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CIAS 39.11/o 1 n° 1 RES 3884; Ja 115
By kind permission of GOAM
INSCRIPTION INFORMATION
| Language | Ancient South Arabian » Sabaic » Central Middle Sabaic | ||
| Script | Ancient South Arabian | ||
| Script typology | Monumental writing | ||
| Text direction | Right-to-left | ||
| Text appearance | Recessed | ||
| Execution technique | Incision | ||
| Measure of letters | 1.5 | ||
| Chronology |
| ||
| Textual typology | Dedicatory text - fragmentary |
GENERAL NOTES
| The reading is based on Pirenne's photo; the stone is now much more damaged and eroded. The union of this fragment with RES 3902bis n. 149 (=NAM 2651) suggested by Jamme has been rightly rejected in Pirenne 1966: 90. |
TEXT
1 (T)bʿ(k)[rb ... ... ṣlm]—
2 n ḏ-ḏh(bn) ḏ-b-hw ḥmd(y)[ ... ... w-hw]—
3 s¹ʿn mrʾ-hmw ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb [... ...]
4 mlk S¹bʾ b-ṯbr w-wḍʿ w-ḥs¹(m)[... ...]
5 tʾtmw w-rtdḥn b-brrn ḏ-Ḥ(q)[... ʾlmq]—
6 h tʾwln mrʾ-hmw b-wfym (w)-[... ...mr]—
7 ʾy-hw ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb w-ʾḫy-hw [Yʾzl Byn mlky S¹bʾ w-ḏ-Rydn bny]
8 Frʿm Ynhb mlk S¹bʾ tʾwln [... ... s¹]—
9 bʾy w-ḍbʿ ʿdy ʾrḍ Ḥmyrm w-Ḥ[... ...]
10 ʾẓlm bn Zbnr tʾwln b-wf(y)[m ... ...]-
11 hw ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb w-ʾḫy-hw Yʾzl By[n ... ...]—
12 (t) s¹bʾ w-bḥḍ b-ʿm ʾs¹d wqhy mrʾ[y... ...]
13 [... ...]( )(ʾẓlm) bn Zbnr mhr(g)[... ...]
| 1 | [hqny ʾlmqh ḏ-Hrn ṣlm] (RES). |
| 2-3 | hmdm [b-ḏ-h ḫmr w-hw]s²ʿn (RES). |
| 3 | [bn Frʿm Ynhb] (RES). |
| 4 | Beeston reads bḍʿ instead of wḍʿ. |
| 5-6 | b-Brrn ḏ-Ḥqh as a sanctuary and a toponym respectively (RES). Beeston suggests: ḏ-Ḥq[l Ḥrmtm. |
| 6-7 | [b-ḍr hs²tʾ mr]ʾy-hw (RES). |
| 9 | w-Ḥḍ[rmwt (RES after Margoliouth). |
| 10 | [w-ʾḥllm ʿbd] (RES). |
| 11-12 | w-ḥmdm b-ḏ]t (Beeston). |
| 12 | mrʾy[-hmw (RES); mrʾ[y-hw (Beeston). |
TRANSLATIONS
| English | |
1 Tbʿkrb [... ...] 2 of bronze, whereby they praised [... ...] and fa- 3 voured their lord ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb [... ...] 4 king of Sabaʾ, with the crushing, humiliation and overthrow of [... ...] 5 had mustered and given battle in the open country (?) of Ḥq[l Ḥrmtm ? ... ...] 6 the return of their lord in safety and [... ...] 7 their lords ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb and his brother Yʾzl Byn, kings of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, sons of 8 Frʿm Ynhb, king of Sabaʾ, to return [... ...] 9 they undertook and waged in the land of Ḥimyar and Ḥ[... ...] 10 ʾẓlm son of Zbnr to return in safety [... ...] 11 his [lord] ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb and his brother Yʾzl Byn [... ...] 12 he campaigned and took the offensive with the troops who had been ordered by their (?) lords [... ...] 13 [... ...] ʾẓlm son of Zbnr enemy casualties [... ...] |
OBJECT INFORMATION
| Deposit | Aden, The National Museum, NAM 1559=AM 60.1280 |
| Support type | Artefact » Base » Of statue with dedicatory inscription |
| Material | Stone |
| Dimensions | h. 28, w. 20.5, th. 9.5 |
| Link to object record |
ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE
| Modern site | Maʾrib |
| Ancient site | Mryb / Mrb |
| Geographical area | Maʾrib |
| Country | Yemen |
| Archaeological context | Religious context: Temple of ʾlmqh bʿl ʾwm |
| Link to site record |
CULTURAL NOTES
Although the toponym is integrated (l.6), this inscription is almost surely a thanksgiving for the clients' safe return from the battle in the plain of ḥql Ḥrmtm, where the two kings ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb and his brother Yʾzl Byn fought the Ḥimyarite pretender Krbʾl ḏ-Rydn (see also CIAS 39.11/0 2 n. 2 and n. 3), at the middle of the third century AD.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
| Pirenne 1966: 90 | Pirenne, Jacqueline 1966. Contribution à l'épigraphie sud-arabiques. Semitica, 16: 73-99. |
| CIAS: II/1, 5-8, photo | Beeston, Alfred F.L., Pirenne, Jacqueline and Robin, Christian J. 1977-1986. Corpus des inscriptions et antiquités sud-arabes: Vol. I (1977): Tome 1. Inscriptions. Tome 2. Antiquités; Vol. II (1986): Le Musée d’Aden. Tome 1. Inscriptions. Tome 2. Antiquités. Louvain: Peeters. [Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres] |