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

INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

Language

Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Late Sabaic

Alphabet

Ancient South Arabian

Script typology

Monumental writing

Writing technique

Incision

Measure of letters

6-8, 15 (last line)

Chronology

Period	E
Date	633 Ḥim

Textual typology

Commemorative text

TEXT

Apparatus

	Apart from the cases discussed below, we accept here Beeston's reading, who emended in several points G. Ryckmans' former edition after comparing the text with Ja 1028. However, also this new reading cannot be confirmed on the basis of the published photos.
1	after the lacuna and before ʾql-hmw, Müller reads a t.
2	dkrw was read by Ryckmans.
3	Mrṯdʾln (Müller).
6	the two variants are suggested by Beeston and other scholars (see further on the note on the translation). At the end, possible variants are yḥbs¹-h[mw] or yḥks¹-h[mw] (G. Ryckmans).
7	G. Ryckmans reads also [... ...]nt s²n mhʿ before w-ḫmrtm; he only reads w-k-kl ymn, while Beeston has w-k-kl fyḥ Ymn. Robin 2013: 134 "la lecture est peu sûre: f(y)ḥ on peut lire aussi f(q)ḥ. La lecture Ymn est possible sans être assurée. whbw...n la restitution ʾln (Beeston, Müller) ne sáccorde pas avec les traces encore visibles".
8	G. Ryckmans restored w-m[t]w as verb; Beeston thinks of a by-form of mly "take as spoils of war" (Ja 649, 40); Robin reads ʾs²ʿbn instead of ʾʿrbn.
10	Robin reads gs²-hmw, G. Rychmans: gr-hmw Beeston and Müller: [h]gr, also on the basis of Ry 508, 7 (see the note on the translation). For ʾzʾn without nunation see Ry 508, 7.
11	Beeston's proposal to restore qn before s¹myn must be rejected as the formula b-ḫfrt s¹myn w-ʾrḍn is already found in Ja 1028.

TRANSLATIONS

CSAI

English

   1  May God to whom belong heavens and earth bless king Ys¹f ʾs¹ʾr Yṯʾr, king of all the tribes, and might He bless their qayls and their leaders
   2  and their bedouin and ... the qayls Lḥyʿt [... ...] and their sons S²rḥbʾl Ykml
   3  Hʿn ʾs¹ʾr, Lḥyʿt Yrḫm, Mrṯdʾl Ymgd sons [... ...] their lord king Ys¹f ʾs¹ʾr Yṯʾr:
   4  when they burnt the church and massacred the Ḥabashites in Ẓfr [... ...] and slew them (to the number of) three hundred [... ...] and then he (the king) sent (men) against ʾs²ʿrn
   5  and the fortresses of S²mr, Rkbn, Rmʿ, Mḫwn [... ...] and they (overran?) ʾs²ʿrn, and they burnt the church and slew and plundered the Ḥabashites in Mḫwn along with its (other) inhabitants, the Frs¹nytm, and they put to fight all
   6  the rabble and riff-raff that they encountered on their expedition, when [... ...] Then he sent (on a second occasion /two persons?) to Najrān, in order that hostages might be exacted from them, otherwise he would wage war on them (in earnest?);
   7  but there was no surrender of the hostages, on the contrary they (the Najrānites) committed criminal aggression on them (the Ḥimyarites). So they [... ...] and many slaves (?); though all the (other) folks of Yemen surrendered over a hundred hostages.
   8  The total of what the king took in booty and prizes of war - together with all the qayls and the bedouin and the expeditionary troops - was fourteen thousand slain, eleven thousand prisoners and two hundred ninety thousand
   9  camels, oxen and goats. This inscription has been written by the qayl S²rḥʾl ḏ-Yzʾn, while taking precautionary measures, along with the Hamdanid tribesmen and bedouin, against Najrān, until the king issues such (other) orders as he pleases;
  10  while his brothers and their Yazanid (clients / townsfolk?) were on defensive duty with the king at Mḫwn against the Ḥabashites, and (the king) was fortifying the chain of Mandab. The month of Mḏrʾn of six hundred thirty-three. For the protection of
  11  the creator of heavens and earth, and the (angelic) hosts, is this inscription, from any damager. This inscription was executed and written
  12  by Tmmm son of Mʿdn, of the family Qs¹lmt, the Sabaean.

