CSAI
Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions


By kind permission of Museo Nazionale d'Arte Orientale, Rome

INSCRIPTION INFORMATION

LanguageAncient South Arabian » Sabaic » Central Middle Sabaic
ScriptAncient South Arabian
Script typologyMonumental writing
Text directionRight-to-left
Text appearanceRecessed
Execution techniqueIncision
Chronology
PeriodD. Conjectural
Textual typologyDedicatory text - fragmentary (conjectural)

TEXT

marker


   1  [... ... ]Yhṯb bn ʿ(ly)n w-Ḏḫrm((Ḏḫrm))( )[.]—
   2  [... ... ]Bḥḍm ʾdm b(n)y (S¹)ḫymm
   3  [... ... hqny s²ym-h]mw Tʾlb Rymm bʿl Kb—
   4  [dm
... ... ]l-ḏt hws²ʿ Tʾlb Rym(m)
   5  [... ... ʾ]lkrb l-rʾy l-hw ʾmr
   6  [... ...]-hmw w-hgbʾn-hmw ʿdy b—
   7  [... ...](h)gbʾn l-ʾdm-hw bn(y) B—
   8  [ḥḍm ... ...]

Apparatus
1Garbini interprets ʿlyn w-ḏ-Ḫrm(m) as lineage names.

TRANSLATIONS

English

   1  [... ...] Yhṯb descendant of ʿlyn and Ḏḫrm
   2  [... ...] Bḥḍm servants of the bānū S¹ḫymm
   3  [... ...] dedicated to their Patron Tʾlb Rymm Lord of Kbdm
   4  [... ...] so that Tʾlb Rymm may grant
   5  [... ...] ʾlkrb to give him the oracular vision (?)
   6  [... ...] them and make them return (?) to
   7  [... ...] make return (?) to his servants the bānū
   8  Bḥḍm [... ...]
6,7The sense of the lines is very uncertain, due to the several meanings of the verb hgbʾ: make return, transfer, render justice, restore.

OBJECT INFORMATION

DepositRoma, Museo Nazionale d’Arte Orientale “Giuseppe Tucci”, MNAO 10326/11520
Support typeArtefact » Base » Of statue with dedicatory inscription
MaterialStone
Dimensionsh. 29.8, w. 20.7, th. 12.5
Link to object record

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin. Conjectural
Modern siteShibām al-Ghirās / Shibām Sukhaym
Ancient siteS²bmm
Geographical areaBanī Ḥushaysh
CountryYemen
Archaeological contextReligious context: Temple of Tʾlb Rymm bʿl Kbdm
Link to site record

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Garbini 1971 c: 25-30, fig. 1Garbini, Giovanni 1971. Iscrizione sabea nel Museo Nazionale d'Arte Orientale in Roma. Arte Orientale in Italia, 1: 25-30.
Mazzini 2012: 237, cat. 52Mazzini, Giovanni 2012. Catalogo. Iscrizioni. Pages 232-237 in Sabina Antonini, Paola D'Amore and Michael Jung (eds). Il trono della regina di Saba. Cultura e diplomazia fra Italia e Yemen. La Collezione Sudarabica del Museo Nazionale d'Arte Orientale. Rome: Artemide.