Hudhud
Hudhud Logo
𐩠𐩵𐩠𐩵
ID: 6048
Jamme 1962 a: pl. 16 Image free from copyright

Jamme 1962 a: pl. 16 Image free from copyright

Text:

Translations:

1ʿ(bd)ʿ[m ... ... of the family Mḏrḥm ... ...] 
2and Ṯfyn and M[... ...]—
3d, lord of the house S²b[... ...]—
4m, ʾqwl of the two tribes of Mhʾnfm and Ẓhr, 
5mqtwy of S²mr Yhrʿs², king of Sabaʾ and ḏū-
6Raydān, son of Ys¹rm Yhnʿm, king of Sabaʾ and 
7ḏū-Raydān, dedicated to his lord ʾlmqh 
8Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, the statue in bronze,
9in praise because he helped and saved the life of 
10His servant ʿbdʿm, of the family Mḏrḥm, and the lives of 
11his tribe and of its adherents and of some soldiers he had brought
12with him from the fall and the collapse of
13the two houses, the house of (the tribe of) Hmdn, and of Btʿ, when
14they sojourned in those two houses, when
15his lord S²mr Yhrʿs², king of Sabaʾ and ḏū-Raydān, ordered him 
16to watch over and perform service in
17the town of Mrb to perform the feast of ʾbhy and the rain 
18fell on the ninth day, as usual, and
19at the beginning of the month and on the second day rain (fell)
20as a deluge and those two houses 
21of (the tribe of) Hmdn and of Btʿ fell for that rain; 
22ʿbdʿm, of the family Mḏrḥm, praised the might and
23the power of ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, 
24because He saved and delivered His servant ʿbdʿm, 
25of the family Mḏrḥm and all his men, and 
26they lost nothing of their equipment, (even) so much as 
27a camel saddle, and they continued to be present (stay there) since the moment when they raze
28the ruins of the two houses until
29their lord, the king, ordered them to conduct an expedition at the head 
30of the army of Sabaʾ to protect the construction 
31of the walls and the towers of the town of Mrb and
32to set up for it the dam facing
33the upstream wādī, that should protect it from the flood.
34ʿbdʿm, of the family Mḏrḥm rendered
35expressions of gratitude to the might and the power of their lord 
36ʾlmqh, Lord of ʾwm, because they achieved 
37success in everything their lord
38S²mr Yhrʿs², king of Sabaʾ and ḏū-Raydān, ordered them,
39and may ʾlmqh grant them the health and
40the safety of the person of their lord S²mr Yhrʿs², king 
41of Sabaʾ and ḏū-Raydān, and may ʾlmqh 
42continue to help and protect His servant
43ʿbdʿm, of the family Mḏrḥm from all that is evil; 
44and may ʾlmqh grant him the goodwill and the satisfaction 
45of their lord S²mr Yhrʿs², king of Sabaʾ 
46and ḏū-Raydān and may ʾlmqh grant him
47soundness of faculties and material resources and
48abundance of summer crops and harvest season in all
49their lands,and may ʾlmqh help and protect and 
50deliver His servant ʿbdʿm, of the family 
51Mḏrḥm, from any evil and mischief and trouble 
52and the harm and the maleficence and the slander and the malice 
53and the conspiracy (?) and the enemy’s advantage and the subjection to any enemy, 
54the one far or near, the one they are aware of and
55the one they are not aware of. By ʾlmqh Ṯhwn,
56Lord of ʾwm.

Translation Notes:

11Beeston proposes that the sense "to find, to be found" instead of "send" suggested by Drewes 1979 for the ground stem of the verb ʾs¹y can be assumed here too for hʾs¹y. He translates "and (other) men whom he brought with him" (Beeston 1981 c: 55).
14ḫtnw b-hmy bytnhn: Ryckmans already noted the difficulty of linking Jamme’s translation of this phrase “when they allied the two houses by marriage” to the event of the rainfall. He translated “ils festoyaient (?) dans ces deux palais » (Ryckmans 1966: 489). Beeston 1972 e: 352 proposed to link the verb ḫtn to Akk. ḫatānu “shelter, protect”, instead that to Ar. ḫitān as suggested by Ryckmans (“the making of a feast”, from “circumcise”) and translated “sojourn, dwell”.
18ʿhdtn: "le 9ème jour de la réunion (?)" (Ryckmans 1966: 490). For Beeston 1978: 204, ʿhdtn could perhaps be taken as an adverbial accusative "normally", meaning that "the rain began as a moderate fall but then developed into a deluge". “As usual” also for Stein 2003 a:118, 238.
25-27For the translation of "w-ʾl ḏ-fqdw bn ʾs²rʿ-hmw kbr rḥlm", see Beeston 1978: 206.
28-33See the translation of the lines in Stein 2003 a: 213. For ṭmḥnyn, see Beeston 1978: 199 and Stein 2003 a: 65, fn. 149.

Chronological

Period: D

Physical

Support: Object → Artefact → Base → Of statue with dedicatory inscription
Materials: Stone
Measures: h. 28.3, h. 124.5, th. 20.2
Decorations:
Figurative Subjects:
Symbol Shape: Totschläger
Subject Level 1: Symbol
Symbol Reference: God
Symbol Reference Text: ʾlmqh

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 108, ZI 60

Spatial

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

Similar Epigraphs

No similar epigraphs found.