CSAI

Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions


INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

LanguageAncient South Arabian » Sabaic » Central Middle Sabaic
AlphabetAncient South Arabian
Script typologyMonumental writing
Writing techniqueIncision
Chronology
PeriodD
Textual typologyDedicatory text

GENERAL NOTES

Iryānī transcribed the text in a paragraph arrangement that did not respect the original disposition of the lines.

TEXT


   1  Rbʿṯt Yġnm bn Ṣʿqn w-Tzʾd w-Nhmn hqny ʾlmqh Ṯhwn bʿl-ʾwm ṣlmn ḏ-ḏhbn ḏ-s²ft-hw ḥmdm b-ḏt ḫmr ʾlmqh Ṯhwn bʿl-ʾwm ʿbd-hw Rbʿṯt Yġnm bn Ṣʿqn w-Tzʾd w-Nhmn b-ʾmlʾ w-tbs²r s¹tmlʾn w-tbs²rn b-ʿm-hw k-ys¹tkmln w-s¹twfyn l-hw ʾwln w-hkrbn w-hklln mrʾtn ḏt-ts¹tmyn Tḥyʾl bt bny Grfm w-Ṣʿqm ʿdy byt-hmw byt Tzʾd
   2  w-ḥmd ḫyl w-mqm ʾlmqh-Ṯhwn-bʿl-ʾwm b-ḏt hwfy-hw w-hʾmnn b-ʾmlʾ w-tbs²r s¹tmlʾ w-tbs²rn b-ʿm-hw w-l-wzʾ ʾlmqh-Ṯhwn-bʿl-ʾwm hwfyn ʿbd-hw Rbʿṯt Yġnm bn Ṣʿqn w-Tzʾd w-Nhmn b-kl ʾmlʾ w-tbs²r yzʾn s¹tmlʾn b-ʿm-hw w-l-ḫmr-hw ʾlmqh-Ṯhwn-bʿl-ʾwm Rbʿṯt Yġnm bn Ṣʿqn w-Tzʾd w-Nhmn ḥẓy w-rḍw lb mrʾ-hmw Ns²ʾkrb Yʾmn Yhrḥb mlk S¹bʾ w-ḏ-Rydn bn ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb w-Yʾzl Byn mlky S¹bʾ w-ḏ-Rydn w-ḥẓy w-rḍw s²ʿby-hmw S¹bʾ w-Fys²n w-bry ʾʾḏnm w-mqmm w-frʿ ʾmyrt dṯʾ w-ḫrf mhs²fqm w-mhʿmm{m} ʿdy kl ʾrḍt-hmw w-ms²ymt-hmw ʾhn-mw ytfrnn w-ḫtdmn w-l-ḫmr ʾlmqh-Ṯhwn-bʿl-ʾwm ʿbd-hw Rbʿṯt Yġnm nʾd qyẓ w-dṯʾ w-ḫrf w-ṣrb w-frʿ ʾmyrt dṯʾ w-ḫrf mhs²fqm
   3  w-l-hʿnn-hw ʾlmqh-Ṯhwn-bʿl-ʾwm bn qlmt ḥbtn w-ṯmrn w-s¹qyn w-bn ḫybt ʾbrqn w-l-ḫmr ʾlmqh-Ṯhwn-bʿl-ʾwm ʿbd-hw Rbʿṯt Yġnm ʾwldm ʾḏkrm hnʾm bn ʾṯt-hw Tḥyʾl ḏt Tzʾd w-l-ḫryn-hmw ʾlmqh-Ṯhwn-bʿl-ʾwm bn bʾs¹tm w-nkytm w-s¹bʿ w-s²ṣy w-tṯʿt s²nʾm w-mhbʾs¹m ḏ-rḥq w-qrb w-ḏ-bn-hw dʿw w-ʾl dʿw b-ʾlmqh-Ṯhwn-bʿl-ʾwm

Apparatus
1Höfner 1981: 36, on the basis of RES 4962, 1-2: Ṣʿqn w-Tṯʿd, thinks that Tzʾd could be a mistake of Iryānī.
1Iryānī's South Arabian transcription: ḏts¹tmyn (so also ʿInān: one might hypothesize an engraver's haplography); Tḥʾl.
Iryānī's Arabic transcription: byt-hw
ʿInān: ḏn ṣlmn; s¹tmlʾ w-tbs²rn; w-s²fqm (instead of w-Ṣʿqm)
2Iryānī's Arabic transcription: s²ʿby-hw.
ʿInān's transcription: w-rḍw mrʾ-hw; ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb w-Yʾzl w-ḥẓy w-rḍw s²ʿb-hmw; ʾnṯt-hw; no transcription of: w-tṯʿt, w-ʾl dʿw.
For the correction of the haplography (of the inscription's engraver or of Iryānī's transcription) mhʿmm, see Stein 2003 a: 202 and fn. 287. Cf. ʿInān's transcription: mʿmmm.

