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CIH 517
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 | Raised | ||
| Execution technique | Incision | ||
| Measure of letters | 5 | ||
| Chronology |
| ||
| Textual typology | Construction text - fragmentary |
GENERAL NOTES
| The inscription dates to the second half of the second century CE. The alliance with Ḥimyar was over and the Sabaean dinasty now bore the title of "king of Sabaʾ" and not "king of Sabaʾ and dhu Raydān". |
TEXT
1 [... ... ]bny-hmw ʿzzm w-Zydlt w-S¹ʿd[... ... ]
2 [... ... w-h]wṯrn w-hs²qrn byt-hmw Yfḍ[ ... ...]
3 [... ... ]bn Whbʾl Yḥz mlk S¹bʾ [... ...]
4 [... ...]dnm w-b ʾlh-hmw ḏ-S¹mwy w-r[... ...]
| 3 | w-b-ḏt Bʿ]dnm (CIH). |
| 4 | at the end, after r, y or ṯ are possible, CIH integrates: r(ṯ)[d. |
TRANSLATIONS
| English | |
1 [... ...] their sons ʿzzm and Zydlt and S¹ʿd[... ...] 2 [... ...] laid foundations and completed their house Yfḍ[... ...] 3 [... ...] son of Whbʾl Yḥz king of Sabaʾ [... ...] 4 [... ...] and by their god ḏ-S¹mwy and [... ...]. |
| 3 | the king Whbʾl Yḥz is known to have had two sons who, like their father, carried the title of "king of Sabaʾ": ʾnmrm Yhʾmn and Krbʾl Wtr Yhnʿm. In line 3 CIH integrated: Krbʾl Wtr Yhnʿm] bn Whbʾl Yḥz, but Jamme 1962 a: 283 rightly pointed out that we can also integrate the name of the other son. |
| Jamme 1962 a | Jamme, Albert W.F. 1962. Sabaean Inscriptions from Maḥram Bilqîs (Mârib). (Publications of the American Foundation for the Study of Man, 3). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press. |
OBJECT INFORMATION
| Deposit | London, The British Museum, BM 125114=1863,0216.6 |
| Support type | Stone piece |
| Material | Stone |
| Dimensions | h. 25.4, w. 57, th. 11.5 |
| Link to object record |
ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE
| Modern site | Maʾrib |
| Ancient site | Mryb / Mrb |
| Geographical area | Maʾrib |
| Country | Yemen |
| Archaeological context | Urban context: Private house Yfḍ |
| Link to site record |