Language | Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Central Middle Sabaic | ||
Alphabet | Ancient South Arabian | ||
Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
Writing technique | Incision | ||
Chronology |
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Textual typology | Construction text - fragmentary |
Stein proposes to date the inscription in the 1st century AD on the basis of the presence of the enclitic particle -m, which was replaced by the long form -mw from the end of the century. |
1 | [... ...Y]zʾn: restoration by Robin. ʿlbm (Lundin). According to Lundin, there is an initial and a final lacuna on every line. According to Robin, the stone is almost complete on the left side. |
1-2 | w-(n)[qz krf-hmw ... ...hg](r)n (Robin). ḏ-Mṭtm or Ḏmṭtm (Robin). |
3 | [ʾ]bkrb (Lundin). |
3 | ʾlw Zʿln is in other occurrences a theonym coordinated to ʿṯtr. |
4 | ṭ[... ...] (Lundin). |
5 | Robin: ḏt-Ṯwrn probably as a name of building (a well or a house, on the basis of the possible integration of the word beginning with b at the end of the previous line: bʾr or byt). Lundin: ḏ-Tṯwrn as a lineage name, in relation with -Tṯwrm of the inscription CIH 73 (cf. also MṢM 215). |
English | |
1 [... ...] Yzʾn, sons of Rbʾwm, of the family ʿgbm, worked to the drilling and excavation 2 of their cistern [... ...] the town of ḏ-Mṭtm by the help and the power of their two Patrons, ʾlmqh Lord of Rymn 3 [... ...] Krb and Bṯl and Nmrm, and their Patron ʿṯtr ʾlw Zʿln, and by 4 [... ...] the town of ḏ-Mṭtm, and during the same year when he worked to repair, finish off and reinforce 5 [... ...] ḏt-Ṯwrn, and they committed their cistern to the protection of ʿṯtr S²rqn against anyone who may damage it. |
1 | hklw w-ṯqr: Lundin interprets hklw as from the root KLL ("compete") and ṯqr as from from the root ŠQR ("finish off"), while Robin associates them to the Sem. meaning of nkl ("work") and ṯqr ("excavate"). |
4 | mlʾ: fill in (Lundin). |
Grjaznevič 1978: 16 | Grjaznevič, Petr A. 1978. Materiali ekspedicii P.A. Grjaznevičia 1966-1967 gg. Južnaja Aravija. Pamjiatniki Drevnej Istorii i Kultury. 1. Moscow: Glavnaja redakzija vostočnoj literatury. |
Robin 1982 a: 27-28 | Robin, Christian J. 1982. Les hautes-terres du Nord-Yémen avant l'Islam. (2 vols), (Uitgaven van het Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut te Istanbul, 50). Istanbul: Nederlands Historisch-Archaelogisch Instituut te Istanbul. |
Support type | Stone inscription |
Material | Stone |
Measures | h. 40, w. 90 (Lundin); h. 30, w. 61 (Robin) |
Link to object record |
Modern site | Ghūlat ʿAjīb |
Ancient site | ḏ-Mṭtm |
Geographical area | Rayda |
Country | Yemen |
Found | Reemployed. In modern times |
Archaeological context | Agricultural irrigation context: Basin |
Notes | Reemployed above the mosque's door. |
Link to site record |
Grjaznevič 1978: 16, fig. 1 | Grjaznevič, Petr A. 1978. Materiali ekspedicii P.A. Grjaznevičia 1966-1967 gg. Južnaja Aravija. Pamjiatniki Drevnej Istorii i Kultury. 1. Moscow: Glavnaja redakzija vostočnoj literatury. |
Robin 1982 a: 27-32, pl. 8 | Robin, Christian J. 1982. Les hautes-terres du Nord-Yémen avant l'Islam. (2 vols), (Uitgaven van het Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut te Istanbul, 50). Istanbul: Nederlands Historisch-Archaelogisch Instituut te Istanbul. |
Stein 2003 a: 228, fn. 171 | Stein, Peter 2003. Untersuchungen zur Phonologie und Morphologie des Sabäischen. (Epigraphische Forschungen auf der Arabischen Halbinsel, 3). Rahden: Marie Leidorf GmbH / Westf.: Marie Leidorf GmbH. |