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

Avanzini 1995: pls 17-18
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INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

Language

Ancient South Arabian » Minaic » Central Minaic

Alphabet

Ancient South Arabian

Script typology

Monumental writing

Writing technique

Incision

Measure of letters

Chronology

Period

Textual typology

Dedicatory text

TEXT

TRANSLATIONS

CSAI (following Avanzini 1995)

English

   1  S¹ʿdʾl and Rʾbʾl the two sons of Whbʾl and Hwfʿ[ṯ]t son of Yḥmʾl and their uncle Hwfʾl [... ...] Ḏḫyr the two [so]-
   2  ns of Hwfʿṯt, of the family Nyṭ dedicated to ʿṯtr ḏ-Qbḍm all the restoration and the repairs of their mḥwl (tomb?) and of the mḥwl (tomb?) of their [bro]-
   3  thers of the clan Lḥḏ Ḏrʾn and the two leaves of his vestibule(?) and [his] stairs, his panels (of the door) and his passageway and the vestibule (?) of Ṯbrn and the terrace (?) in the hall (?) of the
   4  stairs (?) and the two slopes up to Rymn and S¹ʾrtn and all the well done construction (?) of the stairs (?) ḏ-Rymn in the direction of Ṭrdn and seven slabs [in the very]
   5  well done construction (?) of the stairs (?) in the direction of Tr[... ...] of the stairs and the place where there was the fire of the hearth (?) and the offering table of stone and the offering table of wood
   6  and its covering and the slope and a cavity and the [... ...] and its base, with the tithes that collected Whbʾl and Yḥmʾl and Hwfʾl for ʿṯtr ḏ-Qbḍm and with the taxes
   7  which were due to him. S¹ʿdʾl, Rʾbʾl, Hwfʿṯt, Hwfʾl and Ḏḫyr put under the protection of ʿṯtr ḏ-Qbḍm themselves and their faculties
   8  and their sons and their goods and (the goods) of their brothers. [For] ʿṯtr ḏ-Qbḍm and for Wdm and for Nkrḥm and for the gods of Maʿīn, during the reign of ʾlyfʿ Y-
   9  s²r king of Maʿīn. The tribe of Nyṭ dedicated its dedication and its inscription to ʿṯtr ḏ-Qbḍm and the divinities of Maʿīn against the one who may remove them
  10  from their place.

Avanzini 1995: 108-109	Avanzini, Alessandra 1995. As-Sawdāʾ. Inventaire des inscriptions sudarabiques. 4. Paris: de Boccard / Rome: Herder. [Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres; Istituto italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente]

OBJECT INFORMATION

Deposit	Ṣanʿāʾ, The National Museum, YM 374+YM 398
Support type	Stone inscription
Material	Stone
Measures	h. 32, w. 104.5
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin and provenance

Modern site	as-Sawdāʾ
Ancient site	Ns²n
Geographical area	Jawf - Wādī al-Buhayra
Country	Yemen
Archaeological context	Funerary context: Tomb
Notes	The funerary context is suggested by the content of the inscription (see the Cultural Notes).
Link to site record

CULTURAL NOTES

Society

This inscription was dedicated by a family in the occasion of the restoration of a building. This text shows the typical patterns and formulaic expressions of the Minaic construction texts, but the lexicon concerning the various parts of the building is rather obscure. Concerning the name of the building itself, the mḥwl, we can only affirm that it is bound to the concept of "going round". It seems to be furnished with rooms, probably on different floors, and with some cultic objects. The fact of being shared by the people who dedicate the inscription and by their brothers suggest that we could deal here with the building of a tomb.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Avanzini 1995: 107-115, pls 17-18	Avanzini, Alessandra 1995. As-Sawdāʾ. Inventaire des inscriptions sudarabiques. 4. Paris: de Boccard / Rome: Herder. [Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres; Istituto italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente]

CSAI

Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions

as-Sawdāʾ 20 RES 2869; M 102