Habesha History
Profile

418 inscriptions

Inscriptions

DʿMT and Aksumite texts in their attested scripts, with published translations and exact sources.

Deutsche Aksum-Expedition photograph of the 52-line RIÉ 189 Ethiopic inscription recording Ezana’s Noba campaign.
RIÉ 189ʿEzana’s Noba campaignAksum, Ethiopia

Catalogue

163 inscriptions in chronological order

Showing 97–120
RIÉ 93

No verified photograph or facsimile of this artifact has been retrieved.

RIÉ 93Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertainLaʿlay ʿAddi

Inscription from Laʿlay ʿAddi

Two surviving words. Only the kinship phrase and name remain legible.

bn WDD

Early highland inscriptionRead text
RIÉ 94

No verified photograph or facsimile of this artifact has been retrieved.

RIÉ 94Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertainLaʿlay ʿAddi

Inscription from Laʿlay ʿAddi

Preserved personal name. The same name occurs in RIÉ 97 and has South Arabian parallels.

ʾWSM

Early highland inscriptionRead text
RIÉ 95

No verified photograph or facsimile of this artifact has been retrieved.

RIÉ 95Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertainLaʿlay ʿAddi

Inscription from Laʿlay ʿAddi

Published translation. WDGLY is considered a local name of uncertain etymology; MʿDʾL is well attested in South Arabia.

WDGLY bn MʿDʾL

Early highland inscriptionRead text
RIÉ 96

No verified photograph or facsimile of this artifact has been retrieved.

RIÉ 96Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertainLaʿlay ʿAddi

Inscription from Laʿlay ʿAddi

Alternative readings of a personal name. Both readings are possible; the inscription does not decide between them.

SFLN / KFLN

Early highland inscriptionRead text
RIÉ 97

No verified photograph or facsimile of this artifact has been retrieved.

RIÉ 97Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertainLaʿlay ʿAddi

Inscription from Laʿlay ʿAddi

Preserved personal name. The same name occurs in RIÉ 94.

ʾWSM

Early highland inscriptionRead text
RIÉ 98

No verified photograph or facsimile of this artifact has been retrieved.

RIÉ 98Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertainLaʿlay ʿAddi

Inscription from Laʿlay ʿAddi

Preserved personal name. Its grammatical form and interpretation remain uncertain.

YMNY

Early highland inscriptionRead text
RIÉ 99

No verified photograph or facsimile of this artifact has been retrieved.

RIÉ 99Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertainLaʿlay ʿAddi

Inscription from Laʿlay ʿAddi

Surviving first line and proposed name gloss. The patronymic is lost after the kinship term.

YMNʾL bn […]

Early highland inscriptionRead text
RIÉ 100

No verified photograph or facsimile of this artifact has been retrieved.

RIÉ 100Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertainLaʿlay ʿAddi

Inscription from Laʿlay ʿAddi

Alternative readings of a personal name. Neither reading is otherwise attested as a South Arabian personal name.

STʾM / NTʾM

Early highland inscriptionRead text
RIÉ 101

No verified photograph or facsimile of this artifact has been retrieved.

RIÉ 101Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertainLaʿlay ʿAddi

Inscription from Laʿlay ʿAddi

Preserved personal name. The edition compares related names in RIÉ 9, 12, and 79.

RDYʾ

Early highland inscriptionRead text
RIÉ 102

No verified photograph or facsimile of this artifact has been retrieved.

RIÉ 102Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertainLaʿlay ʿAddi

Inscription from Laʿlay ʿAddi

Probable local personal name. Drewes rejects Jamme’s reading and the translation ‘ʾAbih has slept [here].’

NḤBʾ (?)

Early highland inscriptionRead text
RIÉ 106

No verified photograph or facsimile of this artifact has been retrieved.

RIÉ 106Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertainLaʿlay ʿAddi

Inscription from Laʿlay ʿAddi

Published translation. The verb is interpreted from the root wdd, ‘love’; the linguistic classification remains discussed in the commentary.

l-dd ʿstr

Early highland inscriptionRead text
RIÉ 107

No verified photograph or facsimile of this artifact has been retrieved.

RIÉ 107Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertainLaʿlay ʿAddi

Inscription from Laʿlay ʿAddi

Two probable personal names. Both etymologies remain uncertain.

ḤQN / YʿM

Early highland inscriptionRead text
RIÉ 108

No verified photograph or facsimile of this artifact has been retrieved.

RIÉ 108Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertainRuba Kodo

Inscription from Ruba Kodo

Published formula with abbreviated divine name. The preserved letters DḤ are understood as an abbreviation of the goddess DṮ ḤMN.

l-ṭḥw DḤ

Early highland inscriptionRead text
RIÉ 109

No verified photograph or facsimile of this artifact has been retrieved.

