Language | Ancient South Arabian » Qatabanic » Central Qatabanic | ||
Alphabet | Ancient South Arabian | ||
Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
Writing technique | Incision | ||
Chronology |
| ||
Textual typology | Construction text |
The text is a construction text, but also a legal text to declare the legal possession of the house. |
English | |
1 Ṯwb, son of Ḥḍrm ḏ-Lms¹m, purchased, 2 acquired, acquired possession, owned, gained legal possession, 3 constructed and completed his house Myfʿm 4 and all its lower rooms and its upper rooms, its 5 ms²qṣ and its inner rooms all in its entirety, according to 6 the order of ʾnby, and let there be no violation thereof. |
5 | ms²qṣ is translated by Maraqten as "windows", but the noun is singular, and therefore one single window in a house would be difficult to imagine. A. Agostini in his PhD thesis proposed "small room". |
5 | nfs¹ is translated by Maraqten as "roof terraces". Again, trying to establish the precise meaning of the parts of a building is very difficult; nfs¹, however, also occurs as a part of a tomb, and a "roof terrace" would not be probable for a tomb. |
Maraqten 2013 | Maraqten, Mohammed 2013. Two Qatabanian inscriptions from Ḥinū az-Zurayr. Pages 73-82 in Françoise Briquel-Chatonnet, Catherine Fauveaud and Iwona Gajda (eds). Entre Carthage et l’Arabie heureuse. Mélanges offerts à François Bron. (Orient & Méditerranée, 12). Paris: de Boccard. |
Support type | Stone inscription |
Material | Stone |
Measures | h. 35, w. 45 |
Link to object record |
Modern site | Ḥinū az-Zurayr |
Ancient site | Hrbt |
Geographical area | Wādī Ḥarīb |
Country | Yemen |
Archaeological context | Urban context: Private house Myfʿm |
Link to site record |
Maraqten 2013: 73-76, fig. 1 | Maraqten, Mohammed 2013. Two Qatabanian inscriptions from Ḥinū az-Zurayr. Pages 73-82 in Françoise Briquel-Chatonnet, Catherine Fauveaud and Iwona Gajda (eds). Entre Carthage et l’Arabie heureuse. Mélanges offerts à François Bron. (Orient & Méditerranée, 12). Paris: de Boccard. |