5-6	A number of interpretations have been given to this clause: "the bronchial trouble and coughing they encountered on their campaign" (Drewes 1979: 103, on the basis of the sense of the roots ḥs²ym and s¹ʿlm in Arabic); Robin 1995: 230: "ils mirent en fuite toute la populace et la racaille qu'ils rencontrèrent durant leur expédition" (similarly to Beeston). Gajda translates instead: "Ils ont saisi tous ceux qui ont été envoyés contre leur expédition (?) de Ḥs²ym et S¹ʿlm (?)" considering the two names as toponyms.
7	"et tout le sud a livré cent otages" (Gajda). "alors que tous les peuples du Yémen avaient donné ... cent otages" (Robin 2013: 134).
10	"et leurs confedérés Yzʾn" (Pirenne 1983: 137, on the basis of the comparison with Ry 508, 9: b-s²ʿb-hmw ʾzʾnn); "et leurs chefs, les Yazʾanides" (Gajda).

Gajda 1997	Gajda, Iwona 1997. Ḥimyar gagné par le monothéisme (IVe-VIe siècle de l'ère chrétienne). Ambitions et ruine d'un royaume de l'Arabie méridionale antique. (Université d'Aix-en-Provence).
Drewes 1979	Drewes, Abraham J. 1979. A note on ESA ʾsy. Raydān, 2: 101-105.
Pirenne 1983	Pirenne, Jacqueline 1983. AI-Maddab (Bad el-Mandab) et le débarquement éthiopien de 525 après J.-C.. Semitica, 33: 133-145.
Robin 1995	Robin, Christian J. 1995. La Tihāma yéménite avant l'Islam: notes d'histoire et de géographie historique. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy, 6: 222-235.
Robin 2013	Robin, Christian J. 2013. À propos de Ymnt et Ymn: « nord » et « sud », « droite » et « gauche », dans les inscriptions de l'Arabie antique. Pages 119-140 in Françoise Briquel-Chatonnet, Catherine Fauveaud and Iwona Gajda (eds). Entre Carthage et l’Arabie heureuse. Mélanges offerts à François Bron. (Orient & Méditerranée, 12). Paris: de Boccard.

OBJECT INFORMATION

Support type	Rock inscription
Measures	h. 1200, w. 600
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin and provenance

Modern site	Biʾr Ḥimā
Ancient site	Unknown
Geographical area	Biʾr Ḥimà
Country	Saudi Arabia
Found	In situ
Link to site record

CULTURAL NOTES

History

See the contemporary text Ja 1028 on the events recorded in this text.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ryckmans, Gonzague 1953: 284-295, pl. III	Ryckmans, Gonzague 1953. Inscriptions sud-arabes. Dixième série. Le Muséon, 66: 267-317.
Beeston 1985: 46-50	Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1985. Two Biʾr Ḥima inscriptions re-examined. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 48: 42-52.
Gajda 1997: 97-100	Gajda, Iwona 1997. Ḥimyar gagné par le monothéisme (IVe-VIe siècle de l'ère chrétienne). Ambitions et ruine d'un royaume de l'Arabie méridionale antique. (Université d'Aix-en-Provence).
Robin 2008 a: 91-93, fig. 3	Robin, Christian J. 2008. Joseph, dernier roi de Ḥimyar (de 522 à 525, ou une des années suivantes). Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam, 34: 1-125.
Müller, Walter W. 2010: 103-104	Müller, Walter W. 2010. Sabäische Inschriften nach Ären datiert. Bibliographie, Texte und Glossar. (Veröffentlichungen der Orientalischen Kommission, 53). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.
Robin 2013: 134, fig. 6 and 7	Robin, Christian J. 2013. À propos de Ymnt et Ymn: « nord » et « sud », « droite » et « gauche », dans les inscriptions de l'Arabie antique. Pages 119-140 in Françoise Briquel-Chatonnet, Catherine Fauveaud and Iwona Gajda (eds). Entre Carthage et l’Arabie heureuse. Mélanges offerts à François Bron. (Orient & Méditerranée, 12). Paris: de Boccard.