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CIH 392
By kind permission of British Museum
By kind permission of British Museum
By kind permission of British Museum
INSCRIPTION INFORMATION
| Language | Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Central Middle Sabaic | ||
| Script | Ancient South Arabian | ||
| Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
| Text direction | Right-to-left | ||
| Text appearance | Recessed | ||
| Execution technique | Incision | ||
| Measure of letters | 3.3 | ||
| Chronology |
| ||
| Textual typology | Dedicatory text |
GENERAL NOTES
| The date of the text is not certain; the writing out in full of qyf only demostrates that the text is not ancient SAB, but this was already quite obvious. Kitchen 2000: 108 dates the inscription between the first and third centuries AD. The inscription commmorates the erection of a boundary stela, although it could be considered a dedicatory text based on some of its elements, such as the oracle handed down by the god and the appeal for the protection of crops. See CIH 389. |
TEXT
1 Rbbm bn ʿḏrn qyf w—
2 ṯnn ḥg-n wqh-hw ʾl—
3 [m]qh bʿl ʾwm b-ms¹ʾl-hw
4 [l-q]yf b-hrt-hmw ḏ-Rdmn
5 [l-w]fy-hmw w-wfy ʾṯmr w-ʾf—
6 [ql] yknn b-hrt-hmw w-wfy
7 [ʾb]ʿl ʾhl-hmw w-bʿr-hmw w-
8 [l-]yḏbḥn wṯnn drm b-ḫrfm
9 [ḏb]ḥm ṣḥḥm ʾnṯym f-ʾw ḏ—
10 [k]rm w-l yḏmrn ʾlmqh
TRANSLATIONS
| English | |
1 Rbbm, of the family ʿḏrn set up the boundary stela, 2 as ʾlmqh, the Lord of ʾwm, bade 3 him in His oracle, 4 to erect in their fields ḏ-Rdmn, 5 for their well-being and the well-being of fruits and 6 crops, which are in their fields, and the well-being 7 of the lords of their community and of their cattle; and 8 may he sacrifice (near) the boundary stela one time every year, 9 excellent female and male sacrifice, 10 and may ʾlmqh protect. |
| German | |
1 Rabibum, der Sohn des ʿAdhran, hat aufgestellt 2 den Grenzstein, so wie ihm befohlen hat Almaqah, 3 der Herr von Awam, in seinem Orakel, 4 (nämlich ihn) aufzustellen in ihrer Niederung Dhu-Radaman 5 zu ihrem Heil und zum Heil der (Feld)früchte und Ernten, 6 die in ihrer Niederung sein werden, und zum Heil 7 der Herren ihrer Leute und ihres Viehs; und 8 er soll dem Grenzstein schlachten einmal im Jahr 9 ein fehlerloses weibliches oder männliches Schlachtopfer; 10 und Almaqah möge wohlgesinnt sein. |
| 2 | [Almaqah] Offizieller Name des sabäischen Mond- und Reichsgottes. |
| 3 | [Awam] Antiker Name der heutigen Ruinenstätte Mahram Bilqis, des bedeutendsten Tempels des Sabäerreichs, der südöstlich der Hauptstadt Marib lag. |
| 4 | [Dhu-Radman] Wahrscheinlich Name einer der Niederungen um das antike Waʿlan, das Zentrum des antikes Gaues Radman im Südosten der heutigen Arabischen Republik Jemen; dies läßt vermuten, daß die Schrifttafel aus der Umgebung von Waʿlan stammt. |
| 7 | bʿr wie hebräisch beʿīr "Vieh(besitz)". |
| 9 | Vgl. Lev 3,6: Er soll ein männliches oder weibliches fehlerloses Tier darbringen. |
| Müller, Walter W. 1988 a: 448-449 | Müller, Walter W. 1988. Altsüdarabische Rituale und Beschwörungen. Pages 438-452 in Christel Butterweck (ed.). Rituale und Beschworungen 2. Religiöse Texte. 3. Otto Kaiser (ed.), Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testaments. 2. Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn. |
OBJECT INFORMATION
| Deposit | London, The British Museum, BM 125154=1872,0619.2 |
| Support type | Artefact » Slab |
| Material | Stone |
| Dimensions | h. 43, w. 30.3, th. 9.8 |
| Link to object record |
ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE
| Modern site | Maḥram Bilqīs |
| Ancient site | ʾwm |
| Geographical area | Maʾrib |
| Country | Yemen |
| Archaeological context | Religious context: Temple of ʾlmqh bʿl ʾwm |
| Link to site record |
BIBLIOGRAPHY
| Kitchen 2000: 108 | Kitchen, Kenneth A. 2000. Documentation for Ancient Arabia. Part II. Bibliographical Catalogue of Texts. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. |