Corpus of Marginal Minaic Inscriptions
In the second half of the 1st millennium BCE, the Minaeans became the main players in caravan trade between South Arabia and the regions north of the Arabian Peninsula (Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Levantine coast). Evidence of this activity and of the stable presence of Minaean merchants outside South Arabia is a corpus of epigraphs and rock texts.
Learn more »Though being Minaic, these inscriptions show some linguistic and palaeographic peculiarities suggesting their gathering in a specific sub-corpus. For the most part, Marginal Minaic inscriptions come from the site of Dadan in northern Arabia, where Minaeans established a commercial outpost, probably in the 4th century BCE. Most formal inscriptions have been found reemployed. They are fragmentary and often difficult to translate; however, some interesting economic and religious matters emerge. Palaeographic features and formulae show peculiar traits. Most texts from Dadan and from the trans-Arabian routes are graffiti (mainly onomastic) inscribed on the rock surfaces of mountains and boulders near settlements and along the trade routes. A few texts also come from Qaryat al-Fāw in central Arabia. The two most peculiar Marginal Minaic pieces are those coming from outside the Arabian Peninsula: from Egypt and Delos. The first (M 338) is the wooden sarcophagus of a Minaean incense trader in Ptolemaic Egypt. It shows an interesting linguistic mixture and a full cultural integration of the trader, whose funeral ceremony is described. The circular altar from Delos (M 349) bears a dedication to Wadd and to the gods of Maʿīn, accompanied by a brief translation in Greek (perhaps a later addition). It probably dates from the 2nd century BCE, when the island was conquered by Athens and became a strategic trade point in the Mediterranean.