| Language | Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Early Sabaic | ||
| Alphabet | Ancient South Arabian | ||
| Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
| Writing technique | Incision | ||
| Chronology |
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| Textual typology | Dedicatory text - fragmentary |
| According to the linguistic analysis by P. Stein (2005 c), the inscriptions on the wall of the temple of Awām are dated between the end of the 4th and the end of the 2nd century BC (apart from Ja 552, which is dated to the 4th century BC). Their textual peculiarities show the shift from the Early to the Middle Sabaic linguistic periods. For the chronology, see the discussion in Wissmann 1982: 353 ff., Stein 2005 c: 187-189, Avanzini 2010: 188. |
| English | |
1 ʾbkrb, son of Nbṭkrb, of the family Zltn, servant of Ydʿʾl Byn and of S¹mhʿly Ynf and of Yṯʿʾmr Wtr and of Ykrbmlk Ḏrḥ and of S¹mhʿly Ynf, dedicated to ʾlmqh all his children and his property and built and completed a construction (useful) for completing and filling the wall of ʾwm, from the line of this inscription and in height all its stones and its woodwork, and both the towers Yʾzl and Drʿ and their curtains, to the top. He raised up the possessions of his ancestors, the descendants of Zltn. By ʿṯtr and by ʾImqh and by ḏt Ḥmym and by ḏt Bʿdn. And ʾbkrb put under the will of ʾlmqh and of the king of Mryb, S²[... ...] |
| 1 | nṭʿ could be a noun "type of construction". The translation of the term ʿḍ is not so clear. It is a building material, supposedly wood. Probably in origin it denoted wooden beams or brushwood used as bedding for the stones (Beeston 1979). |
| Beeston 1979 b: 96-97 | Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1979. Studies in Sabaic Lexicography I. Raydān, 2: 89-100. |
| Support type | Inscription on architectural structure » Wall |
| Material | Stone |
| Measures | h. 21.5, w. 1825 |
| Link to object record |
| Modern site | Maḥram Bilqīs |
| Ancient site | ʾwm |
| Geographical area | Maʾrib |
| Country | Yemen |
| Found | In situ |
| Archaeological context | Religious context: Temple of ʾlmqh bʿl ʾwm |
| Notes | On the northwest temple wall. |
| Link to site record |
| Jamme 1962 a: 22-23 | 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. |
| Wissmann 1976 a: 376-379 | Wissmann, Hermann von 1976. Die Geschichte des Sabäerreichs und der Feldzug des Aelius Gallus. Pages 308–544 in Hildegard Temporini (ed.). Politische Geschichte. (Provinzen und Randvölker: Mesopotamien, Armenien, Iran, Südarabien, Rom und der Ferne Osten). Hildegard Temporini and Wolfgang Haase (eds), Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt. Geschichte und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren Forschung. II. 9/1. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter / New York: Walter de Gruyter. |
| Beeston 1979 b: 96-97 | Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1979. Studies in Sabaic Lexicography I. Raydān, 2: 89-100. |
| Wissmann 1982: 343-344, 354-355 | Wissmann, Hermann von 1982. Die Geschichte von Sabaʾ II. Das Grossreich der Sabäer bis zu seinem Ende im frühen 4. Jh. v. Chr. (Sitzungsberichte der Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophischhistorische Klasse, 402). Vienna: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. [Walter W. Müller (ed.)] |
| Stein 2005 c: 182-189 | Stein, Peter 2005. Linguistic contributions to Sabaean chronology. Archäologische Berichte aus dem Yemen, 10: 179-189. |