Aksumite eraJa 574

Ilsharaḥ Yaḥḍub’s coastal campaign

Two Sabaean kings dedicate silver statues after fighting Abyssinian forces and their allies in the western lowlands.

Date
3rd century CE
Place
Maḥram Bilqīs, Yemen
Language
Sabaic
Script
Ancient South Arabian

01 · Original text

Sabaic

Ancient South ArabianComplete surviving text

𐩱𐩡𐩦𐩧(𐩢) 𐩺𐩢𐩳𐩨 [𐩥-](𐩱𐩭𐩺)-(𐩠)[𐩥 𐩺𐩱𐩸𐩡 𐩨𐩺𐩬 𐩣𐩡𐩫𐩺 𐩪𐩨𐩱 𐩥-](𐩹)-(𐩧𐩺𐩵)𐩬 𐩨𐩬𐩺 𐩰𐩧𐩲𐩣 𐩺—
𐩬𐩠𐩨 𐩣𐩡𐩫 𐩪𐩨𐩱 𐩠𐩤𐩬𐩺𐩺 𐩱𐩡𐩣𐩤(𐩠)-𐩻𐩠𐩥𐩬-𐩨𐩲𐩡-𐩱𐩥𐩣 (𐩮𐩡𐩣)𐩺𐩬𐩬 𐩹-𐩮𐩧𐩰𐩬 𐩢𐩣𐩵𐩣 𐩨-
(𐩹)𐩩 𐩭𐩣𐩧 𐩥-𐩠𐩥𐩦𐩲𐩬 𐩲𐩨𐩵-𐩠𐩥 𐩱𐩡𐩦𐩧𐩢 𐩺𐩢𐩳𐩨 𐩣𐩡𐩫 𐩪𐩨𐩱 𐩥-𐩹-𐩧𐩺𐩵𐩬 𐩨-𐩬𐩤𐩣 𐩱𐩢𐩨𐩦𐩬 𐩥-𐩹-𐩪—
𐩠𐩧𐩩𐩣 𐩨-𐩢𐩧𐩨𐩩 𐩢𐩧𐩨𐩥 𐩨-𐩤𐩧-𐩠𐩣𐩥 𐩨-𐩪𐩧𐩬 𐩹-𐩪𐩠𐩣 𐩥-𐩨𐩲𐩵-𐩠𐩥 𐩰-𐩺𐩳𐩨𐩱 𐩱𐩡𐩦𐩧𐩢 𐩺𐩢𐩳𐩨 𐩣—
