CSAI
Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions


Jamme 1962 a: pl. 17

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 letters2-2.3
Chronology
PeriodD
Textual typologyDedicatory text

TEXT

marker


   1  [Whbʾwm]( )(M)[... ...]
   2  [... ... w-Ḥ](ḍ)rmwt w-(Kdt)[ w]-(Mḏḥ)[gm]
   3  [w-Bh](lm)( )w-Ḥdʾn w-Rḍwm w-ʾẓlm w-ʾ(m)
   4  (r)m
mqtwy S²mr Yhrʿs² mlk S¹bʾ w-ḏ-Ry—
   5  dn w-Ḥḍrmwt w-Ymnt hqnyw mrʾ-hmw
   6  ʾlmqh-Ṯhwn-bʿl-ʾwm ṣlmn ḏ-ḏhbn
   7  ḏ-s²ft-hw ḥmdm b-ḏt ḫmr w-hwfyn ʿ—
   8  bd-hw Whbʾwm b-ʾmlʾ s¹tmlʾ b-ʿ—
   9  m-hw b-kn wqh-hw mrʾ-hmw S²mr Yhr—
  10  ʿs² mlk S¹bʾ w-ḏ-Rydn w-Ḥḍrmwt w-Ymn—
  11  t l-ṭrd w-hwkbn b-ʾṯr Ḥrṯn bn Kʿ—
  12  bm w-S¹wdm bn ʿmrm Grynhn w-ʾs¹d-hmw
  13  Nḫʿn w-Grm b-kn tfrqw bn ḏ-Ḫzfn b-h—
  14  grn Mrb w-b-ʿm-hmw Yʿmr wzʿ s²ʿbn S¹bʾ
  15  w-ʾḫḏ-hmw hmt ʾs¹dn Ḥrṯn bn Kʿbm w-
  16  S¹(w)dm bn ʿmrm w-ʾs¹d-hmy ḏ-bn Grm w-Nḫʿn
  17  b-Frṭn w-ʾwl-hmw b-ʾqrnm b-ʿbr mrʾ-hm—
  18  w S²mr Yhrʿs² mlk S¹bʾ w-ḏ-Rydn w-Ḥḍrmwt w-
  19  Ymnt ʿdy bytn S¹lḥn w-hgrn Mrb w-ḥmdm
  20  (b)-ḏt ḫmr ʿbdy-hw hwfyn mlʾ s¹tmlʾw b-ʿm-hw

Apparatus
12grynhn: "'the two deputies" for Jamme, but a nisbe from Grm for Beeston, who explains "one could perhaps go further, and surmise that this tribe was none other than the famous Jurhum, possessors of Mecca before Quraysh. Omission of the pharyngal h is not uncommon in ESA (Descr. gramm., § 4: 12), and the adjectival form is explicable by supposing that the South Arabians assumed the m to be similar to their own mimation and hence eliminated it in forming the nisba" (Beeston 1972: 352).

TRANSLATIONS

English

   1  [Whbʾwm] M[... ...]
   2  [... ...] and Ḥaḍramawt and Kinda and Mḏḥgm
   3  and Bhlm and Ḥdʾn and Rḍwm and ʾẓlm and ʾmrm,
   4  mqtwy of S²mr Yhrʿs², king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān
   5  and Ḥaḍramawt and Ymnt, dedicated to their lord
   6  ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, the statue in bronze
   7  that they promised Him in praise because He granted and fulfilled
   8  His servant Whbʾwm in all the favours he sought from
   9  Him, when their lord S²mr Yhrʿs²,
  10  king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān and Ḥaḍramawt and Ymnt,
  11  ordered him to chase and despatch troops after Ḥrṯn of Kʿbm
  12  and S¹wdm of ʿmrm, the two of Grm, and their soldiers
  13  (the tribes) Nḫʿn and Grm, when they were dispersed from ḏ-Ḫzfn in
  14  the town of Mrb and with them (there was) Yʿmr, wzʿ of the tribe of Sabaʾ,
  15  and they seized them, those soldiers Ḥrṯn of Kʿbm and
  16  S¹wdm of ʿmrm and their soldiers of the contingent of Grm and Nḫʿn,
  17  in Frṭn and brought them back under guard to their lord
  18  S²mr Yhrʿs², king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān and Ḥaḍramawt and
  19  Ymnt, to the palace S¹lḥn and the town of Mrb, and in praise
  20  because He granted their servants to fulfill the favours they asked from Him.
9-19Translation also in Beeston 1976 b.
Beeston 1976 b: 58Beeston, 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.

OBJECT INFORMATION

Support typeArtefact » Base » Of statue with dedicatory inscription
MaterialStone
Dimensionsh. 52.2, w. 31.3, th. 16.5
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

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

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jamme 1962 a: 164-166, pl. 17Jamme, 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: 352Beeston, 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.