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as-Sawdāʾ 99
Arbach and Aqīl 2021: 312, fig. 2
By kind permission of M. Arbach
By kind permission of M. Arbach
INSCRIPTION INFORMATION
| Language | Ancient South Arabian » Minaic » Central Minaic | ||
| Script | Ancient South Arabian | ||
| Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
| Text direction | Right-to-left | ||
| Text appearance | Raised | ||
| Execution technique | Repoussé | ||
| Chronology |
| ||
| Textual typology | Dedicatory text |
TEXT
1 Lbʾt bnt Ydʿʾb
2 s³lʾt ʿṯtr ʿfrw((ʿṯtr ʾfrw))
| 2 | As Arbach pointed out, ʿfrw might be either the object of the dedication or part of the theonym, because the object of dedications is frequently implicit. In the latter case, ʿfrw might be either a previously unknown epithet of the theonym ʿṯtr or part of the construct ʿṯtr ʿfrw in which ʿṯtr functions as the noun "goddesses of ..." (see Robin 2012 b). ʿfrw is the name of the royal palace of Nashshān, plundered by Karibʾīl Watār (RES 3945/16), and is also found isolated on a pillar of a building of the site, as-Sawdāʾ 42 C (cf. Rossi 2022: 115). |
OBJECT INFORMATION
| Support type | Artefact » Personal adornment » Pendant |
| Material | Gold |
| Link to object record |
ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE
| Modern site | as-Sawdāʾ |
| Ancient site | Ns²n |
| Geographical area | Jawf - Wādī al-Buhayra |
| Country | Yemen |
| Link to site record |
CULTURAL NOTES
The author of the inscription is a woman belonging to the royal family of Nashshān, which included three or four members called Ydʿʾb (the woman's patronymic): "the father of Lbʾn Ydʿ and Yqhmlk, a son (and perhaps a brother, see SWBA/ I/11 and 13) of S¹mhyfʿ Ys¹rn, and a later king attested in the inscription Moussaïeff 22. The palaeographical analysis excludes the latter because of the rectangular angles of diagnostic letters and confirms that the dating
cannot be earlier than the time of Lbʾn Ydʿ, in that the s³ is no more starshaped. Arbach hypothesised that princess Lbʾt might have been the sister of Lbʾn Ydʿ" (Rossi 2022: 115).
cannot be earlier than the time of Lbʾn Ydʿ, in that the s³ is no more starshaped. Arbach hypothesised that princess Lbʾt might have been the sister of Lbʾn Ydʿ" (Rossi 2022: 115).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
| Arbach and Darles 2019: 283–284, fig. 36 | Arbach, Mounir and Darles, Christian 2019. Architecture et épigraphie des temples des cités-Etats de la région du Jawf dans les Basses-Terres du Yémen. Pages 234–317 in George Hatke and Ronald Ruzicka (eds). Ancient South Arabia through History: Kingdoms, Tribes, and Traders. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. |
| Arbach and Aqīl 2021: 303–308, 312, fig. 2 | Arbach, Mounir and ʿAqīl, Laila 2021. Princesses à la cour royale de Nashshān aux VIIIe-VIIe s. av. J.-C. Semitica, 63: 295-313. 2025/12/29; https://doi.org/10.2143/SE.63.0.3289906. |
| Arbach 2022: 73, fig. 20 | Arbach, Mounir 2022. The city-states of the Jawf at the dawn of Ancient South Arabian history (8th-6th centuries BCE). I. From cities to kingdoms. (Arabia Antica, 17/1). Roma: «L'Erma» di Bretschneider. 2025/12/29; https://doi.org/10.48255/9788891322920. |
| Rossi 2022: 114-115 | Rossi, Irene 2022. The city-states of the Jawf at the dawn of Ancient South Arabian history (8th-6th centuries BCE). II. Corpus of the inscriptions. (Arabia Antica, 17/2). Roma: «L'Erma» di Bretschneider. |