DASI - Digital Archive for the Study of pre-Islamic Arabian Inscriptions

Indexes

Tools

Record’s details

Editor(s)

CSAI Team
First published

2013-10-01
DOI

10.82194/dasi-epi-5098

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).

INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

Language

Ancient South Arabian » Qatabanic » Central Qatabanic

Script

Ancient South Arabian

Script typology

Monumental writing

Text direction

Right-to-left

Text appearance

Recessed

Execution technique

Incision

Chronology

Period

Textual typology

Legal text

Royal inscription

Yes

TEXT

marker

Apparatus

1	Rhodokanakis (RES) restores ḥgkm.
2	At the beginning [... ...]b (Rhodokanakis), [... ...]nm (Korotayev).
14	Rhodokanakis reads b-ys¹mnwn instead of b-ys¹knwn.
16	Rhodokanakis reads s¹ṯʿ instead of s¹ṯb.
18	The particle ʾw is problematic; possibly ʾw is to be viewed as a mistake for ʾy, as occurs elsewhere in the inscription.
21	Rhodokanakis reads b-yḥrm instead of b-yḥrg; at the end of the line Rhodokanakis and Korotayev read ẓrʾ.
22	The reading tʿlm by Korotayev is to be corrected to ʿtlm.
23	The reading b-ḏn given by Rhodokanakis and Korotayev appears to be ḏtn, which perhaps is an engraver's mistake.
	The list of names engraved on the lower stone are today partially lost; we edit the text reported by Rhodokanakis, with the addition of restoration brackets to mark the text lost today.

TRANSLATIONS

English

   1  [... ...] have ordered and established and decreed S²hr Ygl Yhrgb, son of Hwfʿm, king of Qatabān and the Council of Qatabān, the whole nation and Fqḍtn and Btln[... ...]
   2  [... ...] and as a general directive with regard to a (official) request which was requested and which was notified in relation to what this very king S²hr has commanded, on the authority of S²hr and of the Council of Qatabān and Fqḍtn and Btln, that[... ...]
   3  [... ...]some of the tribes of Qatabān from Tmnʿ and some (of the tribes) from the valleys and those who gave their support, gathered and joined and met and held the power and adhered to the held power in a disdainful manner and
   4  particularly the tribe Ṭbnn was summoned and claimed certain rights in Ḥṭbm temple of ʿm ḏ-Dwnm in Tmnʿ, in an autonomous and unfair way and without the permission of their lord S²hr and par-
   5  ticularly (the tribe Ṭbnn) ordered and decreed orders and decrees and rules and regulations in this (mentioned) assembly and reunion - the Ṭbnn are the tribe, the Council and the Ṭbnn themselves- and particularly
   6  some of the Council and some of the tribe Ṭbnn ratified (their decrees) with oaths and adhered to this ratifications among them in the same temple in that (same) autonomous and unfair way and without the permission of their lord S²h-
   7  r himself, in the month of ḏ-Brm in the last year of ʿs³bm he of Ḥḍrn and son of S²ḥz; and once more some of the tribe of Qatabān and (some of) the Council and (some of) the Ṭbnn and those who gave their support (among the tribes) of the valleys and of Brm
   8  gathered and met for a second assembly and reunion all together in a disdainful manner inside ʾḥrm temple of ʿm Ryʿn and S³ḥrm in Tmnʿ
   9  before this month ḏ-Tmnʿ, in that same autonomous and unfair way and without the permission of their lord S²hr himself; and so that, S²hr and the Council of
  10  Qatabān and Fqḍtn and Btln are surely to order and to decree with regard to all of the matters and the orders and the decrees and the rules and the agreements that have been issued in these two assemblies from the beginning till today and
  11  from now and for ever, and with regard to all the orders that were issued by the Council of Qatabān itself and the Ṭbnn of Qatabān, (namely) those (orders) which were not issued in the name of this very king S²hr and particularly
  12  (S²hr and the Council of Qatabān and Fqḍtn and Btln) are to free and release and save and eliminate all the penalties and obligations and fees from the properties and real estates and goods of the Council of Qatabān and the Ṭbnn of Qatabān, those imposed by means of
  13  oath which were sworn and made sworn during these two assemblies and reunions. Then, accordingly the king S²hr and the Council of Qatabān, the whole nation and Fqḍtn and Btln were to establish
  14  that S²hr and the Council of Qatabān and Fqḍtn and Bltn did not validate and shall not validate all the orders and the decrees and the rules and the regulations that have been ordered
  15  and decreed and ruled and established and regulated by the Council of Qatabān and Fqḍtn and Bltn, (in case that) all these orders have been not ordered and established or promulgated in the name of this king S²hr
  16  those (orders) which were written and ordered and decreed and established until now and those which will be written from now and for ever; actually, such orders and decrees and rules and regulations
  17  and their abrogation and their ratification and their invalidation whoever should contest (them), may these (orders, decrees etc...) be proclaimed, in the highlands and in the lowlands, as orders and decrees which were not validated in the name of this very
  18  king S²hr; hence, may be cancelled those orders and decrees and their abrogation, as legal and binding and obliging and coercing and compelling (documents), because those are not
  19  ratified by S²hr and the kings of Qatabān and the Council of Qatabān and the Ṭbnn; and that the Council of Qataban and the Ṭbnn of Qataban may save and release and protect
  20  their properties and their real estates and their children and their daughters and their goods from each obligation and penalty and tax and expulsion and fee, those
  21  which were ratified by oath; and this order and decree may be engraved on wood or on stone as the king orders and may its abrogation be ratified according to [... ...]
  22  ... as witnesses who signed the order and such an order was ordered in the ninth day of ḏ-gbyw of the month ḏ-Tmnʿ in the first year of ʿmʿly
  23  he of Rs²m and son of Qfʾn, and those who validated this order they supervised one by one the proclamation of its legal document, and they signed with their own hands
  24  LIST OF WITNESSES' NAMES and they sealed.

