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Kingdom of Sheba
𐩪𐩨𐩱 ( Sabaic)
مملكة سبأ ( Arabic)
~1000 BCE–275 CE
Coat of arms of Sheba
Coat of arms
Location of Sheba
Capital Sirwah
Marib
Sanaa
Official languages Sabaic
Religion
Arabian polytheism
Demonym(s)Shebans
Government Monarchy
Mukarrib ( King) 
• 700–680 BCE
Karibi-ilu
• 620–600 BCE
Karib'il Watar
• 60–20 BCE
Ilīsharaḥ Yaḥḍub I
History 
• Established
~1000 BCE
• Disestablished
275 CE
Succeeded by
Himyar
Today part of  Yemen

Sheba ( /ˈʃbə/; Sabaean: 𐩪𐩨𐩱, romanized: S-b-ʾ Hebrew: שְׁבָא, romanizedŠəḇāʾ; Arabic: سبأ, romanizedSabaʾ; Geʽez: ሳባ, romanized: Sabaʾ) is an ancient kingdom mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and the Quran. It was the most powerful tribal federations in ancient Yemen. The Kingdom was able to form a federation that included the Kingdom of Hadhramaut, the Kingdom of Qataban, and the Kingdom of Ma’in [1] and other tribes affiliated with these kingdoms. The kingdom also established a number of colonies near the Levant and Mesopotamia as indicated in Assyrian texts and in the Old Testament. [2] [3] [4]

Since the eighth century BC, the Sabaeans had been worshiping the moon, the sun, and the planet Venus. In the fourth century BC, with the change of the ruling dynasty, the Sabaeans began to worship the idol of Riam, one of the ancestors of the Hamdanids, followed by the idols of the special tribes. [5] Each tribe had a special idol that followed the main Sabaean idols. [6] In addition to the Ibex, which also symbolizes the planet Venus, and in the first century BC, the Sabaeans began to abandon paganism and turned to worshiping one god, Rahmanan. [7] [8] The Kingdom was famous for its dams, the most famous of which was the ancient Marib Dam, and their control over the trade routes, the most important of which was the incense route, and they transferred their writing system. The ancient Musnad script refers to the sites they controlled in northern Arabia and northern Ethiopia, and they had another writing system known as the Zabur. [9] [10]

Etymology

Historians claim that Sheba is the name of the ancestor of an ancient Arab tribe, while modern historians believe that the word Sheba appears in inscriptions in the Musnad script, meaning a killer, a fighter, or a migrant. [11]

History

The ruins of the ancient city of Ma'rib can be seen from a distance, and the Greeks mentioned that its center was built on a mountain

Sheba was a kingdom that formed a tribal union in a specific geographical area, and at the head of the union was a priest called Makrab, which means “closer,” meaning the gods. [12] However, there were those who objected to this interpretation and interpreted it in a unified sense. [13] The union included a large number of tribes about which nothing is known in the current era. Most of them have disappeared for reasons. Unknown, with the exception of a number of tribes that still exist by name to this day, most notably Hamdan and Kinda Madhaj, which are the tribes that were explicitly mentioned by name. As for “Azd,” it was not mentioned by that name, but it was mentioned, but the names of tribes that the people of the news consider among them to be mentioned in the texts of the Musnad script are one of the sources for the history of ancient Yemen and the tribes. [14] Their presence mentioned above was in the form of sacrifices and sayings, and there is no text that any of them reached the level of distress. There are other tribes that adhere to this class, some of which were mentioned, such as “Dhi Ma’har”, “Dhi Khalil”, and “Dhi Sahar”, [15] so it seems that Hamadan was a land belonging to the Sabaeans and to them. Chiefs from the house of “Dhi Sami.” As for Kinda, some of them were present in the village of Al-Faw, near Wadi Al-Dawasir in present-day Saudi Arabia. The Sabaean texts refer to them as “those of the family of Thawr” and “the lords of the village of Kahil and Qahtan,” meaning the leaders of the village of Kahil and Qahtan, and Madhhij and its tribes were from Among them, the oldest inscription referring to them told of their joining a rebellion against the ruling families in Marib. [16] [17] The region of Yemen and the Kingdom of Sheba were mentioned frequently in the writings of the Greeks, who described them as saying that their country, called “Happy Arabia,” was one of the richest places in the Arabian Peninsula, and that the Sabaeans controlled the trade routes from Their country reaches the borders of Palestine. [18]

In Arab heritage books, the Ghassanids and Manathira are Sabaeans, while no text has been discovered referring to them by these names. The people of the news reported stories about that, including that the Ghassanids were called that when they descended into the Ghassan Water after their migration following the collapse of the Ma’rib Dam, which is not supported by unearthed stone evidence. At the same time, the Sabaean presence in the places of the Ghassanids and Manathira is supported by Assyrian inscriptions and Greek writings, even though their names did not appear explicitly except during the era of the Himyarite Kingdom. [19] It is believed that the Sabaean presence in those areas is not linked to a crack in the ancient Ma’rib Dam. The Assyrian text that refers to the Sabaeans in Taima goes back For a period, the Kingdom of Sheba was at its height. Strabo mentioned that the Sabaeans and the Nabataeans were the same people. This may show the confusion that the Romans fell into, but it is an indication of the presence of the Sabaeans near the Levant. He mentioned that their capital was “Mareiba” (Ma’rib). [20] Pliny the Elder mentioned that the Sabaeans controlled the islands. Many described them as a people of the "Sakonians", which is an indication that part of the Sabaeans were Bedouins. [21] According to Strabo, the Sconians are an Arab people living south of Mesopotamia. [22] The Sabaean activity was clear in the Nabatean regions, as evidenced by the mention of the name of a Sabaean king named "Zabad-el", who was the one who handed over the head of " Alexander Pallas, who fled to the Nabataean regions to escape the Ptolemies, to Ptolemy VI, and the Greeks would not have mentioned this had it not been for the Sabaean political influence in the region. [23]

But all these writings are very late and do not help researchers in determining the period of the emergence of the Sabaeans and their early stages. It is most likely that they were settling in the metropolis of Sarwah, a site near the ancient city of Ma’rib, and they did not differ from any other tribe, until they came up with a solution to benefit from rainwater, so they built a small dam in Sarwah to limit Water and it is believed that this was their first stage. There are no rivers in the Yemeni region that would help them in agriculture, and the rain yield was not high, which created a number of problems for them. The Sabaeans were keen to benefit from the small amount of rain by constructing their first small dam in the city of Sirwah. They were united by a tribal bond around the god Athtar, whom they made their father, and even the father of all humanity before. A number of tribes entered with them and brought their gods into that small community. [24] The tribes were able to reach an agreement and understanding regarding the gods, so they considered Al-Maqh (Al-Maqh), the god of a tribe called “Fishan”, the god of the moon, while Athtar, the main god of Sheba, was the god of the sun, to create a nervous bond that united this alliance against other alliances. Those close to them, who in turn gathered around their own gods, such as the Sabaeans, considered them fathers and that they had offspring and offspring from them. [25] It seems that this “Fishan” tribe was able to extend its influence in the early stages of the state until the god Al-Maqqa issued most of the Sabaean forms of worship in inscriptions starting from the eighth century BC. [26] The Sabaeans divided their tribes on this basis, and the connection of the tribe can be known from the Musnad script inscriptions with phrases such as “wald El-Maqh,” which means the sons of the god Ilmaqah. Other tribes such as Qataban, Ma’in, and Hadhramaut did the same thing with their tribes. [27] The Aws were one of the Azd-Azd tribes, among the sons of the god Wad, who was the god of the kingdom of Ma’in and not Sheba was a small kingdom that not much is known about yet. [28] It did not reach the size of any of the four main kingdoms in ancient Yemen.

The rule of the priests

It is believed that seventeen priests assumed power in Sheba, and the number may change with the increase of discoveries. It is believed that the first Makrib, or the first to call himself with this title, lived in the tenth century BC. The ancient Sabaean writings were unclear and short, but they improved over time, and the Sabaeans were keen to decorate and embellish their evidence. Later eras. This is the one who is in distress or the priest, “Samh Ali.” Several short writings were written in his time by a man named “Sabah bin Yath’ Karb” in which he mentioned the gods Al-Maqqah, Athtar, Dhath Ba’dan, the “Fishan” tribe, and the name of Al-Mukarib, which is an incomplete inscription. Another inscription dating back to the same period was discovered and is believed to be a continuation of the incomplete inscription, referring to Ibn Al-Mukkarib, whose name is “Yad’el.” Dharh” and their construction of an additional wall for the Awam Temple in Ma’rib indicates that the temple was built before this period and that what was done to it was merely repairs. Indeed, recent archaeological research conducted by the Canadian University of Calgary on the temple dates it back to the fourteenth century BC. However, it is barely known. Something about kings before the tenth century. The Canadian mission had barely completed its research when the mission returned due to the security disturbances and the concern of their guards appointed by the Yemeni government for their safety. In addition to the gods Athtar, Al-Maqah, and Dhath Hamim, a goddess named Hebes was mentioned in the inscription. It was said that she was the wife of the god Al-Maqqah, and Yadiel Dharah paid attention to it. This is by building temples, the most important of which is the Awam Temple. The texts talk about repairs and additions to it, and it is not yet known who ordered its construction.

Not many writings have been discovered about the Makaribah, and most of their discovered texts are in this style. Researchers have deduced that the son of Jedael-Derah had a son named “Simh-Ali-Yanuf,” and he was the third ruler in the list of rulers of Sheba. He ruled in partnership with a number of priests. They were also “Jadeel Bein” and “Yatha-Ammar,” who were his brothers. It appears that a number of tribal leaders donated to construct a number of repairs to the temple. He was a leader from an ancient tribe called “Dhu Yabaran” and the leader of another tribe called “Dhu Rahdan.” This nun that adorns the last names is the absolute definite article in the ancient southern Arab language and preceded the names of the leaders of those people. The word “mawdad” means a man who is courting the ruler and is close to him. Another text was discovered that talks about the donation of a man from a tribe called “Dhu Lahad” to build a “mrada” (wall) for a city called “Minya.” Yath’a Ammar Watar bin Yad’el Dharah renovated the construction of the temple of the goddess. HBS

During that period, the Sabaeans tried to go beyond the stage of the Medina Kingdom in Ma'rib and Sarwah, and they raided Al-Jawf and captured it from the Kingdom of Ma'in. They fenced its capital to be a starting point for their later raids to control the rest of the ancient Yemeni kingdoms and then the trade route. Al-Mukarrab was Yad'el bin Yath' Amir Watar, the leader of this campaign in At the same time, there is evidence of the presence of a Sabaean in the same period in the north of the Arabian Peninsula. In an Assyrian text written by King Sargon II, the name “Yatha’ Amr” was mentioned. Researchers differed as to what was meant as to whether he was the ruler of Saba’i in Ma’rib or the leader of a Sabaean tribe in areas close to the Assyrians. The Assyrian text tells that this “Yatha Amr” was presented as a gift to the king, but researchers disagreed about the reason and significance of this. There is no evidence that the Assyrians arrived in Yemen. The gift may have been from one of the leaders of the Sabaean colonies in southern Palestine, and most likely it was out of kindness to the Assyrians and to gain their trust in the Sabaean caravans that had a large trade in the markets of Iraq at that time, but the similarity of the names suggests that the gift was sent from Yemen, and if it was so, then it is more likely. The Assyrian invasion of “Adumatu” (Dumat al-Jandal) affected the Sabaean caravans, so the Sabaeans in Yemen worked to reduce any damage resulting from this invasion to their trade by offering a gift to convey a message to the Assyrians that they did not want war and to maintain the integrity of trade relations between them. Researchers estimated the period of the reign of “Yathia’ Watar” in the eighth century BC. He ruled after Yath’a ordered Watar. This son, Karbiel Bin, expanded and improved the city of “Nashq”, which is in Al-Jawf Governorate, and Karbiel Bin sent a gift to another Assyrian king, Sennacherib, and like the ancient text that refers to Yemenis presenting gifts of incense to the Pharaoh of Egypt. controlling Syria, the goal of the gift presented to the Assyrian king was to facilitate trade exchange between Iraq and Yemen and to gain the confidence of the Assyrians in the Sabaean caravans.

