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Saba Kingdom
Sheba, or Saba, was an ancient South Arabian kingdom that existed in Yemen from to . Its inhabitants were the Sabaeans, who, as a people, were indissociable from the kingdom itself for much of the 1st millennium BCE. Modern historians agree that the heartland of the Sabaean civilization was located in the region around Marib and Sirwah. In some periods, they expanded to much of modern Yemen and even parts of the Horn of Africa, particularly Eritrea and Ethiopia. The kingdom's native language was Sabaic, which was a variety of Old South Arabian.Stuart Munro-Hay, ''Aksum: An African Civilization of Late Antiquity'', 1991. Among South Arabians and Abyssinians, Sheba's name carried prestige, as it was widely considered to be the birthplace of South Arabian civilization as a whole. The first Sabaean kingdom lasted from the 8th century BCE to the 1st century BCE: this kingdom can be divided into the "mukarrib" period, where it reigned supreme over all of South Arabia; and the "kin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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, and Asir, which are presently in Saudi Arabia, and Dhofar of present-day Oman. South Arabia is inhabited by people possessing distinctive linguistic and ethnic affinities, as well as traditions and culture, transcending recent political boundaries. There are two indigenous language groups: the now extinct Old South Arabian languages and the unrelated Modern South Arabian languages, both members of the Semitic family. Etymology The term ''Yamnat'' was mentioned in Old South Arabian inscriptions on the title of one of the kings of the second Himyarite Kingdom known as Shammar Yahrʽish II. The term was probably referring to the southwestern coastline of the Arabian peninsula and the southern coastline between Aden and Hadramout. One ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sirwah
Sirwah ( OSA: Ṣrwḥ, ''Ṣirwāḥ Ḫawlān'') was, after Ma'rib, the most important economical and political center of the Kingdom of Saba at the beginning of the 1st century BC, on the Arabian Peninsula. Ṣirwāḥ was surrounded by a fortified wall. The city layout inside the oasis included a number of large buildings. It’s also a part of Khawlan. The ruins of Ṣirwāḥ are located 40 km west of Ma'rib. The town was well protected by its position in the mountains, but at the same time put limits on its development. As a result, Ṣirwāḥ quickly lost its position as a capital, which was taken over by Ma’rib, which was in an important economical center since it was located on the incense route. The town nevertheless remained an important centre for the Sabaeans, as shown by the large number of temple buildings. It was also the site chosen by King Yada'il Dharih I to build an important temple to Almaqah about the year 700 BC. In 2023, along with other la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the Arabian Peninsula comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Yemen, as well as southern Iraq and Jordan. The largest of these is Saudi Arabia. In the Roman era, the Sinai Peninsula was also considered a part of Arabia. The Arabian Peninsula formed as a result of the rifting of the Red Sea between 56 and 23 million years ago, and is bordered by the Red Sea to the west and south-west, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman to the north-east, the Levant and Mesopotamia to the north and the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean to the south-east. The peninsula plays a critical geopolitical role in the Arab world and globally due to its vast reserves of petroleum, oil and natural gas. Before the mod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Himyar
Himyar was a polity in the southern highlands of Yemen, as well as the name of the region which it claimed. Until 110 BCE, it was integrated into the Qatabanian kingdom, afterwards being recognized as an independent kingdom. According to classical sources, their capital was the ancient city of Zafar, relatively near the modern-day city of Sana'a. Himyarite power eventually shifted to Sana'a as the population increased in the fifth century. After the establishment of their kingdom, it was ruled by kings from dhū-Raydān tribe. The kingdom was named Raydān.Jérémie Schiettecatte. Himyar. Roger S. Bagnall; Kai Brodersen; Craige B. Champion; Andrew Erskine; Sabine R. Huebner. ''The Encyclopedia of Ancient History'', John Wiley & Sons, 2017, 9781444338386.ff10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah30219ff. ffhalshs-01585072ff The kingdom conquered neighbouring Saba' in c. 25 BCE (for the first time), Qataban in c. 200 CE, and Haḍramaut c. 300 CE. Its political fortunes relative to Saba' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Qataban
Qataban () was an ancient Yemenite kingdom in South Arabia that existed from the early 1st millennium BCE to the late 1st or 2nd centuries CE. It was one of the six ancient South Arabian kingdoms of ancient Yemen, along with Sabaʾ, Maʿīn, Ḥaḍramawt, Ḥimyar and Awsān. Geography Qatabān was centred around the Wādī Bayhān, and its capital was the city of Timnaʿ. The neighbours of Qatabān were Sabaʾ to the northwest and west, Awsān to the south, and Ḥaḍramawt to the east. At its maximum extent, Qatabān's territory extended from the Bāb al-Mandab in the southwest to the Ṣayhad desert to the north, and the western limits of Ḥaḍramawt to the east. History Prehistory The earliest human occupation in the region of Qatabān dates to around the 20th century BCE and consisted of a Neolithic population. The earliest settlements in the area of Qatabān are from 11th to 10th centuries BCE. Later, several waves of Semitic-speaking immigrants from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kingdom Of Hadhramaut
Ḥaḍramawt ( Ḥaḑramitic: , romanized: ; Sabaic, Minaic, Qatabānic: , romanized: ) was an ancient South Semitic-speaking kingdom of South Arabia ( ancient Yemen) which existed from the early 1st millennium BCE till the late 3rd century CE in the area currently named after it in the region of the Ṣayhad desert. The kingdom of Ḥaḍramawt was one of the six ancient South Arabian kingdoms of ancient Yemen, along with Sabaʾ, Maʿīn, Qatabān, Ḥimyar, and Awsān. Little is known about Ḥaḍramawt compared to the other early South Arabian states. Geography The kingdom of Ḥaḍramawt was the easternmost of the ancient South Arabian kingdoms, with its core being centred around the Wādī Ḥaḍramawt and the Wādī al-Masīla, and in the east and the south it was bordered by the Indian Ocean. Its capital was the city of Šabwat. History Prehistory The earliest human activities in the region date from the Middle Palaeolithic, with the local population us ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ma'in