English

   1  [Thus] have ordered and directed and decreed Shahr Yagill Yuhargab, the son of Hawfāʿamm, the king of Qatabanians, and the Qatabanians, the Council, having its fu[ll complement, and] the 'administrators'{fqḍt} and the 'warriors /?/' {blt}, [... ...]
   2  regarding a claim which was made publicy contesting what this very king Shahr had decreed on the authority of Shahr {i.e. himself} and the Qatabanians, the Council and the 'administrators' and the 'warriors', that:
   3  [...] and some of the Qatabanians of Timnaʿ and of the Valleys, and those who supported them from the {other} communities, indeed, they met and assembled and ruled tyrannically and were ruled tyrannically through a delegation; and
   4  indeed the people ṭabīn {'landowners'} cried out boastfully {i.e. proclaimed illegitimate decrees?} and caused {others} to do this in Ḥaṭabum, the temple of ʿAmm dhū Dawnum in Timnaʿ, in a really self-willed and really scoundrelly manner, and without the sanction {permission} of their lord Shahr; and in-
   5  deed they {lit. it, s²ʿbn ṭbnn} ordained and decreed ordinances and decrees and judgements and decisions at that meeting and assembly (the 'landowners', all their community {s²ʿb}, both its council and the 'landowners' themselves); and indeed
   6  some people from the council and community of 'landowners' decided and enforced {their} decisions {lit. the ones of the oaths} by swearing oaths between themselves in that temple in their really self-willed and scoundrelly manner, and without the sanction {permission} of their lord this very Shah-
   7  r, in the month dhū-Barrum in the last year of ʿAsbum of {the clan} Ḥaḍrān and the son of {the clan} Shaḥz; and actually they continued meeting and gathering for a second{-time} in meeting and assembly jointly through a delegation,
   8  some of the Qatabanians, the Council and the 'landowners' and those from the Valleys and the Plain (Barrum) who supported them, in the Aḥram, the temple of ʿAmm Rayʿān and Saḥrum in Timnaʿ,
   9  before this month dhū-Timnaʿ in the self-willed and scoundrelly manner, and without the sanction {permission} of their lord, this very Shahr; {new paragraph} that Shahr and the Qatabanians,
  10  the 'Council' and the 'administrators' and the 'warriors', have made {their} judgement and decrees and decisions and agreements, which were {passed} at those two meetings,
  11  and all the judgements which those very Qatabanians, the Council and the 'landowners', gave {and} which were not enacted in the name of this very king Shahr; and {Shahr and the Qatabanians...}
  12  from now and onwards have freed {lit. untied} and released and saved and exempted his {i.e. the King's} property and the houses and possessions of the Qatabanians, the Councillors, and the Qatabanians, the 'landowners', from all the penalties and obligations and exactions
  13  {imposed by the decisions or judgements/sentences enacted} by the oaths sworn at those two meetings and assemblies; {new paragraph} and Shahr and the Qatabanians, the Council, having its full complement, and the 'administrators' and the 'warriors', are decreeing
  14  that they have not enacted and will not enact all judgements and decrees and ordinances and regulations which the Qatabanians, the Council and the 'administrators' and the 'warriors', made
  15  and decreed and ordained and ordered, and which the king Shahr did not decree and ordain, or which he did not enforce,
  16  which have been written and ordained and decreed and ordered by {the time of this} decreeing, and which will be written from now onwards. Wherever this is opposed, let the abrogation of those decisions and decrees and judgements and regulations {lit. those decisions and decrees and judgements and regulations
  17  and their abrogations, and their authentifications and their (the authentifications) invalidations} be announced in Highland and Lowland. Let the judgements and decrees which have not been enacted in the name of the Ki-
  18  ng, this very Shahr, be annulled once and for all. And the abrogations of those judgements and decrees {literally those judgements and decrees and their abrogations} have been constituted as legally binding, obliging, coercing, acting and compelling documents (of those decrees) which are not en-
  19  acted by Shahr, the Kings of Qatabanians {i.e. the Qatabanian Royal Power} and the Qatabanians, the Council and the 'landowners'); should be released and freed and be safe with
  20  respect to their property and with respect to their houses and with respect to their sons and daughters and all their possessions from any obligation and penalty and harm and confiscation and exaction {imposed} by those {decisions which were made by Two Assemblies through the swearing}
  21  of the oaths; and may this decision and decree be engraved on the wood or stone as the King orders; and may the respective {lit. its} abrogation be enacted according to his
  22  proclamation; the witnesses who signed the decree/judgements and decreed it on the ninth day of ḏ-ʾGBYW {the last decade} of the month ḏTMNʿ of the first year of {the eponym} ʿMʿLY
  23  of {the clan} ḏ-Rs²M and BanūQFʾN and supervised {it.}, men who authenticated for this decree one by one the promulgation of its correct reading, and signed {it} with their own hand-
  24  s are YṢRʿM of {the clan} ḏGRBM and Banū NS²ʾN {etc. followed by a list of 52 'witnesses' up to line 35} ---and MRṮDM, the son of {the clan} ḤNẒT; and they have sealed {it}.

