CC BY 4.0
The above license applies to the data in this record, but not to any images displayed. The images are the property
of third parties and are either used with permission or reproduced from publications (see the credits below each image).
Fr-Ṣanʿāʾ 5
By kind permission of GOAM
INSCRIPTION INFORMATION
| Language | Ancient South Arabian » Minaic » Central Minaic | ||
| Script | Ancient South Arabian | ||
| Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
| Text direction | Right-to-left | ||
| Text appearance | Recessed | ||
| Execution technique | Incision | ||
| Measure of letters | 3 | ||
| Chronology |
| ||
| Textual typology | Expiation text | ||
| Royal inscription | Yes |
GENERAL NOTES
| The catalogue of the museum wrongly reports a provenance of this inscription from Mārib. The inscription is dated around the 5th c. BCE. |
TEXT
1 Ḏmrkrb Rym bn[ ʾ]—
2 ls¹mʿ mlk Kmnhw
3 w-s²ʿb-s¹ Kmnhw ntḫy
4 w-ntḏr k-ḏ-Mdhww b-
5 hn l-(y)s¹twffy b-ġy—
6 (l)-(s¹)m w-b-hn yġw b-s¹—
7 wl yṯʿd-s¹ mṯl w-b-
8 hn l-ykyl ḏ-krb b-y—
9 wmh s¹dn b-ywm ṯmr
10 w-b-hn l-yftḥ ḏ-ymt—
11 ḫḍ b-mwfrn f-ḥmy—
12 n bn ʾrḫ mṯl-s¹n
TRANSLATIONS
| English | |
1 Ḏmrkrb Rym, son of 2 ʾls¹mʿ, king of Kmnhw, 3 and his commune of Kmnhw confessed 4 and did penance to ḏ-Mdhww, be- 5 cause they had to be surely protected by means of 6 their water-course and because they misdirected the 7 stream, which the document allotted (for them), and be- 8 cause they had to measure what they offered on the 9 day of performing service (for the god), on the day of (collecting) crops, 10 and because they had to give judgement on what was appro- 11 priated among the cultivated lands; and may the defence 12 be assured against the (corresponding) provision of the document on them (i.e. on the above mentioned cultivated lands). |
| Frantsouzoff 2010: 163 | Frantsouzoff, Serguei A. 2010. Once more on the interpretation of mṯl in Epigraphic South Arabian (a new expiatory inscription on irrigation from Kamna). Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 40: 161-170. |
| French | |
1 Dhamarkarib Riyām fils de [I- 2 līsamiʿ roi de Kaminahū 3 et sa tribu de Kaminahū se sont confessés 4 et ont fait pénitence auprès de dhū-Madahwū 5 parce qu’ils auraient dû payer (le droit d’utilisation) (?) de 6 leur cours d’eau et parce qu’ils ont dévié 7 le courant, dont la part égale (leur) a été attribuée en partage, et 8 parce qu’il aurait dû mesurer (la part de) ce qu’il a sacrifié, 9 lors de son service au temple (comme ministre du culte/sacrificateur), en temps de récolte 10 et parce qu’il aurait dû ordonner ce qui a été attribué 11 du terrain cultivé. Qu’ils se gardent 12 de (faire) une chose (faute/transgression) semblable à celles-ci. |
| Gajda and Arbach 2022: 209 | Gajda, Iwona and Arbach, Mounir 2022. Inscription dédicatoire d’un roi de Kaminahū, Arabie du Sud. Semitica et Classica, 15: 205-213. 2025/12/29; https://doi.org/10.1484/J.SEC.5.133136. |
OBJECT INFORMATION
| Deposit | Ṣanʿāʾ, Military Museum, MṢM 148 |
| Support type | Artefact » Slab |
| Material | Stone |
| Dimensions | h. 55, w. 27, th. 12 |
| Link to object record |
ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE
| Modern site | Kamna |
| Ancient site | Kmnhw |
| Geographical area | Jawf - Wādī Madhab |
| Country | Yemen |
| Link to site record |
BIBLIOGRAPHY
| Frantsouzoff 2010: 161-170, figs 1-4 | Frantsouzoff, Serguei A. 2010. Once more on the interpretation of mṯl in Epigraphic South Arabian (a new expiatory inscription on irrigation from Kamna). Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 40: 161-170. |
| Gajda and Arbach 2022: 208-212, figs 6 (photo), 7 (facsimile) | Gajda, Iwona and Arbach, Mounir 2022. Inscription dédicatoire d’un roi de Kaminahū, Arabie du Sud. Semitica et Classica, 15: 205-213. 2025/12/29; https://doi.org/10.1484/J.SEC.5.133136. |