Hudhud
Hudhud Logo
𐩠𐩵𐩠𐩵
ID: 6028

Text:

Translations:

1Qṭbn ʾwkn, of the family Grt, qyl of the tribe S¹mhrm Yhwld, dedicated
2to ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, two statues in bronze, in praise
3because He granted favours to His servant Qṭbn ʾwkn, of the family  Grt, and to their tribe
4S¹mhrm Yhwld in killing, destroying, crushing, humbling and
5routing, in numerous attacks in which they had assaulted and fought to death the kings and the
6tribes who had waged war against their lord S²ʿrm ʾwtr, king of Sabaʾ 
7and ḏu-Raydān, from the coast and from the land, when they performed service for their lord
8S²ʿrm ʾwtr, king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān. And they appropriated and seized and killed and 
9captured and plundered and looted: dead and captives and spoils in a considerable number in 
10numerous campaigns in which they performed service for their lord S²ʿrm ʾwtr, king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān.
11And because He granted favour to His servant Qṭbn ʾwkn, of the family Grt, when
12their lord S²ʿrm ʾwtr, king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, sent him into the land of
13Abyssinia to Gdrt, king of Abyssinia and of the Aksumites; and they came
14back from there in safety, he and all those performing service, and they brought back to their lord
15S²ʿrm ʾwtr, king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān from the whole of their embassy from the negus
16a proper answer that satisfied their lord in respect to everything they had been charged with (in that mission). And because
17ʾlmq Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, granted favours to His servant Qṭbn ʾwkn, of the family 
18Grt and to their tribe S¹mhrm Yhwld, when they conducted a military expedition, Qṭbn 
19ʾwkn of the family Grt and their tribe S¹mhrm Yhwld, from the city of Nʿḍ
20to the city of Ẓfr as their patron ʿṯtr-ʿzzn had ordered in the oracle, when
21Bygt, son of the negus, and the Abyssinian army moved and marched to the
22city of Ẓfr and encamped near the town of Ẓfr; then Qṭbn ʾwkn,
23of the family Grt, and their tribe S¹mhrm Yhwld moved to the city of Ẓfr, 
24from the agreed place, with the favour of the night; and then the Abyssisians withdrew from there, towards (or, from) the "citadel
25of the god", in the middle of the city. And Qṭbn ʾwkn, of the family Grt, and their tribe 
26S¹mhrm Yhwld moved so as to meet with Lʿzzm Yhnf Yhṣdq, king of
27Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, and the ʾqwl and the tribes of ḏu-Raydān killed, massacred and
28routed the Abyssinians from the center of the city. And on the third day
29some of the tribe of Ḏmr and the vanguard of the troops and some tribes of ḏu-Raydān made a sally and assaulted
30during the night the encampment of the Abyssinians and they killed among the Abyssinians four hundred
31soldiers in combat. And on the third day Qṭbn ʾwkn,
32of the family Grt, and their tribe S¹mhrm Yhwld made a sally and engaged at close quarters with
33Abyssinians and with them (there were) some of the cavalry of Mʿfrm and they killed some of the Abyssinians
34at close quarters. And the Abyssinians withdrew from them into their encampment and after another 
35day the Abyssinians moved from the territory of Ẓfr, hungry, and came back to
36Mʿhrtn. And may ʾlmqhw Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, continue to grant them the goodwill
37and the satisfaction of their lord Lḥyʿṯt Yrḫm, king of Sabaʾ and 
38ḏu-Raydān, and soundness of faculties and material resources; may He crush, humiliate and defeat
39their enemy and their adversary; and may ʾlmqhw Ṯhwn, Lord of
40ʾwm, grant them abundance of summer crops and harvests in their lands and their valleys and
41their fields in summer and winter and may He deliver them from the malice and the maleficence
42of any enemy. By ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm.

Translation Notes:

16For mṯbt ṣdqm, see Beeston 1976 a: 413-414.
18s¹bʾw w-hʿnn: Korotayev 1994 a: 49, and fn. 8 suggests a positive meaning for this phrase "undertook (their) relief campaign, instead of Beeston's "they had mounted an aggressive campaign" (Beeston 1976 b: 26).
23-24If the correction of the reading, suggested by Nebes 2005: 343, fn. 80, was right, ftr "period of time". Contrarily to the previous translations, Stein proposes a meaning "from" for the two occurrences of ʿbr-n (Stein 2003 a: 233, example 552), maintaining the ablative value of the -n postponed to the preposition. However, it is more plausible that the Abyssians barricaded themselves in the centre of the town, from where they were subsequently routed (l. 28).

Chronological

Period: D

Physical

Support: Object → Artefact → Base → Of statue with dedicatory inscription
Materials: Stone
Measures: h. 133.8, w. 22.8, th. 29.7
Decorations:
Figurative Subjects:
Symbol Shape: Totschläger
Subject Level 1: Symbol
Symbol Reference: God
Symbol Reference Text: ʾlmqh
Letter Measure: 2.3

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 213, ZI 66

Spatial

Site: Maḥram Bilqīs, Maʾrib, Yemen
Ancient Name: ʾwm
Type of Site: Religious area with a necropolis

Similar Epigraphs

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