Ibn Karbiel, among the so-called Dhamar Ali Watar, assumed power. He made additional expansions to the city of Nashq, which originally belonged to the Kingdom of Ma’in. He built a small dam in it to contain the rainwater. These texts, despite their difficulty and scarcity, indicate that the Sabaeans were expanding gradually and slowly to seize the property of their neighbors, and not much is known about him except He ruled with the participation of his brother “Yatha Amr Bin,” who in turn pierced a number of rocks to create gaps through which the water would flow and provided them with new doors to increase water control. All of these projects were completed in the city of Ma’rib. The Sabaeans call the dam “Arman” (Al-Aram) in the texts of the Musnad script, and the city of Ma’rib flourished. During this period, which is believed to be in the eighth century BC, the city of Sirwah competed with the religious capital of the Sabaeans. Yath' Amr between this strengthened the fortresses of Al-Jawf that they had captured from the Ma'inites, took control of Abyan and built a dam there. Yath' Amr also participated in a makarib called Samh Ali Yanuf II and built another dam called "Rahab" to control rainwater. It is believed that this Rihab dam is the Ma'rib dam. The famous time of writing goes back to the year 750 BC (eighth century). The same al-Mukarrab (Yatha Amr Bin) built another “mardr’a” (wall) around a castle in Harib, which is a site on the borders of Shabwa, the capital of the Kingdom of Hadhramaut, and it contains evidence of Sabaean intentions to control the properties Gradually, while their neighbors were unaware of them, these castles and fortresses became launching pads for the fighters. Indeed, the aforementioned Mukarrab launched an attack on the Kingdom of Qataban and killed four thousand of them. He attacked the Kingdom of Ma’in and killed a number that researchers could not know due to the damage that befell the inscription. He also attacked Najran, and the death toll there was high, so he was killed. Forty-five thousand of the people of Najran. He captured sixty-three thousand and seized thirty-one thousand heads of livestock. He completely burned the cities and villages of Najran. He mentioned that Najran had a president named “Azrael.” The same Al-Mukarib carried out construction work. He ordered the construction of two additional gates to the city of Ma’rib, with two towers on each gate. The precious Balq stone. It was mentioned in language dictionaries that the Balq is “a stone in Yemen that illuminates what is behind it as it illuminates glass.” He built a dam called “Muqrin” to deliver water to Abyan and two additional dams, namely the “Manhit” and “Kahil” dams. He dug a number of flumes and widened the stream. The torrent for the Rihab Dam (Ma'rib Dam). These inscriptions indicate the superiority of the Sabaeans in building dams and their creativity in them. From their first small dam in the city of Sirwah, they expanded and built dams in all the cities and villages that they controlled and turned the desert of the southern Arabian Peninsula into agricultural land. Few civilizations in the ancient world thought of establishing such projects to overcome the difficult terrain of their countries, but they faced a major problem, which was delivering water to the mountainous heights. The names of five or six other priests were mentioned, but nothing important was mentioned about them or nothing important was discovered about them.

Abandoning divination and establishing a kingdom

Proceedings of Karbiel Watar I

In the seventh century BC, the monk Karbiel Watar changed his title to king. He began his rule as a ruler, without a long writing in the Musnad script, telling him when he became king. This king expanded the influence of Sheba and launched a military campaign that left twenty-nine thousand and six hundred dead and a larger number of prisoners. Researchers called his writing “The Writing of Sirwah” because it was written in the temple of the god Al-Maqqah in that city. This inscription is considered one of the most important Sabaean inscriptions discovered so far. Unfortunately, it has been neglected and many of the letters contained have been erased. The Egyptian sheikh of archaeologists, Ahmed Fakhry, stated that the inscription is subject to public tampering. The inscription began with the phrase:

'''This is what Karbiel Watar ibn Dhamar ordered to be written down by Ali Makrib of Sheba when he became king. This is for his god El Maqah and for his people, the people of Sheba.”

Part of the inscriptions found in Sirwah

The Temple of Elmaqah in northern Ethiopia, near Axum, is the oldest archaeological building in that country. The Sabaeans, who came from Yemen, were the first to live there and teach the indigenous people calligraphy. The building dates back to the seventh century BC, around the days of Karbiel Watar, or not long before him. The similarity in the architectural style of the temple to that existing one is noted. In the religious capital of Sheba, Sirwah

This king, as is clear from the inscription, was able to limit rainwater and irrigate the mountain highlands, so he covered the idols of the gods Athtar and Habes after thanking the god of Sheba, Al-Maqah, for enabling him to unite the people of Sheba, or “his coven,” as the text mentions, and their followers without distinction or class, and that the gods granted them good land. Until the waters irrigated all the lands of Sheba. Then he moved on to mention his locations to unify the tribes and kingdoms, and begins each location with the phrase “day.” The kingdom of Awsan was in Aden, or “Awsun,” which is translated as Aws, because the nun at the end of the flag is the definite article, as mentioned above. The kingdoms were most affected by his campaigns, and sixteen thousand of them were killed and fled. Some of them fled without specifying where they fled to. But he began his positions with a campaign against Al-Ma’afir, a land and tribe in Taiz that the informants attributed to Himyar, even though their mention is much earlier. It was stated that it was “the day of beating” (the day of beating) the masters and captains of Al-Ma’afir, and he burned their cities and villages, then he conquered “Dhulam,” “Dhabr,” and “Arwa.” He killed three thousand of them, captured eight thousand, and doubled their “fine” (fine) of livestock. He attacked “Dhahban Dhu Qashr” and “Sharjab” and seized Mount Isma and Wadi Sir and made them a waqf for the people of Sheba. Karbil Watar’s goal in this campaign was to reduce the influence of the Kingdom of Awsan on The Red Sea, even though Karbiel did not mention this in his writing and attributed the reason for his campaigns to a revelation from his god

Then he began talking about his campaign against Osun, killing sixteen thousand of them and capturing forty thousand. He ordered the burning of all their lands, the demolition of their king’s palace, and the removal of all writings and inscriptions on it, which may explain the lack of writings reported about Osun. He ordered that their king and the people’s pillows be offered as offerings to the god of Sheba, Elmqah. The king showed hatred and extreme cruelty against them specifically, and it seems that that kingdom was a strong kingdom and posed a threat to Sheba and began attacking neighboring kingdoms, so the Sabaean punishment was that the king and the people’s masters were offered offerings to the god of Sheba. In the beginning, the king ordered his soldiers to kill everyone they saw in front of them and to bring the masters of “Osun” (the Aws) before him. He decided to offer them as an offering to his god, then he ordered the people of Sheba to retreat. Karbiel set about burning and destroying all their cities until he reached the palace of “Mawdhum” and ordered its demolition and the removal of all writings and inscriptions. The reference to “Mawdhum” (Mawdhum) is an indication that the Aws were actually Ma’inite, because “Mawdhum” is the title of the rulers of the Kingdom of “Mawdhum.”

Then he went towards “Ramda” (Yafa), killed two thousand of them, captured five thousand, burned their cities completely, and ordered the annexation of their lands and “Dethanat” (Dathina), with the exception of the land of “Awdam” (Oud), who were the people of “Ramda” who left it and did not attack it because its sons venerated God. Saba Elmaqah, meaning they surrendered and submitted without resistance, in other words, then he talked about an area called “Anf” and “Rashay”, about which nothing is known, but then he mentioned Jardan, which is a valley in Shabwa, and all the cities belonging to “Sibun” (Siban, which is the name of a tribe from Hadhramaut) and “ Kahd, and the cities of Atakh, Mefa'ah, and Tartah, and the entire Abadan Valley up to the coast. He mentioned that everyone in these areas, whether soldiers, slaves, free men, money, or property, had become the property of Sheba and its god, Ilmqah. Then he ordered the return (gifting) of the lands "from under Dhu Usun" (which had fallen). In their hand) to the two gods Sin (god of the Kingdom of Hadhramaut) and Am (god of the Kingdom of Qataban) because they were allies with him in his campaigns, except that the people of “Khad” mentioned above rebelled, so he marched against them and killed five hundred people and took from them a thousand children hostage in exchange for loyalty, and two thousand weavers among them were captive and all their livestock and possessions.

The Kingdom of Nashq rebelled and was currently in Al-Bayda Governorate, along with another small kingdom called “Nash’an.” So Karbil Watar claimed that the god Athtar had informed him of this, so he killed a thousand of them and returned the lands to the ownership of Sheba again. He fenced all of their lands and forced them to settle the Sabaeans in their lands and build a temple to the god Al-Maqqa. Then he rose up. By annexing one of their dams to Sheba, leasing it to the king of a kingdom allied with the Sabaeans, and imposing an annual tribute on them to pay to Sheba. Then he moved on to talk about the small kingdom of Hurm and how it openly showed hostility to him, so he killed three thousand of them and captured five thousand, and seized one hundred and fifty thousand heads of cattle. Then he talked about a group of tribes called “Mahammar” who was killed. Of them, five thousand were killed, twelve thousand children were captured, and two hundred thousand sheep and cattle. He mentioned that they were in “Najran” (Najran), and he imposed on Najran a tribute to be paid to the god Ilmqah. He concluded the text by presenting a golden statue to the god Athtar, and with that he finished listing his locations to unify the country and moved on to speak. About his urban works.

Karbiel Watar’s campaigns had a great impact on the country. He burned all the cities that showed resistance to him, killed all the warriors, and continued to humiliate the people of the opposing villages. In fact, Karbiel Watar became a symbol for those who came after him, as evidenced by texts about people swearing in his name, and he was not the last ruler of Yemen to burn and kill the people of the villages. Completely surrendering was a policy known to the kings of Sheba and Himyar after them, and Hadhrami and Ma'inite writings in the same style were not discovered. Karbil Watar settled his “coven,” as he is mentioned in the Sabaean word, in all the places he recorded in the name of Sheba or in the name of the god Maqqa, and he moved on to talk about architecture, construction, and repair of irrigation systems. He raised his palace in Ma’rib and strengthened the foundations of its lower floor. Then he repaired the culverts and strengthened the walls of the dams. He registered many lands for his ownership, including “Dhu Habbab,” “Dhu Shammar,” “Dhu Fadhum,” and “Dhu Mahjam.” He mentioned a land called “Khandaf” and “Attab” and “Al-Warkh” and lands he seized from a tribal leader called “Yaqat Dhi Khawlun”, which is Khawlan, and he fenced many cities, including Rada’a, which had not been fenced before, and he fenced and fortified all the Sabaean lands, but he demolished the walls of the Hadhrami and Qataban cities, even though he gave them security on their lands. After these campaigns, the name of a goddess with two branches appeared, and the truth is that her name was mentioned In the form “that of Ghadran”, and since the nun is the definite article, its translation becomes “that of Ghadran”, and the language in the language is the capacity of money, so it seems that she was a goddess responsible for money and livelihood and what is related to them. An Assyrian text was discovered in the same period, about King Sennacherib receiving a gift from the King of Sheba. “Karb Ilu” is undoubtedly Karb Il Watar and has the same purpose, which is to secure the trade of the Sabaeans in Iraq. It is believed that the period of Sabaean expansion in Ethiopia occurred during this period, as texts in the Sabaean language were reported in northern Ethiopia and temples to the god Maqqa dating back to this period or not long before it. The nature of the Sabaean presence in northern Ethiopia near the historical region of Aksum is not known precisely. There were Sabaean colonies in those areas, undoubtedly, indicative of the transmission of the Musnad line to them, but the extent of its political connection to Ma’rib is not known. Many researchers believe that the Kingdom of Aksum, which appeared around the beginning of Birth or the first after that, they were an extension of this Sabaean colony, but it was not pure Sabaean, but rather they were the product of the marriage of the Sabaeans in those areas with the indigenous population.

Sarwah, the land of the Sabaeans and their source, was the capital of Sheba, but Karbil Watar made the city of Ma’rib the capital of his kingdom, where the dam was located. Since then, Ma’rib has been the capital of Sheba and a symbol of it. The remains of a number of palaces are still visible, most of which are buried underground, and only the columns are visible from them.

After unification

Karbiel Watar died and was succeeded by his son, “Simh Ali Dharah.” It is believed that he ruled in the late seventh century BC. Archaeologists were able to deduce a few aspects of his life, including his two sons, “Eli Sharh” and “Karbiel.” Not much is known about him or his sons, except for a text reported by Ifa’. Eli Sharh: This is a vow he had made to the gods, and he ordered his action to be immortalized in a witness in Musnad script for the people to see. They took over the rule in the kingdom, as the involvement of brothers in rule was a common thing in ancient Yemen. Ali Dhari had another brother, Ibn Karbiel Watar, and his name was Yad’el Bean, and nothing important was discovered about them. Except for a few writings by tribal leaders who thank their gods for fulfilling their demands and conclude their texts by mentioning the names of these kings, except for one of these texts that mentions the name of Bakil, a Yemeni tribe that still exists to this day. A king called “Yakrib Malik Watar” assumed power, and this king approved a law specifying taxes on Landowners and the military service assigned to the tribes. The law was sealed by listing his name and the names of the tribesmen who supported the decision, namely the tribes of “Dhu Hazfar,” “Dhu Karim,” “Dhu Thawr,” and “Dhu Khalil.” The text included the phrase “Sa’am Dhat Ilm,” meaning he heard or witnessed this. The media leaders of the aforementioned tribes or provinces. It is believed that he approved what was known as “federalism” among the Sabaeans. The king did not find any embarrassment in writing down texts in which the tribal leaders described themselves as kings, so he made each province autonomous and militarily affiliated with the kingdom in exchange for taxes paid by these provinces to the capital. The researchers made it a principle of wisdom. The beginning of the sixth century BC. This made it difficult for researchers to distinguish between kings and feudal leaders, as their opinions varied greatly about the meanings of the texts.

