Aksumite eraRobin-Umm Laylā 1

Defences against the Abyssinians

A tribal agreement to strengthen defences and restore cisterns after Abyssinian forces reached the country.

Date
c. 160–190 CE
Place
Umm Laylā, Yemen
Language
Sabaic
Script
Ancient South Arabian

01 · Original text

Sabaic

Ancient South ArabianComplete surviving text

𐩱𐩩𐩣 𐩥-𐩴𐩣 𐩦𐩲𐩨𐩬 𐩭𐩥𐩡𐩬 𐩴—
𐩵𐩵𐩬 𐩱𐩢𐩬𐩨𐩬-𐩥-𐩱𐩲𐩨𐩪𐩬 𐩥-𐩺𐩦𐩨𐩣—
𐩩𐩬 𐩥-𐩫𐩡 𐩥𐩡𐩺𐩩-𐩠𐩣𐩥 𐩥-𐩦𐩲𐩨𐩬
𐩱𐩨𐩤𐩧𐩬 𐩥-𐩦𐩨𐩧𐩤𐩩𐩬 𐩪𐩩𐩥𐩵𐩵𐩥
𐩥-𐩪𐩩𐩹𐩡𐩡𐩬 𐩡-𐩩𐩮𐩬𐩲𐩬 𐩨𐩬-𐩢𐩨𐩦𐩬 𐩡-
𐩣𐩼𐩱𐩥 𐩱𐩧𐩳-𐩠𐩣𐩥 𐩨-𐩣𐩤𐩣 𐩱𐩡-𐩠—
𐩣𐩥 𐩲𐩻𐩩𐩧 𐩹-𐩧𐩢𐩨𐩣 𐩥-𐩲𐩻𐩩𐩧 𐩹-𐩢—
𐩳𐩧𐩬 𐩥-𐩲𐩻𐩩𐩧 𐩹-𐩫𐩨𐩵𐩬 𐩥-𐩡𐩢𐩺—
𐩲𐩻𐩩 𐩱𐩡𐩠-𐩭𐩮𐩰𐩬 𐩥-𐩨-𐩣𐩤𐩣 𐩱𐩣𐩧—
𐩱-𐩠𐩣𐩥 𐩱𐩣𐩡𐩫 𐩪𐩨𐩱 𐩥-𐩨𐩬𐩺 𐩪𐩭𐩺—
𐩣𐩣 𐩥-𐩤𐩠𐩩 𐩱𐩣𐩧𐩱-𐩠𐩣𐩥 𐩥𐩰𐩺𐩣 𐩥-
𐩪𐩩𐩤𐩢𐩥 𐩫𐩧𐩰𐩺𐩬 𐩺𐩶𐩡 𐩥-𐩠𐩧𐩬

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

Scholarly transliteration

ʾtm w-gm s²ʿbn Ḫwln G— ddn ʾḥnbn-w-ʾʿbs¹n w-Ys²bm— tn w-kl wlyt-hmw w-s²ʿbn ʾbqrn w-S²brqtn s¹twddw w-s¹tḏlln l-tṣnʿn bn-Ḥbs²n l- mẓʾw ʾrḍ-hmw b-mqm ʾl-h— mw ʿṯtr ḏ-Rḥbm w-ʿṯtr ḏ-Ḥ— ḍrn w-ʿṯtr ḏ-Kbdn w-Lḥy— ʿṯt ʾlh-Ḫṣfn w-b-mqm ʾmr— ʾ-hmw ʾmlk S¹bʾ w-bny S¹ḫy— mm w-qht ʾmrʾ-hmw wfym w- s¹tqḥw krfyn Yġl w-Hrn

02 · Translation

English reading

1–6

The full assembly of the tribe Ḫwln Gddn—the ʾḥnb, the ʾʿbs and Ys²bmtn—with all their allies, and the tribe ʾbqrn and S²brqtn, obediently agreed to strengthen the defences against the Abyssinians who had reached their country.

6–11

By the authority of their god ʿṯtr ḏ-Rḥbm, of ʿṯtr ḏ-Ḥḍrn, of ʿṯtr ḏ-Kbdn and of Lḥyʿṯt, god of Ḫṣfn; by the authority of their lords, the kings of Sabaʾ and the banū Sḫymm; and by the excellent command of their lords.

11–12

They also restored the cisterns Yġl and Hrn.

English rendering of Christian J. Robin’s French translation (1982), as edited in DASI, Robin-Umm Laylā 1; CC BY 4.0 record data.

Sources

Editions & references

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

  1. Robin-Umm Laylā 1 Ja 2877

    Robin-Umm Laylā 1 Ja 2877. 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

Stefan Simanić, South Arabia in Transition from the Ancient to the Islamic Era (2017), p. 59