| Language | Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Central Middle Sabaic | ||
| Alphabet | Ancient South Arabian | ||
| Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
| Writing technique | Incision | ||
| Measure of letters | 2.3 | ||
| Chronology |
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| Textual typology | Dedicatory text |
| 2 | Jamme integrates ḏ-ḏhbm. |
| 24 | qtr wʿd: a toponym for Jamme 1962 a and Sima 2000: 247, fn. 336. For Beeston 1976 b: 26, the two words are lexicon. Nebes 2005: 343, f,. 80 suggests a possible reading: qfr instead of qtr. |
| 26 | Lʿzzm Yhnf Yhṣdq might be a variant of Lʿzzm Nwfn Yhṣdq. |
| 31 | Stein 2003 a: 75, fn. 39 notes the unusual pl. bḍwʿm (fʿwl pattern) instead of bḍʿm. |
| 42 | Jamme: b-ʾlmqh<w>. |
| English | |
1 Qṭbn ʾwkn, of the family Grt, qyl of the tribe S¹mhrm Yhwld, dedicated 2 to ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, two statues in bronze, in praise 3 because He granted favours to His servant Qṭbn ʾwkn, of the family Grt, and to their tribe 4 S¹mhrm Yhwld in killing, destroying, crushing, humbling and 5 routing, in numerous attacks in which they had assaulted and fought to death the kings and the 6 tribes who had waged war against their lord S²ʿrm ʾwtr, king of Sabaʾ 7 and ḏu-Raydān, from the coast and from the land, when they performed service for their lord 8 S²ʿrm ʾwtr, king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān. And they appropriated and seized and killed and 9 captured and plundered and looted: dead and captives and spoils in a considerable number in 10 numerous campaigns in which they performed service for their lord S²ʿrm ʾwtr, king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān. 11 And because He granted favour to His servant Qṭbn ʾwkn, of the family Grt, when 12 their lord S²ʿrm ʾwtr, king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, sent him into the land of 13 Abyssinia to Gdrt, king of Abyssinia and of the Aksumites; and they came 14 back from there in safety, he and all those performing service, and they brought back to their lord 15 S²ʿrm ʾwtr, king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān from the whole of their embassy from the negus 16 a proper answer that satisfied their lord in respect to everything they had been charged with (in that mission). And because 17 ʾlmq Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, granted favours to His servant Qṭbn ʾwkn, of the family 18 Grt and to their tribe S¹mhrm Yhwld, when they conducted a military expedition, Qṭbn 19 ʾwkn of the family Grt and their tribe S¹mhrm Yhwld, from the city of Nʿḍ 20 to the city of Ẓfr as their patron ʿṯtr-ʿzzn had ordered in the oracle, when 21 Bygt, son of the negus, and the Abyssinian army moved and marched to the 22 city of Ẓfr and encamped near the town of Ẓfr; then Qṭbn ʾwkn, 23 of the family Grt, and their tribe S¹mhrm Yhwld moved to the city of Ẓfr, 24 from the agreed place, with the favour of the night; and then the Abyssisians withdrew from there, towards (or, from) the "citadel 25 of the god", in the middle of the city. And Qṭbn ʾwkn, of the family Grt, and their tribe 26 S¹mhrm Yhwld moved so as to meet with Lʿzzm Yhnf Yhṣdq, king of 27 Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, and the ʾqwl and the tribes of ḏu-Raydān killed, massacred and 28 routed the Abyssinians from the center of the city. And on the third day 29 some of the tribe of Ḏmr and the vanguard of the troops and some tribes of ḏu-Raydān made a sally and assaulted 30 during the night the encampment of the Abyssinians and they killed among the Abyssinians four hundred 31 soldiers in combat. And on the third day Qṭbn ʾwkn, 32 of the family Grt, and their tribe S¹mhrm Yhwld made a sally and engaged at close quarters with 33 Abyssinians and with them (there were) some of the cavalry of Mʿfrm and they killed some of the Abyssinians 34 at close quarters. And the