TRANSLATIONS

English

   1  Rbʿṯt Yġnm, of the families Ṣʿqn and Tzʾd and Nhmn, dedicated to ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, the statue in bronze that he had promised Him in praise because ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, granted His servant Rbʿṯt Yġnm of the families Ṣʿqn and Tzʾd and Nhmn (satisfaction) in all the favours and good news he requested and asked from Him, that He would successfully accomplish for him to bring home and unite and marry the bride, who is called Tḥyʾl, daughter of the families Grfm and Ṣʿqm to their house, the house of Tzʾd;
   2  he praised the might and the power of ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, because He satisfied and protected him in all the favours and good news that he requested and asked from Him; may ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, satisfy His servant Rbʿṯt Yġnm, of the families Ṣʿqn and Tzʾd and Nhmn, in all the favours and good news he will continue to request from Him; may ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, grant Rbʿṯt Yġnm, of the families Ṣʿqn and Tzʾd and Nhmn, the goodwill and the satisfaction of the heart of their lord Ns²ʾkrb Yʾmn Yhrḥb, king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, son of ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb and Yʾzl Byn, kings of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, and the goodwill and satisfaction of their tribes Sabaʾ and Fys²n and the soundness of faculties and material resources and abundant and full cereal crops in spring and autumn in all their lands and fields whatever will be cultivated and made cultivate; may ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, grant His servant Rbʿṯt Yġnm luxuriant crops in summer and spring and autumn and harvest and abundant cereal crops in spring and autumn;
   3  may ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, protect him from the pests of the crops and harvests and (irrigated) cultivations and from the drought of the rainy seasons; may ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, grant His servant Rbʿṯt Yġnm healthy male children from his wife Tḥyʾl of Tzʾd, and may ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, deliver them from any damage and mischief and the surrender and the maleficence and the slander of any enemy and any evildoer, far or near, the one they are aware of or not aware of. By ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm.
1For the interpretation of the phrase ʾwln w-hkrbn w-hklln mrʾtn, see Beeston 1980 a and 1981 b. See also Ryckmans 1974 for the hypothesis that the mrʾt mentioned in l. 1 is a different person than the ʾṯt in l. 3.
Ryckmans, Jacques 1974 a: 512-514Ryckmans, Jacques 1974. Himyaritica 4. Le Muséon, 87: 493-521.
Beeston 1980 a: 18-19Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1980. Studies in Sabaic Lexicography II. Raydān, 3: 17-26.
Beeston 1981 b: 27-28Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1981. Two epigraphic South Arabian roots: HYʿ and KRB. Pages 21-34 in Roswitha G. Stiegner (ed.). al-Hudhud. Festschrift Maria Höfner zum 80. Geburtstag. Graz: Karl-Franzens-Universität.

OBJECT INFORMATION

DepositṢanʿāʾ, al-Kuhālī collection
Support typeArtefact » Base » Of statue with dedicatory inscription
MaterialStone
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin
Modern siteMaḥram Bilqīs
Ancient siteʾwm
Geographical areaMaʾrib
CountryYemen
Archaeological contextReligious context: Temple of ʾlmqh Ṯhwn bʿl ʾwm
Link to site record

BIBLIOGRAPHY

al-Iryānī 1973: 132-136al-Iryānī, Muṭahhar 1973. Fī taʾriḫ al-Yaman. Cairo.
ʿInān 1976: 259-264ʿInān, Zaid b. ʿA 1976. Taʾriḫ ḥaḍāra al-Yaman al-qadīm. Cairo.
Höfner 1981: 36Höfner, Maria 1981. Sabäische Inschriften. (Letzte Folge). Sammlung Eduard Glaser. 14. (Sitzungsberichte der Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-historische Klasse, 378). Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
al-Iryānī 1990: 167-171al-Iryānī, Muṭahhar 1990. Fī-taʾrīḫ al-Yaman. Nuquš musnadiya wa-taʿliqāt. Ṣanʿāʾ: Markaz al-dirāsāt wa-l-buḥūṯ al-Yamanī.
Stein 2003 a: 202Stein, Peter 2003. Untersuchungen zur Phonologie und Morphologie des Sabäischen. (Epigraphische Forschungen auf der Arabischen Halbinsel, 3). Rahden: Marie Leidorf GmbH / Westf.: Marie Leidorf GmbH.