Qarnāwu (
Old South Arabic ''qrnw'', reconstructed ''Qarnāwu'',
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...
Κάρνα ''Kárna'') is the name of an ancient city situated in present day Jawf in the north of
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast and ...
, near the modern city of
Ma'īn (Arabic معين).
Qarnāwu was presumably founded at the time the
Minaean Kingdom appeared in about 500 BCE; after the end of
Sabaean Sabean or Sabaean may refer to:
*Sabaeans, ancient people in South Arabia
**Sabaean language, Old South Arabian language
*Sabians, name of a religious group mentioned in the Quran, historically adopted by:
**Mandaeans, Gnostic sect from the marshl ...
rule over Ma’in in about 400 BCE Qarnāwu became the capital of Ma'īn for a time. Qarnāwu was set on a mound, about 10 meters in height and had a rectangular layout each side of which measured about 350 × 240 meters; it was traversed by an absolutely straight main street, leading from the west to the east gate. The interior was carefully planned. At the end of the Minaean Kingdom in the 1st century BCE, Qarnāwu lost its importance, and was probably abandoned not long after.
See also
*
Minaeans
The Minaean people were the inhabitants of the kingdom of Ma'in ( Minaean: ''Maʿīn''; modern Arabic ''Maʿīn'') in modern-day Yemen, dating back to the 10th century BCE-150 BCE. It was located along the strip of desert called Ṣayhad ...
*
Minaean Language
*
Ancient History of Yemen
The ancient history of Yemen (South Arabia) is especially important because Yemen is one of the oldest centers of civilization in the Near East. Its relatively fertile land and adequate rainfall in a moister climate helped sustain a stable po ...
Bibliography
*Ahmed Fakhry: ''An archaeological journey to Yemen''. Cairo 1951–52
*F. Bron: ''Inventaire des Inscriptions sudarabiques''. Tome 3. Maʿīn (fasc. A–B). Paris-Rome 1998.
Ancient cities of the Middle East
History of Yemen