Then the king “Yatha Amr Bin Al-Thani” took over the rule and began his rule by offering a vow to the god Athtar, and the rest of the inscription was damaged. It was difficult for researchers to know the vow, but it was discovered about a rebellion from the Qatabanis and their imposition of their authority on the Sabaean regions. A Qataban text was mentioned of a king called “Yada’ Abu Yajal bin Dhamar Ali.” » It tells the story of his annexation of the lands of a tribe called “Dhahban”, “Ra’in”, and “Sabr” and making them the property of the god uncle, the greatest god of the Qataban gods. So a Sabaean priest called “Taba Karb” presided over the negotiations with Qataban and guarded trenches and built guard towers after the success of the negotiations, the outcome of which he did not mention. Until he mentioned that he had reached an agreement of some kind with the Kingdom of Qataban, he assumed power after “a matter was established between the two,” according to the opinion of researchers, his son, “Karbil Watar II,” who began his rule with a series of amendments to the tax laws, dug rivers and troughs, and built new water dams, and texts were mentioned. Of people mentioning the king and his son “Samh Ali”, including the writing displayed in the Louvre Museum in Paris and presented by a person called “Amimar bin Maadikarb”. Nothing worth mentioning was discovered about the life of “Smah Ali Yanuf II” nor about his son “Ili Sharh II”, and they all ruled in The fifth century BC, and most of the texts that scholars attribute to this era talk about reforms and agricultural work, and then the kingship of “Jadeel Ben III” and his son, “Dhamar Ali I.” Despite the monotony of the texts, it is an indication of the stability of matters politically, and it appears from the texts that the names of other gods appear, such as Wad, the largest god. The Kingdom of Ma’in, alongside the Sabaean gods, is evidence of the stability and political calm that prevailed in this period from the sixth century until the end of the fifth BC. Then “Eli Sharh bin Simh Ali Yanuf” reigned, and after him “Dhamar Ali Bin” was the brother of “Eli Sharh” and was “ Yidiel Watar, son of Dhamar Ali, was among those who assumed power after his father, in the middle of the fifth century BC. Then, “Karbil Watar IV” reigned in the beginning of the fourth century BC. There are many gaps in the historical sequence of this period due to the lack of discoveries, and all the researchers did was to collect The names of the kings are in lists without deducing much about political and social developments, but the mention of the gods of Sheba alongside gods and gods of other tribes in texts written by citizens is an indication of the political calm and understanding between the tribes.

A new royal dynasty

Part of a broken tombstone dating back to this period during the fifth or fourth century BC

According to John Philby in his book “The Background of Islam,” Karbiel Watar IV was the conclusion of a royal dynasty, after which a new royal dynasty appeared led by a king called “El-Karb-Yahnaam,” about whom an inscription was discovered north of Sana’a. A text was discovered that a king called “Wahbael” (Wahhab-il) arrived. To power, he was not from the ruling family called “Fishan,” and it is not known exactly which family he is from, except that a text dating back to his son “Anmar” refers to the god Talab Riam, who is the god of the Hamadan tribe, in the late fourth century BC. Little is known about “Wahbael.” And his son Anmar, but a text was mentioned by a person from the “Dhi Bat’” tribe, and this tribe is from the Hashid or “Hashdum” according to the texts of the Musnad. It is stated in the text that this Hashidi launched a military campaign, but its details are not known due to the damage that befell the writing, causing much of it to be lost, but it is clear that he presented a statue. To the god Talab Riam, who is the largest of the gods of Hamadan and their father according to their ancient beliefs. It was mentioned that King Anmar provided him with military forces to support him.

His son Dhamar Ali Dharh assumed power after “Anmar,” and nothing important was discovered about him. After him, “Nashkarb Ya’amen” assumed power, and the word “Ya’amen” means “to secure.” Several texts were mentioned dating back to his days, including the text of his repair of idols in the temple of the god Athtar that had been damaged. And another text for presenting twenty-four idols to the gods called “Sun” because they blessed his palace and its people. Then he mentioned the gods Ilmaqah and Athtar. It seems that the king suffered from a health problem, as evidenced by the text of the sayings of “Jart” of the leaders of a tribe called “Dhamri,” which belongs to a tribe called “Samhar,” according to the writing, and it is not known. Something about these tribes, and they were not mentioned in the writings of the lineage. They presented two bronze statues of “El-Maqh Baal-Awam” (El-Maqha, Lord of the Temple of Awam) to heal the king and that El-Maqha would continue to make them happy by granting their king health and wellness. A text was mentioned by a tribal leader from “Al-Jamil Al-Arj.” » The leaders of a tribe called “Maida” thanked their god El-Maqah for their return safe and sound after an invasion ordered by the king towards “Ardam Araban” (the land of the Arabs) and for their ability to recover what the Bedouins had stolen and taken captive. At the end of the text, they mentioned the gods Athtar, the One with Two Dimensions, the One with Lava, and the Sun.

It seems that Bedouins attacked a Sabaean caravan returning to Yemen, or perhaps the attack was on Sabaean farms. It is not known precisely what this “Arab land” is. Literally, it means “the land of the Arabs.” The word Arab in all ancient Semitic texts always refers to Bedouins and does not have a national connotation, and it began. It appears most clearly in Sabaean writings starting in the first century BC during the civil war between Hamadan and Himyar. The Bedouins took advantage of this disturbance, as usual, to plunder and plunder, and the kings benefited from them and subjugated them to their interests. The era of Nashkarb Ya'aman, or Yaman, was a stable era and seemed prosperous as evidenced by the many texts written by tribal leaders and ordinary people asking the gods to continue their blessings upon them and to increase these favors.

There is a difference between researchers about the tribe of this king, some of whom consider him to be a Hamedanite, but the absence of the god Reyam from his writings weakens this possibility. Most likely, he is from a tribe called “Jart,” mentioned above from “Samhar.” As for how he reached the palace of government in Ma’rib, it is a mysterious matter whose secrets may be revealed. New archaeological discoveries in Yemen. This problem faces researchers from the nineteenth century, as mystery still surrounds many aspects of the country’s history.

Kings of Hamdan

Old Sana'a, it was mentioned in the Musnad texts in the form "San'u", which is derived from "Musan'a" and the word 'Musanna' means fort. It was the most important center of Hamadan families throughout the ancient and modern history of Yemen

The country entered the third century BC, and researchers listed the name of a king as “Nasir Yahaman.” There is a consensus that he was from the Hamadan tribe, but there is disagreement about whether he was a king or not. John Philby considered him a king and inaugurated the fourth royal dynasty of Sheba with him, but texts were received by people belonging to Hamadan in which they referred to “Nasir Yahaman” as “Amirahmu” (prince), and the title of king was not included before his name without this prince in a writing in which he thanked God for the safety of him and his family on the occasion of the construction of the city. He ended the text by asking their god to increase the power and influence of the people of Hamadan, which is a common thing in Yemen. Although the epithet “Yahaman” is an epithet of reverence, this tribal leader did not consider himself to be less than the king. He was influential and had forces and followers. This statement initiated a gesture of independence. Tribal leaders and their challenge to central authority. There is no doubt that the Sabaean king during the days of this Hamadani prince was weak, otherwise the sons of Hamadan would have mentioned him instead of ignoring him and called him the name of their sheikh.

The name of a king called Wahbael Jahaz I was mentioned, behind the weak king whose name the tribes did not care to mention in their writings, in the middle of the third century BC. The text of the days of this king was recorded by a man called “Rab-Um” from the “Dosum” tribe (Dos). It is believed that this Dos It is the tribe known as “Al-Dusi”. They are considered by the Azd newsmen to have presented a statue to the god Ilmaqah, thanking him for fulfilling their demands and protecting them in all their conquests, and that they were satisfied and found favor with the king of Sheba and Habeel-Jahaz. This is the only inscription discovered so far that refers to this tribe and does not indicate that “ “Lord of Om” this was a king, and it has not been discovered until now that a family of the tribes that the people of the news consider to be the Azd were the kings of Sheba, Fuhab’il Yahaz Hamdani, even though these Azd claimed that they were kings of Sheba and invented many myths and stories behind this claim in Islamic times and the passage of centuries and long generations. After the fall of the kingdom.

But the writing written by this “Rab Aum” Al-Dusi refers to a war, and indeed many written texts were received from the leaders of “Dhi-Khulan” (Khulan) and “Marthad bin Bakal” (Bakil) referring to the wars of Habiel Yahaz with the leader of “Raydan” (Himyar), called “Dhamar Ali” is the oldest text that refers to the attempt of the Himyarites to seize the kingship from Sheba. It was mentioned in the text written by the leader of Bakil in the city of “Sana’u” (Sana’a), and it is the oldest writing that refers to it as well. Another text came from the Hamadan tribe in which they referred to the god Al-Maqqa and their own god. Rayam sought to defeat them and made them close to the king of Sheba, “and Hebael Jahaz,” and he agreed with their tribe, “Hashdum” (Hashid), in disciplining the “Arabs” (the Bedouins) who had transgressed against “their masters and lords, the kings of Sheba.” “And they asked the god Al-Maqqa to extend his blessings upon them for the sake of Athtar and Al-Maqqa, their protector and their father, the god Talib Riyam. What is noticeable in these texts is that the Sabaeans distinguished themselves in the texts from the Bedouins. They did not care to mention their names. This was intensified in their contempt, unlike the Bedouin Sabaeans. They used to mention Kinda and Madhhij, even though they were Bedouins, but they were Sabaeans. This also indicates that the Bedouins who were “educated” by the Hashid fighters were strangers to them, and the leaders of the tribes mentioned in the text, namely “Hashdum” (Hashid) and “Marthad bin Bakil” (Bakil), used to call themselves “Olk of Sheba” after the name of the actual king, which is And Hebael Jahaz, and so did “Rab Aum” Al-Dusi, even though he did not refer to himself as a king. This has several indications that the leaders of Hamadan were self-ruling their lands and considered themselves kings participating in the rule of Hebael Jahaz, who in turn belonged to them.

The influence of the Hamadan tribe in the country began to increase, and the mention of “Fishan” disappeared, and the names of the tribes of “Dhu-Khulan” (Khawlan) appeared. However, the Sabaean texts explicitly refer to the Khawlan as being from “Dhu Raydan” (Himyar). Researchers of the German school believe that “Wahbael Jahaz” did not He was not a king, so nothing is known about his father. He was not mentioned in any text. It is believed that he was from among the people and led a revolt against the original kings of Sheba in a time and circumstance that researchers do not know about. The rule continued after that in the hands of the kings of Hamadan, under the rule of his son, “Karbil Watar V,” after his death, which was mentioned in a text. He appointed a leader from the Hashed to head “Mahar,” and “Mahar” is a council for deliberation and consultation of laws

During the reign of this king, many writings were recorded to refer to him when building houses or offering sacrifices, and a writing with important significance was discovered about a new god that had not appeared before, which is the heavenly god (owner of the sky). Researchers date the period of Karbiel Watar V to the beginning of the second century BC, and it seems that his reign He was calm and stable, as evidenced by the many texts thanking the gods for the abundant harvest and keeping “envy” away from them. However, this king made a decision that angered the people of Ma’rib, which was to appoint a man from the Ghayman region as their administrative ruler. They did not like this appointment, as the people of Ma’rib hated the people of Ghayman, so the people of Ma’rib protested and insisted. The king, the administrative governor, suppressed the protests with the force of the army, which is what happened

This king ruled for thirty years, until another man took power, namely Yarim Ayman, the leader of the Hashid tribe. The country entered a new phase, the phase of the Kingdom of Sheba and Dhu Raydan. The kings began to change their titles during this period and were keen to add the names of the lands they owned to their royal title. “Yarim Ayman” the Hashidi is considered the conqueror of a new breed of kings. Although those who came before him were Hamdanids as well, they were not from the Hashid. Fahmadan in the Musnad texts is not necessarily the name of a tribe, but rather a region, even if the genealogists and informants after Islam made it a person with a father named “Zaid,” and it was mentioned. Hamadan in the Musnad texts is in the form “Ardam Hamadan” (Land of Hamad), and the Nun at the end of the flag is the definite article, and Land Hamad means dry land with no vegetation.