𐩡𐩫 𐩪𐩨𐩱 𐩥-𐩹-𐩧𐩺𐩵𐩬 𐩥-𐩨-𐩲𐩣-𐩠𐩥 𐩹-𐩨𐩬 𐩭𐩣𐩪-𐩠𐩥 𐩥-𐩱𐩤𐩥𐩡-𐩠𐩥 𐩨-𐩲𐩡𐩺 𐩱𐩢𐩸𐩨 𐩢𐩨𐩦𐩩 𐩥-𐩱𐩲𐩮𐩵-𐩠𐩣—
𐩥 𐩲𐩵𐩺 𐩱𐩴𐩬𐩥 𐩪𐩧𐩬 𐩯𐩧𐩵𐩵 𐩥-𐩺𐩢𐩧𐩨𐩥 𐩠𐩣𐩩 𐩱𐩢𐩨𐩦𐩬 𐩥-𐩹-𐩪𐩠𐩧𐩩𐩣 𐩨-𐩫𐩵𐩬𐩬 𐩹-𐩥𐩵𐩰𐩩𐩬 𐩥-𐩥𐩵𐩺𐩰𐩬
𐩥-𐩰𐩧𐩦𐩩 𐩡𐩤𐩢 𐩥-𐩢𐩧𐩨𐩥 𐩨-𐩠𐩣𐩺𐩩 𐩱𐩫𐩵𐩬𐩬 𐩭𐩣𐩪𐩩 𐩥-𐩲𐩦𐩧𐩺 𐩱𐩵𐩥𐩧𐩣 𐩨𐩬 𐩱𐩵𐩥𐩧 𐩱𐩫𐩪𐩣𐩬 𐩥-𐩴𐩣𐩵𐩬 𐩥-𐩲—
𐩫𐩣 𐩥-𐩹-𐩨𐩬 𐩱𐩵𐩥𐩧 𐩹-𐩪𐩠𐩧𐩩𐩣 𐩥-𐩢𐩣𐩵𐩣 𐩨-𐩹𐩩 𐩩𐩱𐩥𐩡𐩥 𐩠𐩣𐩥 𐩥-𐩱𐩤𐩥𐩡-𐩠𐩣𐩥 𐩥-𐩭𐩣𐩪-𐩠𐩣𐩥 𐩥-𐩱—
𐩰𐩧𐩪-𐩠𐩣𐩥 𐩨-𐩥𐩰𐩺𐩣 𐩥-𐩢𐩣𐩵𐩣 𐩥-𐩱𐩢𐩡𐩡𐩣 𐩥-𐩪𐩨𐩺𐩣 𐩥-𐩣𐩡𐩩𐩣 𐩥-𐩶𐩬𐩣𐩣 𐩹-𐩲𐩪𐩣 𐩹-𐩠𐩧𐩳𐩥-𐩠—
𐩣𐩥 𐩥-𐩨𐩲𐩵 𐩹-𐩩𐩱𐩥𐩡𐩥 𐩲𐩵𐩺 𐩠𐩴𐩧𐩬 𐩮𐩬𐩲𐩥 𐩰-𐩠𐩵𐩧𐩫-𐩠𐩣𐩥 𐩩𐩬𐩨𐩡𐩩𐩣 𐩲𐩣𐩬 𐩴𐩣𐩵𐩬 𐩩𐩳—
𐩧𐩲𐩣 𐩥-𐩲𐩧𐩨𐩩𐩣 𐩥-𐩥𐩠𐩨𐩥 𐩱𐩥𐩡𐩵-𐩠𐩣𐩥 𐩱𐩥𐩻𐩤𐩣 𐩥-𐩫𐩥𐩬𐩥 𐩡-𐩣𐩡𐩫 𐩪𐩨𐩱 𐩥-𐩠𐩴𐩧𐩬 𐩡𐩤—
𐩢 𐩰-𐩥𐩠𐩨𐩥 𐩱𐩥𐩻𐩤𐩣 𐩥-𐩣𐩤𐩨𐩡-𐩠𐩣𐩥 𐩥-𐩡-𐩥𐩸𐩱 𐩱𐩡𐩣𐩤𐩠-𐩻𐩠𐩥𐩬-𐩨𐩲𐩡-𐩱𐩥𐩣 𐩠𐩥𐩦𐩲𐩬-𐩠𐩣𐩥 𐩨-𐩥𐩳—
𐩲 𐩥-𐩻𐩨𐩧 𐩥-𐩠𐩣𐩪 𐩥-𐩠𐩫𐩣𐩪 𐩫𐩡 𐩳𐩧-𐩠𐩣𐩥 𐩥-𐩦𐩬𐩱-𐩠𐩣𐩥 𐩨-𐩱𐩡𐩣𐩤𐩠-𐩻𐩠𐩥𐩬-𐩨𐩲𐩡-𐩱𐩥𐩣

