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Editor(s)

Cristina Pappalardo
Alessandra Avanzini
First published

2018-05-01
DOI

10.82194/dasi-epi-6203

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Maraqten 2006: 56, fig. 4

Details upper part
Maraqten 2006: 56, fig. 5

Details lower part
Maraqten 2006: 57, fig. 6

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

2.5

Chronology

Period

Textual typology

Legal text

TEXT

marker

Apparatus

5	On the stone the reading ʾṯt is clear, but the correction proposed by Muthoff and Stein 2008 a: 406, n. 49 seems right.
17, 22	grb-hw is proposed by Multhoff and Stein 2008 a: 406, n. 53; Maraqten: l-rb-hw.
21	Maraqten reads an improbable w-ḏ-ʾl-b-tʾḫrn.
25-26	Maraqten: b-rb [mlk]n.

TRANSLATIONS

English

   1  That is why Ns²ʾkrb Yʾmn Yrḥb,
   2  king of Sabaʾ and dū-Raydān, son of ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb,
   3  and his brother Yzʾl Byn, king of Sabaʾ and dū-Raydān and his servants
   4  Sabaʾ and Fayshān and the ʾqwl of the tribes and of the oasis areas,
   5  from ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, obtained a favourable oracle: for what reason
   6  He did not grant irrigation to them, before the rainy season of spring, in the second year of
   7  Ns²ʾkrb, son of Mʿdkrb, of the family Fḍḥn, and (for that) an amount of
   8  insects and the locusts which were in their countries. They received their
   9  oracle under ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, that because of
  10  the sanctuaries of the gods which are being robbed;
  11  and because of the natives taken away from the city of Mrb; and because of
  12  anyone who does not perform the religious obligations of ʾlmqh; and because of the transgressors
  13  and the wrongdoers; and because of the wrong which has been spoken, and because of
  14  the unirrigated and irrigated crops, which are taken away in the land of Ḥaḍramawt, and therefore
  15  because of all matters, which are in the heart of ʾlmqh, besides
  16  these mentioned matters. ʾlmqh ordered the following: everyone who steals from the temples
  17  of the gods or from the cemetery, his body must pass (he must die);
  18  who takes away natives out of country, must bring back these men
  19  and who took them away must lose the purchase price; who does not
  20  fulfill the obligations of ʾlmqh, he must do that a second time;
  21  who from the city of Mrb and its valleys does not stay away and retreat from
  22  transgressors and wrongdoers, his body must pass (he must die); who does not
  23  initiate a right lawsuit, he must get as a punishment from the kings and Sabaʾ and
  24  the ʾqwln the measure that they view as a punishment for him; who takes away unirrigated
  25  and irrigated crops in the land of Ḥaḍramawt, he must receive with the (?)
  26  200 beatings and he must lose the purchase price,
  27  but if he is a proper man, it is not allowed to beat him, he must pay a fine of
  28  200,000 pure balaṭ-coins to his lord, the king,
  29  instead of his beatings. And ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, ordered to His
  30  servant Ns²ʾkrb Yʾmn Yhrḥb, king of Sabaʾ and dū-Raydān,
  31  son of ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb and Yzʾl Byn, both kings of Sabaʾ and dū-Raydān,
  32  and his servants Sabaʾ and Fayshān and the ʾqwl of the tribes and the oasis areas
  33  to show contrition and to avoid doing things similar to those that
  34  are written and named in this decision. And may ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm,
  35  protect His servant Ns²ʾkrb Yʾmn Yhrḥb, king of Sabaʾ and
  36  dū-Raydān, son of ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb and his brother Yzʾl Byn, both kings
  37  of Sabaʾ and dū-Raydān, and his servants Sabaʾ and Fayshān and the ʾqwl
  38  of the tribes and the oasis areas against anger, loss of favour and
  39  the wrath of His heart. By ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm.

25-26

The integration is not possible. Multhoff and Stein 2008 a: 407 hypothetically think of "with whip"

Multhoff and Stein 2008 a: 405-407	Multhoff, Anne and Stein, Peter 2008. Sabäische Texte. Pages 393-415 in Bernd Janowski and Gernot Wilhelm (eds). Omina, Orakel, Rituale und Beschwörungen. Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testaments. Neue Folge.

OBJECT INFORMATION

Deposit	Mārib
Support type	Stone piece
Material	Stone
Dimensions	h. 130, w. 37
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin and provenance

Modern site	Maḥram Bilqīs
Ancient site	ʾwm
Geographical area	Maʾrib
Country	Yemen
Found	In situ
Archaeological context	Religious context: Temple of ʾlmqh bʿl ʾwm
Notes	On the west side of the Peristyle Hall.
Link to site record

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Maraqten 2006: 53-67, figs 4-6	Maraqten, Mohammed 2006. Legal documents recently discovered by the AFSM at Maḥram Bilqīs, near Mārib, Yemen. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 36: 53-67.
Multhoff and Stein 2008 a: 405-407	Multhoff, Anne and Stein, Peter 2008. Sabäische Texte. Pages 393-415 in Bernd Janowski and Gernot Wilhelm (eds). Omina, Orakel, Rituale und Beschwörungen. Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testaments. Neue Folge.

CSAI

Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions

Editor(s)

First published

DOI

MB 2002 I-28