Abyssinians withdrew from them into their encampment and after another 35 day the Abyssinians moved from the territory of Ẓfr, hungry, and came back to 36 Mʿhrtn. And may ʾlmqhw Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, continue to grant them the goodwill 37 and the satisfaction of their lord Lḥyʿṯt Yrḫm, king of Sabaʾ and 38 ḏu-Raydān, and soundness of faculties and material resources; may He crush, humiliate and defeat 39 their enemy and their adversary; and may ʾlmqhw Ṯhwn, Lord of 40 ʾwm, grant them abundance of summer crops and harvests in their lands and their valleys and 41 their fields in summer and winter and may He deliver them from the malice and the maleficence 42 of any enemy. By ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm. |
| 16 | For mṯbt ṣdqm, see Beeston 1976 a: 413-414. |
| 18 | s¹bʾw w-hʿnn: Korotayev 1994 a: 49, and fn. 8 suggests a positive meaning for this phrase "undertook (their) relief campaign, instead of Beeston's "they had mounted an aggressive campaign" (Beeston 1976 b: 26). |
| 23-24 | If the correction of the reading, suggested by Nebes 2005: 343, fn. 80, was right, ftr "period of time". Contrarily to the previous translations, Stein proposes a meaning "from" for the two occurrences of ʿbr-n (Stein 2003 a: 233, example 552), maintaining the ablative value of the -n postponed to the preposition. However, it is more plausible that the Abyssians barricaded themselves in the centre of the town, from where they were subsequently routed (l. 28). |
| Beeston 1976 a: 413-414 | Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1976. Notes on Old South Arabian lexicography X. Le Muséon, 89: 407-423. |
| Beeston 1976 b: 26-27 | Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1976. Warfare in ancient South Arabian (2nd.-3rd. centuries A.D.). Qahtan. Studies in Old Arabian Epigraphy. 3. London: Luzac and Co. |
| Korotayev 1994 a: 49 | Korotayev, Andrey V. 1994. The political role of the shaʿb of the first order. Raydān, 6: 49-62. |
| Nebes 2005: 342-344 | Nebes, Norbert 2005. Sabäische Texte. Pages 331-367 in Francis Breyer and Michael Lichtenstein (eds). Staatsverträge, Herrscherinschriften und andere Dokumente zur politischen Geschichte. Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testaments. Neue Folge. 2. Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus. |
| Stein 2003 a: 233 | 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. |
| Support type | Artefact » Base » Of statue with dedicatory inscription |
| Material | Stone |
| Measures | h. 133.8, w. 22.8, th. 29.7 |
| Link to object record |
| Modern site | Maḥram Bilqīs |
| Ancient site | ʾwm |
| Geographical area | Maʾrib |
| Country | Yemen |
| Archaeological context | Religious context: Temple of ʾlmqh Ṯhwn bʿl ʾwm |
| Link to site record |
| Jamme 1962 a: 132-134 | Jamme, Albert W.F. 1962. Sabaean Inscriptions from Maḥram Bilqîs (Mârib). (Publications of the American Foundation for the Study of Man, 3). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press. |
| Beeston 1976 b: 26-27 | Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1976. Warfare in ancient South Arabian (2nd.-3rd. centuries A.D.). Qahtan. Studies in Old Arabian Epigraphy. 3. London: Luzac and Co. |
| Sima 2000: 247, fn. 336 | Sima, Alexander 2000. Tiere, Pflanzen, Steine und Metalle in den altsüdarabischen Inschriften. Eine lexikalische und realienkundliche Untersuchung. (Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur. Veröffentlichungen der Orientalischen Kommission, 46). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. |
| Nebes 2005: 341-344 | Nebes, Norbert 2005. Sabäische Texte. Pages 331-367 in Francis Breyer and Michael Lichtenstein (eds). Staatsverträge, Herrscherinschriften und andere Dokumente zur politischen Geschichte. Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testaments. Neue Folge. 2. Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus. |