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CIH 573
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 | 5 | ||
| Chronology |
| ||
| Textual typology | Dedicatory text | ||
| Royal inscription | Yes |
GENERAL NOTES
| Ca. 80-100 CE. Ja 853 (A-F) are six other copies of this text. |
TEXT
1 (Ns²ʾkrb) (Yhʾmn)( mlk )(S¹bʾ)( bn )(Ḏmrʿly) Ḏrḥ( hq)—
2 ny s²ms¹-hw Tnf bʿlt Ġḍrn ʾrbʿtn w-ʿs²rnhn
3 ʾṣlmn l-wfy-hmw w-wfy bytn S¹lḥn w-ʾbʿl-hw
4 w-mlk-hmw w-l s¹ʿd-hmw bry ʾʾḏnm w-mqymtm w-l
5 wḍʿ w-ṯbr w-mnʿ w-ʾḫrn kl ḍr-hmw w-s²nʾ-hmw
6 [b-ʿṯ](t)r w-ʾlmqh w-b-s²ms¹-hmw Tnf bʿlt Ġḍrn
TRANSLATIONS
| English | |
1 Ns²ʾkrb Yhʾmn, king of Sabaʾ, son of Ḏmrʿly Ḏrḥ, dedicated 2 to their Solar deity Tnf, the Lady of Ġḍrn, twenty-four 3 statues for their well-being and the well-being of the house S¹lḥn and its lords 4 and their property; and may She grant the prosperity of their faculties and material resources, 5 and may She humiliate and destroy and fight off and repel all their enemy and their ill-wishers 6 By ʿṯtr and ʾlmqh and by their Solar deity Tnf, the Lady of Ġḍrn. |
| 2 | Robin 2012 a: 16 translates ʾs²ms¹ "fortunes". The sun goddess and protectress of the kings of Sabaʾ bore the epithet Tnf. |
| Robin 2012 a | Robin, Christian J. 2012. Matériaux pour une typologie des divinités arabiques et de leurs représentations.. Pages 7-118 in Isabelle Sachet (ed.). Dieux et déesses d'Arabie. Images et représentations. Actes de la table ronde tenue au Collège de France (Paris) les 1er et 2 octobre 2007. Paris: De Boccard. [en collaboration avec Christian Julien Robin] |
OBJECT INFORMATION
| Deposit | London, The British Museum, BM 125034=1863,0216.2 |
| Support type | Stone piece |
| Material | Stone |
| Dimensions | h. 33, w. 53, th. 12 |
| Link to object record |
ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE
| Modern site | Maʾrib |
| Ancient site | Mryb / Mrb |
| Geographical area | Maʾrib |
| Country | Yemen |
| Archaeological context | Religious context: Temple of Tnf bʿlt Ġḍrn |
| Link to site record |
CULTURAL NOTES
The king dedicates 24 statues to the goddess S²ms¹; it is typical of the first centuries AD the dedication of numerous statues.
Robin 2012 a: 16 has suggested that the 24 statues found in a single temple and commissioned by Ns²ʾkrb, a king who was not of royal descent (as may be deduced from his proper name), to honour his divine protectress demonstrate an exemplary religious zeal intended in part to make the members of the Sabaean society forget his relatively obscure origins.
Robin 2012 a: 16 has suggested that the 24 statues found in a single temple and commissioned by Ns²ʾkrb, a king who was not of royal descent (as may be deduced from his proper name), to honour his divine protectress demonstrate an exemplary religious zeal intended in part to make the members of the Sabaean society forget his relatively obscure origins.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
| Robin 2012 a | Robin, Christian J. 2012. Matériaux pour une typologie des divinités arabiques et de leurs représentations.. Pages 7-118 in Isabelle Sachet (ed.). Dieux et déesses d'Arabie. Images et représentations. Actes de la table ronde tenue au Collège de France (Paris) les 1er et 2 octobre 2007. Paris: De Boccard. [en collaboration avec Christian Julien Robin] |