RIÉ 109Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertainRuba Kodo

Inscription from Ruba Kodo

Possible remains of a known formula. The graffito is incomplete and difficult to read; the formula depends on the tentative reading of its first two letters.

tḥ[…] (?)

Early highland inscriptionRead text
RIÉ 110

No verified photograph or facsimile of this artifact has been retrieved.

RIÉ 110Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertainRuba Kodo

Inscription from Ruba Kodo

Probable personal name and lexical gloss. The related Arabic root can also mean ‘be indulgent.’

ḤLM

Early highland inscriptionRead text
RIÉ 111

No verified photograph or facsimile of this artifact has been retrieved.

RIÉ 111Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertainRuba Kodo

Inscription from Ruba Kodo

Alternative readings of a personal name. Neither reading is otherwise attested in South Arabia; QṢRY has a different possible derivation.

YṢRY / QṢRY

Early highland inscriptionRead text
RIÉ 113

No verified photograph or facsimile of this artifact has been retrieved.

RIÉ 113Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertainRuba Kodo

Inscription from Ruba Kodo

Probable personal name and preferred gloss. The edition prefers derivation from the Ethiopian root ʾkl, ‘suffice,’ over a root meaning ‘eat’; a pronominal suffix would yield ‘it will suffice for him.’

YʾKL

Early highland inscriptionRead text
RIÉ 114

No verified photograph or facsimile of this artifact has been retrieved.

RIÉ 114Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertainRuba Kodo

Inscription from Ruba Kodo

Probable personal name. The final r is not certain and the exact meaning of the underlying verb remains unresolved.

YMḤR

Early highland inscriptionRead text
RIÉ 115

No verified photograph or facsimile of this artifact has been retrieved.

RIÉ 115Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertainRuba Kodo

Inscription from Ruba Kodo

Two names with one alternative reading. The first reading is insecure; DMLY is clear but its etymology is unknown.

SQY[M] / ʿQY[M] // DMLY

Early highland inscriptionRead text
RIÉ 116

No verified photograph or facsimile of this artifact has been retrieved.

RIÉ 116Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertainZeban Mororo

Inscription from Zeban Mororo

Preserved personal name. It may be local; its root and exact form are uncertain.

ʾNʿN

Early highland inscriptionRead text
RIÉ 117

No verified photograph or facsimile of this artifact has been retrieved.

RIÉ 117Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertainZeban Mororo

Inscription from Zeban Mororo

Preserved personal name and lexical relation. The final n may be South Arabian nunation; the name may nevertheless be local.

NQHN

Early highland inscriptionRead text
RIÉ 118

No verified photograph or facsimile of this artifact has been retrieved.

RIÉ 118Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertainZeban Mororo

Inscription from Zeban Mororo

Preserved personal name. The same name occurs in RIÉ 117.

NQHN

Early highland inscriptionRead text
RIÉ 119

No verified photograph or facsimile of this artifact has been retrieved.

RIÉ 119Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertainZeban Mororo

Inscription from Zeban Mororo

Published translation. Both names are probably local; their precise verbal derivations remain uncertain.

HNQH bn HʿSʿL

Early highland inscriptionRead text
RIÉ 121

No verified photograph or facsimile of this artifact has been retrieved.

RIÉ 121Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertainZeban Mororo

Inscription from Zeban Mororo

Published translation with uncertain principal name. The reading BQLNYʾ is not entirely certain; the father’s name is well attested.

BQLNYʾ bn HʿN

Early highland inscriptionRead text

Source register

Source register

RIÉ 1–443, with separately numbered text versions, supplements, and Arabian witnesses from the checked corpus and DASI. Dates and uncertain identifications follow the cited editions; missing texts, translations, and images are recorded below.

181–199 of 199 entries. Copies and language versions retain their own references.

DʿMT & early highlands19

  1. RIÉ 175

    Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertain · Saro · Early highland inscription; Old South Arabian alphabet

    Preserved personal name and preferred vocalization. The internal ʿ may represent a vowel; the causative interpretation is preferred but remains an etymological proposal.

    Original
    Full native-script edition not retrieved. A partial transliterated reading is available.
    English
    English rendering of the published translation or lexical commentary.
    Image
    No verified artifact image retrieved for this entry.

  2. RIÉ 176

    Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertain · Awalo · Early highland inscription; Old South Arabian alphabet

    Published translation. Both names may be local; the proposed South Arabian connection of DʿMN remains conditional.

    Original
    Full native-script edition not retrieved. A partial transliterated reading is available.
    English
    English rendering of the published translation or lexical commentary.
    Image
    No verified artifact image retrieved for this entry.

