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

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Record’s details

Editor(s)

Alessia Prioletta
Irene Rossi
First published

2015-05-14
DOI

10.82194/dasi-epi-6047

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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

2.7-3

Chronology

Period

Textual typology

Dedicatory text

TEXT

marker

Apparatus

2, 25

According to Beeston, ʾrbʿw means "townfolk" and S¹mhrm is a toponym, but Robin demonstrates that ʾrbʿw means "fractions" and S¹mhrm is a name of tribe.

TRANSLATIONS

English

   1  Bhl ʾs¹ʿd, of the family Grt and Bds², ʾqwl of the tribe
   2  Ḏmry Hwtn, fractions of ḏ-S¹mhrm, mqtwy
   3  of their lord S²mr Yhrʿs², king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān,
   4  dedicated to ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, the statue in bronze
   5  from the tithe they are accustomed to offer to ʾlmqhw Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm,
   6  from the summer crop and the garden crop, as ʾlmqh Ṯhwn,
   7  Lord of ʾwm, ordered them in His oracle and for the safety of their lord S²mr Yhrʿs²
   8  King of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān and for the safety and the health of His servant Bhl
   9  ʾs¹ʿd, of the family Grt and Bds², and so that ʾlmqh
  10  Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, grants them the goodwill and the satisfaction of their lord S²mr Yhrʿs²,
  11  king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, and so that ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, continues to grant them
  12  the firstfruits of the cereal crops of spring and autumn and
  13  favourable summer and winter seasons in all their lands and
  14  their valleys and their lands growing summer crops and their cultivated areas and their plantations
  15  and good crops and harvests that will satisfy them in all
  16  their eastern and upper lands and their lands appropriated by irrigation, and may
  17  ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, fulfill them in the favours
  18  they will seek from Him, and in praise
  19  because he protected and saved His servant Bhl ʾs¹ʿd, of the family Grt
  20  and Bds², in all the expeditions and the battles they went on and in which they performed service
  21  for their lord S²mr Yhrʿs², king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, in
  22  S¹hrtn in all those expeditions and battles, and they came back with
  23  spoils and prisoners and loot and booty that pleased and
  24  satisfied their hearts and the hearts of their tribe Ḏmry,
  25  fractions of ḏ-S¹mhrm; may He continue to protect them in all the expeditions
  26  they will go on and in which they will perform service for their lord S²mr Yhrʿs²,
  27  king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, and may ʾlmqhw Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm,
  28  continue to grant them (and) to His servant Bhl ʾs¹ʿd, of the family Grt
  29  and Bds², the soundness of their faculties and their material resources, and may He grant
  30  them healthy male children, and so that He saves
  31  and protects his servant Bhl ʾs¹ʿd, of the family Grt and Bds²,
  32  from any evil and mischief and mourning and sickness and
  33  mischief and [… …] and the distress and the malice and the maleficence and the slander
  34  of any enemy, the one far and near, the one of whom they are aware of and the one of whom
  35  they are not aware of. By ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm.

5	"the tithe [which] they shall offer" (Jamme); "'the tithe which they are accustomed to offer' (present frequentative, not future)" (Beeston).

Jamme 1962 a: 154	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.
Beeston 1972 e: 352	Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1972. 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. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 35/2: 349-353.

OBJECT INFORMATION

Support type	Artefact » Base » Of statue with dedicatory inscription
Material	Stone
Dimensions	h. 125.8, w. 40, th. 30.5
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin and provenance

Modern site	Maḥram Bilqīs
Ancient site	ʾwm
Geographical area	Maʾrib
Country	Yemen
Archaeological context	Religious context: Temple of ʾlmqh Ṯhwn bʿl ʾwm
Link to site record

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jamme 1962 a: 153-155	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.
Beeston 1972 e: 351-352	Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1972. 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. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 35/2: 349-353.
Beeston 1975 a: 189	Beeston, Alfred F.L. 1975. Notes on Old South Arabian Lexicography IX. Le Muséon, 88: 187-198.
Robin 1987 c: 118	Robin, Christian J. 1987. L'inscription Ir 40 de Bayt Ḍabʿân et la tribu Ḏmry. Appendice: Les inscriptions Gl 1192, Gl 1197 et Gr 27. Pages 113-157 in Christian J. Robin and Muḥammad ʿA. Bāfaqīh (eds). Ṣayhadica. Recherches sur les inscriptions de l'Arabie préislamique offertes par ses collègues au professeur A.F. L. Beeston. (Arabie préislamique, 1). Paris: Librairie orientaliste Paul Geuthner.

CSAI

Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions

Editor(s)

First published

DOI

Ja 650 MaMB 200