Inabbaʾ 4
Robin 1992 a: pl. 4/a-c
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INSCRIPTION INFORMATION
| Language | Ancient South Arabian » Minaic » Central Minaic | ||
| Alphabet | Ancient South Arabian | ||
| Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
| Writing technique | Incision | ||
| Measure of letters | 8 (first face), 7 (second face) | ||
| Chronology |
| ||
| Textual typology | Dedicatory text |
TEXT
1 (Ḏʾ)b(ʾ)ws¹ ← (s¹ḥ)dṯ m(s¹)lm((m(ʾ)lm))
2 S¹mʿ ḏ-Frʿ
| The first part of l.1 is inscribed on the face of the altar opposed to the one with the spout; the inscription then continues on the leftward face. | |
| 1 | Robin reads mʾlm "hall for the banquet". In the Jawf, the ritual banquet was celebrated for the god ʿṯtr ḏ-Ḏbn in the sanctuary on the Jebel al-Lawḏ, where some dedications to S¹mʿ were also found. However, as the reading of the second letter is uncertain and could be a "s¹", it is highly possible that the object of the dedication refers to the offering table itself, "ms¹lm". |
| 2 | ḏ-Frʿ seems to be to a new epithet of the god S¹mʿ, but it cannot be excluded that it is verb in a relative clause. |
TRANSLATIONS
| English | |
1 Ḏʾbʾws¹ dedicated the offering table of 2 S¹mʿ ḏ-Frʿ. |
| 1 | "the offering table" (if ms¹lm) or "the banquet hall" (if mʾlm). |
| 2 | An alternative translation for ḏ-frʿ is "that he offered". |
OBJECT INFORMATION
| Support type | Artefact » Offering table » Undefined (ms¹lm) |
| Material | Stone |
| Measures | total h. 115; top of the altar: h. 17, w. 27, th. 36 |
| Link to object record |
ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE
| Modern site | Inabbaʾ |
| Ancient site | ʾnbʾ |
| Geographical area | Jawf - Wādī Madhab |
| Country | Yemen |
| Notes | The altar was found on the site by the MAFRAY. |
| Link to site record |
CULTURAL NOTES
The god S¹mʿ is attested in the Minaic inscriptions only three times: in this inscription, in as-Sawdāʾ 91 and in YM 10598. It is the god of the Sabaic settlements in the Jawf and it was also venerated at Inabbaʾ.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
| Robin 1992 a: 7-8, pl. 4/a-c | Robin, Christian J. 1992. Inabbaʾ, Haram, al-Kāfir, Kamna et al-Ḥarāshif. Fasc. A: Les documents. Fasc. B: Les planches. Inventaire des inscriptions sudarabiques. 1. Paris: de Boccard / Rome: Herder. [Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres; Istituto italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente] |
| Rossi 2022: 378-379, 494, fig. 74 | Rossi, Irene 2022. The city-states of the Jawf at the dawn of Ancient South Arabian history (8th-6th centuries BCE). II. Corpus of the inscriptions. (Arabia Antica, 17/2). Roma: «L'Erma» di Bretschneider. |