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

INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

Language

Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Late Sabaic

Alphabet

Ancient South Arabian

Script typology

Monumental writing

Writing technique

Relief

Chronology

Period	E
Date	565 Ḥim

Textual typology

Construction text

Royal inscription

Yes

GENERAL NOTES

The inscription is dated to 455 CE.

TEXT

Apparatus

2	for Ymnt see Robin 2013: 131-133.
6, 20, 24, 62, 64, 67, 72	ʿrmn: besides being a noun indicating "the dam", ʿrmn was used as the name of the Great Maʾrib Dam (Darles et al. 2014: 9-10).
77	Nebes 2004 b considers ʿwdn the name of the northern sluice of Marib dam.

TRANSLATIONS

CSAI

English

   1  S²rḥbʾl Yʿfr king of Sabaʾ, ḏu-Ray-
   2  dān, Ḥaḍramawt, Ymnt, their nomads
   3  in the Ṭwdm and in the Thmt, son of ʾbkrb
   4  ʾs¹ʿd king of Sabaʾ, ḏu-Raydān, Ḥaḍ-
   5  ramawt, Ymnt and their nomads in the Ṭwdm
   6  and in the Thmt, repaired the dam from Rḥ-
   7  bm to the opposite bank / to where it arrives opposite the other bank and he repaired it
   8  with earth and rough-hewn stones until he had completed
   9  from the lower part, from (the base of) wādī, up to the summit.
  10  He repaired the mʾḏbn from its lower part
  11  and its rocky base by constructing in trimmed stones and in stones with mortar,
  12  with tenons made of iron and of metal (?)
  13  driven into the stones with mortar for the tenons (?). He repaired
  14  the deviation wall which (is situated)
  15  beside the overflow channel (?)
  16  and the block of masonry of Ġyln that can be found beside the deviation
  17  wall and Ġyln, its tide gate and the block of masonry (?),
  18  that can be found between Ġyln and Mflgm, and the block of masonry (?) of
  19  Mflgm, which is close to the overflow channel (?) and the tide gate (?) at Mflgm,
  20  and the overflow basin (?) that is in front of the dam. He repaired them
  21  from their lower section (?) from the foundations excavated out of the rock
  22  up to their summit (?) entirely (?). He repaired the anchoring wall of
  23  Ys¹rn with earth and rough-hewn stones from its lower part to
  24  what he had completed, which was the construction in masonry, and the front part of the embankment dam. He repaired
  25  the anchoring wall, what was constructed in masonry and plaster, which is to be found beside the wadi, on the side
  26  that lies in front of the block of masonry of Ġyln and in front of the canal for the overflow (?) Ys¹-
  27  rn. He repaired it from its lower part and the foundations excavated from the rock up to
  28  where he completed it. He finished piling the earth and covering it with rough stones in twenty-
  29  seven days. He completed this and provided the gates
  30  of the [floodwater] distributor (?) in rough blocks (?) and with plaster. He brought to a conclusion all (these constructions) and he
  31  realized them from their foundations to their summit with the power,
  32  [the help and the aid of ʾlhn. What he had employed were] fourteen thousand
  33  six hundred [men] and
  34  a thousand two hundred
  35  camels for transport.
  36  He disbursed
  37  for this two hundred
  38  seventeen
  39  thousand (measures) of semolina and of flour of sorghum (?),
  40  of wheat, of barley, and of
  41  dates, a thousand three hundred
  42  two heads of cattle for the butcher (?)
  43  of sheep and of cows,
  44  thousand hundred
  45  animals sacrificed (?) and animals slaughtered (?),
  46  four hundred thirty
  47  camel (loads) of drink - wine (?),
  48  ġrbbm and fṣym,
  49  two hundred
  50  camel (loads) of mzr (a fermented drink) of dates.
  51  In the month of ḏ-Dʾw-
  52  n of the year
  53  five hundred
  54  sixty-four. (The dam) had been destroyed
  55  due to the autumn rains.
  56  And (afterwards the king) irrigated thanks to it
  57  the land with
  58  the spring rains.
  59  When the spring rains fell, whilst they irrigated thanks to (the dam)
  60  the land in the month ḏ-Ṯbtn of the year five
  61  hundred sixty-five, (many elements) were destroyed: the deviation walls,
  62  the overflow basin, the anchoring wall, the dam
  63  and the distributor (?) from its foundations, (which were) constructed of masonry and dressed stone
  64  and the dam from its lower part entirely. Then
  65  the king went to Ḥimyar and Ḥaḍramawt while ordering
  66  the tribes that had not acquitted themselves of their duties (?) towards him (?)
  67  at Mrb and on the dam (according) to the order that he had given
  68  because (?) the tribes of Rḥbtn had been struck (?) by
  69  the epidemic and death. The dam was destroyed in the spring after
  70  (it had been) in the autumn when he had given the order (to those) of Ḥimyar
  71  and of Ḥaḍramawt. Those who came down with the king (were) in number
  72  twenty thousand. He constructed the dam from its lower
  73  part up to its summit with earth and stones
  74  with (large) stones (?). He built his (?) with a width of six
  75  cubits. He built the deviation wall and the overflow channel (?) meticulously
  76  with dressed stones, of blocks with mortar and (?) iron hooks.
  77  Regarding the anchoring wall, he built it in dressed stones and [trimmed stones].
  78  He cemented all the deviation walls and the overflow basins/channels and
  79  the anchoring wall with plaster their front part and their summit
  80  and their two elevations in masonry Rḥbm. He repaired
  81  solidly and meticulously with the help and aid of ʾlhn
  82  the Lord of Heaven and Earth. What he had disbursed
  83  for the tribes who came down with him
  84  as provisions for the workers and the burden carriers (?) could be estimated at
  85  two hundred ninety-five thousand three hundred forty
  86  measures of semolina and of
  87  flour of wheat, of barley, of sorghum and
  88  of dates, one thousand three hundred
  89  sixty-three heads of small cattle, of sheep and of cows,
  90  a thousand camels for transport[ing goods] (?)
  91  six hundred sixty [and]
  92  ten camel (loads)
  93  of drink ġrbbm
  94  and fṣym, forty-
  95  two amphoras (?)
  96  of honey and of butter.
  97  In the month of
  98  ḏ-Dʾwn of the year
  99  five hundred sixty
100  five.

