Language | Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Central Middle Sabaic | ||
Alphabet | Ancient South Arabian | ||
Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
Writing technique | Incision | ||
Chronology |
| ||
Textual typology | Dedicatory text |
14 | Stein 2003 a: 143, fn. 87 notes that the demonstrative pronoun hmy at the nominative (cf. l. 20) here is probably an error for hmt, the correct form of the oblique case. |
English | |
1 ʿ(bd)ʿ[m ... ... of the family Mḏrḥm ... ...] 2 and Ṯfyn and M[... ...]— 3 d, lord of the house S²b[... ...]— 4 m, ʾqwl of the two tribes of Mhʾnfm and Ẓhr, 5 mqtwy of S²mr Yhrʿs², king of Sabaʾ and ḏū- 6 Raydān, son of Ys¹rm Yhnʿm, king of Sabaʾ and 7 ḏū-Raydān, dedicated to his lord ʾlmqh 8 Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, the statue in bronze, 9 in praise because he helped and saved the life of 10 His servant ʿbdʿm, of the family Mḏrḥm, and the lives of 11 his tribe and of its adherents and of some soldiers he had brought 12 with him from the fall and the collapse of 13 the two houses, the house of (the tribe of) Hmdn, and of Btʿ, when 14 they sojourned in those two houses, when 15 his lord S²mr Yhrʿs², king of Sabaʾ and ḏū-Raydān, ordered him 16 to watch over and perform service in 17 the town of Mrb to perform the feast of ʾbhy and the rain 18 fell on the ninth day, as usual, and 19 at the beginning of the month and on the second day rain (fell) 20 as a deluge and those two houses 21 of (the tribe of) Hmdn and of Btʿ fell for that rain; 22 ʿbdʿm, of the family Mḏrḥm, praised the might and 23 the power of ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, 24 because He saved and delivered His servant ʿbdʿm, 25 of the family Mḏrḥm and all his men, and 26 they lost nothing of their equipment, (even) so much as 27 a camel saddle, and they continued to be present (stay there) since the moment when they raze 28 the ruins of the two houses until 29 their lord, the king, ordered them to conduct an expedition at the head 30 of the army of Sabaʾ to protect the construction 31 of the walls and the towers of the town of Mrb and 32 to set up for it the dam facing 33 the upstream wādī, that should protect it from the flood. 34 ʿbdʿm, of the family Mḏrḥm rendered 35 expressions of gratitude to the might and the power of their lord 36 ʾlmqh, Lord of ʾwm, because they achieved 37 success in everything their lord 38 S²mr Yhrʿs², king of Sabaʾ and ḏū-Raydān, ordered them, 39 and may ʾlmqh grant them the health and 40 the safety of the person of their lord S²mr Yhrʿs², king 41 of Sabaʾ and ḏū-Raydān, and may ʾlmqh 42 continue to help and protect His servant 43 ʿbdʿm, of the family Mḏrḥm from all that is evil; 44 and may ʾlmqh grant him the goodwill and the satisfaction 45 of their lord S²mr Yhrʿs², king of Sabaʾ 46 and ḏū-Raydān and may ʾlmqh grant him 47 soundness of faculties and material resources and 48 abundance of summer crops and harvest season in all 49 their lands,and may ʾlmqh help and protect and 50 deliver His servant ʿbdʿm, of the family 51 Mḏrḥm, from any evil and mischief and trouble 52 and the harm and the maleficence and the slander and the malice 53 and the conspiracy (?) and the enemy’s advantage and the subjection to any enemy, 54 the one far or near, the one they are aware of and 55 the one they are not aware of. By ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, 56 Lord of ʾwm. |
11 | Beeston proposes that the sense "to find, to be found" instead of "send" suggested by Drewes 1979 for the ground stem of the verb ʾs¹y can be assumed here too for hʾs¹y. He translates "and (other) men whom he brought with him" (Beeston 1981 c: 55). |
14 | ḫtnw b-hmy bytnhn: Ryckmans already noted the difficulty of linking Jamme’s translation of this phrase “when they allied the two houses by marriage” to the event of the rainfall. He translated “ils festoyaient (?) dans ces deux palais » (Ryckmans 1966: 489). Beeston 1972 e: 352 proposed to link the verb ḫtn to Akk. ḫatānu “shelter, protect”, instead that to Ar. ḫitān as suggested by Ryckmans (“the making of a feast”, from “circumcise”) and translated “sojourn, dwell”. |
18 | ʿhdtn: "le 9ème jour de la réunion (?)" (Ryckmans 1966: 490). For Beeston 1978: 204, ʿhdtn could perhaps be taken as an adverbial accusative "normally", meaning that "the rain began as a moderate fall but then developed into a deluge". “As usual” also for Stein 2003 a:118, 238. |
25-27 | For the translation of "w-ʾl ḏ-fqdw bn ʾs²rʿ-hmw kbr rḥlm", see Beeston 1978: 206. |
28-33 | See the translation of the lines in Stein 2003 a: 213. For ṭmḥnyn, see Beeston 1978: 199 and Stein 2003 a: 65, fn. 149. |
Jamme 1962 a | 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. |
Ryckmans, Jacques 1966: 487-491 | Ryckmans, Jacques 1966. Himyaritica 2. Le Muséon, 79: 475-500. |
Beeston 1972 e: 352 | Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1972. Review of 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. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 35/2: 349-353. |
Beeston 1981 c: 55 | Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1981. Notes on Old South Arabian Lexicography XII. Le Muséon, 94: 55-73. |
Stein 2003 a: 118, 238 | 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. 28.3, h. 124.5, th. 20.2 |
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: 155-157, pl. 16 | 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. |
Ryckmans, Jacques 1966: 487-491 | Ryckmans, Jacques 1966. Himyaritica 2. Le Muséon, 79: 475-500. |
ʿInān 1976: 319-320 | ʿInān, Zaid b. ʿA 1976. Taʾriḫ ḥaḍāra al-Yaman al-qadīm. Cairo. |
Beeston 1978 b: 204-206 | Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1978. Notes on Old South Arabian Lexicography XI. Le Muséon, 91: 195-209. |