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Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions

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Robin-Maʿīn 1


INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

LanguageAncient South Arabian » Minaic » Central Minaic
ScriptAncient South Arabian
Script typologyMonumental writing
Text directionRight-to-left
Text appearanceRecessed
Execution techniqueIncision
Chronology
PeriodB
Textual typologyLists of foreign wives

GENERAL NOTES

There are palaeographic differences among the three sections of the text.

TEXT

marker


      [... ...]
   1  [ʾh]l Ylqẓ s¹(k)[rb w-]
   2  [ḫ](s³)r S²mtm bn Ḏkr|
   3  Ḫmʿ bn ʿbd ḏ-ʿs²z—
   4  r ḏ-ʾhl ʿlyʾl s¹kr—
   5  b w-ḫs³r Rys³ bn ʾws¹n
   6  Ḥms³ bn Mtʿn ḏ-Mr—
   7  n ḏ-ʾhl Mwqh s¹krb
   8  [w-ḫs³r ... b](n) Yrfʾ
   9  [... ...]

Apparatus
2Where Ḏkr is to be located is not certain. It is probably a tribe of a region in desert Arabia (see al-Saʿīd 2018; Robin 2021: 221-222).
3According to Robin, the sequence ḫmʿ at the beginning of line 3 of the text is part of an anthroponym that would begin at the end of the previous line, where the pillar is broken, after the word-separating stroke that follows Ḏkr (Robin 2021: 221). However, Ḫmʿ is already attested in Minaic (cf. Maʿīn 93 C and YM 26637) (Rossi 2023: 176, fn. 75).
3-4Both the edition of the text and the translation proposed in Robin 2021: 221, contain typos between lines 3 and 4: ḏ-ʿḏ-d .]r ḏ-ʾḏ ʿlyʾl, translated as '(of the lineage) of ʿs²z[.]t, of the clan ʿAlayaʾīl'. The insertion of a lacuna in the lineage name does not seem necessary, since the empty space at the end of line 3, where the edge of the pillar is partially broken, is not wide enough to restore a character (Rossi 2023: 163-164, fns 38-39).
The presence of an attestation of the family ʿs²zr was already recognised in Prioletta 2013: 230, fn. 73, based on the photograph published in Fontaine and Arbach 2006.
8The identification of Yrfʿ with the Qatabanian region on the Red Sea is plausible.

OBJECT INFORMATION

Support typeArchitectural structure » Pillar
MaterialStone
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin and provenance
Modern siteMaʿīn
Ancient siteQrnw
Geographical areaJawf - Wādī Madhab
CountryYemen
FoundIn situ
Link to site record

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fontaine and Arbach 2006: fig. 26Fontaine, Hugues and Arbach, Mounir 2006. Yémen. Cités d'écritures. Manosque: Le bec en l'air éditions.
Prioletta 2013 a: 230, fn. 73Prioletta, Alessia 2013. Inscriptions from the southern highlands of Yemen. The epigraphic collections of the museums of Baynūn and Dhamār. (Arabia Antica, 8). Roma: L'«Erma» di Bretschneider.
Robin 2021: 221-223, fig.4Robin, Christian J. 2021. Nouveaux fragments des listes de « femmes étrangères » naturalisées dans le royaume sudarabique de Maʿīn. Pages 219-226 in Christian Darles, Lamya Khalidi and Mounir Arbach (eds). Contacts between South Arabia and the Horn of Africa, from the Bronze Age to Islam. Toulouse: Presses Universitaires du Midi.
Rossi 2023: 163-164, fns 38, 39Rossi, Irene 2023. Nouvelles listes de femmes étrangères des Minéens et première mention d’Édom en Arabie du Sud. Pages 151-182 in Iwona Gajda and Françoise Briquel-Chatonnet (eds). Arabie – Arabies. Volume offert à Christian Julien Robin par ses collègues, ses élèves et ses amis. Avec la collaboration de Denise Aigle. Paris: Geuthner.
al-Saʿīd 2018al-Saʿīd, Said F. 2018. The kingdoms of Ḏākir, ʾAmīr, and Muhaʾmir in the light of a new inscription from Al-Fāw, Saudi Arabia. Zeitschrift für Orient-Archäologie, 11: 404-411.