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

Avanzini 1994: 20, figs 3-4
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INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

Language

Ancient South Arabian » Qatabanic » Central Qatabanic

Alphabet

Ancient South Arabian

Script typology

Monumental writing

Writing technique

Incision

Chronology

Period

B1. Conjectural

Textual typology

Dedicatory text - fragmentary

GENERAL NOTES

The text of the first three lines is based on a photo taken by Yusuf Abdallah; the stone is broken and we have now just a fragment for the first lines. This inscription is considered a dedicatory one, but we could even consider it to be a legal text for ownership of houses, naturally placed under divine protection.
The date is conjectural, based on the palaeography.

TEXT

Apparatus

2	is here accepted the reading and the interpretation by Robin 2012: 354.
8	nḥlmyw could be a mistake for nḫlmyw.

TRANSLATIONS

CSAI

English

   1  ʿṣdm, son of ʿmʾns¹, of [... ...] ʿṣdm has committed to his Protector
   2  ḏt Ẓhrn and to ḏt Ẓhrn the divinity of the sanctuary Yfʿn and (committed) to ʿ-
   3  ṯtr ḏ-Mqwlm any land, as a legal property, and the houses which he purchased and possessed
   4  and built and administrated, ʿṣdm, on the authority of his ancestors, for himself and for his children and
   5  his successors: the palm-grove ḏ-ʾḥrm and the palm-grove ḏ-S¹yln and
   6  the palm-grove ḏ-S²ms¹n and the palm-grove ḏ-Ṣfw and the palm-grove ḏ-Mḍrḥn Wynn and the palm-
   7  grove ḏ-S²ʾẓm and the water-courses of Ḥbbm and the two palm-groves of Mlḥ and
   8  the palm-grove ḏ-Mrymm and the two land properties in the region of Ḥryt and the house S²bʿn
   9  of the banu Mdrrn and the house of the banu S²hlm and the enclosed land of a vineyard and [... ...]
  10  [... ...]Yfʿn its kinsmen, its low rooms and the wall of
  11  all [... ...]; might ʿm and the gods of the
  12  house protect this possession.

2	the translation is following Robin 2012: 354.
4	for the translaton of ʾṯr "authority", see Avanzini 2004 a: 286.

Avanzini 2004 a	Avanzini, Alessandra 2004. Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions I-III. Qatabanic, Marginal Qatabanic, Awsanite Inscriptions. (Arabia Antica, 2). Pisa: Edizioni Plus-Università di Pisa.
Robin 2012	Robin, Christian J. 2012. ʿṯtr au féminin en Arabie méridionale. Pages 333-366 in Alexander V. Sedov (ed.). New research in archaeology and epigraphy of South Arabia and its neighbors. Proceedings of the "Rencontres Sabéennes 15" held in Moscow, May 25th –27th, 2011. Moscow: The State Museum of Oriental Art. [Annexe 1: Un réexamen de CIAS (sic!) I, 206 (Ch. Robin); Annexe 2: Trois inscriptions inédites des Missions Qatabān et Haut-Yāfiʿ (Ch. Robin, M. Arbach, A. Bāṭāyaʿ, I. Gajda, Kh. al-Ḥajj, M. Sālim, J. Schiettecatte)]

OBJECT INFORMATION

Support type	Rock inscription
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin

Modern site	al-Kharāb / Thāt
Ancient site	Ṯt
Geographical area	Radāʿ
Country	Yemen
Link to site record

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Avanzini 1994: 13-20, pl. 3-4	Avanzini, Alessandra 1994. Un'iscrizione qatabanica da Ṯāh. Pages 13-20 in Norbert Nebes. Arabia Felix. Beiträge zur Sprache und Kultur des vorislamischen Arabien. Festschrift Walter W. Müller zum 60. Geburtstag. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Robin 2012	Robin, Christian J. 2012. ʿṯtr au féminin en Arabie méridionale. Pages 333-366 in Alexander V. Sedov (ed.). New research in archaeology and epigraphy of South Arabia and its neighbors. Proceedings of the "Rencontres Sabéennes 15" held in Moscow, May 25th –27th, 2011. Moscow: The State Museum of Oriental Art. [Annexe 1: Un réexamen de CIAS (sic!) I, 206 (Ch. Robin); Annexe 2: Trois inscriptions inédites des Missions Qatabān et Haut-Yāfiʿ (Ch. Robin, M. Arbach, A. Bāṭāyaʿ, I. Gajda, Kh. al-Ḥajj, M. Sālim, J. Schiettecatte)]