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Be wādī Sana
Beeston 1962 a: pl.X/1
INSCRIPTION INFORMATION
| Language | Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Late Sabaic | ||
| Script | Ancient South Arabian | ||
| Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
| Text direction | Right-to-left | ||
| Text appearance | Raised | ||
| Execution technique | Incision | ||
| Chronology |
| ||
| Textual typology | Construction text - fragmentary |
GENERAL NOTES
| On the basis of palaeography, Gajda maintains the inscription could be a fragment of Ba 4. |
TEXT
1 [... ... w-Nʿ]mgd bnw [... ...]
2 [... ... ʾ]lht mrḥbm((Mrḥbm)) [w-]ḏ-S²ms¹n w-Bṯʾ(n)
3 [... ... ](w)-Tġmʾ w-S¹hb w-Ms²ḥtn w-Rkb by(t)
4 [... ...](b)rʾ mṣnʿt-hmw [ḏ-ʾs¹]lmn b-ḫlfn b-s¹r(n |)
5 [... ...](yn m)[... ...](hw ʾl)y yʿqby s¹r ʾs¹lmn
| 1 | possible reading after bnw: S²rḥʾl |
| 2 | Robin 1991-1993 d: 155, suggests to see in ḏ-mrḥbm "un fonctionnaire ou un serviteur local". The other option is to think of a clan-name. |
| 3 | Tġmʾ is attested as name of group in ʿAbadān 1/11. It is not sure whether the other names indicate tribes or clans. |
TRANSLATIONS
| English | |
1 [... ...] and Nʿmgd, banū [... ... ] 2 [... ...] those of Mrḥbm, ḏ-S²ms¹n, Bṯʾn 3 [... ...] and Tġmʾ, S¹hb, Ms²ḥtn and Rkb of the family 4 [... ...] they built their fortress ḏ-ʾs¹lmn, at the entrance of the valley 5 [... ... ] who control the valley ʾs¹lmn. |
| 5 | "who both hold the local magistracy over the valley of ʾs¹lmn" (Beeston). |
OBJECT INFORMATION
| Support type | Architectural structure » Block |
| Material | Stone |
| Link to object record |
ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE
| Modern site | Unknown (wādī Sanāʾ) |
| Ancient site | Unknown |
| Geographical area | wādī Sanāʾ |
| Country | Yemen |
| Archaeological context | Urban context: Fortress ḏ-ʾs¹lmn |
| Link to site record |
CULTURAL NOTES
No Sabaic inscription has ever been found so far east as this. According to Beeston: "by the fifth century AD Sabaean sovereignty extended over the previously independent Ḥaḍrami territory, and the occurrence of a Sabaean frontier post is certainly connected with that fact.
It was probably intended to guard the access to the Wadi Ḥaḍramawt itself against incursions from nomads inhabiting the high plateau southwards of it. Among the clan-names mentioned, two are those of well-attested Sabaean clans; the rest seem to be hitherto unknown, and presumably belong to the local population who assisted the Sabaeans in erecting the fort".
It was probably intended to guard the access to the Wadi Ḥaḍramawt itself against incursions from nomads inhabiting the high plateau southwards of it. Among the clan-names mentioned, two are those of well-attested Sabaean clans; the rest seem to be hitherto unknown, and presumably belong to the local population who assisted the Sabaeans in erecting the fort".
BIBLIOGRAPHY
| Beeston 1962 a: 41-42, pl. X | Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1962. Epigraphic and Archaeological Gleanings from South Arabia. Oriens Antiquus, 1: 41-52. |
| Gajda 1997: 169-170 | Gajda, Iwona 1997. Ḥimyar gagné par le monothéisme (IVe-VIe siècle de l'ère chrétienne). Ambitions et ruine d'un royaume de l'Arabie méridionale antique. (Université d'Aix-en-Provence). |
| Robin 1991-1993 d | Robin, Christian J. 1991-1993 [1992]. Du paganisme au monothéisme. Pages 139-155 in Christian J. Robin (ed.). L'Arabie antique de Karibʾîl à Mahomet. Nouvelles données sur l'histoire des Arabes grâces aux inscriptions. (Revue du Monde Musulman et de la Mediterranée, 61). Aix-en-Provence: Édisud. |