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Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions

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Ja 584 MaMB 246


INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

LanguageAncient South Arabian » Sabaic » Central Middle Sabaic
ScriptAncient South Arabian
Script typologyMonumental writing
Text directionRight-to-left
Text appearanceRecessed
Execution techniqueIncision
Measure of letters1.3-1.8
Chronology
PeriodD
Textual typologyDedicatory text

TEXT

marker


   1  S¹ʿdṯwn tly ʾfrs¹ mlkn hqny
   2  ʾlmqh bʿl-ʾwm ṣlmn ḏ-ḏhbn |
   3  ḥmdm b-ḏt mtʿ-hw ḏ-lf((b-ḫlf)) Ḏmr hwt w-bn-
   4  hw Ddʾl w-l-yzʾn ʾlmqh hwfyn-hmw
   5  b-kl s¹bʾt <y>s¹bʾnn w-s²wʿn mrʾy-hmw (|)
   6  ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb w-ʾḫy-hw Yʾzl Byn mlky
   7  S¹bʾ w-ḏ-Rydn S²wf ḏt Lnhʾ hqnyt ʾ—
   8  lmqh bʿl-ʾwm ṣlmtn ḏt ḏhbn ḥmd—
   9  m b-ḏt hydʿ-hw bʿl Ḥrnm b-ʿbr ʾḫy-h—
  10  w w-rʾ k-hqnyt-hw ḥg-n wqh-hw b-ḏ( b)ṯṯ—
  11  t-hw w-hʾ ḫmr-hw h(nw)l-hw hʾ w-ʾḫy-hw
  12  b-ʾlmqh

Apparatus
3Beeston reads b-ḫlf instead of ḏ-lf.
5The Jamme's reading is s¹bʾnn.
7According to Jamme, s²wf is a verb and ln-hʾ a preposition followed by a pronoun, but Ryckmans, followed by Beeston, inteprets them as two names.
10<.>wqh-hw (Jamme).

TRANSLATIONS

English

   1  S¹ʿdṯwn, tly of the cavalry of the king, dedicated
   2  to ʾlmqh, Lord of ʾwm, the statue in bronze
   3  in praise because He saved him of the people of (or, in the vicinity of) Ḏmr, him and his son
   4  Ddʾl, and may ʾlmqh continue to save them
   5  in all the expeditions they will go on and in which they will accompany their lord
   6  ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb and his brother Yʾzl Byn, kings of
   7  Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān. S²wf, of the family Lnhʾ, dedicated
   8  to ʾlmqh, Lord of ʾwm, the statue in bronze in praise
   9  of what the Lord of Ḥrnm made her know in favour (or, through the medium) of her brother,
  10  and indeed she made a dedication to Him, as He had ordered her in accordance with the promise she had made
  11  to Him, and as for Him, may He grant her …, she and her brother.
  12  By ʾlmqh.
1Jammes considers tly as "maṣdar of the 8th form of wly [...] cf. Arabic wly 'to hold command (authority) or have charge as a commander, administrator, or manager', and the 5th form 'to undertake'" and translates it in association with ʾfrs as 'equerry'. Instead, Höfner suggests to interpret tly as a noun from the root TLY/TLW "to follow", as someone who takes care of animals (Höfner 1964: 425).
3ḏ-lf: Jamme suggests to compare Ar. liff “crowd, multitude” and translates “of the people of Ḏmr”. The alternative translation is based on Beeston’s correction b-ḫlf.
7s²wf ḏt lnhʾ hqnyt : “he applied himself to it until it was offered” (Jamme), but Ryckmans noted that here a new feminine dedicant (the sister of the previous dedicant) is introduced: “S²wf (femme) de la tribu de Lnhʾ (?) a offert”. Beeston accepts this interpretation and sees in Lnhʾ an abbreviated form of a theophoric name ʾlnhʾ.
10-11b-ḏ bṯṯt-hw: the translation proposed follows Beeston’s.
h(nw)l-hw: “to lead him with care” (Jamme, suggesting a comparison with Heb. nhl).
Jamme 1962 a: 90-91Jamme, Albert W.F. 1962. Sabaean Inscriptions from Maḥram Bilqîs (Mârib). (Publications of the American Foundation for the Study of Man, 3). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press.
Höfner 1964 b: 425Höfner, Maria 1964. Review of Jamme, Albert W.F. 1962. Sabaean Inscriptions from Maḥram Bilqîs (Mârib). (Publications of the American Foundation for the Study of Man, 3). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 114: 423-426.
Ryckmans, Jacques 1966: 477-478Ryckmans, Jacques 1966. Himyaritica 2. Le Muséon, 79: 475-500.
Beeston 1976 a: 411-412Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1976. Notes on Old South Arabian lexicography X. Le Muséon, 89: 407-423.

OBJECT INFORMATION

Support typeArtefact » Base » Of statue with dedicatory inscription
MaterialStone
Dimensionsh. 21.5, w. 25, th. 10 ca.
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin and provenance
Modern siteMaḥram Bilqīs
Ancient siteʾwm
Geographical areaMaʾrib
CountryYemen
Archaeological contextReligious context: Temple of ʾlmqh bʿl ʾwm
Link to site record

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jamme 1962 a: 90-91Jamme, Albert W.F. 1962. Sabaean Inscriptions from Maḥram Bilqîs (Mârib). (Publications of the American Foundation for the Study of Man, 3). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press.
Ryckmans, Jacques 1966: 477-478Ryckmans, Jacques 1966. Himyaritica 2. Le Muséon, 79: 475-500.
Beeston 1976 b: 411-412Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1976. Warfare in ancient South Arabian (2nd.-3rd. centuries A.D.). Qahtan. Studies in Old Arabian Epigraphy. 3. London: Luzac and Co.
Nebes 1995 a: 221Nebes, Norbert 1995. Die Konstruktionen mit /fa-/ im Altsüdarabischen. Syntaktische und epigraphische Untersuchungen. (Veröffentlichungen der Orientalischen Kommission, 40). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.