Language | Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Central Middle Sabaic | ||
Alphabet | Ancient South Arabian | ||
Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
Writing technique | Incision | ||
Chronology |
| ||
Textual typology | Dedicatory text | ||
Royal inscription | Yes |
4-5 | Ryckmans: ḥrbn, but on the photograph one can clearly read ḥrbm. |
English | |
1 S²ʿrm ʾwtr, king of Sabaʾ, son of ʿlhn Nhfn, 2 king of Sabaʾ, dedicated to ʾlmqh, Lord of ʾwm, this 3 statue as they had implored from ʾlmqh, Lord of ʾwm, 4 because ʾlmqh had ordered them in His oracle to perform a procedure for obtaining an 5 oracle in the temple of ʾwm and they received an oracle for Ḥywm of 6 the family Ġṯrbn to perform the procedure between two twilights (?) in the month ḏ-ʾlʾlt of the fifth 7 year of Wddʾl, son of Ḥywm, of the family Kbr-Ḫll but they did not 8 perform the procedure in that month since he did not draw divinatory arrows, and they sent 9 S¹ʿdtʾlb, of the family Dwmn, to perform the procedure in it (the sanctuary) in the eighth day 10 of ḏ-Frʿ of the month of ḏ-ʾbhy of this very year and he performed the procedure in it 11 until the last two parts of the night of the fourth day of ḏ-Fqḥy, but ʾlmqh did not show 12 them anything in the oracular manifestation of that man S¹ʿdtʾlb, so 13 they sought the protection of ʾlmqh in His oracle and received an oracle that since 14 he did not perform the procedure in that month ḏ-ʾlʾlt and since 15 Ḥywm did not perform the procedure as He gave him the oracle and since 16 Ḥywm did not penetrate into ʾwm to seek the oracular knowledge and implore 17 [ʾlmqh ... ...] to constrain the one performing the procedure to perform it, and indeed ʾlmqh 18 ordered His servant S²ʿrm ʾwtr, king of Sabaʾ, to dedicate to Him this 19 statue as an amend because they did not fulfill everything that was inscribed 20 in this dedication and indeed ʾlmqh, Lord of ʾwm, gave a favourable 21 decision in His oracle to His servant S²ʿrm ʾwtr, king of Sabaʾ, and to 22 the palace S¹lḥn and Ġmdn and to His vassals Sabaʾ and Fys²n and after 23 that they constrained Ḥywm, of the family Ġṯrbn, to perform the procedure between 24 the two twilights (?) in the fifth day of ḏ-Fqḥy of the month of ḏ-ʾbhy of this very 25 year, as ʾlmqh had ordered to constrain Ḥywm to 26 perform the procedure; ʾlmqh announced (an oracle) to them in the oracular manifestation of that man Ḥywm, 27 of the family Ġṯrbn, regarding what they had implored from ʾlmqh, that satisfied them. 28 By ʿṯtr and Hbs¹ and ʾlmqh and by ḏt Ḥmym 29 and by ḏt Bʿdn and by their solar deity Tnf. |
Ryckmans interprets the key verb and substantive ḥrb as "to combat, the combat", while the SD proposes for the instances of this text "procedure for obtaining an oracle". | |
12-13 | w-ts²ryw ʾlmqh: "alors ils firent amende honorable envers ʾlmqh" (Ryckmans) |
13-14 | k-ʿl-n ḏ-[ʾ]l ḥrb ḥrbn: "parce qu'on n’avait pas effectué le combat" (Ryckmans). |
26 | w-ḫwd-hmw ʾlmqh .... l-ʾrḫ nḍʿw b-ʿbr ʾlmqh: "und ʾLMQH verkündete ihnen (einen Orakelspruch) .... bezüglich der Angelegenheit, in welcher sie sich gegen ʾLMQH vergangen hatten" (Stein) |
Ryckmans, Jacques 1968 a: 263 | Ryckmans, Jacques 1968. La mancie par ḥrb en Arabie du Sud ancienne: l'inscription NAMI NAG 12. Pages 261-273 in Erwin Gräf (ed.). Festschrift Werner Caskel zum siebzigsten Geburtstag 5. März 1966: gewidmet von Freunden und Schülern. Leiden: E.J. Brill. |
Beeston et al. 1982 (=SD): 70 | Beeston, Alfred F.L., al-Ghūl, Maḥmūd ʿA., Müller, Walter W. and Ryckmans, Jacques 1982. Sabaic Dictionary (English-French-Arabic). Dictionnaire Sabéen (anglais-français-arabe). Louvain-la-Neuve: Éditions Peeters / Beirut: Libraire du Liban. |
Stein 2003 a: 193 | 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. |
Deposit | Ṣanʿāʾ, al-Kuhālī collection (Private collection) |
Support type | Artefact » Base » Of statue with dedicatory inscription |
Material | Stone |
Link to object record |
Modern site | Maḥram Bilqīs |
Ancient site | ʾwm |
Geographical area | Maʾrib |
Country | Yemen |
Archaeological context | Religious context: Temple of ʾlmqh bʿl ʾwm |
Link to site record |
Nāmī 1960 (NAG): 53-61 (photo) | Nāmī, Khalīl Y. 1960. Nuqūš ʿarabiyya ǧanūbiyya (4th collection). Majallat kulliyat al-ʾĀdāb bi-jāmiʿt Fuʾād al-ʾawwal (Cairo university), 22: 53-63. 2024/02/19; http://search.mandumah.com/Record/170998. |
al-Iryānī 1973: 64-66 | al-Iryānī, Muṭahhar 1973. Fī taʾriḫ al-Yaman. Cairo. |
Ryckmans, Jacques 1968 a: 261-273 | Ryckmans, Jacques 1968. La mancie par ḥrb en Arabie du Sud ancienne: l'inscription NAMI NAG 12. Pages 261-273 in Erwin Gräf (ed.). Festschrift Werner Caskel zum siebzigsten Geburtstag 5. März 1966: gewidmet von Freunden und Schülern. Leiden: E.J. Brill. |
Müller, Walter W. 1986 a: 152-154 | Müller, Walter W. 1986. Altsüdarabische Inschriften. Pages 149-157 in Manfried Dietrich (ed.). Deutungen der Zukunft in Briefen, Orakeln und Omina. Religiöse Texte. 1. Otto Kaiser (ed.), Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testaments. 2. Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn. |
al-Iryānī 1990: 96-99 | al-Iryānī, Muṭahhar 1990. Fī-taʾrīḫ al-Yaman. Nuquš musnadiya wa-taʿliqāt. Ṣanʿāʾ: Markaz al-dirāsāt wa-l-buḥūṯ al-Yamanī. |