Journal of Stmitu Studits XXIX/I Spring 19S4

AN ETHIOPIAN SABAEAN INSCRIPTION FROM SOUTHERN TIGRE, ETHIOPIA

A. K. IRVINE
SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

C.F.B. amicitiae ergo

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The inscription which provides the subject of discussion here is cut into the side of a substantial fragment of an altar slab and was first published in 1978 as no. 56 in part VI of the important series "Documents dpigraphiques de l'Ethiopie".1 Although a degree of mystery surrounds its original provenance and the facts of its discovery, it is of considerable interest not only as a complete example of the Ethiopian Sabaean-type texts assigned by A.J. Drewes to his group 11, that is, inscriptions which are drafted in an acceptable form of the South Arabian monumental script but whose language exhibits features diverging from normal Sabaic,2 but also because with a probable provenance in central south Tigre it becomes the southernmost example of this type of inscription so far recovered from Ethiopia, and considered alongside the enigmatic finds from Maqalle,3 provokes interesting speculation regarding the southwards extension of the South Arabian-type civilisation in ancient Ethiopia. The conventional view is that such texts were the work of indigenous Ethiopians living alongside and subject to the cultural influence of Sabaean "colonists" who are thought to have entered the country, for whatever purpose, some time around the end of the fifth century B.C. To these last are attributed the purely Sabaean texts of Drewcs's group I

AtmaUs JEtbiopit, xi (1978), 132-5. Cf. A. J. Drewes, Inscriptions dt FEtbiopit mtiqut, Leiden 1962, 97, and AE, m (19)9), 84- See also his remarks on "code switching" in Kaydan, ra (1980), 36. i Published by A. Caquot and A.J. Drewes in AE, 1 (1955). 16-41- No information seems to be available on the archaeological contexts within which these important objects were found.
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AN ETHIOPIAN SABAEAN INSCRIPTION

with their cryptic references to South Arabian localities and institutions.4 The original editor of the inscription, M. Roger Schneider, was apprised of the altar's existence and shown photographs of it by Ato Sergew Hable Sellassie in December 1971, its location being given as the town of Gijet on the Waza plateau of Enderta.5 Subsequently, in 197} a further set of photographs of the object was taken by M. Jacques Merrier, also at Gijet, and communicated to Schneider. These formed the basis of his publication in 1978.6 His editorial comment is very terse, presumably because he was not able to inspect the actual stone or to obtain information on its recent history. The only dimension he gives is 29.50 cms. for the inscribed face of the altar and he does not mention the type of stone. The present writer was informed of the existence of the altar by Mr Patrick Gilkes in a letter from Maqalle dated 3 November 1971. The letter was accompanied by a set of photographs of the altar and its inscription, including a series of sectional dosc-ups of the latter. The altar is illustrated here in Plate I(a) and the inscription in Plate I(b). It had been shown to Gilkes in October of 1971 in the grounds of the new school at Samre, a market town on the road from Maqalle to Sakota. Although Samre lies only some 45 km. southwest of Maqalle as the crow flies, the physical problems of the terrain entail a journey of 78 km. by road.7 Unfortunately, Gilkes did not pay particular attention to the type of stone of which the altar was
See generally Drewes, Inscriptions, 94-5, and A. K. Irvine, "The relationship of early Ethiopian Semitic to Old South Arabian", in Abbay, ix (1978), 43-8. 5 Information on this region of Tigre is very scant. The Guida dell' Afrita Oritntale Italians, Milan 1938, indicates the Waza plateau on the map between pp. 304-5, but supplies little or no information in the text. Waza lies just south of the Gheva river, about 30 km. WSW of Maqalle. Gijet is not shown, but I am informed that it can be reached from Samre by road. 6 There is a brief allusion to the text by Schneider in BO, xxx/5-6 (1973), 389. 7 See the Guida, 323-5, which draws particular attention to the difficulties encountered by the Italians in building this road in 1936. The region is said to be hilly and wooded, fertile but sparsely populated. The Samre road continues southwestwards to Sakota about 120 km. further on. On this important trade centre in Wag, with its links to Lasta, Begemder, Gojjam and Simien, see the Guida, 326-9, and Richard Pankhurst, History of Ethiopian towns (Athiopistische Forschungen, 8), Wiesbaden 1982, 182, 214, 309.
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AN ETHIOPIAN SABAEAN INSCRIPTION

