DASI ID: ID: 5988
Text:
Translations:
1S¹ʿdṯwn, tly of the cavalry of the king, dedicated 2to ʾlmqh, Lord of ʾwm, the statue in bronze 3in praise because He saved him of the people of (or, in the vicinity of) Ḏmr, him and his son 4Ddʾl, and may ʾlmqh continue to save them 5in all the expeditions they will go on and in which they will accompany their lord 6ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb and his brother Yʾzl Byn, kings of 7Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān. S²wf, of the family Lnhʾ, dedicated 8to ʾlmqh, Lord of ʾwm, the statue in bronze in praise 9of what the Lord of Ḥrnm made her know in favour (or, through the medium) of her brother, 10and indeed she made a dedication to Him, as He had ordered her in accordance with the promise she had made 11to Him, and as for Him, may He grant her …, she and her brother. 12By ʾlmqh.
Translation Notes:
1Jammes considers tly as "maṣdar of the 8th form of wly [...] cf. Arabic wly 'to hold command (authority) or have charge as a commander, administrator, or manager', and the 5th form 'to undertake'" and translates it in association with ʾfrs as 'equerry'. Instead, Höfner suggests to interpret tly as a noun from the root TLY/TLW "to follow", as someone who takes care of animals (Höfner 1964: 425).
3ḏ-lf: Jamme suggests to compare Ar. liff “crowd, multitude” and translates “of the people of Ḏmr”. The alternative translation is based on Beeston’s correction b-ḫlf.
7s²wf ḏt lnhʾ hqnyt : “he applied himself to it until it was offered” (Jamme), but Ryckmans noted that here a new feminine dedicant (the sister of the previous dedicant) is introduced: “S²wf (femme) de la tribu de Lnhʾ (?) a offert”. Beeston accepts this interpretation and sees in Lnhʾ an abbreviated form of a theophoric name ʾlnhʾ.
10-11b-ḏ bṯṯt-hw: the translation proposed follows Beeston’s.
h(nw)l-hw: “to lead him with care” (Jamme, suggesting a comparison with Heb. nhl).
Chronological
Period: D
Physical
Support: Object → Artefact → Base → Of statue with dedicatory inscription
Materials: Stone
Measures: h. 21.5, w. 25, th. 10 ca.
Decorations:
Figurative Subjects:
Symbol Shape: Totschläger
Subject Level 1: Symbol
Symbol Reference: God
Symbol Reference Text: ʾlmqh
Letter Measure: 1.3-1.8
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: MaMB 246
Spatial
Site: Maḥram Bilqīs, Maʾrib, Yemen
Ancient Name: ʾwm
Type of Site: Religious area with a necropolis
Similar Epigraphs
No similar epigraphs found.