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Aksumite eraCIH 308

GDRT and the Sabaean alliance

ca. 195–215 CEJabal Riyām, Yemen

A Sabaean royal dedication records an embassy from GDRT, king of Ḥabašat, and the conclusion of a military and diplomatic alliance between Sabaʾ and the Aksumite ruler.

Detail of the Ancient South Arabian CIH 308 inscription from the temple of Taʾlab Riyam, naming GDRT and the Sabaean–Aksumite alliance.
Istanbul copy, Gl 828+829. Gryffindor, own photograph, March 2008; current Commons file brightened by MPF in 2009. Resized and converted to WebP.CC BY-SA 4.0.Enlarge image ↗

Middle Sabaic

Excerpt · lines 10–13

[𐩣]𐩥𐩪𐩷 𐩠𐩺𐩩 𐩣𐩫𐩬𐩩𐩬 𐩫𐩧𐩧𐩣 𐩥-𐩢𐩣𐩵𐩣 𐩨-𐩹𐩩 𐩬𐩨𐩡 𐩥-𐩨𐩡𐩩𐩬 𐩨-𐩲𐩨𐩧-𐩠[𐩥] 𐩴𐩵𐩧𐩩 𐩣𐩡𐩫 𐩢𐩨𐩦𐩩𐩬 𐩡-𐩩𐩱𐩭𐩥𐩬 𐩨-𐩲𐩣-𐩠𐩥 𐩥-𐩪𐩩𐩫𐩣𐩡 𐩠𐩱 𐩱𐩭𐩥𐩬𐩬 𐩨[𐩺𐩬]- 𐩠𐩣𐩥 𐩥-𐩨𐩺𐩬 𐩴𐩵𐩧𐩩 𐩥-𐩣𐩮𐩧 𐩱𐩢𐩨𐩦𐩬 𐩥-𐩩𐩴𐩸𐩣𐩥 𐩫-𐩥𐩢𐩵 𐩳𐩧-𐩠𐩣𐩥 𐩥-𐩪𐩡𐩣-𐩠𐩣𐩥 𐩨-𐩲𐩡 𐩫𐩡 𐩹-𐩺𐩩𐩦𐩱𐩬 𐩨-𐩲𐩨𐩧-𐩠𐩣𐩥

Normalized script from DASI’s critical reading of the surviving copies.

Transliteration

[m]ws¹ṭ hyt mkntn krrm w-ḥmdm b-ḏt nbl w-bltn b-ʿbr-h[w] Gdrt mlk Ḥbs²tn l-tʾḫwn b-ʿm-hw w-s¹tkml hʾ ʾḫwnn b[yn]- hmw w-byn Gdrt w-mṣr ʾḥbs²n w-tgzmw k-wḥd ḍr-hmw w-s¹lm-hmw b-ʿl kl ḏ-yts²ʾn b-ʿbr-hmw

English translation

In gratitude because, when a mission had been sent to him by Gdrt, king of the Habashites, seeking an alliance with him, this alliance was duly concluded between the Sabaeans and Gdrt and the army of the Habashites; whereby they swore to keep a united front, for war or peace, in relation to anyone committing aggression against them.

DASI CSAI translation, following A. F. L. Beeston, 1976, p. 23; excerpt from lines 10–13

Sources & references

  1. CIH 308

    CIH 308 — CSAI Team; CC BY 4.0

  2. Further reference

    George Hatke, ‘Aksum [and South Arabia]’, Thematic Dictionary of Ancient Arabia, online ed. 2023

  3. Further reference

    Christian Robin, ‘Arabia and Ethiopia’, in Arabia and Islam (2014), pp. 184–185 of the volume (PDF pp. 93–94)

Habesha History corpus

Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, vol. I, Abyssinia, p. 62a

Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, vol. III, Inscriptions, p. 155a