf Sites. Ṣanʿâʾ National Museum. 2. Ṣanʿāʾ: UNESCO-SFD / Ṣanʿāʾ: National Museum. [Text in English and Arabic] |
| Bron 2010 b: 43-44 | Bron, François 2010. Quelques nouvelles inscriptions du Jawf. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy, 21: 41-45. |