Korotayev 1997	Korotayev, Andrey V. 1997. A socio-political conflict in the Qatabanian kingdom? (A preliminary re-interpretation of the Qatabanian inscription RÉS 3566). Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 27: 141-158.

English

   1  [... ...] handed down a judicial decision and established and decreed S²hr Ygl Yhrgb son of Hwfʿm king of Qataban and Qataban the Council as the tribal community in assembly and the Fqḍtn and the Btln
   2  [... ...] and a record of deeds concerning the (official) claim that was raisede and that made known what the king S²hr commanded on the authority of S²hr and Qataban the Coucil and the Fqḍtn and the Btln that
   3  [... ...] some individuals of the Qataban tribe from Timnaʿ and from the valleys and the one who was on their side from amongst the tribes, so they assembled and met and convened and gained control and gained power in a committee of delegates and
   4  particularly the Ṭbnn tribe officially claimed (its) rights and announced publicly (its) claims in the temple Ḥṭbm of ʿm ḏ-Dwnm in Timnaʿ in a self-interested and treacherous way and without the permission of their lord S²hr and
   5  particularly (the Ṭbnn tribe) handed down a judicial decision and decreed judicial decisions and edicts and orders and directive in that assembly and meeting and indeed Ṭbnn is the name of the tribe, the Council and the Ṭbnn-body and particularly
   6  some individuals of the Council and some individuals of the Ṭbnn tribe swore and made a pact with these oaths between them in that temple in a self-interested and treacherous way and without the permission of their lord S²hr
   7  in the month of ḏ-Brm in the last year of ʿs³bm ḏ-Ḥḍrn and bn S²ḥz and particularly some individuals
   8  of the Qataban tribe the Council and the Ṭbnn-body and the one who was on their side from amongst those of the valleys and those of Brm continued to assemble and to convene in a second assembly and (deliberative) session all together in a committee of delegates inside ʾḥrm the temple of ʿm Ryʿn and S³ḥrm in Timnaʿ
   9  before this month ḍ-Tmnʿ in a self-interested and treacherous way and without the permission of their lord S²hr so that S²hr and Qataban
  10  the Council and Fqḍtn and Btln do hand down a judicial decision and decree with regard to all the judgements and judicial decisions and edicts and orders and agreements, that were constituted in those two assemblies, those (judicial decisions and edicts and orders and agreements) which have been constituted until today and
  11  from now onwards and with regard to the judicial decisions the Qataban the Coucil and Qataban the Ṭbnn-body handed down (as judicial decision) those which they did not ratify in the name of the king S²hr and particularly they do
  12  cancel and release and take away and exempt from the properties and houses and possessions of Qataban the Council and Qataban the Ṭbnn-body all the penalties and obligations and proceedings (caused by)
  13  the oaths which they swore a vowed in those two assemblies and (deliberative) sessions and thus established S²hr and Qataban the Council as the tribal community in assembly and Fqḍtn and Btln
  14  that S²hr and Qataban the Council and Fqḍtn and Btln did not enact and shall not enact all the judicial decisions and edicts and orders and directives that qataban the Council and Fqḍtn and Btln had handed down (as judicial decision)
