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Ja 1007 RES 3250
By kind permission of British Museum
INSCRIPTION INFORMATION
| Language | Ancient South Arabian » Ḥaḍramitic | ||
| Script | Ancient South Arabian | ||
| Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
| Text direction | Right-to-left | ||
| Text appearance | Raised | ||
| Execution technique | Incision | ||
| Measure of letters | 3.5 | ||
| Chronology |
| ||
| Textual typology | Construction text |
TEXT
1 Mlkm bn Ṯʿdlt [...] w-
2 ṯfl mḥ(fdn) Hrn bn-mw
3 mwṯrm (ʾd s²)qrm b-mṣnʿ(tn) ʿ—
4 r Wdm b-[r](d)ʾ mrʾ-(s¹ )Y[d]ʿ(ʾl)
5 (Byn) ml[k] (Ḥḍ)[r](m)t bn Rbs²ms¹
| 1 | f...w (Müller); f[.]w (RES); ḍrs¹ (Jamme, Bāfaqīh et al.). The text today is much more seriously corroded than when it was first published, and none of the two readings can be accepted. The only letter partially recognizable is the penultimate (before the word separator and the w), which could be a ʾ or a s¹. A possible reading, which however remains uncertain, is brʾ. |
| 2 | ṯfl (Müller, Jamme, Bāfaqīh et al.), ṯql (RES); possibly mhfḫn (Müller), mh(qḥ)n (RES). |
| 3 | mnʿtn (Jamme, misprint). |
| 4 | Y[d]ʿʾb (Müller, RES, Jamme); both Glaser and Hommel, as well as Bāfaqīh et al., read Ydʿʾl (see RES commentary for the first two). |
TRANSLATIONS
| English | |
1 Mlkm son of Ṯʿdlt [...] and 2 dug the tower Hrn from 3 foundation to top, in the fortress 4 ʿr Wdm, by the help of his lord Ydʿʾl 5 Byn, king of Ḥaḍramawt, son of Rbs²ms¹. |
| 1 | If the reading brʾ were accepted, the first verb was "built". |
| 1-2 | "... ... le bâtiment restauré" (RES); "has paved (reading ḍrs¹, Ed.) and covered" (Jamme). |
OBJECT INFORMATION
| Deposit | London, The British Museum, BM 125126=1883,0421.6 |
| Support type | Stone piece |
| Material | Stone |
| Dimensions | h. 25, w. 40, th. 9.5 |
| Link to object record |
ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE
| Modern site | Shibām |
| Ancient site | S²bm |
| Geographical area | Central Ḥaḍramawt |
| Country | Yemen |
| Archaeological context | Urban context: City walls Tower Hrn |
| Notes | The inscription was first copied by S. Langer in Aden in 1882 and belonged at that time to Major F. M. Hunter. D. H. Müller is the first to report a supposed origin from Shibām. |
| Link to site record |
BIBLIOGRAPHY
| Müller, David H. 1883: 392-400, pl. II n° 14 (facsimile) | Müller, David H. 1883. Sabäische Inschriften entdeckt und gesammelt von Siegfried Langer, publicirt und erklärt. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 37: 319-421. |
| Jamme 1963 a: 63-64 | Jamme, Albert W.F. 1963. The al-ʿUqlah Texts. (Documentation sud-arabe, 3). Washington: Catholic University of America Press. |
| Bāfaqīh et al. 1985: 337-338 | Bāfaqīh, Muḥammad ʿA., Beeston, Alfred F.L., Robin, Christian J. and al-Ghūl, Maḥmūd ʿA. 1985. Muḫtārāt min al-nuqūš al-yamaniyya al-qadīma. Tūnis: al-Munaẓẓama al-ʿArabiyya li-l-Tarbiya wa-l-Ṯaqāfa wa-l-ʿUlūm, Idāra al-Ṯaqāfa. |