The war between Hamadan and Himyar

Sheba included a large number of tribes, and the primary seat of government was in the city of “Marib” (Ma’rib). Each tribe, or rather union, ruled its lands independently, and at their head was a Qal or Dhu. These tribes might come to an understanding with each other or compete with kings over their authority. In the second century BC, Sheba was enjoying a stable situation interspersed with some disturbances, but there is no evidence of the weakness of the kingdom. The Greek writings of that period describe Sheba with much opulence. They described the Sabaeans as the most numerous of the Arab tribes. Their country was fertile, producing frankincense and incense. They described the city of Ma’rib as surrounded by With trees and “their king does not leave his palace and spends most of his time with women,” while the majority of the people were mostly merchants and farmers, and they mentioned that they were supplying Syria with gold and that they had close commercial relations with the Phoenicians, in the third century BC. These writings are better and more realistic than those that preceded Alexander’s campaigns. The Macedonian described the Sabaeans with many exaggerations, including that they had red winged snakes and other myths.

At the end of the second century BC, in the year 115 BC, Sheba and Hadhramaut allied and burned the capital of the Qataban Kingdom, Tannah. Since then, the Yemenis have considered the year 115 BC as the principle of their history. Before that, they dated their evidence in other ways, depending on specific incidents or on the names of kings, so they conclude Their evidence states that the specific act occurred in the year of such-and-such king without mentioning any numbers, but that changed beginning in the year 115 BC. As for the independence of Qataban, it occurred at the end of the fourth century BC until the end of the second century BC, after which it was integrated into Sheba again. This attack was a gesture. A long civil war between the Himyarites (sons of the god, the uncle of the greatest god, Qataban), the Sabaeans, and the Hadramis, during which alliances changed more than once, but there is no doubt that revenge for Qataban was one of the reasons for the Himyarites to continue fighting. This conflict to seize control of the king had a bad impact on Yemen, exhausting the kingdoms greatly, and diseases and epidemics spread. The Roman Empire is called “Arabia Felix”. The victor is exactly the same as the loser. There is no evidence that any of the combatants gained great gains from his war. Every writing about a victory is followed by another victory for the enemy. But there are other reasons for the outbreak of civil war that may go beyond the mere Himyarite desire for revenge. The Kingdom of Sheba was weakened in the late second century BC due to the decline of their maritime trade and their dominance of maritime trade on the Red Sea. This affected sources of income and pushed the ancient Yemenis to rely on agriculture to compensate for their losses from The decline in sea trade prompted the tribes to try to control all of the country and abolish the “federal” system that had prevailed.

Rise of Hashid

In the year 145 BC, the Hashid leader, Yarim Ayman, was able to usurp the throne in some way from Karbil Watar V. This was the beginning of a new dynasty of the Hamdanids led by “Yarim Ayman” and his son, Alhan Nafhan. “Yarim Ayman,” the Hashidite, it was said, was not a king, as evidenced by a text mentioning him himself. Regarding his success in the mission of reconciliation between the kings of Sheba, Hadhramaut, and Qataban, and concluding the text by thanking the god of the Hamadan tribe, Rayam sought to raise his status with the king of Sheba, “Karbil Watar Yahanam” (Karbil Watar V). It is believed that his success in the mission of reconciliation between the kings raised his status in their eyes, so he coveted the kingship. The king chose him as a mediator or negotiator on the side of Sheba with the neighboring kingdoms. It is not known how and when he became king of Sheba, but a text was written down by the leader of a Hamadan tribe called “Yarsam,” in which he thanks the Hamadan god “Talab Riyam” for the safety of his fortress “Riman Fortress” and to bless his land. And he concluded the text by asking Talib Riyam to bless the Sabaean kings, Jairim Ayman and Karbael Watar V. This is an indication that he received the title of king or participated in the rule of Sheba during the life of King Karbael Watar V. What is noted in the text and other texts discovered in this era is that the name Yarim Ayman precedes the name The original king of Sheba. There are other texts that mentioned Yarim Ayman alone without mentioning Karbael and the fifth string. Rather, they were satisfied with mentioning the supplication of Riam, the god of the Hamdanids, to the exclusion of the rest of the gods. This has many connotations, the most important of which is that the Hamdanids had been sitting on the throne of Sheba since the days of Habael and Jahaz, and that the sons of Hamadan used to take the names of their names and ignore them. Weak kings

Indeed, Lirim Ayman had two sons, they were Alhan Nafhan and Barg Yahrajab (Barg Yahrajab), and Karbil Watar had one son, Farea Yhanhab, who was the father of Eli Sharh Yahadhab, the leader of Bakil, who appeared in the second half of the first century BC. This is an indication of a dispute between the Hamdanids over the throne. Sheba. A recorded text came from a person called “Haan Ash’u” from “Al Yadum” in which he described the leader of Hamadan with the word “Amirhamu” (their prince), and what was meant was the son of a Hashid leader “Yarim Ayman.” The writing included this “Ha’an” thanking the god of the Hamdan tribe, Talab Rayam. For his survival in every battle he invaded, and for him to destroy, defeat, and overthrow every enemy of their people, “Hashdum” (Hashid). Not much is known about the period of Yarim Ayman’s rule as king, and when his son succeeded him, Alahan Nafhan (Alahan Nafhan, as Abu Muhammad al-Hamdani read it), so the text he wrote down is “Haan Ashua.” It indicates that he was a prince. This Alhan Nafahan came to power and included his son, “Shaer Uttar,” in power. The country was going through a difficult period, the king of Sheba was greatly diminished, and wars and conflicts broke out between it and the Himyarites and Hadramis.

Hashid tried to stabilize its king by strengthening its alliance with the Kingdom of Hadhramaut. A devotional text came from “Alahan Nafhan,” Ibn Yarim Ayman, in which he prayed to his god “Talab Riyam” to favor him in the negotiations with the King of Hadramaut, “let Abu Ghailan” so that they “brother completely.” » (They become brothers) against “Dhu Raydan” (Himyar). The negotiations between Hamadan and Hadhramaut were taking place in a place called “Dhat Ghilin” (Dhat Al-Ghail). The Hamdanids attacked Himyar from the north, and the Hadramis supported them from the east, and the Himyarites were defeated in the battle of “Dhat Arman” (Dhat Al-Ghail). Al-Aram) and another text was mentioned by the same king describing a battle between Hamadan and “The Khawlan” (Khawlan and “Umyanis ibn Sanhan”) and “Raydan” led by a Himyarite man or an ally of them called “Sabt ibn Ulayan.” The text ended with Talib thanking Riyam for his success to the Hamadanis in The battle and the destruction of the fields of the Khawlanis and their offering of their sons as hostages in exchange for loyalty, and the Khawlan tribe is a Himyarite tribe, while Sanhan according to the Ikhbaris is from Madhaj, but from the texts of the Musnad script it appears that they and Khawlan are of one origin. There is no text that refers to Khawlan unless it refers to them. There was another tribal leader from Hamadan and specifically from Bakil, and he is “ Osiel Rafshan, whom the texts of the Musnad script describe as saying “Shibam Aqyan,” and it is believed that what is meant by “Shibam Aqyan” is Shibam Kawkaban in the present-day Mahwit Governorate, the majority of whose population is still from Bakil. This Osiel launched a raid on “Araben” (the Arabs) and concluded the text with thanks “ “Remam” (Ream sought) for his success in “disciplining” them.

Another text came from the leader of Hamadan, “Ilhan Nafhan,” in which he prayed to his god to grant him success in concluding another alliance with the Hadhrami. The reason for this was that the king of the Hadhramaut Kingdom, “Yada Abu Ghaylan,” had died and his son, “Yada’el,” succeeded him. This is evidence that the Hamdanids, even if they called themselves the kings of Sheba, were captured. Others were threatening them and they saw the Himyarites as their biggest enemy. King Sha'ar Awtar, the son of the aforementioned "Ilhan", presented thirty gold statues of the god Talib Riyam to conciliate Hamadan by concluding a second alliance with Hadhramaut against Himyar. The title of Sha'r Awtar is the one who rallied himself as "King of Sheba" and did not mention Dhu Raydan (Himyar), which is an indication. Despite the victory at “Dhat Arman” and over Khawlan and Sanhan, Himyar had not yet been subjugated, but he mentioned an ancient Sabaean tribe called “Fishan” who had kingship over Sheba, including a large number of Makariba, as being from “Adammu” (his servants), and he claimed that the god Elmqah ordered him to fight the Himyarites. In Harib, which is a site in Ma’rib Governorate, Hamdan was victorious in this battle. Likewise, despite the ungratefulness of the tribes to them, they were the strongest and most organized tribal unions in that period.

A statue that was found in the village of Al-Faw, the capital of the Kingdom of Kinda. The disc on the head is a reference to the sun and the small ibex is a symbolic reference to the god Athtar.

The map of alliances changed, and a text was reported about a battle between Hamdan and mercenaries belonging to the king of the Kingdom of Hadhramaut, which ended with the victory of Hamdan and the seizure of Sha’ar Awtar over “Shabbut” (Shabwa), “Dhat Ghilam” (Dhat Ghil), “Dhat Gharban” (Dhat Al Gharb), and the appointment of “Muqtawa” ( An officer) called “Saad Ahras” to monitor the borders, and without “Saad Ahras” this is a writing in which he tells of an invasion he made on a site called “Sawarn” in the Al-Qatn District currently in Hadramaut, from which he took a lot of spoils and thanked his god “Talab Riyam” for healing him from the wounds he sustained in the battlefield. The battle was mentioned in another writing that tells the story of the battles with Hadhramaut led by three land forces and one from the sea, led by “Muhaqib bin Wazaan,” “Dhabn Athqaq,” “Asad bin Asaad,” and “Haitha’ bin Kalb.” They all thanked their god Elmaqah for the spoils they had taken in Shabwa and Qena, but he ignored them. The name of the god Talib Riam (the god of the Hamdan tribe) indicates that they were not Hamedanites, but rather from other tribes allied with them. Sha’ar Uttar tried to seize Dhofar (currently in the Sultanate of Oman) from the Kingdom of Hadhramaut. He headed out himself and fought several battles against the Hadramawt and won in them, but he was surprised by Bedouin forces loyal to Hadhramaut. He was forced to retreat to Ma'rib, but he took control of "Shabout" (Shabwa), which is the capital of the Hadhramaut Kingdom, and he sent the commander of his armies called "Saad Ahras bin Ghadab" to extend his control over Dhofar. It seems that the battle with Hadhramaut was decisive, so Hamdan took control of the Himyarites and Shabwa, the capital of the Hadhramaut Kingdom, and all the tribes joined. She pledged allegiance to the King of Sheba, and the evidence of his control over the Himyarites was his addition of “Dhu Raydan” to his royal title, so his title in the texts became “Sha’ar Uttar bin Dhi Bat’ bin Hashdum, King of Sheba and Dhu Raydan.”

After Hamadan's control over the Himyarites, Sha'r Uttar directed a force led by a commander named "Abu Karb bin Ahras" towards "Najran" (Najran) and "Ash'arn" (Asha'ari). He was victorious in the battles and was able to subdue the rebellion. Then he headed towards "Rabi'a Al Thawr", the village of Dhat Kholm. And the king of Kinda and Qahtan” (Rabi’a of Al Thawr, the lord of the village of Kahil (the village of Al-Faw) and the king of Kinda and Qahtan). The battles ended with the surrender of the king of the Kingdom of Kinda in Najd and the seizure of money and many horses by the Hamdanids and their allies. A brief text was received from Al-Kindi in which he thanked his god Ilmaqah for his success in a battle in favor of a king. Sheba Sha'r Uttar, which is a very brief text, does not provide any details. The Kinda tribe, which controlled Qaryat al-Faw at the time, entered into alliances against the Sabaeans, which led to disruption of the safety of the caravans leaving or returning to Yemen. Qaryat al-Faw was a strategic stop for the caravans, and as usual in Sabaean texts, it does not give a reason for wars The relationship between the Kingdom of Kindah and the kingdoms of Yemen was a relationship of tension and turmoil. Their lands were invaded by the Sabaeans and Maenites more than once, and they themselves invaded these kingdoms. This was clearly evident during the efforts of the Himyarites to overthrow Saba, despite the fact that they were Sabaeans. The Musnad texts refer to the Banu Kinda and Madhaj. Explicitly, with the word “Arabs of Sheba,” that is, Bedouins or Bedouins of Sheba, the Sabaean texts did not always refer to the kings of Kindah and Madhhij in a positive way, especially those recorded from the kings of Hamadan. The relationship between Kindah and Madhhij is very close, and no text has been discovered that refers to a battle between them. On the contrary, all victories and all defeats appear. They were more like a single body in those ancient times

Himyari from Khawlan launched an attack on Ma'rib and destroyed the temple of the god Ilmqah. Sha'ar Uttar sent a force against Khawlan, inflicting great losses on them. The text concluded that what happened to the Khawlan tribe punishment and the punishment from the god Elmaqah. Despite the hostility of the Himyarites, the Hashidi helped them in various situations, as the Abyssinians on the opposite side tried to take advantage of the disturbances to find a foothold. They believed that this deterioration of the situation would enable them to expand. Ford stated that they tried to attack the Himyarites, so the poet of Uttar sent a force to track them down, and this is evidenced. An officer called “Lathi’ah Yarkhum” fought “Najshin” (the Negus), who “assaulted on his masters, the kings of Sheba,” as it is read from the text. He fought them from “Bahrn and Yabsan” (the sea and land), and cut off the heads of four hundred of their men, and pursued those of them who took refuge in Asir mentioned that he headed towards “Gedert king of Habasht” (Gedrat king of Abyssinia), which indicates that he took the sea towards their lands. He concluded the text by presenting a statue to the god Al-Maqqa who granted him many spoils and granted him a good, fertile land and asked him to bestow blessings on him, his land, and the lands of his tribe during the summer seasons. And in the winter of the last days of Sha'ar Awtar, other families appeared that shared the Hashid title of "King of Sheba and Dhi Raydan", a family from Bakil led by "Il Sharh Yahdhab" and his brother "Ya'azal" and two Himyarite families, one led by "Lazaz Yahnaf Yasdiq" (Al-Aziz Yahnaf Yasdiq) and the other led by " “Lhatha’a Yarham,” which, if it indicates anything, indicates the state of chaos and fighting that prevailed in Sheba since the late second century BC. Sha’ar Utar died around the year 60 BC.