made, but he later recalled it as being honey yellow in colour and possibly limestone. Be that as it may, since the object was in Gijet by December 1971, and again in 1973 when Merrier photographed it, one must suppose that it was moved there from Samre very shortly after Gilkes's visit in 1971, though the direction of the move, from a reasonably well-known locality to one which is relatively remote and little frequented, is difficult to account for. Gilkes reported no other antiquities in Samre or its environs and there is thus no immediately compelling reason to suppose that the altar was found in situ. However, his photograph clearly shows the altar slab resting on a small block of stone which it is tempting to visualise as forming part of the total assemblage. Although this type of altar is not uncommon in South Arabia8 and a few specimens are known also from Ethiopia,9 we have as yet no evidence as to how they were set up for use.10 Nevertheless, if the block is associated with the altar slab, and it fits in so neatly that it is difficult to resist the condusion that it does, then the mere fact that the two parts have remained together increases the possibility that Samre, or some site nearby, was the original location for the altar. It is noteworthy that there is no sign of the block in Mercier's photographs from Gijet.
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See Carl Rathjens, Sabaeica. II. Teil. Du unlokalisitrten Fund* (Mit-

tcilungcn aus dem Museum fur Volkerkunde in Hamburg, XXTV), Hamburg 19)], i)4') an d photos. 538-9, 5)6-69, for a discussion of the forms and functions of this type of altar in South Arabia. Basically, such altars consist of a rectangular block of stone with a matching depression cut into the top. A projection, usually in the form of a bull's head, leading from one of the lesser sides, permits liquids to flow along a runnel from the altar on to the ground. There are many minor variations to this general form, including one with two spouts, illustrated in Wolfgang Radt, KataJog der ttaatlicbtn
Antiktnsammltmg von $tm'a' und andertn Antiken in Jemen aMfgenommtn von dtr

DtHtubtn Jtmentxpedition 1970, Berlin 1973, plate 4 (no. 8). The altar from Samre probably originally had two projections, but the outflow runnel lay between them, as the photograph in Plate I (a) shows. Whether such altars were for libations or for blood sacrifices is still a matter for debate. Rathjens inclines to the latter, Schneider calls this one a "table d'offrande". The technical term for them in South Arabian appears to have been mtlm or m/rb. 9 See, for example, DEE 48 from Matara (AE, ix (1972), 109-10) and particularly DEE j1 from Yeha {ibid., x (1976), 81), which is dedicated to HWBS. 10 Rathjens, lot. fit., thought they would be laid flat on the ground, but this seems unlikely.

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Plate i(a) The altar from Samre in southern Tigre (b) The inscription DEE jL on the above

AN ETHIOPIAN SABAEAN INSCRIPTION

If we turn now to the inscription engraved on the altar, further discrepancies become apparent between Schneider's reading and that offered by Gilkes's photograph. It must be admitted that neither set of photographs is really ideal for cpigraphic purposes, but there can be no doubt that Gilkes's are by far the clearer. Schneider has given an adequate assessment of the palaeography of the text, the most notable features being letter-height to width proportions of roughly 2:1, the exaggerated right-angled n with inconsistent orientation characteristic of unsophisticated workmanship, the reduced height of b andj, and the forked b. Such features rightly incline him to assign the script to Pirenne's palaeographical stage A, or just possibly B, and he would date the inscription to the late fifth or early fourth century B.C. There is no reason to dissent from this. Unfortunately, in the present state of our knowledge of such inscriptions it is not feasible to make sensible comparisons with the palaeography of other Ethiopian texts or to place it in any overall palaeographical context. The irregular line separating the two lines of the text is not uncommon in early Ethiopian epigraphy11 and in this writer's view may represent an attempt to convey the raised band which forms a sort of base line for some more sophisticated Ethiopian texts cut in relief.12 Using Gilkes's photograph we may read the text of the inscription, which is inscribed boustrophedon, as follows:
bn'mjbttjqsmm bqnyjliybn

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"HN'M son of QSM/w dedicated [this altar] to SYHN." - Line 1: Schneider reads the first name as bn'm, comparing the graphically identical name bn'm in a Sabaean text from Marib, Jamme 723/1. It is true that on his photograph the initial letter of the name does have a short stroke slanting slightly to the right from the base of the b, but there is no trace of this on Gilkes's photograph and, indeed, on his close-up the vertical shaft of the b is visibly drawn down to the base line. In any case, the cut of the stroke in Schneider's photograph appears to differ from that of the rest of the text, being noticeably heavier, and one must suppose that it represents damage inflicted on the stone subsequent to its removal from Samre. The name bn'm is
' cf. D r e w e s , Inscriptions, n o s . 14, 17, 18, 4 3 , 4 4 , 4 6 , 4 9 , j o , J3. u See, for example, AE, vm (1970), plates 17, 18 (DEE 32 and 33).

