CC BY 4.0
The above license applies to the data in this record, but not to any images displayed. The images are the property
of third parties and are either used with permission or reproduced from publications (see the credits below each image).
Ar-M 1 Plastron de Waqahʾīl
Mohsen and Sabrine 2026: 5, fig. 3
By kind permission of Abdullah Mohsen
By kind permission of Abdullah Mohsen
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 | Casting | ||
| Chronology |
| ||
| Textual typology | Dedicatory text | ||
| Royal inscription | Yes |
GENERAL NOTES
| Instead of the usual dedicatory ver, s¹fʿl is used, probably indicating the realisation of the object for the deity. |
TEXT
1 Wqhʾl Rym ml—
2 k Mʿn bn ʾbyd—
3 ʿ s¹fʿl k-ḏt Ns²—
4 q s²rʿtn Mrbḍ
TRANSLATIONS
| French | |
1 Waqahʾīl Riyām roi 2 de Maʿīn fils d’Abīyadaʿ 3 a fait exécuter pour (la déesse) dhāt Nashq 4 le plastron (?) (s²rʿt) (appelé) Mrbḍ |
OBJECT INFORMATION
| Support type | Artefact » Personal adornment (mrbḍ) |
| Material | Gold |
| Link to object record |
ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE
| Modern site | al-Bayḍāʾ |
| Ancient site | Ns²qm |
| Geographical area | Jawf - Wādī al-Buhayra |
| Country | Yemen |
| Notes | The piece, which is known from illegal excavations, is thought to come from Nashq/al-Bayḍāʾ based on the dedication to the goddess ḏt-Ns²qm, but it cannot be ruled out that it originally came from the territories of the Minaean kingdom, which - at the time of Wqhʾl Rym - did not include Nashq. The goddess is often mentioned in the Minaic inscriptions. |
| Link to site record |
BIBLIOGRAPHY
| Schiettecatte and Arbach 2020: 16, fn 23 | Schiettecatte, Jérémie and Arbach, Mounir 2020. La chronologie du royaume de Maʿīn (VIIIe-Ier s. av. J.-C.). Pages 233-284 in I. V. Zaitsev (ed.). Arabian Antiquities. Studies Dedicated to A. Sedov on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday. Moscow: Oriental Literature Publisher. |
| al-Fariḥ 2024: 460, with photo | al-Fariḥ, Riyāḍ ʿA. 2024. Tawthīq majmūʿa min al-nuqūsh al-musnadiyya al-muhrraba khārij al-Yaman wa-l-maʿrūḍa fī baʿḍi al-mazādāt al-ʿālamiyya. Raydān, 15: 433-462. |
| al-Ḥāyir 2025: 107-130, 154 (photo, facsimile) | al-Ḥāyir, Anwar M. ʿA. 2025. Nuqūsh ǧadīda min ʿuhūd mulūk Maʿīn. Raydān, 18: 105-156. |
| Mohsen and Sabrine 2026: 5, figs 2-3 | Mohsen, Abdullah and Sabrine, Isber 2014. New Evidence on the Looting and Illicit Trafficking of Yemeni Cultural Heritage. Pages 1-19 in Ihab Saloul and Britt Baillie (eds). The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Cultural Heritage and Conflict. The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Cultural Heritage and Conflict. Palgrave Macmillan Cham. 2026/06/04; https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61493-5_231-1. |