  3. RIÉ 177

    Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertain · provenance unknown · Early highland inscription; Old South Arabian alphabet

    Published translation. The object appears much later than the other monumental Sabaic inscriptions from Ethiopia and may have originated in South Arabia.

    Original
    Full native-script edition not retrieved. A partial transliterated reading is available.
    English
    English rendering of the published translation or lexical commentary.
    Image
    No verified artifact image retrieved for this entry.

  4. RIÉ 178

    Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertain · provenance unknown · Early highland inscription; Old South Arabian alphabet

    Uninterpretable fragment. The text is too fragmentary to interpret.

    Original
    Full native-script edition not retrieved.
    English
    The published commentary offers no secure translation.
    Image
    No verified artifact image retrieved for this entry.

  5. RIÉ 179

    Pre-Aksumite period; precise date uncertain · provenance unknown · Early highland inscription; Old South Arabian alphabet

    Reported word in an unpublished inscription. The inscription remained unpublished; Littmann’s information says it contained dedications to ʿAstar and the word ʿrkn, but no text or translation is available for verification.

    Original
    Full native-script edition not retrieved. A partial transliterated reading is available.
    English
    The published commentary offers no secure translation.
    Image
    No verified artifact image retrieved for this entry.

  6. Addi Akaweh 1

    Early 1st millennium–5th/4th c. BCE (DASI Period A) · ʿAddi ʾAkawǝḥ / Addi Amiq, Wuqro area, Ethiopia; farmer-found in 1995, preserved at Abba Garima church · Early Sabaic (Ethiopia/Eritrea)

    The surviving royal title explicitly names DʿMT.

    Original
    DASI transliteration and normalized Old South Arabian Unicode are available in the reader; surviving lineation retained.
    English
    DASI/CSAI English translation available in the reader.
    Image
    Exact record media available: 1 linked DASI image(s), all visually checked; the reader uses image record 7977.

  7. MG 1

    Early 1st millennium–5th/4th c. BCE (DASI Period A) · Mäqabər Ga‘əwa, Wuqro, Ethiopia · Early Sabaic (Ethiopia/Eritrea)

    Early highland dedication, private inscription, or fragment.

    Original
    DASI transliteration and normalized Old South Arabian Unicode are available in the reader; surviving lineation retained.
    English
    Fresh literal English rendering of the surviving text is available; DASI supplies no English translation.
    Image
    Exact record media available: 1 linked DASI image(s), all visually checked; the reader uses image record 7158.

  8. MG 2

    Early 1st millennium–5th/4th c. BCE (DASI Period A) · Mäqabər Ga‘əwa, Wuqro, Ethiopia · Early Sabaic (Ethiopia/Eritrea)

    Early highland dedication, private inscription, or fragment.

    Original
    DASI transliteration and normalized Old South Arabian Unicode are available in the reader; surviving lineation retained.
    English
    DASI/CSAI English translation available in the reader.
    Image
    Exact record media available: 2 linked DASI image(s), all visually checked; the reader uses image record 11311.

  9. MG 3

    Early 1st millennium–5th/4th c. BCE (DASI Period A) · Mäqabər Gaʿəwa, Wuqro area, Ethiopia; in situ in the temple of ʾlmqh, now Wuqro Museum · Early Sabaic (Ethiopia/Eritrea)

    Royal name; DʿMT is not named in the surviving text.

    Original
    DASI transliteration and normalized Old South Arabian Unicode are available in the reader; surviving lineation retained.
    English
    DASI/CSAI English translation available in the reader.
    Image
    Exact record media available: 1 linked DASI image(s), all visually checked; the reader uses image record 11313.

  10. MG 4

    Early 1st millennium–5th/4th c. BCE (DASI Period A) · Mäqabər Ga‘əwa, Wuqro, Ethiopia · Early Sabaic (Ethiopia/Eritrea)

    Early highland dedication, private inscription, or fragment.

    Original
    DASI transliteration and normalized Old South Arabian Unicode are available in the reader; surviving lineation retained.
    English
    DASI/CSAI English translation available in the reader.
    Image
    Exact record media available: 1 linked DASI image(s), all visually checked; the reader uses image record 11314.

  11. MG 5

    Early 1st millennium–5th/4th c. BCE (DASI Period A) · Mäqabər Ga‘əwa, Wuqro, Ethiopia · Early Sabaic (Ethiopia/Eritrea)

    Early highland dedication, private inscription, or fragment.

    Original
    DASI transliteration and normalized Old South Arabian Unicode are available in the reader; surviving lineation retained.
    English
    No continuous semantic translation is possible from the surviving fragment; the reader explains the limit.
    Image
    Exact record media available: 1 linked DASI image(s), all visually checked; the reader uses image record 7160.

