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CIH 396 RES 847
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 | 1.3 | ||
| Chronology |
| ||
| Textual typology | Dedicatory text - fragmentary |
TEXT
1 [... ... ]Ṯhwn[ ... ...]
2 [.]n ḥmdm b-ḏt hʿn w-mt[ʿ... ...]
3 ʿbd-hw ʾs¹dm l-qbly ʾs¹[... ...]—
4 m b-ws¹ṭ mwṯb-hw w-ks¹d[... ...]—
5 nt-hw w-hs¹r gnʾ hgrn[... ...]
6 w-rʾ k-ḥmd ʾs¹dm [ḫ]yl[... ... b]—
7 ʿl-ʾwm l-n s¹mʿ zʿm-hw[... ...]
8 [.]w w-hʿn w-mtʿn (g)[rb ... ...]
9 [..]y (l)-(n) wdqtn |[... ...]
10 [.]mqm ʾlmq[h... ...]
| 3 | at the end of the line: ʾs¹y (Jamme). |
| 4 | at the end of the line: w-ks¹d ḏ[... ...] (Jamme). |
| 9 | CIH and Jamme: ln. |
TRANSLATIONS
| English | |
1 [... ...] Ṯhwn[... ...] 2 because He aided and saved[... ...] 3 His subject ʾs¹dm for[... ...] 4 inside His shrine and feebleness [... ...] 5 and he built the city wall[... ...] 6 and in fact ʾs¹dm praised the power [... ...] 7 the Lord of ʾwm, since He heard his invocation [... ...] 8 and He aided and saved the body [... ...] 9 from the ruin [... ...] 10 the power of ʾlmq[h ... ...] |
| 4 | the text is too fragmentary to allow a definitive translation of the end of the line. Jamme understood ks¹d to be the verb "make s.t. irrevocable", but there is also an attested substantive meaning "feebleness", e.g. in Ja 670,11: ks¹dm b-ʿntm "feebleness by physical suffering" (translation by Beeston 1978 b: 206). We can imagine a similar context in lines 4-5: ks¹d[m b-ʿ]ntm. |
| 5 | hs¹r from S¹WR "to build a wall". Given free rein to the imagination, one could picture the author falling ill while engaged in important construction projects. |
| 9 | in Ja 619, 7 the god saved his worshipper: bn dqt wdq "from the fall he had"; in Ja 651, 12 the god saved his worshipper: bn wdqt w-mḥqr bytnhn "from the falls and the collapse of the two houses". |
| Beeston 1978 b | Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1978. Notes on Old South Arabian Lexicography XI. Le Muséon, 91: 195-209. |
OBJECT INFORMATION
| Deposit | London, The British Museum, BM 102458=1907,0112.2 |
| Support type | Stone piece |
| Material | Stone |
| Dimensions | h. 21, w. 15.5, th. 7 |
| 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 |