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

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Jamme 1962 a: pl. 36
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INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

Language

Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Central Middle Sabaic

Alphabet

Ancient South Arabian

Script typology

Monumental writing

Writing technique

Incision

Measure of letters

2.6

Chronology

Period

Textual typology

Dedicatory text

TEXT

Apparatus

13	Jamme hrʿln; SD hrʿgn.

TRANSLATIONS

CSAI

English

   1  The tribe of Sabaʾ Khln, in the city of Mrb, and its valleys Khln, those of
   2  the irrigated lands, dedicated to their lord ʾlmqh, Lord of ʾwm, these two statues both in bronze
   3  in praise because He granted and announced good news to His servants, the tribe of Sabaʾ Khln, that He would grant and
   4  irrigate the rains of the autumn in the month of ʾbhy, in the year ninth of Tbʿkrb, son of Wddʾl,of Kbr Ḫll,
   5  because irrigation and rain had failed in the land of Mrb and its valleys and its pasturelands (during)
   6  three rainy seasons before this one; and the fields dried up and all the valleys and
   7  the pasturelands of Mrb suffered from drought, and some of the trees ʿmd died of thirst, and some of the wells dred up; and
   8  all the tribe of Sabaʾ and the daughters of Mrb presented themselves before ʾlmqh into the temple of ʾwm, and
   9  their female magicians performed ceremonies and gave pledges to their lord ʾlmqh, while the (other) women assisted, and they implored
  10  and received good news from their lord ʾlmqh, that He would grant them to irrigate and send abundant rain on Mrb and
  11  on the fields and the valleys and [... ...] ʾlmqh a celestial sign, so that they could irrigate them, and for the rest of
  12  that day, in which they had retired from the temple of ʾwm it rained, and the flash flood came during
  13  the night so they filled the fields and they irrigated all the valleys copiously, and they continued to fill with rainwater
  14  and to irrigate all the palmgroves and the coultivated lands abundantly with numerous rainwater cisterns; and
  15  thereafter they opened up the sluice and rain fell on all the pasturelands. And His servants, the tribe of
  16  Sabaʾ Khln, praised the power and the might of their lord ʾlmqh, Lord of ʾwm, because He granted
  17  and bestowed this rainy season as He announced to His servants; and may ʾlmqh, Lord of ʾwm,
  18  (for) His servants, the tribe of Sabaʾ Khln, continue to bestow on them all the help and good news (for which) they shall continue
  19  to seek and ask to Him. By ʾlmqh, Lord of ʾwm.

9	Jamme 1962: 211-212 translates "and (also) loving wifes"; Ryckmans J. 1966: 499 the analysis of ʾnṯn ʿṭwf-hn is doubtful; Beeston 1972 e: 352 "while the (other) womenfolk were their supporters".

Jamme 1962 a: 211-212	Jamme, Albert W.F. 1962. Sabaean Inscriptions from Maḥram Bilqîs (Mârib). (Publications of the American Foundation for the Study of Man, 3). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press.
Ryckmans, Jacques 1966: 499	Ryckmans, Jacques 1966. Himyaritica 2. Le Muséon, 79: 475-500.
Beeston 1972 e: 352-353	Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1972. Review of Jamme, Albert W.F. 1962. Sabaean Inscriptions from Maḥram Bilqîs (Mârib). (Publications of the American Foundation for the Study of Man, 3). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 35/2: 349-353.

OBJECT INFORMATION

Deposit	Mārib
Support type	Artefact » Base » Of statue with dedicatory inscription
Material	Stone
Measures	h. 67, w. 70.7, th. 28.2
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin and provenance

Modern site	Maḥram Bilqīs
Ancient site	ʾwm
Geographical area	Maʾrib
Country	Yemen
Archaeological context	Religious context: Temple of ʾlmqh bʿl ʾwm
Link to site record

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jamme 1962 a: 211-212, 226, pl. 36	Jamme, Albert W.F. 1962. Sabaean Inscriptions from Maḥram Bilqîs (Mârib). (Publications of the American Foundation for the Study of Man, 3). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press.
Höfner 1964 b: 425	Höfner, Maria 1964. Review of Jamme, Albert W.F. 1962. Sabaean Inscriptions from Maḥram Bilqîs (Mârib). (Publications of the American Foundation for the Study of Man, 3). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 114: 423-426.
Ryckmans, Jacques 1968/1972	Ryckmans, Jacques 1968/1972. Un rite d'istisqâʾ au temple sabéen de Mârib. Annuaire de l'Institut de Philologie et d'Histoire Orientales et Slaves, 20: 379-388.
Beeston 1972 e: 352-353	Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1972. Review of Jamme, Albert W.F. 1962. Sabaean Inscriptions from Maḥram Bilqîs (Mârib). (Publications of the American Foundation for the Study of Man, 3). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 35/2: 349-353.
Ryckmans, Jacques 1966: 499-500	Ryckmans, Jacques 1966. Himyaritica 2. Le Muséon, 79: 475-500.
Beeston 1978 b: 207-209	Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1978. Notes on Old South Arabian Lexicography XI. Le Muséon, 91: 195-209.
Bron 1985 a: 136	Bron, François 1985. Sur une locution conjonctive en araméen et en sabéen. Pages 133-136 in Christian J. Robin (ed.). Mélanges linguistiques offerts à Maxime Rodinson par ses élèves, ses collègues et ses amis. (Comptes rendus du Groupe linguistique d'études chamito-sémitiques. Supplément, 12). Paris: Librairie orientaliste Paul Geuthner.
Jamme 1985: 223-224	Jamme, Albert W.F. 1985. Miscellanées d'ancient arabe XIV. Washington. 2025/04/17; https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.38250301. [Privately printed]
Müller, Walter W. 1988 a: 450-452	Müller, Walter W. 1988. Altsüdarabische Rituale und Beschwörungen. Pages 438-452 in Christel Butterweck (ed.). Rituale und Beschworungen 2. Religiöse Texte. 3. Otto Kaiser (ed.), Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testaments. 2. Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn.
Nebes 1995 a: 40, 228	Nebes, Norbert 1995. Die Konstruktionen mit /fa-/ im Altsüdarabischen. Syntaktische und epigraphische Untersuchungen. (Veröffentlichungen der Orientalischen Kommission, 40). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.