DASI: Digital Archive for the Study of pre-islamic arabian Inscriptions: Epigraph details

Müller, Walter W. 1981: 356 (photo)
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INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

Language

Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Central Middle Sabaic

Alphabet

Ancient South Arabian

Script typology

Monumental writing

Writing technique

Incision

Chronology

Period

Textual typology

Dedicatory text

TEXT

Apparatus

9	ʿẓn instead of ʿm-n (Iryānī).
13	According to Beeston 1976 b: 54, s¹fln is a noun meaning "the lowlanders".
14	ḏ-Yġrw according to Wissmann.

TRANSLATIONS

CSAI

English

   1  S¹ʿdtʾlb Ytlf, of the family Gdnm, kbr of the Arabs
   2  of the king of Sabaʾ and Kdt and Mḏḥgm and Ḥrmm
   3  and Bhlm and Zydʾl and all the Arabs of Sabaʾ,
   4  Ḥimyar, Ḥaḍramawt and Ymnt, dedicated to his Lord
   5  ʾlmqh, Lord of ʾwm, the statue in bronze in praise
   6  because, when His servant S¹ʿdtʾlb of Gdnm
   7  and his contingent of Arabs were sent as a garrison in Ns²qm against
   8  the Ḥaḍramawt, orders and commands were sent to them
   9  by their lord Ḏmrʿly Yhbr, king of Sabaʾ
  10  and ḏu-Raydān and the Ḥaḍramawt and Ymnt that they go on an expedition
  11  and wage war; let S¹ʿdtʾlb of Gdnm lead the tribe of
  12  Sabaʾ, the inhabitants of Mrb and the Arabs of Sabaʾ, Kdt,
  13  Ngrn and S¹fln, and they marched to the temple of
  14  Yġrw and their whole contingent waited for seven days.
  15  And they did not march until (they were) three hundred Sabaean soldiers
  16  and three hundred Arab soldiers and twenty
  17  horsemen, that they sent them
  18  as garrison in the town of Ns²qm and fifty horsemen
  19  joined them; and they went on expedition and plundered the town
  20  of Ṣwʾrn, and the inhabitants of Ṣwʾrn confronted them
  21  in the vicinity of the town of Ṣwʾrn, but the one of Gdnm and
  22  his contingent inflicted on them casualties, prisoners of war and civil prisoners
  23  and booty in great number, and after that they surrendered
  24  to them; and the soldiers of Ṣwʾrn made an expedition with them against
  25  the inhabitants of S²bm and Ṣdfn and confronted and fought with
  26  Ṣdfn and the inhabitants of S²bm in the vicinity of S²bm and killed
  27  among them seventy soldiers and (the rest) was routed towards their town
  28  and fortified there and they carried on the struggle with them for thirteen days
  29  until they surrendered; and after that, they made a raid and besieged
  30  Rṭġtm, S¹yʾn, Mrymtm and Ḥdb and made them surrender,
  31  and they made a raid up to ʿrʾhln and Trm and confronted with
  32  the inhabitants of Trm and they killed a great number of the inhabitants of Trm and
  33  they routed to their town, and they encircled them and besieged
  34  for twelve days, and devastated two thousand vineyards; and
  35  they offered their submission and asked for protection and gave pledges and surrendered to them and
  36  from there they made a raid to Dmn and Ms²ṭt and ʿr Klybm
  37  and surrendered to them, and so they took control of all the towns of the Ḥaḍramawt and of the
  38  Valley and from there then they went back home with spoils and
  39  war prisoners and civil prisoners and booty in great quantity; and they killed
  40  a thousand and three hundred (soldiers) in combat and made seven hundred war prisoners and
  41  three thousand civil prisoners; and they went back home to the town of Ẓfr
  42  to their lord the king, and brought with them ʾnmrm
  43  whom they had made the king of the Ḥaḍramawt and Rbʿt, son of Wʾlm and
  44  ʾfṣy, son of Gmn and Gs²m, son of Mlkm and ʾs¹dm, son of
  45  S¹lmn and ʿdyt, son of Nmrm and Qys¹m, son of Bs²rʾl and
  46  Bhṯm, son of S³kym and Ṯwbn, son of Gḏmt, those of Ṣdf and
  47  Ydʿ[...], the one of S¹ybn, and Qḍʿm, the one of S¹ybn, and four
  48  [... ...] and with them [… …]
  49  [... ...]

11	ys¹bʾnn is in the plural while yqtdmn is in the singular. A scribal error should probably be envisaged (the omission of a conjunction w- before the name of the author of the text).
24	mṭww ʿm-hmw: “zogen mit ihnen” (Nebes 2005: 354)

Beeston 1976 b: 53-55	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.
Nebes 2005: 353-355	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.

OBJECT INFORMATION

Deposit	Ṣanʿāʾ, al-Kuhālī collection (Private collection)
Support type	Artefact » Base » Of statue with dedicatory inscription
Material	Stone
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin and provenance

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

CULTURAL NOTES

History

The author of the inscription is the same of Ja 665. Both texts describe the war for the conquest of the Ḥaḍramawt by Ḥimyar. However, in Ja 665 the kings cited are
Ys¹rm Yhnʿm and his son Ḏrʾʾmr ʾymn, while in Ir 32 their successor Ḏmrʿly Yhbr.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Wissmann 1964 b: 491, n. 168	Wissmann, Hermann von 1964. Ḥimyar, ancient history. Le Muséon, 77: 429-497.
Ryckmans, Jacques 1975 a: 209-215	Ryckmans, Jacques 1975. Ḥimyaritica 5. Le Muséon, 88: 199-219.
Beeston 1976 b: 54-55	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.
ʿInān 1976: 383-387	ʿInān, Zaid b. ʿA 1976. Taʾriḫ ḥaḍāra al-Yaman al-qadīm. Cairo.
Müller, Walter W. 1981: 225-256 (photo)	Müller, Walter W. 1981. Das Ende des antiken Königreichs Ḥaḍramaut. Die sabäische Inschrift Schreyer-Geukens = Iryānī 32. Pages 225-256 in Roswitha G. Stiegner (ed.). al-Hudhud. Festschrift Maria Höfner zum 80. Geburtstag. Graz: Karl-Franzens-Universität.
al-Iryānī 1990: 196-205	al-Iryānī, Muṭahhar 1990. Fī-taʾrīḫ al-Yaman. Nuquš musnadiya wa-taʿliqāt. Ṣanʿāʾ: Markaz al-dirāsāt wa-l-buḥūṯ al-Yamanī.