Der Tatenbericht des Yiṯa‘‘amar Watar bin Yakrubmalik aus Ṣirwāḥ (Jemen)

The monumental inscription of the Sabaean ruler Yiṯa”amar Watar uncovered during the excavations of the German Archaeological Institute in the ‘Almaqah temple of Ṣirwāḥ (Yemen) is one of the most important written testimonies we possess from the Arabian Peninsula from the 1st millennium BC. The editio princeps presented here provides a detailed philological, historical, and geographical commentary. In connection with the large inscription of Karib’il Watar, written only a few decades later, and other texts from the same period, a historical scenario can be sketched which not only shows the Sabaeans as the power-political factor of order in the South Arabian power play, but also allows new conclusions to be drawn about the constitution of the Sabaean polity in the 8th and 7th centuries BC. In a supplementary contribution, Iris Gerlach and Mike Schnelle place the inscription stone in its archaeological and architectural context and demonstrate its significance within the cult installation of the sanctuary.
With contributions by Iris Gerlach and Mike Schnelle.