  12. GE Ṣ́ǝrḥan 1

    First half of the 1st millennium BCE · Ṣ́ǝrḥan, Aḥfärom, Tǝgray, Ethiopia · Ethio-Sabaean

    Altar dedication by Taʿattarat naming kings ḏū Lakkān and Lāmān.

    Original
    Complete five-line edition and normalized Old South Arabian Unicode available.
    English
    Complete published English translation available.
    Image
    Exact published artifact photograph visually checked; surviving source image is low resolution.

  13. DAI Grat 2019-1 / Yeh 19 B 102

    Early 1st millennium BCE (no exact date verified from the unavailable primary chapter) · Grat Beʿal Gibri, Yeha, Tǝgray, Ethiopia · Old Sabaic

    Dedication; the primary edition has not been retrieved.

    Original
    Primary edition identified; text not retrieved, so no original or transliteration is published.
    English
    No translation retrieved; none inferred from the chapter title or later citation.
    Image
    No exact artifact figure retrieved; no substitute image supplied.

  14. Henze 1

    Early 1st millennium BCE (DʿMT-period context; no narrower date stated by Weninger) · Parakleitos monastery, near the old Adigrat–Däbrä Damo road, Tǝgray, Ethiopia · Ethio-Sabaean (Old Sabaic ductus)

    Fragmentary dedication.

    Original
    Complete surviving four-line fragment; most of the original text is lost
    English
    This translates only the surviving fragments. The restoration of hqny and l and the identification of yḥʾ with Yeha are editorial proposals, not secure text.
    Image
    1 exact artifact image(s), all visually checked against the cited primary edition.

  15. Afṣe 1

    Early 1st millennium BCE (DʿMT-period context; no narrower date stated by Weninger) · Abba Afṣe monastery exhibition room, Yeha, Tǝgray, Ethiopia · Ethio-Sabaean (Old Sabaic ductus)

    Fragmentary dedication.

    Original
    Complete surviving two-line fragment; both sides of the original text are lost
    English
    The name before hqny is lost; [n]tm is only the possible tail of a mimated personal name. The epithet after ḏ is also lost.
    Image
    1 exact artifact image(s), all visually checked against the cited primary edition.

  16. Afṣe 2

    Early 1st millennium BCE (archaic ductus; no narrower date stated by Weninger) · Abba Afṣe monastery exhibition room, Yeha, Tǝgray, Ethiopia · Ethio-Sabaean (Old Sabaic ductus)

    Short name inscription; interpretation uncertain.

    Original
    Complete published main reading plus the three additional visible signs named by the editor
    English
    Weninger does not print a separate translation. The status of Ṣdqn as a deity and ḏ- as an epithet marker is explicitly tentative; no meaning is assigned to ʾ, d, k.
    Image
    2 exact artifact image(s), all visually checked against the cited primary edition.

  17. HG Färäs May 1 / HG Färäs May 2010

    About the 7th century BCE or earlier (palaeographic) · Found at Guldam near Yeha; kept at Färäs May, Tǝgray, Ethiopia when published · Ancient Sabaic

    Ownership inscription on a bronze vessel.

    Original
    Complete one-line ownership/name inscription; separate monogram retained as ◊
    English
    Complete published English translation. Nebes interprets the text as an ownership mark; a votive use cannot be wholly excluded, but no dedicatory verb occurs.
    Image
    3 exact artifact image(s), all visually checked against the cited primary edition.

  18. ʿAddi Baʿekel 1

    Possibly 8th–7th century BCE; a later date cannot be excluded · ʿAddi Baʿekel, Daʾero area north of Feresmay, Tǝgray, Ethiopia · Local Semitic language close to Sabaic

    Fragmentary text in a local Semitic language.

    Original
    Complete surviving six-line fragment; top, right, and bottom are broken away
    English
    This is a line-aligned rendering of the editors’ tentative interpretation, not a continuous reconstruction. Lines 1–2 join rdʾt / trdʾw and lines 3–4 join w-kl.
    Image
    1 exact artifact image(s), all visually checked against the cited primary edition.

  19. Manzo 2002 fragment reportedly joined to RIÉ 28

    Early 1st millennium BCE context (joined date not independently verified) · Gobo Čela / Melazo area, Ethiopia (reported association with RIÉ 28) · Ethio-Sabaean

    Reported join to RIÉ 28; the joined reading has not been verified.

    Original
    RIÉ 28 has a reader, but the Manzo fragment and the published joined reading were not retrieved; no merge made.
    English
    No separately verified translation for the joined fragment.
    Image
    Exact Manzo 2002 fig. 3 unavailable because the repository post-print is restricted; no substitute image supplied.