OBJECT INFORMATION

Support type	Monumental stela
Material	Stone
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin and provenance

Modern site	Maʾrib
Ancient site	Mryb / Mrb
Geographical area	Maʾrib
Country	Yemen
Archaeological context	Agricultural irrigation context: Dam or retaining structure
Link to site record

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fakhry 1952: 74-79	Fakhry, Ahmed 1952. An archaeological Journey to Yemen (March-May 1947). (3 vols), Cairo: Government Press.
Solá Solé 1960: 8-21	Solá Solé, Josep M. 1960. Las dos grandes inscripciones sudarábigas del dique de Mârib. Con un Apéndice de Albert W.F. Jamme. Barcelona / Tübingen.
Gajda 1997: 26-44	Gajda, Iwona 1997. Ḥimyar gagné par le monothéisme (IVe-VIe siècle de l'ère chrétienne). Ambitions et ruine d'un royaume de l'Arabie méridionale antique. (Université d'Aix-en-Provence).
Müller, Walter W. 2010: 68-73	Müller, Walter W. 2010. Sabäische Inschriften nach Ären datiert. Bibliographie, Texte und Glossar. (Veröffentlichungen der Orientalischen Kommission, 53). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.
Nebes 2004 b	Nebes, Norbert 2004. A new ʾAbraha inscription from the Great Dam of Mārib. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 34: 221-230.
Robin 2013	Robin, Christian J. 2013. À propos de Ymnt et Ymn: « nord » et « sud », « droite » et « gauche », dans les inscriptions de l'Arabie antique. Pages 119-140 in Françoise Briquel-Chatonnet, Catherine Fauveaud and Iwona Gajda (eds). Entre Carthage et l’Arabie heureuse. Mélanges offerts à François Bron. (Orient & Méditerranée, 12). Paris: de Boccard.
Darles, Robin and Schiettecatte 2014	Darles, Christian, Robin, Christian J. and Schiettecatte, Jérémie 2014. Contribution à une meilleure compréhension de l'histoire de la digue de Maʾrib au Yémen. Pages 9-70 in François Baratte, Christian J. Robin and Elsa Rocca (eds). Regards croisés d'orient et d'occident. Les barrages dans l'antiquité tardive. Actes du colloque, 7-8 janvier 2011, Paris, Fondation Simone et Cino del Duca. Organisé dans le cadre du programme ANR EauMaghreb. (Orient & Méditerranée, 14). Paris: Éditions de Boccard. 2019/11/29; https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1b7x6sv.