Ma'in (; ) was an ancient South Arabian kingdom in modern-day Yemen. It was located along the strip of desert called Ramlat al-Sab'atayn, Ṣayhad by medieval Arab geographers, which is now known as Ramlat al-Sab'atayn. Wadd was the national god of Ma'in. The spoken language was Minaic. The kingdom appears in the historical record in the 8th century BCE, and transition from a city-state to kingdom in the last quarter of the 7th century BCE. The date of the end of Ma'in is heavily disputed, but the most popular hypothesis places its demise in the 1st century CE. The Minaean people were one of four ancient Yemeni groups mentioned by Eratosthenes. The others were the Sabaeans, Hadhrami people, Ḥaḑramites and Qataban, Qatabānians. Each of these had regional kingdoms in ancient Yemen, with the Minaeans in the north-west (in Al Jawf Governorate, Wādī al-Jawf), the Sabaeans to the south-east of them, the Qatabānians to the south-east of the Sabaeans, and the Ḥaḑramites fu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mukarrib
Mukarrib (Old South Arabian: , romanized: ) is a title used by rulers in ancient South Arabia. It is attested as soon as continuous epigraphic evidence is available and it was used by the kingdoms of Saba, Hadhramaut, Qataban, and Awsan. The title is also found on Sabaic inscriptions from Ethiopia. The title ''mukarrib'' has no equivalent in other Near Eastern societies and it was not used in the Christian era. The ''mukarrib'' is only cited when he is the author of the document, but not on legal documents, where the issuer is called the "king of Saba" or the "king of Qataban" instead. The title occurs very early both in Saba and Awsan, and it is not clear which one borrowed it from the other. In Qataban, the ''mukarrib'' title only occurs in territories on the southern plateau. Qatabanian ''mukarribs'' carried out many functions: they performed holy hunting in the valleys of the kingdom, they guided the army during war, they built the walls and gates of the capital, conquered an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abyssinia
Abyssinia (; also known as Abyssinie, Abissinia, Habessinien, or Al-Habash) was an ancient region in the Horn of Africa situated in the northern highlands of modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea.Sven Rubenson, The survival of Ethiopian independence, (Tsehai, 2003), p.30. The term was widely used as a synonym for Ethiopia until the mid-20th century and primarily designates the Amhara, Tigrayan and Tigrinya-inhabited highlands of Ethiopia and Eritrea.Uhlig, Siegbert, ed. ''Encyclopaedia Aethiopica'': D-Ha. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2005. p. 948. Philology The origin of the term might be found in Egyptian hieroglyphic as the designation of a southern region near the Red Sea that produced incense, known as ''ḫbś.tj.w'', "the bearded ones" (i.e Punt). This etymological connection was first pointed out by Wilhelm Max Müller and Eduard Glaser in 1893.Uhlig, Siegbert, ed. ''Encyclopaedia Aethiopica'': D-Ha. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2005. p. 948. In South Arabian text ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stuart Munro-Hay
Stuart Christopher Munro-Hay (21 April 1947 – 14 October 2004) was a British archaeologist, numismatist and Ethiopianist. He studied the culture and history of ancient Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa region and South Arabia, particularly their history of coins. Born in Northern Ireland, he was initially called ''Stuart Christopher H. McIlwrath'', but took his mother's maiden name after his parents separated. Munro-Hay studied Egyptology at the University of Liverpool from 1970 to 1974. As a student and collaborator of Neville Chittick, he worked on the 1973-74 excavation project of the British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA) in Aksum, the capital of the late-antique Aksumite Empire. The excavations had to be cancelled due to the Derg's coup d'état in 1974, but Munro-Hay continued to dedicate his work to researching the history of Aksum, and in particular compiled a large collection of Aksumite coins. He completed his doctorate in 1978 at the London School of Oriental and A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old South Arabian
Ancient South Arabian (ASA; also known as Old South Arabian, Epigraphic South Arabian, Ṣayhadic, or Yemenite) is a group of four closely related extinct languages ( Sabaean/Sabaic, Qatabanic, Hadramitic, Minaic) spoken in the far southern portion of the Arabian Peninsula. The earliest preserved records belonging to the group are dated to the beginning of the 1st millennium BCE. They were written in the Ancient South Arabian script. There were a number of other Old South Arabian languages (e.g. Awsānian), of which very little evidence has survived, however. A pair of possible surviving Sayhadic languages is attested in the Razihi language and Faifi language spoken in far north-west of Yemen, though these varieties of speech have both Arabic and Sayhadic features, and it is difficult to classify them as either Arabic dialects with a Sayhadic substratum, or Sayhadic languages that have been restructured under pressure of Arabic. Classification issues It was originally th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Kenya to the south, South Sudan to the west, and Sudan to the northwest. Ethiopia covers a land area of . , it has around 128 million inhabitants, making it the List of countries and dependencies by population, thirteenth-most populous country in the world, the List of African countries by population, second-most populous in Africa after Nigeria, and the most populous landlocked country on Earth. The national capital and largest city, Addis Ababa, lies several kilometres west of the East African Rift that splits the country into the African Plate, African and Somali Plate, Somali tectonic plates. Early modern human, Anatomically modern humans emerged from modern-day Ethiopia and set out for the Near East and elsewhere in the Middle Paleolithi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