  15  and decreed and ordered and established and ordained (as being) all the judicial decisions which they had not handed down (as judicial decisions) and established or else ratified in the name of the king S²hr
  16  those which they had written and handed down (as judicial decision) and decreed and established till today and those which they shall write from now onwards those judicial decisions and edicts and orders and directives
  17  and their abrogations and their validations and their abolitions whenever there is an appeal let them be exhibited in the highland and the lowland as judicial decisions and edicts which they did not ratify in the name of the king
  18  S³hr so let those judicial decisions and edicts and their abrogation be (permanently) suspended and be constituted as dissolved and rescinded and repealed and invalidated and annulled (documents) and those that shall not be
  19  enacted for S²hr and the kings of Qataban and Qataban the Council and the Ṭbnn(-body ?) and that let Qataban the Council and the Ṭbnn-body release and cancel and warrant from
  20  their properties and from their houses and from their sons and their daughters and all their possessions whatever obligation and penalty and sanction and confiscation and proceedings those of (caused by)
  21  these oaths and let this judicial decision and edict be inscribed on wood or on stone as the king commands and let its abrogation be enacted according to the [...]
  22  [...] witnesses to (?) what was validated in the judicial decision and the judicial decision was handed down (as a judicial decision) in date the ninth of (the decade) ḏ-ʾgbyw of the month ḏ-Tmnʿ the first year of ʿmʿly
  23  ḏ-Rs²m and bn Qfʾn and one by one the people who signed this judicial decision oversaw a satisfactory approval of (the result of) its legal case and the signature (was made by) the hands
  24  of LIST OF WITNESSES' NAMES and they sealed.

Mazzini 2020: 261-267	Mazzini, Giovanni 2020. The Ancient South Arabian royal edicts from the Southern Gate of Timnaʿ and the Ǧabal Labaḫ. (Epigraphische Forschungen auf der Arabischen Halbinsel, 8).

OBJECT INFORMATION

Support type	Architectural structure » Gate
Material	Stone
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin and provenance

Modern site	Hajar Kuḥlān
Ancient site	Tmnʿ
Geographical area	Wādī Bayḥān
Country	Yemen
Found	In situ
Archaeological context	Urban context: City gate ḏ-S³dw
Link to site record

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Korotayev 1997: 141-143	Korotayev, Andrey V. 1997. A socio-political conflict in the Qatabanian kingdom? (A preliminary re-interpretation of the Qatabanian inscription RÉS 3566). Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 27: 141-158.
Mazzini 2020: 261-349, fig. 5-20	Mazzini, Giovanni 2020. The Ancient South Arabian royal edicts from the Southern Gate of Timnaʿ and the Ǧabal Labaḫ. (Epigraphische Forschungen auf der Arabischen Halbinsel, 8).

CSAI

Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions

Editor(s)

First published

DOI

RES 3566 Q 40; CSAI I, 208

INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

TEXT

TRANSLATIONS

OBJECT INFORMATION

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Editor(s)

First published

DOI

RES 3566 Q 40; CSAI I, 208

INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

TEXT

TRANSLATIONS

CSAI

Korotayev 1997

Mazzini 2020

OBJECT INFORMATION

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

BIBLIOGRAPHY