Language | Ancient South Arabian » Minaic » Central Minaic | ||
Alphabet | Ancient South Arabian | ||
Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
Writing technique | Incision | ||
Measure of letters | 4.3 | ||
Chronology |
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Textual typology | Dedicatory text |
On the basis of the palaeographical analysis (Pirenne style C4-D1), Robin considers this text one of the four Haramite inscriptions written in the period of Maʿīn's hegemony in the Jawf. The mention of a king that was surely not a Minaean one and the dedication to the Haramite god Mtbnṭyn would be symptoms of a lasting political independence of Haram. Actually, it is highly probable that Haram fell under the control of Maʿīn for a short time. |
English | |
1 Whbʾl son of ʿmḏrʾ 2 ḏ-Dd, of the clan Ṯbrn, 3 father of Hwfʿṯt, kbr 4 of the horseman troops (?) of Haram, dedicated to 5 Mtbnṭyn, god of Ṯbrn, the pillar 6 Mtʿt, when he directed 7 the construction of the temple of Mtbnṭyn 8 Ṯbrn, since he began (it) 9 until he completed (it), and when 10 he dug, excavated and cased 11 with stone his well Mṭr, and 12 Ys²hrmlk Nbṭ 13 granted him a public land to be flooded (?), which he 14 bought, from the enclosure (?) of ḏ-ʾr- 15 nb up to his property, 16 and the concession upwards, 17 from the canal of ḏt Btln 18 to the road of Maʿīn, and 19 he bought and cultivated 20 300 fields (?). |
4 | The translation of rkḍ follows Robin 1992 a, who suggests a comparison with the Arabic "to run" (referred to a horse). |
8 | The Minaic formula "bn ʾs²rs¹ ʿd s²qrn" ("from the foundations to the top") is here replaced by "bn hn nṭʿ ʿd s²qr". On the basis of the context, nṭʿ is translated "to begin". In ASA, the word nṭʿt points to a kind of building. |
13 | On the basis of the comparison with Arabic, Robin suggests that the ms¹fḥ is a land that receives water (from the mountains), so a land to be inundated. |
19 | For wfd, the SD gives the sense of "cultivate". The word tfd occurs in these texts with numerals, so Robin - comparing it with the Arabic awfad - suggests the meaning "number, sum". |
Robin 1992 a | 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] |
Support type | Inscription on architectural structure » Pillar |
Material | Stone |
Measures | h. 103, w. 34 |
Link to object record |
Modern site | Kharibat Hamdān |
Ancient site | Hrm |
Geographical area | Jawf - Wādī Madhab |
Country | Yemen |
Found | Reemployed. In modern times |
Archaeological context | Religious context: Temple of Mtbnṭyn Ṯbrn |
Notes | The pillar was reemployed in the door of a private house in Kharibat Hamdān. |
Link to site record |
Robin 1992 a: 61-65, pls 7/a-b, 8/a | 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: 282-285, 483, fig. 52 | 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. |