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AO 31929
Caubet and Gajda 2003: fig. 5
INSCRIPTION INFORMATION
| Language | Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Early Sabaic | ||
| Script | Ancient South Arabian | ||
| Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
| Text direction | Boustrophedon | ||
| Text appearance | Raised | ||
| Execution technique | Casting | ||
| Measure of letters | 2.6-2.8 | ||
| Chronology |
| ||
| Textual typology | Dedicatory text | ||
| Royal inscription | Yes |
TEXT
1 Yṯʿʾmr Wtr bn Ykrbmlk mkrb S¹bʾ hqny ʾrnydʿ
2 [S²]ymn ywm ʾtw ʾrnydʿ bn Kmnhw ʿd N[s²](n)( b)-ywm Yṯʿ—
3 ʾmr w-ywm hṯb Yṯʿʾmr ʾbḍʿ ʾrnydʿ w-Ns²n w-nqm |
4 Ns²n Kmnhw b-ḏ ms¹k Ns²n ʾḫwt ʾlmqh w-ʾrnydʿ w-Yṯʿʾ—
5 mr w-Mlkwqh w-S¹bʾ w-Ns²n bn ḏ-ʾlm w-s²ymm w-ḏ ḥblm w-ḥmrm
TRANSLATIONS
| English | |
1 Yṯʿʾmr Wtr son of Ykrbmlk, mukarrib of Sabaʾ, dedicated to ʾrnydʿ 2 the Patron, when he brought back ʾrnydʿ from Kamna to Nashshān at the time of Yṯʿ- 3 ʾmr, and when he assigned the territories of ʾrnydʿ and Nashshān, and vindicated 4 Nashshān against Kamna because Nashshān had maintained the alliance of ʾlmqh and ʾrnydʿ and Yṯʿʾ- 5 mr and Mlkwqh and Sabaʾ and Nashshān, on the basis of that (i.e. the alliance) of the god and the Patron and that of the territory and the population. |
| 2 | We could alternatively translate "when ʾrnydʿ came back from Kamna to Nashshān", if we consider the god himself as the subject of the proposition and the verb ʾtw intransitive. |
| 5 | For the so-called "pact of the alliance" we have adopted the translation by Garbini 1985: 313-316. |
| Garbini 1985 | Garbini, Giovanni 1985 [1988]. Ḥbl e Ḥmr in sudarabico. Pages 309-316 in Clelia Sarnelli Cerqua (ed.). Studi arabo-islamici in onore di Roberto Rubinacci nel suo settantesimo compleanno. Naples: Istituto universitario orientale. |
OBJECT INFORMATION
| Deposit | Paris, Louvre Museum, AO 31929 |
| Support type | Artefact » Altar |
| Shape | Squared |
| Material | Bronze |
| Dimensions | h. 39, w. 71.5, th. 38 |
| 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
This inscription records the intervention of the Sabaean mukarrib Yṯʿʾmr Wtr in the clashes that occurred between Nashshān and Kamna in the second half of the 8th century BC; the same events are recorded also in his inscription DAI-Ṣirwaḥ 2005-50. This text is a dedication to the main god of Nashshān ʾrnydʿ, when his statue and the territories of Nashshān were brought back from Kamna, which was punished by the Sabaeans. We infer that Kamna had previously been victorious over Nashshān, so the king of Sabaʾ helped that of Nashshān (Mlkwqh, probably Mlkwqh Ryd of the text Garbini Francaviglia 2), on the basis of their alliance. The Sabaeans were interested in affirming their supremacy in the Jawf, by forging different alliances. At the beginning of the 7th century, the mukarrib of Sabaʾ Krbʾl Wtr made a war against Nashshān and gave part of its territory to Kamna (RES 3945).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
| Caubet and Gajda 2003: 1225-1233, fig. 5 | Caubet, Annie and Gajda, Iwona 2003. Deux autels en bronze provenant de l'Arabie méridionale, suivi d'un appendice de Mme Françoise Demange sur la technique de fabrication (note d'information). Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres: 1219-1242. |