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Plate z (a) Detail from the altar from Samre (b) Detail from the altar from Samre

AN ETHIOPIAN SABAEAN INSCRIPTION

new both for South Arabia and for Ethiopia,13 though bn'mt is well represented in the Qatabanian texts of the Timna' cemetery, occurring six times as a second name and four as a clan name preceded by d-u Examination of the close-up of this section of the inscription showed that it was not possible to read the common Sabaean royal name jbn'm. For qsmm, Schneider reads qbmm, a name otherwise unknown in the Arabian and Ethiopian onomastica. His photograph is none too clear at this point and he does admit the possibility of reading the second letter as an s. The vertical shaft on top of the s can just be seen on Gilkes's photograph and is quite dear on his close-up, and it might be added that as a b the letter would be unusually squat compared with the earlier occurrence in bn. qsm is common as a personal name in Safaitic and occurs also in Thamudic, but in South Arabian it enters only into the compounds qsm1/ in the Hadrami Ryckmans 434 f/i, and the tribal name qsmlt in Ryckmans 444/11, a late Sabaean text from the Najran region where North Arabian names are not uncommon. Line 2: bqny in Ethiopian texts is frequently construed with / and provides a sort of shibboleth for distinguishing indigenous inscriptions. The construction has been compared to the Ge'ez aqnaya /a-.iS It is excessively rare in South Arabian.16 Sybn must be a divine name, as Schneider notes, but is otherwise unknown in Ethiopia or Arabia, whether as a name or epithet, divine or otherwise. The root is also unattested in the Ge'ez lexicon and in Sabaic is rare,17 probably having reference to the idea of completion. The Arabic sbiyab, "drought, dearth, scarcity", might suggest that the term be interpreted as an epithet of the sun goddess, otherwise well known in Ethiopian inscriptions in the persons of dt HMY/w (or dt HMN) and dt B'DN. However, it should be noted that with inscribed altars of this type from South Arabia, the deity, when mentioned, is the
The common Lihyanite bn'm is subject to a different morphological analysis. 14 See A. Jamme, Piicts Ipigrapbiqvesdt \itidbin 'Aqil, la nkropolt de Timna' (Hagr Kobldn) (Bibliotheque du Mutton, 30), Louvain 1952, nos. 225-7, 23> 232-3; 228-9, 231, and Jamme 868/1. 15 cf. Drewcs, Inscriptions, 7, and AE, in (1959), 84 and 92. 16 Four occurrences are listed by J. Ryckmans for Middle Sabaic. See Ertt\-lsrael, ix (1969), 106 and n. 35. 17 Sec A . F . L . Beeston, M.A. Ghul, W.W. Mullcr and J. Ryckmans, Sabak dictionary, Louvain-Beirut 1982, 136.
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AN ETHIOPIAN SABAEAN INSCRIPTION

moon god, as one might expect since the outflow projections are usually carved in the form of a bull's head. It is probably safer, therefore, to assume that SYHN is an aspect of the moon. Schneider claims to see traces of letters, notably a /, on the front face of the altar. In fact, there is a dear m between the projection and the outflow (Plate II(a)). It is presumably a mason's mark and its sophisticated ductus suggests that the main inscription may have been added later to the altar. There are also marks on top of the projection (Plate II(b)), but these are probably decorative features.
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This enigmatic altar thus has a modest contribution to make to the onomasticon of ancient Ethiopia and may yet shed more light on the pantheon. However, perhaps its greatest significance lies in its probable provenance in or around Samre. Other pre-Aksumitc sites yielding inscriptions of this type tend to concentrate in two main regions, one in the Eritrean Akkele Guzai (Kaskase, Matara, Feqya, Dibdib, Addi Gramaten) and the other round the future centres of Aksum and Adwa (Hawelti, Melazo, Yeha).18 Till now, Maqalle has been an exception, lying somewhat off the path of subsequent Aksumite expansion down the major route from Asmara through Adigrat towards Wallo and the south. Maqalle how makes sense as a stage on a branch route leading off towards Lake Tana and the central Ethiopian provinces of Gojjam and Begemder and then on to western Ethiopia and the southern Sudan. It is to be hoped that more evidence for the presence of such ancient settlements.may yet come to light.

A convenient summary of the archaeological background of early Ethiopia is provided by Joseph W. Michcls's "Axumite archaeology: an introductory essay", prefaced to the English translation of Yuri M. Kobishchanov's AXMM, University Park and London 1979, 1-34. A select bibliography is provided.

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