YM 1200 is one of the
pre-Islamic Arabian inscriptions
Pre-Islamic Arabian inscriptions are inscriptions that come from the Arabian Peninsula dating to before the rise of Islam. They were written in both Arabic and other languages, including Sabaic, Hadramautic, Minaic, Qatabanic.
These inscripti ...
discovered in
South Arabia
South Arabia (), or Greater Yemen, is a historical region that consists of the southern region of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia, mainly centered in what is now the Republic of Yemen, yet it has also historically included Najran, Jazan, ...
, now housed within the
National Museum of Yemen
The National Museum of Yemen () in Sana'a, Yemen, was founded in 1971 in ''Dar al-Shukr'' (Palace of Gratefulness) which was one of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen, Yemeni Imam Palaces. It is located near Qubbat al-Mutawakkil Mosque dome in Al- ...
. This inscription is composed in the
Sabaic
Sabaic, sometimes referred to as Sabaean, was a Old South Arabian, Sayhadic language that was spoken between c. 1000 BC and the 6th century AD by the Sabaeans. It was used as a written language by some other peoples of the ancient civilization of ...
language and dates back to the 5th century CE. It is also a monumental inscription. YM 1200 was first translated by Iwona Gajda in the year 1998.
Content
The inscription is eight lines long, and it reads:
[Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, volume 28, pages 81–88. 1998.]
An English-language transliteration, first edited and interpreted by Iwona Gajda, reads:
Dating
Christian J. Robin dates the inscription to the late 5th century CE, between the years 480–485 CE.
Interpretation and significance
The inscription is considered a monumental inscription and details the construction projects of the king
Marthad'ilan Yu'nim which involve religious structures. The text describes the king as ordering the construction of a synagogue as well as the reparation of a monotheistic place of worship.
Al Jazeera Press writer, Muammar Al Sharjabi, identifies this monotheistic place of worship as a church, but at the same time also interpreted the name of the king as
Marthad'ilan Yanuf
Marthad'ilan Yanuf (Arabic: مرثد ألن ينوف), also romanized as Murthid 'Alan Yanuf, was a Himyarite king who reigned in the early 6th century CE. A devout Christian, Marthad'ilan Yanuf engaged in diplomatic relations with the Aksumite Emp ...
instead of Marthad'ilan Yu'nim.
According to him, this inscription does show that the kings before
Dhu Nuwas
Dhū Nuwās (), real name Yūsuf Asʾar Yathʾar ( Musnad: 𐩺𐩥𐩪𐩰 𐩱𐩪𐩱𐩧 𐩺𐩻𐩱𐩧, ''Yws¹f ʾs¹ʾr Yṯʾr''), Yosef Nu'as (), or Yūsuf ibn Sharhabil (), also known as Masruq in Syriac, and Dounaas () in Medieval G ...
were tolerant of other religions in their realm.
See also
*
Judaism in pre-Islamic Arabia
Judaism was the first monotheistic religion practiced in pre-Islamic Arabia, since at least the 1st century BCE. Arabian Jews were linguistically diverse, and communities spoke Greek, Aramaic, Arabic, and Sabaic. The centers of Arabian Judaism were ...
*
Christianity in pre-Islamic Arabia
Christianity was one of the major religions of pre-Islamic Arabia. It was likely introduced in the fourth century, during the period of Late Antiquity, and had achieved a large presence by the fifth century. Bishoprics were established in multipl ...
*
CIH 6
*
Jabal Dabub inscription
*
Ri al-Zallalah inscription
References
{{reflist
External links
YM 1200 (Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions)
5th-century inscriptions
Articles containing Sabaean-language text
Himyarites
Pre-Islamic Arabian inscriptions
Sabaean inscriptions