South Arabian inscriptions from domestic buildings from Tamnaʿ and the archaeological evidence

Abstract

In this work we analyse the so‐called ‘construction inscriptions’ from domestic buildings. In particular we deal with the inscriptions from domestic buildings from Tamnaʿ, the ancient capital of the Qatabān Kingdom, dated between the fourth century BC and the first century AD, a building located in the site of Darb aṣ‐Ṣābi, near Barāqish, dated around the second century BC and a private house in Qaniya dated around the third–second centuries BC. We offer explanations of the lexical differences in the nouns used to indicate parts of buildings, not in terms of chronology, dialect or linguistic variations and influences, but on the basis of the architectonic and structural data available. Starting from the architectonic features (typologies of domestic buildings, different construction techniques, different uses of materials, etc.) we try to explain the differences in terminology concerning the inscriptions found in buildings known to us.

Re‐examining RAMRY/94‐az‐Zālif 1 no. 1: probable finding of a previously unknown name for a temple of S1yn amid a plurality of scribal errors

“…Within only domestic construction texts from the Qatabanian capital Tamnaʿ, Romolo Loreto found four variants of this phrase ( bn s 2 rs 1 m ʿ d fr ʿ m , bn mwṯr ʿ d fr ʿ m , bn mwṯr ʿ d s 2 qrm , and bn mwṯrhw ʿ dy mrymn ). But despite the different vocabulary, he argues that each variant should be translated “without differentiation” as “from the foundation to the top”, which denotes the construction work “of the whole building, from the laying of the foundations to putting the roofing on the last storey” (: 74) . More broadly, Alessio Agostini accumulated nineteen different variations of this phrase throughout South Arabia in construction contexts.…”