Hudhud
Hudhud Logo
𐩠𐩵𐩠𐩵
ID: 5940

Text:

Translations:

1Wfym ʾḏrḥ, son of [… …] dedicated to ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, the statue and the bull in bronze when his lord S²ʿrm ʾwtr, king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, appointed him to protect and perform garrison duty on the borders of the tribe Ḥs²dm in the war that the Abyssinians and their supporters from S¹whrn and Ḫwln waged,
2and he protected all the borders of the town and of the population of the tribe Ḥs²dm and those that were with them among the descendants of the bedouins in all the years in which he received commendation for the service and the garrison duty he performed on the borders of the Ḥs²dm, until the Abyssinians made peace, except for the time that the Abyssinians advanced and made an assault with two thousand and five hundred men and some bedouins too made an assault in the valley ḏ-Wʿrm in the west of Ḥs²dm;
3Wfym ʾḏrḥ mounted an offensive against them - and with him there were one hundred and seventy men among the bedouins - and he pursued them on the second night in pursuit (?) of the protection force (?) and they did an assault in the middle of their camp during the night and they killed and took them from their camp and they seized among them five hundred prisoners and abundant equipment and garments that they appropriated,
4and when his lord S²ʿrm ʾwtr king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān and his brother Ḥywʿṯtr Yḍʿ, sons of ʿlhn Nhfn king of Sabaʾ, appointed him to go on an expedition and lead a vanguard detachment from the army of six hundred men to wage war on the troops of a detachment and of a … (?) (sent) from those of Ḫwln,
5and they waged war on their troops on the pass of Mḥrbn (?) in the camp of ḏ-S¹hrtn, and ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, granted to His servant Wfym ʾḏrḥ and to the men who are with him the return in soundness and with spoils and loot and booty in abundance,
6and their killings were two hundred and ten wounded warriors, and one hundred and thirty prisoners, and four hundred children and women that they killed, and three hundred camels, and one thousand and three hundred bovines, and two hundred and seventy asses, and ten thousand small cattle.
7May ʾlmqh Ṯhwn continue to grant him the goodwill and the satisfaction of their lords S²ʿrm ʾwtr, king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, and his brother Ḥywʿṯtr Yḍʿ, sons of ʿlhn Nhfn, king of Sabaʾ, 
8and may ʾlmqh Lord of ʾwm continue to grant his servant Wfym spoils and booty in whatever occasion they will perform service for their lords S²ʿrm ʾwtr, king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, and his brother Ḥywʿṯtr Yḍʿ, and (whatever) occasion he will dispatch them to lead protection near and far;
9may ʾlmqh grant them soundness of faculties and material resources and may ʾlmqh Lord of ʾwm deliver them from the malice and the maleficence of any enemy, far and near, by ʾlmqh Lord of ʾwm and by their lords S²ʿrm ʾwtr king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān and his brother Ḥywʿṯtr Yḍʿ sons of ʿlhn Nhfn king of Sabaʾ.

Translation Notes:

2nḥql-mw: "in particular" (Beeston 1976 b: 24); "except for" (Beeston et al. 1982: 69 and Stein 2010: 391-392).
3b-mʿqrn ḏ-s²rḥtn: "en une poursuite pleine de succès (?)" (Ryckmans 1974: 246), "at the mʿqr of al-Sharḥah" (Beeston 1976 b: 24). mʿqr "land watered by rain", s²rḥt "support column, protective force" (Beeston et al. 1982: 18, 134).
4l-ḥrb ʾzd gys²m w-ḥrbm bn ʿlyn ʾḫwln: “to fight against the Azdites (who were under the command) of Gayyāsh and Ḥarb bin al-ʿAlī the Khawlanites” (Beeston 1976 b: 24). Ryckmans 1974 too had interpreted the sequence of words as names, except for ʾzd “effectifs supplémentaires” or “approvisionnements”. In the SD ʾzd is “troops, contingent”, gys² “unit, detachment” (Beeston et al. 1982: 10, 52). ḫms¹n s¹ṯ mʾtm: “650 hommes” (Ryckmans 1974: 246)

Chronological

Period: D

Physical

Support: Object → Artefact → Base → Of statue with dedicatory inscription
Materials: Stone

Linguistic

Language: Ancient South Arabian → Sabaic → Central Middle Sabaic
Alphabet: Ancient South Arabian
Script Typology: Monumental writing
Textual Typology: Dedicatory text
Writing Techniques: Incision
Concordances: Sh 20

Spatial

Site: Maḥram Bilqīs, Maʾrib, Yemen
Ancient Name: ʾwm
Type of Site: Religious area with a necropolis
Deposit:
settlement: Ṣanʿāʾ
institution: al-Kuhālī collection
private Collection: true

Similar Epigraphs

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