Rise of Bakil

One of the doors of Ghamdan Palace, built by the leader of Bakil Ili Sharh Yahdhab

The leadership of Hamdan moved to Bakil and they were located in “Hijr Sana’u” (Sana’a city). In those days, Himyar was divided into three parts: one group was forced to ally with Sha'ar Uttar, another group was forced to ally with Eli Sharh Yahdhab, and a third section remained independent and continued to fight the two leaders of the Hamadan tribe. Eli Sharh Yahdhab was a warrior king, and Sabaean texts were mentioned about him in his youth fighting to... At his father's side, his reign was turbulent like the rest of Hamadan's reign, until he became old and suffered from insomnia before his death due to the large number of turmoil and battles during his reign.

Il Sharh attacked the tribes of Raymah Governorate, mentioned in the text as “Raymat”, who are people from Khawlan, and defeated them. Il Sharh faced another battle with a leader named “Sahib bin Jayash”, and it is not known which tribe he was from, except that he fought fierce battles with Hamadan and they lasted for a period of time and did not Il Sharh went out to him himself. Rather, he sent a commander from the Hashid to take over the battles, which ended with the victory of “Nouf,” the designated Hashidi commander, and the submission of the head and hands of “Bin Jayash.” Il Sharh Yadhb in Sana’a. The Himyarites returned again under the leadership of “Shammar Dhi Raydan” and they fought in several battles with Il Sharh Yahdb. Hamadan and his supporters were dominant there, as is clear from the texts they wrote down themselves and many writings on places about which nothing is known in the current era, but there is no evidence that Shammar Al-Himyari was killed and returned to fortify himself in Sana’a, and the word Sana’a or “Sana’u” literally means the fortress, and it must have been A very impregnable fortress. Shammar took advantage of Il Sharh’s return to Sana’a to contact “Axmen” (the Kingdom of Axum). In a desperate move, he asked them for support against the Hamadan tribe. It seems that Il Sharh Yahdhab was aware of Shammar’s plan, so he went out at the head of one thousand five hundred knights and sixteen thousand riders on The camels pursued the Himyarites in Dhamar and in Asir, led by Il Sharh himself, while he directed other forces from Hamadan, including one thousand and twenty-six horsemen, to confront the supplies coming from Axum to help the Himyarites. He mentioned in a text that they were captured and some of them fled “disappointed,” in the words of his writer, and the Kingdom of Axum had It appeared at that time and tried to exploit the civil war and the state of fighting and conflict to find a foothold for itself in Yemen with the support and instruction of the Roman Empire. After the Romans discovered the monsoon winds and the decline of the Sabaeans’ maritime trade and their involvement in fierce disputes and rivalries, the Romans decided to make them “friends,” which was not friendship, but rather they wanted to subjugate Sheba. And all its lands and all of Yemen are subject to their rule either directly or through a “friendly” government.

Eli Sharh Yahdhab clashed with twenty-five groups. He began with a campaign against Al-Hudaydah, the closest region in Yemen to Bab Al-Mandab, which is in Tihama. Then he continued his march north to Asir (Jerash, as it is known in the texts of Al-Musnad), and fought battles against the Ak tribe, which is an ancient Tihami tribe that the people of the news consider to be from the Azd. “Ahzb Habasht” up to Jabal Jamdan, which is a site in the Khulais Governorate, north of Jeddah in present-day Saudi Arabia. These areas fell under the rule of the Abyssinians for a long time, as evidenced by the fact that the Greeks mentioned that the coast of “Cinaedocolpitae” (Kenana) is between a place called “Yimbo” and “Leith” ( Al-Layth Governorate) was subject to the Abyssinians, and they mentioned that under the coast of Kenana this was the Kingdom of Ma’in and then the Kingdom of Sheba. Heritage books mentioned that the Quraish used to call the Banu al-Harith bin Abd Manat, “Bani al-Mustaliq,” and the Banu al-Hun, and they were from Kenana, the Abyssinians, which is an indication of their submission to the Abyssinians and their mingling with them, but they did not They mention nothing about the reason for the name, nor about the borders of Ma’in and Sheba, and there is no archaeological research that addresses the history of the Hijaz. All that researchers currently have are the writings of the Greeks.

In any case, the King of Sheba and the leader of Bakil continued his march north and inflicted heavy losses on the inhabitants of those areas, took many spoils of livestock and livestock, captured large numbers, and returned to “Hijr Sana’u” (Sana’a). His palace was Ghamdan Palace, and the residents of the Jamdan Mountains in Khulais Governorate presented their children as hostages to him in exchange for loyalty. Najran revolted, and the many texts referring to cases of rebellion indicate the weakness of Sabaean control in that period. However, Il sent a force led by a Hashid officer called “Nouf” who besieged Najran for two months, killing 924 people, capturing 662, desecrating 68 cities, burning sixty thousand fields, and burying 97 wells. This was an extension of the humiliation of the people of Najran until they submitted and offered a thousand children hostage in exchange for their loyalty. Eli Sharh mentioned Najran as the name of a tribe. After he finished, he distributed “guides” (guides) to find out the locations of the dissidents and put down any rebellion. They told him that a group of them was still in Asir, and they were keen to To station themselves in areas far from their women and children so that Al-Bakili would not take them hostage, Eli Sharh ordered his army to kill them and track down those who tried to escape across the sea. When he returned, he did not return to Sana’a, but rather headed towards Ma’rib, where his brother “Yazel” was. A text was mentioned by a saying by the name of Rab Shams, “Say everything you want.” (It was said that Bakil Dhu Raydah, meaning the district of Raydah now) He presented two gold statues to the god Ilmaqah because it enabled him to support his master, Eli Sharh Yahdhab, and he humiliated his enemies and forced them to offer hostages and impose obedience. The “Shammar al-Himyari” revolution ended, and he led the army of Eli Sharh Yahdhab himself to seize Hadramaut.

The Himyarites gathered again under the leadership of “Karbil Dhu Raydan.” The Greeks mention in the same period that a Himyarite called “Karbil” was in control of the coast of Africa as far as Tanzania. It is not known how and when this happened, but it is an indication of the defeats they suffered that did not affect them much. With his brother “Yazal” towards the throne, which is a site in Radaa, the Himyarite forces retreated to Ibb, where the Himyarites are from, and Karbil fortified himself in a fort called “Zulman.” Not much is currently known about it, but there is an area in the north of Ibb called “Zulma” near Wadi Sahul, and Ibb is the land of the Himyarites. In their homeland, Il Sharh asked Karbiel to surrender, but he refused, so he stormed the fort and plundered what was in it. The battle ended with his surrender, and he was not killed because he was surprised by an attack from the Kinda tribe led by “Imru’ al-Qays ibn Awf.” He stated that his god inspired him and helped him to confront the attack. He captured Sayyid Kinda and made a pledge not to rebel against God. It is an indication of the nature of the priestly rule of the Kingdom of Sheba, as rebellion against the king is rebellion against the gods and the ruler of Kinda was a young man, and the location of the Kinda tribe at that time was in a place called Al-Qashm in Ma’rib.

Roman ruler of Egypt

The victories of Eli Sharh Yahdhab did not satisfy the Romans, and Augustus Caesar decided to facilitate a force led by the Roman governor of Egypt, Aelius Gallus, to seize and subdue Arabia Felix. There is no doubt that they contacted the Axumites on the opposite bank for help, and it is believed that they tried to take advantage of the Himyarite discord and were aware of it, but the Romans wanted to occupy The south of the Arabian Peninsula goes back to the days of Alexander the Great, but he died before achieving his goal, so Augustus Caesar tried to complete his vision. A text was provided by Eli with a great explanation. There is no doubt that he lived through the Roman campaign, as his name appears in the writings of Strabo, companion of Aelius Gallus, who tried to justify the failure of the campaign in various ways and methods, and there is an agreement between Modern-day researchers accused him of resorting to lies and justification, finding excuses for his friend Gallus, and placing the blame on their Nabataean guide, “Saleh,” because Strabo believed in the superiority and cultural and racial supremacy of the Romans over other people. No writing in the Musnad script was discovered about this campaign, and researchers hope to discover it one day, but a text has been provided to explain it. He refers to a foreign, hostile force that “dared to attack the gods of Sheba.” He thanked El, explaining the gods, and ordered the people of Sheba to thank them for their escape from it and for confronting it. The situation in Yemen was turbulent, so it is possible that the Roman army actually returned due to thirst, but the water resulting from the Ma’rib Dam was abundant, and Strabo mentioned that they besieged Ma’rib for six days. Access to water was available, which weakens the justification put forward by Strabo. Strabo mentioned that ten thousand Arabs confronted the Romans in Yemen, which is a huge number. He stated that the Romans killed them all, which is an exaggeration and a clear lie. If they killed this huge number, they would have remained in Yemen and there was no justification for their withdrawal. Eli Sharh Yahaddhab died after an illness. His affliction is evidenced by the receipt of many texts from his supporters praying to the gods to preserve and heal him. Il Sharh died in the year 20 BC or shortly after that, that is, several years after the campaign of Aelius Gallus, which was in the year 25 BC. The Qur’an referred to the capabilities of the Sabaean army in Surah An-Naml when it requested Queen of Sheba Advice from “the leaders” about the appropriate response to King Solomon’s message to them, and they responded to her, saying, according to the Qur’an: “They said, ‘We are the possessors of power and the possessors of mighty might, but the matter is yours, so consider what you will command.’” [An-Naml: 33] And if it is not found This queen has no trace of Solomon. However, Eli Sharh Yahdhab’s history is abundant in the writings of the people of the news. They knew him and even made him the father of Bilqis, as they claimed that her name was “Bilqis bint Eli Sharh.” There is no doubt that they meant by that Eli Sharh Yahdhab, so they made him a contemporary of Suleiman, and this is not true in any case. Suleiman, if there is any trace of him, lived. In the tenth century BC, that is, the days of the period of the priests on Sheba, and not the first century BC

The reign of Hamadan was full of turmoil and left a very bad impact on Yemen, as much of the agricultural land was desertified as a result of tribal disputes and wars, so much so that their leader became anxious and insomnia, or “disgusting” in the language of the Sabaeans, and many farmers were forced to leave and leave their work as a result of the turmoil and the cruelty of the landowners towards them, which cost these wars. The battles to gain control over the country carried a heavy price. They destroyed lives and barren lands because the tribes were too busy fighting for agriculture and production. They affected people’s psyches and made their livelihood difficult, as evidenced by the many texts asking the gods to grant them a blessing by stopping the fighting over the land of Sheba.

Attack on Muharram Balqis

Mahram Bilqis. The truth is that Bilqis has nothing to do with the name of the Sanctuary among the Sabaeans. Rather, the name was attached to him among the common people, and his Sabaean name is Ma’bad Baran or “Muharram Baran,” which means the Temple of Bara’.

The ruling of Watar Yahaman, who was the son of Eli. Explained by Yahdhab. Several texts were included during his reign, including a text to put down a new rebellion from Khawlan, and another text for tribal tribes thanking their gods for completing the construction of a water cistern. They concluded the text by mentioning the king’s name, and other texts for people asking the gods to bless them with male sons. The king continued in Bakil. King Nashkarb Yahaman was succeeded by his father, Watar Yahaman, and his reign was stable, and the people began to return to their normal state after the war, as indicated by the texts that talk about thanking the gods for answering the people’s requests and presenting them with statues of gold and silver, but two texts were mentioned about the rebellion of the first from Hadhramaut, and he was very young and was not recorded. King Bel “Muqtawa” (an officer) presented a golden statue for killing two men from there and suppressing the rebellion, but there is a text that refers to tribes that are mentioned for the first time in the texts of the Musnad, which are the “Hakam” tribes and a tribe called “Ghamd” and other tribes about which nothing is currently known. They abstained from He paid the taxes, so the king sent a large military force that took from them spoils and captured prisoners from the rule of a well-known tribe from Madhaj, one of whom was Al-Hakami. As for “Ghamd,” the orientalist, the researcher of the text, did not provide an opinion on it.

