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Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions

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al-Jawf 04.39


Arbach and Schiettecatte 2006: pl. 13/40

INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

LanguageAncient South Arabian » Minaic » Central Minaic
ScriptAncient South Arabian
Script typologyMonumental writing
Text directionRight-to-left
Text appearanceRecessed
Execution techniqueIncision
Measure of letters5
Chronology
PeriodA
Textual typologyDedicatory text

GENERAL NOTES

This inscription is palaeographically and prosopographically consistent with Fr-Ṣanʿāʾ 6. On the basis of the latter, the lost passages could be restored by Frantsouzoff (Frantsouzoff 2023).

TEXT

marker


   1  ʿms²fq w-(ʾl)[ʿ]—
   2  z w-ʾlḏrʾ[ w-R]—
   3  ʾb bhn Ḥmʿṯ—
   4  (t) (ḏ)y (S²b)[m]
   5  s³lʾ ʿṯtr
   6  | ḏ-[G]rb mṣr—
   7  bn (y)wm (ṣ)d—
   8  q (b)-qny (ʾ)ḫ-
   9  s¹m (Ḥ)ḏmr ḏ-
  10  Frs³n w-rṯd |
  11  ←[ʿ]ṯtr ʾwld-s¹—
  12  [m] b-ywm ʾlm(n)—
  13  [bṭ] Ydʿ |

Apparatus
9Hḏmr (Arbach), but the reading of first letter is uncertain: it might be Ḥḏmr (a name of group in Ṭaīrān 2006). This has now been proved by the comparison with inscription Fr-Ṣanʿāʾ 6 (Frantsouzoff 2023).
11-12ʾwld-s¹ | b-ywm (Arbach and Schiettecatte).

TRANSLATIONS

English

   1  ʿms²fq and ʾlʿz
   2  and ʾlḏrʾ and Rʾb
   3  sons of Ḥmʿṯt,
   4  the one (?) of S²bm,
   5  dedicated to ʿṯtr
   6  ḏ-Grb the altar,
   7  when they established property rights
   8  over the possessions of their brother
   9  Ḥḏmr ḏ-
  10  Frs³n, and they committed to
  11  ʿṯtr their children;
  12  at the time of ʾlmnbṭ
  13  Ydʿ.
4In Fr-Ṣanʿāʾ 6, Frantsouzoff considers ḏy as a rare form of the singular pronoun. While there we cannot exclude that the pronoun could be considered as dual, referring to the author and her husband, in this case it should be either plural (referring to the four authors) or indeed singular (referring to their patronymic).

OBJECT INFORMATION

DepositṢanʿāʾ, The National Museum
Support typeArtefact » Altar
ShapeWith truncated pyramidal base
MaterialStone
Dimensionsh. 72, w. 32
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin
Modern siteas-Sawdāʾ
Ancient siteNs²n
Geographical areaJawf - Wādī al-Buhayra
CountryYemen
Link to site record

CULTURAL NOTES

According to Frantsouzoff, Fr-Ṣanʿāʾ 6 and al-Jawf 04.39 attest to the establishment of property rights by four brothers over the inheritance left by a further brother, belonging to a different family. This would imply that the brother was born from a previous marriage of their mother.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Arbach and Schiettecatte 2006: 55-57, pl. 13/40Arbach, Mounir and Schiettecatte, Jérémie 2006. Catalogue des pièces archéologiques et épigraphiques du Jawf au Musée National de Ṣanʿâʾ. Ṣanʿâʾ National Museum. Ṣanʿāʾ: Centre français d'archéologie et de sciences sociales de Ṣanʿâʾ. [Text in French and Arabic]
Frantsouzoff 2023: 108-110Frantsouzoff, Serguei A. 2023. Sur le droit d'hérédité en Arabie méridionale antique. Pages 129-138 in Iwona Gajda and Françoise Briquel-Chatonnet (eds). Arabie – Arabies. Volume offert à Christian Julien Robin par ses collègues, ses élèves et ses amis. Avec la collaboration de Denise Aigle. Paris: Geuthner.