Language | Ancient South Arabian » Minaic » Marginal Minaic | ||
Alphabet | Ancient South Arabian | ||
Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
Writing technique | Incision | ||
Measure of letters | 3.2 | ||
Chronology |
| ||
Textual typology | Dedicatory text - fragmentary (conjectural) |
1 | Mordtmann reads w-ḏ, while Jaussen and Savignac (and consequently RES and Garbini) ʿd; the editors read ys¹brr. |
3 | the editors integrate w- before ʾlʾlt Mʿn, as it is usual in the Minaic texts. However, we cannot exclude that "the gods of Maʿīn" is an apposition to the list of divinities previously mentioned. |
4 | w-h (Mordtmann); hm (Jaussen and Savignac, RES and Garbini); probably (w-l) ʾḫḫr; ʾwl (cf. as-Sawdāʾ 40) or maybe ʾw-l. An empty space before ḏ-yṯw[b has not been considered as a lacuna: the stone was probably originally damaged. |
6 | on the basis of a parallel in Arabic, the editors consider k-ḫld a phrase meaning "for ever", but in Minaic Ḫld is attested only as a proper name. |
English | |
1 [... ...] to their hand [... ...] 2 [... ...] Hnʾ to Wd as an obligation and Hnʾ and who is in his faculty (?) put [... ...] 3 [... ...] under the protection of ʿṯtr ḏ-Qbḍ and Wd and Nkrḥ and the gods of Maʿīn from anyone [... ...] 4 [... ... who would remove them] from their place ? [... ...] 5 [... ...] among the goods of Hnʾ and his property and his purchase [... ...] 6 [... ...] and save for Ḫld on the basis of this document [... ...] 7 [... ...]Wqhʾl Ṣdq and ʾbkrb Yṯʿ kings of [Maʿīn ... ...] 8 [... ... of the clan] Yfʿn, the kabir of Maʿīn [... ...] |
Deposit | Istanbul, Ancient Orient Museum |
Support type | Stone inscription |
Material | Stone |
Measures | h. 32, w. 52 |
Link to object record |
Modern site | al-ʿUlā |
Ancient site | Ddn |
Geographical area | Ḥijāz |
Country | Saudi Arabia |
Notes | According to Jaussen and Savignac, the inscription was on the city wall, but it is not clear whether it was in situ or had been reemployed. |
Link to site record |
Müller, David H. 1889: pl. I/XI | Müller, David H. 1889. Epigraphische Denkmäler aus Arabien. (Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna. Philosophisch-historische Klasse. Denkschriften, 37/2). Vienna: In Commission bei F. Tempsky. |
Mordtmann 1897: 32, facsimile | Mordtmann, Johannes H. 1897. Beiträge zur minäischen Epigrafik. (Ergänzungshefte zur Zeitschrift für Assyriologie, 12. Semitistische Studien). Weimar: E. Felber. |
Jaussen and Savignac 1914: 270, pls LXXIV, XCIX/17 (facsimile) | Jaussen, Antonin J. and Savignac, M. Raphael 1914. Mission archéologique en Arabie. II. El-ʿEla, d'Hégra à Teima, Harrah de Tebouk. (Publications de la Société française des fouilles archéologiques, 2). Paris: Librairie orientaliste Paul Geuthner. |