Normalized Unicode reading from the cited edition; editorial brackets and uncertain readings are retained.

Scholarly transliteration

ʾls²r(ḥ) Yḥḍb [w-](ʾḫy)-(h)[w Yʾzl Byn mlky S¹bʾ w-](ḏ)-(Ryd)n bny Frʿm Y— nhb mlk S¹bʾ hqnyy ʾlmq(h)-Ṯhwn-bʿl-ʾwm (ṣlm)ynn ḏ-ṣrfn ḥmdm b- (ḏ)t ḫmr w-hws²ʿn ʿbd-hw ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb mlk S¹bʾ w-ḏ-Rydn b-nqm ʾḥbs²n w-ḏ-S¹— hrtm b-ḥrbt ḥrbw b-qr-hmw b-s¹rn ḏ-S¹hm w-bʿd-hw f-yḍbʾ ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb m— lk S¹bʾ w-ḏ-Rydn w-b-ʿm-hw ḏ-bn ḫms¹-hw w-ʾqwl-hw b-ʿly ʾḥzb Ḥbs²t w-ʾʿṣd-hm— w ʿdy ʾgnw s¹rn S³rdd w-yḥrbw hmt ʾḥbs²n w-ḏ-S¹hrtm b-kdnn ḏ-Wdftn w-Wdyfn w-frs²t Lqḥ w-ḥrbw b-hmyt ʾkdnn ḫms¹t w-ʿs²ry ʾdwrm bn ʾdwr ʾks¹mn w-Gmdn w-ʿ— km w-ḏ-bn ʾdwr ḏ-S¹hrtm w-ḥmdm b-ḏt tʾwlw hmw w-ʾqwl-hmw w-ḫms¹-hmw w-ʾ— frs¹-hmw b-wfym w-ḥmdm w-ʾḥllm w-s¹bym w-mltm w-ġnmm ḏ-ʿs¹m ḏ-hrḍw-h— mw w-bʿd ḏ-tʾwlw ʿdy hgrn Ṣnʿw f-hdrk-hmw tnbltm ʿmn Gmdn tḍ— rʿm w-ʿrbtm w-whbw ʾwld-hmw ʾwṯqm w-kwnw l-mlk S¹bʾ w-hgrn Lq— ḥ f-whbw ʾwṯqm w-mqbl-hmw w-l-wzʾ ʾlmqh-Ṯhwn-bʿl-ʾwm hws²ʿn-hmw b-wḍ— ʿ w-ṯbr w-hms¹ w-hkms¹ kl ḍr-hmw w-s²nʾ-hmw b-ʾlmqh-Ṯhwn-bʿl-ʾwm

02 · Translation

English reading

1–9

ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb and his brother Yzʾl Byn, kings of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, sons of Frʿm Ynhb, king of Sabaʾ, dedicated to ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, the two statues in silver, in praise because He granted and vouchsafed to His servant ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb, king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, to take reprisals on the Abyssinians and the people of S¹hrtm, for the hostile actions they had committed in their villages in the valley of S¹hm. Thereupon ʾls²rḥ Yḥḍb, king of Sabaʾ and ḏu-Raydān, declared war, and together with him part of his army and his ʾqwl, against the troops of the Abyssinians and their concentrations in the cultivated parts of the valley S³rdd, and then they came into conflict with those Abyssinians and the people of S¹hrtm at the two humps of Wdftn and Wdyfn, and the cultivated countryside of Lqḥ, and they came into conflict at those two humps with 25 patrols (comprising) Aksumites and Gmdn and ʿkm together with some patrols of the people of S¹hrtm; and in praise because they returned those and their ʾqwl and their army and their cavalry in safety, and with glory, with prisoners and captives and loot and booty in great quantity, which satisfied them.

10–13

And after they returned in the city of Ṣanʿāʾ, a delegation from Gmdn approached them in humiliation and with guarantees, and they offered their children as hostages, and (these) were (assigned) to the king of Sabaʾ; and as for the city of Lqḥ, they offered hostages and the equivalent of them (what Gmdn had offered); and may ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm, continue to grant them favours in the humiliation and crushing and overwhelming and humiliation of all their war enemies and personal enemies. By ʾlmqh Ṯhwn, Lord of ʾwm.

DASI / CSAI, CSAI; line breaks joined and evident spelling errors corrected. Record data: CC BY 4.0.

Sources

Editions & references

Follow the record back to the edition, catalogue, or image source used here.

  1. Ja 574 MaMB 153; ZI 59

    Ja 574 MaMB 153; ZI 59. DASI / Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions; full text, translation, object record, and bibliography.

  2. Aksum and South Arabia

    George Hatke, “Aksum [and South Arabia]”, Ancient Arabia: archaeology & history of pre-islamic Arabia. Source inventory and historical context.

Habesha History corpus

Mounir Arbach (ed.), Jérémie Schiettecatte (ed.), Pre-Islamic South Arabia and its Neighbours: New Developments of Research (2015), p. 81

A. Jamme, Sabaean Inscriptions from Mahram Bilqis (Marib) (1962), p. 38