Editor: Jérémie Schiettecatte
Ancient name | ʾfqn |
Country | Yemen |
Geographical area | Dhamār |
Governorate | Dhamār |
Kingdom | Ḥimyar |
Coordinates | Latitude: 14° 28' 8" Longitude: 44° 35' 2" |
Coordinates accuracy | assumed |
Type of site | Modern site with reemployed inscriptions or artefacts |
Deities | (ʿṯtr) S²rqn |
Structures | Dwelling (indeterminate) Light hydraulic structure (ex. canal, well) Fortress Rock inscriptions |
Language | Sabaic |
Location and toponomy | Location Khirbat Afîq / Afq is a village located in the south-east of the Dhamâr plain, 21 km east-south-east of Dhamâr, 5 km north of Hakir. Toponymy It may be the ancient ʾfqn mentioned in RES 3946/2 as a hgr. This identification on the basis of similar names of place is uncertain. Al-Hamdânî mentions a citadel, maṣnaʿat Ufayq, in the province of Dhamâr that may be identified to this village. To the south west of the village, the ruins of an inhabited area on a rocky promontory may correspond to the citadel mentioned by al-Hamdânî. |
History of research | Late 2000s: visit and description by Kh. Numan (2012: 18). |
General description | Five inscriptions were copied on site by Kh. Numan (2012:18, 132). One of them mentions the building of two cisterns around the 2nd-3rd century BC, as well as the presence of a house (bytn ḏ-ʾqs²ṭ). Two additional inscriptions preserved in the Ṣanʿâʾ University Museum (A-20-263 and A-20-274) come from this site. One of them mentions the name of a deity called S²rqn (probably ʿṯtr S²rqn). |
Chronology | Three inscriptions from this site may be dated according to their palaeography: - A-20-263 is dated 5th-2nd century BC - A-20-274 and Kh-Afq 1 are dated to the 2nd-3rd century AD. |
north of Ṣunʿa (Unknown) |
north of Maṣnaʿat Mariya (S¹mʿn) |
Epigraphs
in CSAI Objects in CSAI |