In the year 30 AD, the name of a king appeared called “Dhamar Ali Bin.” He ruled for fifteen years and not much is known about him. He was succeeded by his son, Karbiel Watar Yahanam. His name was found engraved on several coins. He ruled until the year 75 AD, after which Dhamar Ali Dharah ruled for five years. For years, not much is known about these three kings, but a text was reported about a rebellion in Ma’rib against Dhamar Ali Dharih, led by a man called “Lathi’ah bin Hamisa” from the “Shaddad” tribe, one of the Madhaj tribes. This Lathi’ah stormed the palace of government in Ma’rib and took refuge inside it, but he did not want to attack him. King Dhamar Ali Dharah was harmed, which is an indication that he was not present in Ma’rib at the time. A Sabaean officer named “Os’il” (Aws Ill) confronted him, liberated the palace, and sent a force to track down three hundred fighters belonging to the leader of the rebellion who fled from Ma’rib. He concluded the text by thanking God Ilmaqah for granting him success in bringing happiness. Over the heart of the king of Sheba and Dhu Raydan because he annihilated and killed all the rebels, and this Osiel was from Gaiman, which indicates the continued influence of Hamadan, but researchers are not sure exactly about the tribes of these kings. He reigned after Dhamar, Ali Dharah, his son Karbiel. Among the text was mentioned about a man from a tribe called “Hilal” whose name was “Harb” on his recovery from an illness that struck him after a battle in Hadramaut. Hadramaut came out under the leadership of “Yadiel” and harassed Sabaean sites in Al-Jawf Governorate and captured the city of Baraqish, so the king sent Karbiel Between a force led by a man called “Thuban,” and it was stated in a Hadrami text that “Mundhir” (a spy) informed the Hadramis about the supplies, so the Hadramis fortified themselves in Baraqish and wanted to lure the king to them, and in fact he went out to them himself, so the Hadramis attacked Ma’rib and wanted to sabotage the temple of Baran or “Muharram Bilqis,” as the Yemenis call it. Today, that attack cost the Hadramis two thousand of their men, and Karbiel ordered Ben to seize all the money, horses, and camels of the Hadramis, and to fight all their tribes, urban and Bedouin. There is a gap after this victory, as a new Himyarite dynasty appeared around the year 100 AD, which was the family of Yasser Yassidq I, from whose dynasty were the kings of the Himyarite Kingdom, but Things have not settled down for them yet, as they have faced many revolts from different families and tribes, all of them aspiring to power or to avenge a defeat they suffered. The country has become a theater of chaos. One war does not subside until another arises.

The last stages

A text came from the tribe of Bakil, thanking the gods for completing the construction of the “Mahar” (consultation council), and they concluded the text by mentioning the name of the king, “Yasser Siddiq, king of Sheba and Dhu Raydan,” which is an indication of the submission of Bakil, a Sabaean tribe, to the Himyarites in the end, and Yasser Siddiq is the father of Dhamar Ali Yahabar the First. Dhamar built a dam in Abyan and named it after his name. After Dhamar, his son Tharn Ya’ab ruled, and nothing is known about him. His son, Dhamar Ali Ya’habar II, succeeded him, and then Shammar Ya’harash I, and not much is known about them except their names appear on coins. An inscription was found referring to Dhamar Ali Ya’habr the first in Sana'a, which is an indication of his control over the most powerful centers of the Hamdanids, and Tharn Ya'ab sent envoys to Hadhramaut to congratulate its new king at the inauguration ceremony.

Until approximately the year 160 - 180 AD, a family of Himyarites was on the throne of Sheba, then a family from the Hashid evacuated it. How this happened is currently a mystery. Their first king after the evacuation of the Himyarites was King Rab Shams bin Nimran, and he ruled for twenty years. A text was mentioned that refers to a tribe called “Baljurash.” It is believed that It has a relationship with Baljurashi, and the Hasid king “Lord of the Sun of Nimran” fought a battle against them, and “Al-Muqtawa” (an officer) wrote down a text in which he thanked the gods Al-Maqh and Dhat Badan for his success in the battle and his salvation from a disease that had spread in the country at that time. The commander at the head of the battalion was a man called “Abdullah.” Athtar. Researchers believe that an epidemic spread in the Arabian Peninsula coming from India. Indeed, several texts were received of people thanking the gods for saving them from “Khom” (epidemic) and “death” who ruled after the Lord of the Sun, a king called “Sakhman becomes.” A few writings were found that refer to him. It was damaged, and then Saad Nimran ruled until the year 245 AD

Then the Himyarite family came to power again for mysterious reasons under the leadership of Al-Aziz Yahnaf Yamant, who was the father of Yasir Yahannam (Yan'am) and the grandfather of Shammar Yahrash, who was able to subjugate the tribes and is considered the founder of the Kingdom of Sheba, Dhu Raydan, Hadhramaut, and Yamant (the Himyarite Kingdom), in the year 275 AD, and the country entered a new phase, which is The period of absolute rule by the Himyarites. Shammar sent forces from Khawlan towards “Jerash” (Asir), Asir, to put down a rebellion that ended with the subjugation of those tribes. The battalion commander, “with the people of Asaad,” brought two thousand and four hundred Asir prisoners to Ma’rib, and he directed another force from “Sufyan,” who are currently one of the Khawlan tribes as well. He headed toward Hamadan and subjugated it, and Al-Sufyani thanked the gods for blessing him in his mission that he was assigned to, and for enabling him to strengthen the Ma’rib Dam and to erect barriers and barriers to prevent the torrents from diverting from their sweeping of the cities, to please his master, Shammar. Shammar benefited from Kinda and Madhaj during his efforts to annex Hadhramaut and then rid Najd, Bahrain, and Al-Ahsa from Al-Manathira was at an advanced stage in his reign. Kinda and Madhhij were strong Bedouins who loved invasion and fighting and were good at it. The Himyarite kings took advantage of them to intimidate their enemies with them.

Thus, the era of the Kingdom of Sheba ended and the Kingdom of Himyar arose after approximately one thousand two hundred years, interspersed with quite a few years of conflict, fighting, ups and downs, and what was discovered still represents a small percentage of this history, which is shrouded in darkness from all sides, and there is a great difference between researchers in the dating of many of the discovered texts. There are many gaps in the historical sequence of events. Archaeologists and anthropologists have rewritten the history of Yemen from the memoirs left by travelers such as Edward Glazer and Joseph Halevy, and they were not part of an organized archaeological mission. Modern exploratory campaigns are exposed to several obstacles, most notably the turbulent security situation in Yemen. Researchers hope that new research can be conducted that contributes to narrating the country’s ancient history more accurately. He explained

Slab with an inscription about the political activities of the kings of Sheba. Ancient South Arabian script appears. From Yemen, 2nd century CE. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul

Biblical tradition

The two names Sheba (spelled in Hebrew with shin) and Seba (spelled with samekh) are mentioned several times in the Bible with different genealogy. For instance, in the Generations of Noah [29] Seba, along with Dedan, is listed as a descendant of Noah's son Ham (as sons of Raamah, son of Cush). Later on in the Book of Genesis, [30] Sheba and Dedan are listed as names of sons of Jokshan, son of Abraham. Another Sheba is listed in the Table of Nations [31] as a son of Joktan, another descendant of Noah's son Shem.

There are several possible reasons for this confusion. One theory is that the Sabaeans established many colonies to control the trade routes and the variety of their caravan stations confused the ancient Israelites, as their ethnology was based on geographical and political grounds and not necessarily racial. [32] Another theory suggests that the Sabaeans hailed from the southern Levant and established their kingdom on the ruins of the Minaeans. [33]

The most famous claim to fame for the biblical land of Sheba was the story of the Queen of Sheba, who travelled to Jerusalem to question King Solomon, arriving in a large caravan with precious stones, spices and gold ( 1 Kings 10). The apocryphal Christian Arabic text Kitāb al-Magall ("Book of the Rolls"), [34] considered part of Clementine literature, and the Syriac Cave of Treasures, mention a tradition that after being founded by the children of Saba (son of Joktan), there was a succession of 60 female rulers up until the time of Solomon.

Josephus, in his Antiquities of the Jews, describes a place called Saba as a walled, royal city of Ethiopia that Cambyses II renamed as Meroë. He writes that "it was both encompassed by the Nile quite round, and the other rivers, Astapus and Astaboras", offering protection from both foreign armies and river floods. According to Josephus it was the conquering of Saba that brought great fame to a young Egyptian prince, simultaneously exposing his personal background as a slave child named Moses. [35]

Muslim tradition

In the Quran, Sheba is mentioned in surat an-Naml in a section that speaks of the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon. [36] The Quran mentions this ancient community along with other communities that were destroyed by God. [37]

Bilqis reclining in a garden, Persian miniature (ca. 1595), tinted drawing on paper
Illustration in a Hafez frontispiece: Bilqis enthroned, under a flying simurgh (c. 1539)

According to the Quran, Solomon commanded the Queen of Sheba to come to him as a subject, whereupon she appeared before him (an-Naml, 30–31, 45). Before the queen had arrived, Solomon had moved her throne to his place with the help of one who had knowledge from the scripture (Quran 27:40). She recognized the throne, which had been disguised, and finally accepted the faith of Solomon.

Muslim commentators such as al-Tabari, al-Zamakhshari, al-Baydawi supplement the story at various points. The Queen's name is given as Bilqis, probably derived from Greek παλλακίς or the Hebraised pilegesh, "concubine". [38] According to some he then married the Queen, while other traditions assert that he gave her in marriage to a tubba of Hamdan. [39] According to the Islamic tradition as represented by al-Hamdani, the queen of Sheba was the daughter of Ilsharah Yahdib, the Himyarite king of Najran. [40]

Although the Quran and its commentators have preserved the earliest literary reflection of the complete Bilqis legend, there is little doubt among scholars that the narrative is derived from a Jewish Midrash. [39]

Bible stories of the Queen of Sheba and the ships of Ophir served as a basis for legends about the Israelites traveling in the Queen of Sheba's entourage when she returned to her country to bring up her child by Solomon. [41] There is a Muslim tradition that the first Jews arrived in Yemen at the time of King Solomon, following the politico-economic alliance between him and the Queen of Sheba. [42]

Muslim scholars, including Ibn Kathir, related that the people of Sheba were Arabs from South Arabia. [43]

Ethiopian and Yemenite tradition

In the medieval Ethiopian cultural work called the Kebra Nagast, Sheba was located in Ethiopia. [44] Some scholars therefore point to a region in the northern Tigray and Eritrea which was once called Saba (later called Meroe), as a possible link with the biblical Sheba. [45] Donald N. Levine links Sheba with Shewa (the province where modern Addis Ababa is located) in Ethiopia. [46]

Traditional Yemenite genealogies also mention Saba, son of Qahtan; Early Islamic historians identified Qahtan with the Yoqtan ( Joktan) son of Eber ( Hūd) in the Hebrew Bible (Gen. 10:25-29). James A. Montgomery finds it difficult to believe that Qahtan was the biblical Joktan based on etymology. [47] [48]

Speculation on location

Modern historians agree that the heartland of the Sabaean civilization was located in the region around Marib and Sirwah, in what is now Yemen. [49] [50] They later expanded their presence into parts of North Arabia [50] and the Horn of Africa, in modern-day Ethiopia. [51]

Owing to the connection with the Queen of Sheba, the location has become closely linked with national prestige, and various royal houses claimed descent from the Queen of Sheba and Solomon. According to the medieval Ethiopian work Kebra Nagast, Sheba was located in Ethiopia. Ruins in many other countries, including Sudan, Egypt, Oman and Iran have been credited as being Sheba, but with only minimal evidence.

