CSAI

Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions


INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

LanguageAncient South Arabian » Sabaic » Central Middle Sabaic
AlphabetAncient South Arabian
Script typologyMonumental writing
Writing techniqueIncision
Chronology
PeriodD
Textual typologyDedicatory text

GENERAL NOTES

ryānī transcribed the text in a paragraph arrangement that did not respect the original disposition of the lines.

TEXT


   1  S¹ʿdʾwm ʾs¹ʿd w-ʾḫy-hw ʾḥmd ʾzʾd bny S¹ʾrn w-Mḥylm ʾqwl s²ʿbn Bklm rbʿn ḏ-Rydt mqtwyy Ns²ʾkrb Yʾmn Yhrḥb mlk S¹bʾ w-ḏ-Rydn bn ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb w-Yʾzl Byn mlky S¹bʾ w-ḏ-Rydn hqnyy ʾlmqh Ṯhwn bʿl ʾwm ṣlmn ḏ-ḏhbn ḏ-ʿs²r-hw bn dʿt w-s¹qy ḫmr-hmw b-dṯʾn w-b-ṣrbn b-ḫrf Mʿdkrb bn Tbʿkrb bn Ḥzfrm s¹bʿn
   2  w-l-wzʾ ʾlmqh Ṯhwn bʿl-ʾwm ḫmr-hmw ʾṯmr w-ʾfql ṣdqm hnʾm ḏ-yhrḍyn-hmw bn kl mfnt-hmw w-ʾs¹rr-hmw w-ʿbrt-hmw w-mqyẓ-hmw w-ms²ymt-hmw w-ʿnb-hmw w-b-ʾhn-mw ḏ-tfry w-ytfrnn ʿbdy-hw S¹ʿdʾwm ʾs¹ʿd w-ʾḫy-hw ʾḥmd ʾzʾd bny S¹ʾrn w-Mḥylm w-ʿdy kl ʾrḍ s²ʿb-hmw Bklm rbʿn ḏ-Rydt w-l-ḫmr-hmw ḥẓy w-rḍw mrʾ-hmw Ns²ʾkrb Yʾmn Yhrḥb mlk S¹bʾ w-ḏ-Rydn bn ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb w-Yʾzl Byn mlky S¹bʾ w-ḏ-Rydn w-l-ḫryn-hmw bn nḍʿ w-s²ṣy w-tṯʿt s²nʾm b-ʾlmqh Ṯhwn bʿl-ʾwm

Apparatus
2In Iryānī's South Arabian transcription:ʾrḍ kl instead of kl ʾrḍ, yhrḍwn instead of yhrḍyn.

TRANSLATIONS

English

   1  S¹ʿdʾwm ʾs¹ʿd and his brother ʾḥmd ʾzʾd, of the family S¹ʾrn and Mḥylm, ʾqwl of the tribe Bklm, the quarter of Rydt, mqtwyy of Ns²ʾkrb Yʾmn Yhrḥb, king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, son of ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb and Yʾzl Byn, kings of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān dedicated to ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, the statue in bronze which they gave Him as tithe from the not irrigated and the irrigated crops which He granted them in spring and in the harvest season of the seventh year of Mʿdkrb, son of Tbʿkrb, of the family Ḥzfrm;
   2  may ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, continue to grant to them good healthy crops and harvests that will satisfy them, from all their fields irrigated by canals and their valleys and their fields and their lands which grow summer crops and their cultivated lands and their vineyard and whenever His two servants S¹ʿdʾwm ʾs¹ʿd and his brother ʾḥmd ʾzʾd, of the family S¹ʾrn and Mḥylm, cultivated and will cultivate them and in all the land of their tribe Bklm, the quarter of Rydt; may He grant them the goodwill and the satisfaction of their lord Ns²ʾkrb Yʾmn Yhrḥb, king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, son of ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb and Yʾzl Byn, kings of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, and may He deliver them from the harm and the malice and the slander of any enemy. By ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm.

OBJECT INFORMATION

DepositṢanʿāʾ, al-Kuhālī collection (Private collection)
Support typeArtefact » Base » Of statue with dedicatory inscription
MaterialStone
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin
Modern siteMaḥram Bilqīs
Ancient siteʾwm
Geographical areaMaʾrib
CountryYemen
Archaeological contextReligious context: Temple of ʾlmqh Ṯhwn bʿl ʾwm
Link to site record

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sharafaddīn 1967: 75-76Sharafaddīn, Aḥmad H. 1967. Taʾrīḫ al-Yaman al-ṯaqāfī. Cairo.
al-Iryānī 1973: 140-141al-Iryānī, Muṭahhar 1973. Fī taʾriḫ al-Yaman. Cairo.
al-Iryānī 1990: 176-178al-Iryānī, Muṭahhar 1990. Fī-taʾrīḫ al-Yaman. Nuquš musnadiya wa-taʿliqāt. Ṣanʿāʾ: Markaz al-dirāsāt wa-l-buḥūṯ al-Yamanī.
Ryckmans, Jacques 1974 a: 515-521Ryckmans, Jacques 1974. Himyaritica 4. Le Muséon, 87: 493-521.