TWO SABAEAN INSCRIPTIONS ON TWO BRONZE PLAQUES FROM THE MAQWALAT OF MʾḎIN DEDICATED TO THE TWO DEITIES WAD AND SHAMS

Abstract

This is an analytical study of two Sabaean inscriptions inscribed on two bronze plaques originating from the land of Mʾḏin, one of the most important Sabaean Qaīlīya institutions, which established its authority in the fertile lands north and west of Sanʿaʾ from the beginning of the first millennium BC, and its memory continued to resonate until the Islamic era, as al-Hamdani mentioned it in his two books al-Iklīl wa Ṣifat Jazīrat al-ʿArab, description its lands and borders under the name Mikhlāf Mʾḏin. The two inscriptions - the subject of this study – are a votive nature, dedicated by the Banū Khalī (Ḫly), followers of the Banū Mʾḏin, to their national deity Wadd dhu Matbaʿān, and to their goddess Shams. They date back to the period between the first and second centuries AD. The two inscriptions document two historical events. The first commemorates the presentation of bronze plaque by the Banū Khali (Ḫly) to the god Wadd as a tithe for their agricultural land called dhu Maʿr (mʿrm). The second inscription records a votive-legislative event in which some members of the Banū Khalī presented a bronze plaque to the goddess Shams in recognition of their sin against her and in the hope of obtaining her forgiveness for their repeated transgressions in appropriating her milk, which was dedicated to her. They were warned that they had no legal right to plunder again any of the goddess Shams's milk. The inscriptions also mention a new Sabaean family, the Banū Khalī (bnw/Ḫly), which is attested for the first time in ancient Yemeni inscriptions. Additionally, the second inscription mentions a new Sabaean term that enriches the Sabaean lexicon, the verb (šnn).