| Language | Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Central Middle Sabaic | ||
| Alphabet | Ancient South Arabian | ||
| Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
| Writing technique | Incision | ||
| Measure of letters | 4 ca. | ||
| Chronology |
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| Textual typology | Dedicatory text | ||
| Royal inscription | Yes |
| 5 | Cf. dʿt kwn vs. the feminine dʿt kwnt in Ir 22. However, the correctness of Iryānī's copy cannot be verified. |
| English | |
1 [Ns²ʾkrb Yʾmn Yhrḥb, king of Sabaʾ and] 2 ḏu-Raydān, son of ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb and Yʾzl Byn, 3 kings of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, dedicated to ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord 4 of ʾwm, two statues in bronze in praise because 5 ʾlmqh granted them to bring and protect the crops that grew 6 in their fields in the rainy season of the autumn of the second year of Ns²ʾkrb, son 7 of Mʿdkrb, of the family Fḍḥm; and ʾlmqh protected them 8 from cold and locusts and loucst swarm (?) and from all 9 the insect pests in that rainy season; may ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, 10 Lord of ʾwm, continue to protect their servant Ns²ʾkrb Yʾmn 11 Yhrḥb, king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, son of ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb 12 and Yʾzl Byn, kings of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, in all 13 the requests and favourable oracles and good news he may continue to ask 14 from Him for the rainy seasons in spring and autumn; may He grant them 15 good undertakings and luck that will satisfy them and may He protect 16 them and protect their kingdom and their army and may He destroy 17 and humiliate and defeat and overwhelm and crush all their war's enemies 18 and their enemies. By ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm. |
| 5-6 | mfnt in this very occurrence is translated "?land outside settlement" by the SD, while in the other cases the translation "?land irrigated by canals" is preferred. This is probably due to the fact that the dʿt mentioned in the previous line as growing in these fileds are identified as "crops grown without artificial irrigation" which would contrast with the presence of canals in the fields. The meaning of dʿt was defined by contrast on the basis of its occurrence in a phrase in conjunction with s¹qy (irrigated crops). |
| 8 | Jamme translates ʿrglm as "whirlwind, cloud (of flies?)" on the basis of a Syriac parallel. Ryckmans suggests to compare the word to the Ar. ʿirgul "nombreuse troupe d'hommes a pied", but then the SD maintains "crop scourge, ?locust swarm?". |
| Jamme 1962 a: 108 | 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: 479 | Ryckmans, Jacques 1966. Himyaritica 2. Le Muséon, 79: 475-500. |
| Beeston et al. 1982 (=SD): 19 | Beeston, Alfred F.L., al-Ghūl, Maḥmūd ʿA., Müller, Walter W. and Ryckmans, Jacques 1982. Sabaic Dictionary (English-French-Arabic). Dictionnaire Sabéen (anglais-français-arabe). Louvain-la-Neuve: Éditions Peeters / Beirut: Libraire du Liban. |
| Support type | Artefact » Base » Of statue with dedicatory inscription |
| Material | Stone |
| Measures | h. 97.5, w. 52.5 ca. |
| Link to object record |
| Modern site | Maḥram Bilqīs |
| Ancient site | ʾwm |
| Geographical area | Maʾrib |
| Country | Yemen |
| Archaeological context | Religious context: Temple of ʾlmqh Ṯhwn bʿl ʾwm |
| Link to site record |
| Jamme 1962 a: 107-108 | 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: 479 | Ryckmans, Jacques 1966. Himyaritica 2. Le Muséon, 79: 475-500. |