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RES 4700 Ry 171
By kind permission of British Museum
INSCRIPTION INFORMATION
| Language | Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Early Sabaic | ||
| Script | Ancient South Arabian | ||
| Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
| Text direction | Boustrophedon | ||
| Text appearance | Recessed | ||
| Execution technique | Incision | ||
| Measure of letters | 4.5 | ||
| Chronology |
| ||
| Textual typology | Construction text |
TEXT
1 (D)dkrb bn Mʿdkrb ḏ-Ḥlḥ—
2 ln ʿbd Ydʿʾl w-Yṯʿʾmr
3 w-Krbʾl hnbṭ w-ḍfr bʾr-h
| 3 | the suffix –h at the end of the inscription could be a form -h for the –hw suffix pronoun, which is attested in ancient SAB (Stein 2003 a: 137). In our inscription -h could conceivably be a female pronoun referring to the land where the well was built. Stein even conjectured that the scribe may have run out of room for the last letter. |
TRANSLATIONS
| English | |
1 Ddkrb, son of Mʿdkrb, he of Ḥlḥ- 2 ln, subject of Ydʿʾl and Yṯʿʾmr 3 and Krbʾl dug and cased his well with stone. |
| 1-2 | in MAFRAY-Ḫirbat Saʿūd 2, 3 Ḥlḥln is the name of a bastion, which presumably derives from the name of a family. |
| German | |
1 Dadkarib, der Sohn des Maʿdikarib, von der Sippe Halhalan, 2 Diener des Yadaʿʾil und des Yithaʿʾamar 3 und des Karibʾil, hat gegraben und mit Steinen verkleidet seinen Brunnen. |
| 1 | Ḥalḥalān hieß auch eine Bastion der antiken Stadt Kutalum, und noch heute trägt ein Wadi nördlich von Charibat Saʿūd diesen Namen. |
| 3 | [Karibʾil] Name dreier nacheinander regierender sabäischer Herrscher, die nach H. von Wissmann in die Mitte des 5. Jh.s v.Chr. anzusetzen sind. [hat gegraben] Wörtlich: ër hat hervorquellen lassen". |
| Müller, Walter W. 1988 b: 639-640 | Müller, Walter W. 1988. Altsüdarabische und frühnordarabische Grab-, Sarkophag-, Votiv- und Bauinschriften. Pages 621-640 in Christel Butterweck (ed.). Grab-, Sarg-, Votiv- und Bauinschriften. Religiöse Texte. 4. Otto Kaiser (ed.), Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testaments. 2. Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn. |
OBJECT INFORMATION
| Deposit | London, The British Museum, BM 125687=1937,0507.6 |
| Support type | Stone piece |
| Material | Stone |
| Dimensions | h. 16, w. 48, th. 8 |
| Link to object record |
ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE
| Modern site | Kharibat Saʿūd |
| Ancient site | Ktlm |
| Geographical area | wādī Raghwān |
| Country | Yemen |
| Found | Reemployed. In modern times |
| Archaeological context | Agricultural irrigation context: Well |
| Notes | The stone was reemployed in the Islamic cemetery (Robin and Ryckmans, Jacques 1980: 171). |
| Link to site record |
CULTURAL NOTES
During the ancient Sabaean period other examples of sequences of proper names borne exclusively by royalty, and therefore representing sequences of kings, can be found in the documentation.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
| Ryckmans, Gonzague 1937: 249-250, (facsimile) | Ryckmans, Gonzague 1937. Inscriptions sud-arabes. Quatrième série. Le Muséon, 50: 239-268. |
| Müller, Walter W. 1988 b: 639-640 | Müller, Walter W. 1988. Altsüdarabische und frühnordarabische Grab-, Sarkophag-, Votiv- und Bauinschriften. Pages 621-640 in Christel Butterweck (ed.). Grab-, Sarg-, Votiv- und Bauinschriften. Religiöse Texte. 4. Otto Kaiser (ed.), Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testaments. 2. Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn. |
| Stein 2003 a | Stein, Peter 2003. Untersuchungen zur Phonologie und Morphologie des Sabäischen. (Epigraphische Forschungen auf der Arabischen Halbinsel, 3). Rahden: Marie Leidorf GmbH / Westf.: Marie Leidorf GmbH. |