See also

References

  1. ^ . 2005. p. 68. ISBN  8884922119. {{ cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= ( help); Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) ( help); Unknown parameter |Title= ignored (|title= suggested) ( help)
  2. ^ Frzel Hommel History of the Ancient South Arabian Kingdoms, p. 64
  3. ^ Mlaker, Die Hierodulenlisten von Main nebst untersuchengen zur altsudarabischen Bechtgeschiclite und Chronologie, Leipzig, 1943 - Philby Background, P. 143
  4. ^ Alois Musil The Northern Hegaz, A Topographical Itinerary. Published Under the Patronage of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Arts and of Charles R. Crane p. 288
  5. ^ سيد القمني، الأسطورة والتراث ط 3 ج 151
  6. ^ سيد القمني، الأسطورة والتراث ط 3 ج 151
  7. ^ AFL Beeston: Studies in the History of Arabia. Vol II, Pre-Islamic Arabia. Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on Studies of Arabia 1984, pp. 149
  8. ^ H.St.J.B.Philby ,Arabian Highlands , P.260
  9. ^ Albert Dietrich: Minaioi. In: Der Kleine Pauly (KlP). Band 3, Stuttgart 1969, Sp. 1315–1316
  10. ^ INSCRIBED OLD SOUTH ARABIAN STICKS AND PALM-LEAF STALKS: AN INTRODUCTION AND A PALOGRAPHICAL APPROACH Jacques Ryckmans p.127
  11. ^ Albert Jamme,Inscriptions from Mahram Bilqis p.390
  12. ^ Freytag, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, Lexicon arabico-latinum (1837) Ch.4 p.21
  13. ^ Nicholas Clapp Sheba: Through the Desert in Search of the Legendary Queen p.204 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2001 ISBN 0-547-34501-1
  14. ^ محمد عبد القادر بافقيه، تاريخ اليمن القديم ص 53
  15. ^ Kremer, Alfred Von,Kulturgeschichte des Orients unter den Chalifen, vols. 1–2. Vienna, 1875–77. p.90
  16. ^ Le Museon, 1964, 3-4, P.473
  17. ^ Albert Jamme, South-Arabian Inscriptions from Mahram Bilqis P.137
  18. ^ W. H. Irvine Shakespear, In The Geogr. Journal, Lix., No. 5, “1922”, P.321
  19. ^ Procopius, The Secret History, translated by G. A. Williamson. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1966 p.180
  20. ^ Strabo's Geography XVI.iv.21
  21. ^ N. St. J. Groom,Frankincense and Myrrh: A Study of the Arabian Incense Trade Longman, 1981 p.44
  22. ^ strabo's geography book 16:28
  23. ^ Ben Abrahamson and Joseph Katz,Yosef Dhu Nuwas, a Sadducean King with Sidelocks p.28
  24. ^ بيرين، جاكلين : الفن في منطقة الجزيرة العربية في فترة ما قبل الإسلام، 1986 م، ص 28
  25. ^ A.F.L. Beeston: “The Religions of Pre-Islamic Yemen,” pp. 259–269
  26. ^ Le Museon, 1964, 3-4, P. 429, 431
  27. ^ Martin Hartmann, The Islamic East: The Arab question, attempts to archeology Yemen, p. 185
  28. ^ Martin Hartmann, The Islamic East: The Arab question, attempts to archeology Yemen, p. 185
  29. ^ Genesis 10:7.
  30. ^ Genesis 25:3.
  31. ^ Genesis 10:28.
  32. ^ Javad Ali, The Articulate in the History of Arabs before Islam Volume 7, p. 421.
  33. ^ HOMMEL, Südarabische Chrestomathie (Munich, 1892), p. 64.
  34. ^ "Kitab al-Magall".
  35. ^ Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews II.10.
  36. ^ Wheeler, Brannon (2002). Prophets in the Quran: An Introduction to the Quran and Muslim Exegesis. A&C Black. ISBN  978-0-8264-4956-6.
  37. ^ Qur'an 50:14
  38. ^ Georg Freytag (1837), "ﺑَﻠٔﻘَﻊٌ", Lexicon arabico-latinum, Schwetschke, p. 44a
  39. ^ a b E. Ullendorff (1991), "BILḲĪS", The Encyclopaedia of Islam, vol. 2 (2nd ed.), Brill, pp. 1219–1220
  40. ^ A. F. L. Beeston (1995), "SABAʾ", The Encyclopaedia of Islam, vol. 8 (2nd ed.), Brill, pp. 663–665
  41. ^ Haïm Zʿew Hirschberg; Hayyim J. Cohen (2007), "ARABIA", Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 3 (2nd ed.), Gale, p. 295
  42. ^ Yosef Tobi (2007), "QUEEN OF SHEBA", Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 16 (2nd ed.), Gale, p. 765
  43. ^ Brannon M. Wheeler. "People of the Well". A-Z of Prophets in Islam and Judaism.
  44. ^ Edward Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible (Oxford: University Press for the British Academy, 1968), p. 75
  45. ^ The Quest for the Ark of the Covenant: The True History of the Tablets of Moses, by Stuart Munro-Hay
  46. ^ Donald N. Levine, Wax and Gold: Tradition and Innovation in Ethiopia Culture (Chicago: University Press, 1972).
  47. ^ Maalouf, Tony (2003). "The Unfortunate Beginning (Gen. 16:1–6)". Arabs in the Shadow of Israel: The Unfolding of God's Prophetic Plan for Ishmael's Line. Kregel Academic. p. 45. ISBN  9780825493638. Archived from the original on 28 July 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2018. This view is largely based on the claim of Muslim Arab historians that their oldest ancestor is Qahtan, whom they identify as the biblical Joktan (Gen. 10:25–26). Montgomery finds it difficult to reconcile Joktan with Qahtan based on etymology.
  48. ^ Maqsood, Ruqaiyyah Waris. "Adam to the Banu Khuza'ah". Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2015-08-15.
  49. ^ Michael Wood, "The Queen Of Sheba", BBC History.
  50. ^ a b Nebes 2023, p. 299.
  51. ^ Nebes 2023, pp. 348, 350.

Bibliography

  • Alessandro de Maigret. Arabia Felix, translated Rebecca Thompson. London: Stacey International, 2002. ISBN  1-900988-07-0
  • Andrey Korotayev. Ancient Yemen. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995. ISBN  0-19-922237-1.
  • Andrey Korotayev. Pre-Islamic Yemen. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 1996. ISBN  3-447-03679-6.
  • Kenneth A. Kitchen: The World of Ancient Arabia Series. Documentation for Ancient Arabia. Part I. Chronological Framework & Historical Sources. Liverpool 1994.
  • Walter W. Müller: Skizze der Geschichte Altsüdarabiens. In: Werner Daum (ed.): Jemen. Pinguin-Verlag, Innsbruck / Umschau-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1987, OCLC  17785905, S. 50–56.
  • Walter W. Müller (Hrsg.), Hermann von Wissmann: Die Geschichte von Sabaʾ II. Das Grossreich der Sabäer bis zu seinem Ende im frühen 4. Jh. v. Chr. (= Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-historische Klasse. Sitzungsberichte. Vol. 402). Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1982, ISBN  3-7001-0516-9.
  • Nebes, Norbert (2023). "Early Saba and Its Neighbors". In Radner, Karen; Moeller, Nadine; Potts, D. T. (eds.). The Oxford History of the Ancient Near East: The Age of Persia. Vol. 5. Oxford University Press. pp. 299–375. ISBN  978-0-19-068766-3.
  • Jaroslav Tkáč: Saba 1. In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft (RE). Band I A,2, Stuttgart, 1920, Pp. 1298–1511.
  • Hermann von Wissmann: Zur Geschichte und Landeskunde von Alt-Südarabien (Sammlung Eduard Glaser. Nr. III = Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, philosophisch-historische Klasse, Sitzungsberichte. Band 246). Vienna: Böhlaus, 1964.
  • Hermann von Wissmann: Die Geschichte des Sabäerreiches und der Feldzug des Aelius Gallus. In: Hildegard Temporini: Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt. II. Principat. Ninth volume, First halfvolume. De Gruyter, Berlin/New York 1976, ISBN  3-11-006876-1, p. 308
  • Pietsch, Dana, Peter Kuhn, Thomas Scholten, Ueli Brunner, Holger Hitgen, and Iris Gerlach. "Holocene Soils and Sediments around Ma’rib Oasis, Yemen, Further Sabaean Treasures." The Holocene 20.5 (2010): 785-99. Print.
  • "Saba'", Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013. Web. 27 September 2013.

External links

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kingdom of Sheba
𐩪𐩨𐩱 ( Sabaic)
مملكة سبأ ( Arabic)
~1000 BCE–275 CE
Coat of arms of Sheba
Coat of arms
Location of Sheba
Capital Sirwah
Marib
Sanaa
Official languages Sabaic
Religion
Arabian polytheism
Demonym(s)Shebans
Government Monarchy
Mukarrib ( King) 
• 700–680 BCE
Karibi-ilu
• 620–600 BCE
Karib'il Watar
• 60–20 BCE
Ilīsharaḥ Yaḥḍub I
History 
• Established
~1000 BCE
• Disestablished
275 CE
Succeeded by
Himyar
Today part of  Yemen

Sheba ( /ˈʃbə/; Sabaean: 𐩪𐩨𐩱, romanized: S-b-ʾ Hebrew: שְׁבָא, romanizedŠəḇāʾ; Arabic: سبأ, romanizedSabaʾ; Geʽez: ሳባ, romanized: Sabaʾ) is an ancient kingdom mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and the Quran. It was the most powerful tribal federations in ancient Yemen. The Kingdom was able to form a federation that included the Kingdom of Hadhramaut, the Kingdom of Qataban, and the Kingdom of Ma’in [1] and other tribes affiliated with these kingdoms. The kingdom also established a number of colonies near the Levant and Mesopotamia as indicated in Assyrian texts and in the Old Testament. [2] [3] [4]

Since the eighth century BC, the Sabaeans had been worshiping the moon, the sun, and the planet Venus. In the fourth century BC, with the change of the ruling dynasty, the Sabaeans began to worship the idol of Riam, one of the ancestors of the Hamdanids, followed by the idols of the special tribes. [5] Each tribe had a special idol that followed the main Sabaean idols. [6] In addition to the Ibex, which also symbolizes the planet Venus, and in the first century BC, the Sabaeans began to abandon paganism and turned to worshiping one god, Rahmanan. [7] [8] The Kingdom was famous for its dams, the most famous of which was the ancient Marib Dam, and their control over the trade routes, the most important of which was the incense route, and they transferred their writing system. The ancient Musnad script refers to the sites they controlled in northern Arabia and northern Ethiopia, and they had another writing system known as the Zabur. [9] [10]

Etymology

Historians claim that Sheba is the name of the ancestor of an ancient Arab tribe, while modern historians believe that the word Sheba appears in inscriptions in the Musnad script, meaning a killer, a fighter, or a migrant. [11]

History

The ruins of the ancient city of Ma'rib can be seen from a distance, and the Greeks mentioned that its center was built on a mountain

Sheba was a kingdom that formed a tribal union in a specific geographical area, and at the head of the union was a priest called Makrab, which means “closer,” meaning the gods. [12] However, there were those who objected to this interpretation and interpreted it in a unified sense. [13] The union included a large number of tribes about which nothing is known in the current era. Most of them have disappeared for reasons. Unknown, with the exception of a number of tribes that still exist by name to this day, most notably Hamdan and Kinda Madhaj, which are the tribes that were explicitly mentioned by name. As for “Azd,” it was not mentioned by that name, but it was mentioned, but the names of tribes that the people of the news consider among them to be mentioned in the texts of the Musnad script are one of the sources for the history of ancient Yemen and the tribes. [14] Their presence mentioned above was in the form of sacrifices and sayings, and there is no text that any of them reached the level of distress. There are other tribes that adhere to this class, some of which were mentioned, such as “Dhi Ma’har”, “Dhi Khalil”, and “Dhi Sahar”, [15] so it seems that Hamadan was a land belonging to the Sabaeans and to them. Chiefs from the house of “Dhi Sami.” As for Kinda, some of them were present in the village of Al-Faw, near Wadi Al-Dawasir in present-day Saudi Arabia. The Sabaean texts refer to them as “those of the family of Thawr” and “the lords of the village of Kahil and Qahtan,” meaning the leaders of the village of Kahil and Qahtan, and Madhhij and its tribes were from Among them, the oldest inscription referring to them told of their joining a rebellion against the ruling families in Marib. [16] [17] The region of Yemen and the Kingdom of Sheba were mentioned frequently in the writings of the Greeks, who described them as saying that their country, called “Happy Arabia,” was one of the richest places in the Arabian Peninsula, and that the Sabaeans controlled the trade routes from Their country reaches the borders of Palestine. [18]

In Arab heritage books, the Ghassanids and Manathira are Sabaeans, while no text has been discovered referring to them by these names. The people of the news reported stories about that, including that the Ghassanids were called that when they descended into the Ghassan Water after their migration following the collapse of the Ma’rib Dam, which is not supported by unearthed stone evidence. At the same time, the Sabaean presence in the places of the Ghassanids and Manathira is supported by Assyrian inscriptions and Greek writings, even though their names did not appear explicitly except during the era of the Himyarite Kingdom. [19] It is believed that the Sabaean presence in those areas is not linked to a crack in the ancient Ma’rib Dam. The Assyrian text that refers to the Sabaeans in Taima goes back For a period, the Kingdom of Sheba was at its height. Strabo mentioned that the Sabaeans and the Nabataeans were the same people. This may show the confusion that the Romans fell into, but it is an indication of the presence of the Sabaeans near the Levant. He mentioned that their capital was “Mareiba” (Ma’rib). [20] Pliny the Elder mentioned that the Sabaeans controlled the islands. Many described them as a people of the "Sakonians", which is an indication that part of the Sabaeans were Bedouins. [21] According to Strabo, the Sconians are an Arab people living south of Mesopotamia. [22] The Sabaean activity was clear in the Nabatean regions, as evidenced by the mention of the name of a Sabaean king named "Zabad-el", who was the one who handed over the head of " Alexander Pallas, who fled to the Nabataean regions to escape the Ptolemies, to Ptolemy VI, and the Greeks would not have mentioned this had it not been for the Sabaean political influence in the region. [23]

