Language | Ancient South Arabian » Qatabanic » Central Qatabanic | ||
Alphabet | Ancient South Arabian | ||
Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
Writing technique | Incision | ||
Measure of letters | 4-6 | ||
Chronology |
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Textual typology | Legal text |
1 | the reading rbʿ is also possible, more than a human waterkeeper, we could have a divine protector. |
2 | bʿl could be referred to the king: "the Lord of", but seems better to read b-ʿl[w]. |
English | |
1 So commanded ʾnby and the waterkeeper (or, the Protector) of Brm - through the oracle 2 requested by Ydʿʾb Ygl king of Qatabān - regarding 3 S²bʿt and Mtntm and Ḍḥyn and Fryḍ: Ḍḥyn and 4 S²bʿt and Myfʿ and ḏt Yḫd and the plane of ʿynm from the two properties, 5 Byḥn and ḏ-ʿdnm, towards the North from the enclosure of Byḥn, the area in the West, towards the East 6 as far as the mark and the inscriptions which were drawn and written in Ḫlbṣm towards the North, 7 that (these areas) were country open to the flood: S²bʿt and Mtntm and Fryḍ and Ḍḥyn and the plane of ʿynm, 8 as a country open to the flood (it is free) from palm-groves, terracing and retaining walls, cultivation of plants and edification of canals and dams, 9 edification of water conduits or terrace cultivations with retaining walls - and as a country open to the flood all constructions must be destroyed, its canals and 10 its cultivations, which were in these lands, their canals and their retaining walls must be eliminated and destroyed; the territory 11 of Ḫḏry is to be prohibited from building, putting up, cultivating, towards the North, cultivations, water pits, canals and retaining walls 12 from the land mark of Ẓrn as far as the inscriptions of Ḫlbṣm towards the East and the North and these lands and the inscriptions 13 which forbad to dig any well from this month forth. This decree has been 14 issued in the third day of the second ten days period of Bs²mm, the first year of Yqhmlk ḏ-Ḏrʾn. |
Support type | Rock inscription |
Measures | h. 180, w. 98-118 |
Link to object record |
Modern site | Jabal Khalbaṣ |
Ancient site | Ḫlbṣ |
Geographical area | Wādī Bayḥān |
Country | Yemen |
Link to site record |
Jamme 1972: 22-26, pl. 5 (facsimile) | Jamme, Albert W.F. 1972. Miscellanées d'ancient arabe III. Washington. 2019/07/23; https://cuislandora.wrlc.org/islandora/object/cuislandora%3A206336#page/1/mode/1up. [Privately printed] |
Pirenne 1971: 117-132, pl. III | Pirenne, Jacqueline 1971. Une législation hydrologique en Arabie du sud antique. Pages 117-135 in Hommages à André Dupont-Sommer. Paris: Adrien-Maisonneuve. |