부산대학교 도서관

The site of Maʿîn, the ancient city of Qarnâ, has unfortunately been plundered and destroyed. In the autumn of 2006 looters illegally excavated an important temple dedicated to the divinity Nakraḥ. The new temple, surrounded by a wall, has at least fifteen pillars, distributed in three rows of five pillars each. Every pillar bears one inscription - from five to fourteen lines - engraved during the reign of the king of Maʿîn, Abîyadaʿ Yafash, son of Nabaṭʾîl, a contemporary of Yadaʿʾîl, mukarrib of Saba'. This Yadaʿʾîl is probably one of the sons of Karib'îl Watâr, son of Dhamar'alî Dhâriḥ, the mukarrib of Sabaʾ, and confirms that the kingdom of Maʿîn, in the Jawf valley, first appeared in the early seventh century BC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]