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

al-Iryānī 1990: 322-323 (facsimile)
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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

Chronology

Period

Textual typology

Dedicatory text

TEXT

Apparatus

23	Bron wrongly transcribes b-wṣt.
26	Bron wrongly transcribes w-ġnm.

TRANSLATIONS

CSAI

English

   1  Whbʾwm Yʾḏf ḏ-Gdnm and Ḫḏwt and
   2  Krbʿṯt ʾs¹ʿd of the banū S¹ʾrn, Mḥylm,
   3  Mwḍʿm and S³mkm, officers of ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb
   4  and his brother Yʾzl Byn kings of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, sons of
   5  Frʿm Ynhb king of S¹bʾ, dedicated to ʾlmqh Master of
   6  Ms¹kt and of Yṯw of Brʾn the statue in bronze, in praise because
   7  ʾlmqh Master of Ms¹kt and of Yṯw of
   8  Brʾn granted and bestowed on their lords ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb and his brother Yʾzl
   9  Byn kings of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān their satisfaction in the oracle
  10  and the document that they ordered to their servants Whbʾwm and Krbʿṯt
  11  to record in Brʾn, in the month of ḏ-ʾbhy in the third year of
  12  Ns²ʾkrb son of Mʿdkrb banū Ḥḏmt, and
  13  they obtained in this document favourable oracles by
  14  ʾlmqh in Brʾn for the going up and ascending of their lords
  15  to the town of Ṣnʿw and to Rḥbtn. And in this very year
  16  S²mr ḏu-Raydān and the ʾqwl of
  17  Ḥimyar sent a mission and dispatch to their lords ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb and his brother
  18  Yʾzl Byn kings of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, to seek peace
  19  and fraternity and to join the two palaces Salḥīn and
  20  Raydān. And in the same year their lords
  21  ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb and his brother Yʾzl
  22  Byn kings of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān went on an expedition and waged war on the enemy troops (or: the camps) of the
  23  Abyssinians and of ḏ-S¹hrtm, and encountered them in the middle of S¹hrtn
  24  on the hillocks of the citadel of Wḥdt, and their lords
  25  and their (i.e. of the kings) armies came back in success and glory, with spoils,
  26  prisoners, booty and loot, which satisfied them. And in
  27  the same year, their lord
  28  ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb kings of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān went on an expedition and waged war for a second time
  29  up to S¹hrtm against the enemy troops (or: the camps) of the Abyssinians and of ḏ-
  30  S¹hrtm, and his army - the army of Sabaʾ, and some
  31  of the ʾqwl and the tribes of Ḥimyar - served him and encountered
  32  their troops in Mqrfm (or: and destroyed their camps), in the plain of the land of ʿkm
  33  and their lord ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb king of Sabaʾ
  34  and ḏu-Raydān and his two armies, the army Sabaʾ and Ḥimyar,
  35  came back in succes and in glory and with spoils.

5-6	Bron interprets the epithet of ʾlmqh "bʿl Ms¹kt w-Yṯw Brʾn" as "seigneur de Ms¹kt qui réside à Brʾn".
14	tyfʿn: Bron contests the translation proposed by the Sabaic Dictionary "dynastic accession", because Ṣanʿāʾ was not a capital; a similar meaning to s³mk should be retained.
19	ḥs²k has to be associated to the word ḥs²kt "wife".
22, 29, 31-32	ʾʿṣd: Bron translates "encampment", on the basis of the observation by Shitomi that the word occurs only in relation with the Ḥabašat and is therefore to be considered as a loan from the Geʿez ʿṣd, pointing to a closed land.
32	According to Iryani, Mqrfm is a toponym. Bron, on the basis of a comparison with the Geʿez qwārafa "cut into pieces", suggests that wkb b-mqrfm should be interpreted as an expression meaning "to annihilate".

Bron 1993: 80-83	Bron, François 1993. Sur une nouvelle inscription historique sabéenne. Studi Epigrafici e Linguistici, 10: 79-83.
Shitomi 1981: 127-129	Shitomi, Yuzo 1981. Une note sur ʿṣd. Raydān, 4: 127-129.

OBJECT INFORMATION

Support type	Artefact » Base » Of statue with dedicatory inscription
Material	Stone
Measures	h. 72, w. 23
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin

Modern site	al-ʿAmāyid / ʿArsh Bilqīs
Ancient site	Brʾn
Geographical area	Maʾrib
Country	Yemen
Archaeological context	Religious context: Temple of ʾlmqh bʿl Ms¹kt w-Yṯw Brʾn
Link to site record

CULTURAL NOTES

History

This text relates the wars opposing Sabaʾ and Ḥimyar, and also the Abyssinians, in the 3rd century AD.
The authors of this text, officers of ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb and his brother Yʾzl Byn, are mentioned separately with their brother Rbs²ms¹m Yzd in other texts, namely Whbʾwm in CIH 314+954 and Krbʿṯt in Ja 578.
Bron notes that Ir 69 and CIH 314+954 are almost contemporary, relating the same wars against S²mr ḏ-Rydn (S²mr Yhḥmd). Ja 578, which records the wars against Krbʾl ḏ-Rydn (Krbʾl ʾyfʿ), is slightly later.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

al-Iryānī 1988 a: 13-14, fig. 16	al-Iryānī, Muṭahhar 1988. al-Iryānī 69. Raydān, 5: 9-16.
al-Iryānī 1990: 322-348 (facsimile)	al-Iryānī, Muṭahhar 1990. Fī-taʾrīḫ al-Yaman. Nuquš musnadiya wa-taʿliqāt. Ṣanʿāʾ: Markaz al-dirāsāt wa-l-buḥūṯ al-Yamanī.
Bron 1993: 79-80	Bron, François 1993. Sur une nouvelle inscription historique sabéenne. Studi Epigrafici e Linguistici, 10: 79-83.