But all these writings are very late and do not help researchers in determining the period of the emergence of the Sabaeans and their early stages. It is most likely that they were settling in the metropolis of Sarwah, a site near the ancient city of Ma’rib, and they did not differ from any other tribe, until they came up with a solution to benefit from rainwater, so they built a small dam in Sarwah to limit Water and it is believed that this was their first stage. There are no rivers in the Yemeni region that would help them in agriculture, and the rain yield was not high, which created a number of problems for them. The Sabaeans were keen to benefit from the small amount of rain by constructing their first small dam in the city of Sirwah. They were united by a tribal bond around the god Athtar, whom they made their father, and even the father of all humanity before. A number of tribes entered with them and brought their gods into that small community. [24] The tribes were able to reach an agreement and understanding regarding the gods, so they considered Al-Maqh (Al-Maqh), the god of a tribe called “Fishan”, the god of the moon, while Athtar, the main god of Sheba, was the god of the sun, to create a nervous bond that united this alliance against other alliances. Those close to them, who in turn gathered around their own gods, such as the Sabaeans, considered them fathers and that they had offspring and offspring from them. [25] It seems that this “Fishan” tribe was able to extend its influence in the early stages of the state until the god Al-Maqqa issued most of the Sabaean forms of worship in inscriptions starting from the eighth century BC. [26] The Sabaeans divided their tribes on this basis, and the connection of the tribe can be known from the Musnad script inscriptions with phrases such as “wald El-Maqh,” which means the sons of the god Ilmaqah. Other tribes such as Qataban, Ma’in, and Hadhramaut did the same thing with their tribes. [27] The Aws were one of the Azd-Azd tribes, among the sons of the god Wad, who was the god of the kingdom of Ma’in and not Sheba was a small kingdom that not much is known about yet. [28] It did not reach the size of any of the four main kingdoms in ancient Yemen.

The rule of the priests

It is believed that seventeen priests assumed power in Sheba, and the number may change with the increase of discoveries. It is believed that the first Makrib, or the first to call himself with this title, lived in the tenth century BC. The ancient Sabaean writings were unclear and short, but they improved over time, and the Sabaeans were keen to decorate and embellish their evidence. Later eras. This is the one who is in distress or the priest, “Samh Ali.” Several short writings were written in his time by a man named “Sabah bin Yath’ Karb” in which he mentioned the gods Al-Maqqah, Athtar, Dhath Ba’dan, the “Fishan” tribe, and the name of Al-Mukarib, which is an incomplete inscription. Another inscription dating back to the same period was discovered and is believed to be a continuation of the incomplete inscription, referring to Ibn Al-Mukkarib, whose name is “Yad’el.” Dharh” and their construction of an additional wall for the Awam Temple in Ma’rib indicates that the temple was built before this period and that what was done to it was merely repairs. Indeed, recent archaeological research conducted by the Canadian University of Calgary on the temple dates it back to the fourteenth century BC. However, it is barely known. Something about kings before the tenth century. The Canadian mission had barely completed its research when the mission returned due to the security disturbances and the concern of their guards appointed by the Yemeni government for their safety. In addition to the gods Athtar, Al-Maqah, and Dhath Hamim, a goddess named Hebes was mentioned in the inscription. It was said that she was the wife of the god Al-Maqqah, and Yadiel Dharah paid attention to it. This is by building temples, the most important of which is the Awam Temple. The texts talk about repairs and additions to it, and it is not yet known who ordered its construction.

Not many writings have been discovered about the Makaribah, and most of their discovered texts are in this style. Researchers have deduced that the son of Jedael-Derah had a son named “Simh-Ali-Yanuf,” and he was the third ruler in the list of rulers of Sheba. He ruled in partnership with a number of priests. They were also “Jadeel Bein” and “Yatha-Ammar,” who were his brothers. It appears that a number of tribal leaders donated to construct a number of repairs to the temple. He was a leader from an ancient tribe called “Dhu Yabaran” and the leader of another tribe called “Dhu Rahdan.” This nun that adorns the last names is the absolute definite article in the ancient southern Arab language and preceded the names of the leaders of those people. The word “mawdad” means a man who is courting the ruler and is close to him. Another text was discovered that talks about the donation of a man from a tribe called “Dhu Lahad” to build a “mrada” (wall) for a city called “Minya.” Yath’a Ammar Watar bin Yad’el Dharah renovated the construction of the temple of the goddess. HBS

During that period, the Sabaeans tried to go beyond the stage of the Medina Kingdom in Ma'rib and Sarwah, and they raided Al-Jawf and captured it from the Kingdom of Ma'in. They fenced its capital to be a starting point for their later raids to control the rest of the ancient Yemeni kingdoms and then the trade route. Al-Mukarrab was Yad'el bin Yath' Amir Watar, the leader of this campaign in At the same time, there is evidence of the presence of a Sabaean in the same period in the north of the Arabian Peninsula. In an Assyrian text written by King Sargon II, the name “Yatha’ Amr” was mentioned. Researchers differed as to what was meant as to whether he was the ruler of Saba’i in Ma’rib or the leader of a Sabaean tribe in areas close to the Assyrians. The Assyrian text tells that this “Yatha Amr” was presented as a gift to the king, but researchers disagreed about the reason and significance of this. There is no evidence that the Assyrians arrived in Yemen. The gift may have been from one of the leaders of the Sabaean colonies in southern Palestine, and most likely it was out of kindness to the Assyrians and to gain their trust in the Sabaean caravans that had a large trade in the markets of Iraq at that time, but the similarity of the names suggests that the gift was sent from Yemen, and if it was so, then it is more likely. The Assyrian invasion of “Adumatu” (Dumat al-Jandal) affected the Sabaean caravans, so the Sabaeans in Yemen worked to reduce any damage resulting from this invasion to their trade by offering a gift to convey a message to the Assyrians that they did not want war and to maintain the integrity of trade relations between them. Researchers estimated the period of the reign of “Yathia’ Watar” in the eighth century BC. He ruled after Yath’a ordered Watar. This son, Karbiel Bin, expanded and improved the city of “Nashq”, which is in Al-Jawf Governorate, and Karbiel Bin sent a gift to another Assyrian king, Sennacherib, and like the ancient text that refers to Yemenis presenting gifts of incense to the Pharaoh of Egypt. controlling Syria, the goal of the gift presented to the Assyrian king was to facilitate trade exchange between Iraq and Yemen and to gain the confidence of the Assyrians in the Sabaean caravans.

Ibn Karbiel, among the so-called Dhamar Ali Watar, assumed power. He made additional expansions to the city of Nashq, which originally belonged to the Kingdom of Ma’in. He built a small dam in it to contain the rainwater. These texts, despite their difficulty and scarcity, indicate that the Sabaeans were expanding gradually and slowly to seize the property of their neighbors, and not much is known about him except He ruled with the participation of his brother “Yatha Amr Bin,” who in turn pierced a number of rocks to create gaps through which the water would flow and provided them with new doors to increase water control. All of these projects were completed in the city of Ma’rib. The Sabaeans call the dam “Arman” (Al-Aram) in the texts of the Musnad script, and the city of Ma’rib flourished. During this period, which is believed to be in the eighth century BC, the city of Sirwah competed with the religious capital of the Sabaeans. Yath' Amr between this strengthened the fortresses of Al-Jawf that they had captured from the Ma'inites, took control of Abyan and built a dam there. Yath' Amr also participated in a makarib called Samh Ali Yanuf II and built another dam called "Rahab" to control rainwater. It is believed that this Rihab dam is the Ma'rib dam. The famous time of writing goes back to the year 750 BC (eighth century). The same al-Mukarrab (Yatha Amr Bin) built another “mardr’a” (wall) around a castle in Harib, which is a site on the borders of Shabwa, the capital of the Kingdom of Hadhramaut, and it contains evidence of Sabaean intentions to control the properties Gradually, while their neighbors were unaware of them, these castles and fortresses became launching pads for the fighters. Indeed, the aforementioned Mukarrab launched an attack on the Kingdom of Qataban and killed four thousand of them. He attacked the Kingdom of Ma’in and killed a number that researchers could not know due to the damage that befell the inscription. He also attacked Najran, and the death toll there was high, so he was killed. Forty-five thousand of the people of Najran. He captured sixty-three thousand and seized thirty-one thousand heads of livestock. He completely burned the cities and villages of Najran. He mentioned that Najran had a president named “Azrael.” The same Al-Mukarib carried out construction work. He ordered the construction of two additional gates to the city of Ma’rib, with two towers on each gate. The precious Balq stone. It was mentioned in language dictionaries that the Balq is “a stone in Yemen that illuminates what is behind it as it illuminates glass.” He built a dam called “Muqrin” to deliver water to Abyan and two additional dams, namely the “Manhit” and “Kahil” dams. He dug a number of flumes and widened the stream. The torrent for the Rihab Dam (Ma'rib Dam). These inscriptions indicate the superiority of the Sabaeans in building dams and their creativity in them. From their first small dam in the city of Sirwah, they expanded and built dams in all the cities and villages that they controlled and turned the desert of the southern Arabian Peninsula into agricultural land. Few civilizations in the ancient world thought of establishing such projects to overcome the difficult terrain of their countries, but they faced a major problem, which was delivering water to the mountainous heights. The names of five or six other priests were mentioned, but nothing important was mentioned about them or nothing important was discovered about them.

Abandoning divination and establishing a kingdom

Proceedings of Karbiel Watar I

In the seventh century BC, the monk Karbiel Watar changed his title to king. He began his rule as a ruler, without a long writing in the Musnad script, telling him when he became king. This king expanded the influence of Sheba and launched a military campaign that left twenty-nine thousand and six hundred dead and a larger number of prisoners. Researchers called his writing “The Writing of Sirwah” because it was written in the temple of the god Al-Maqqah in that city. This inscription is considered one of the most important Sabaean inscriptions discovered so far. Unfortunately, it has been neglected and many of the letters contained have been erased. The Egyptian sheikh of archaeologists, Ahmed Fakhry, stated that the inscription is subject to public tampering. The inscription began with the phrase:

'''This is what Karbiel Watar ibn Dhamar ordered to be written down by Ali Makrib of Sheba when he became king. This is for his god El Maqah and for his people, the people of Sheba.”

Part of the inscriptions found in Sirwah

The Temple of Elmaqah in northern Ethiopia, near Axum, is the oldest archaeological building in that country. The Sabaeans, who came from Yemen, were the first to live there and teach the indigenous people calligraphy. The building dates back to the seventh century BC, around the days of Karbiel Watar, or not long before him. The similarity in the architectural style of the temple to that existing one is noted. In the religious capital of Sheba, Sirwah

This king, as is clear from the inscription, was able to limit rainwater and irrigate the mountain highlands, so he covered the idols of the gods Athtar and Habes after thanking the god of Sheba, Al-Maqah, for enabling him to unite the people of Sheba, or “his coven,” as the text mentions, and their followers without distinction or class, and that the gods granted them good land. Until the waters irrigated all the lands of Sheba. Then he moved on to mention his locations to unify the tribes and kingdoms, and begins each location with the phrase “day.” The kingdom of Awsan was in Aden, or “Awsun,” which is translated as Aws, because the nun at the end of the flag is the definite article, as mentioned above. The kingdoms were most affected by his campaigns, and sixteen thousand of them were killed and fled. Some of them fled without specifying where they fled to. But he began his positions with a campaign against Al-Ma’afir, a land and tribe in Taiz that the informants attributed to Himyar, even though their mention is much earlier. It was stated that it was “the day of beating” (the day of beating) the masters and captains of Al-Ma’afir, and he burned their cities and villages, then he conquered “Dhulam,” “Dhabr,” and “Arwa.” He killed three thousand of them, captured eight thousand, and doubled their “fine” (fine) of livestock. He attacked “Dhahban Dhu Qashr” and “Sharjab” and seized Mount Isma and Wadi Sir and made them a waqf for the people of Sheba. Karbil Watar’s goal in this campaign was to reduce the influence of the Kingdom of Awsan on The Red Sea, even though Karbiel did not mention this in his writing and attributed the reason for his campaigns to a revelation from his god

Then he began talking about his campaign against Osun, killing sixteen thousand of them and capturing forty thousand. He ordered the burning of all their lands, the demolition of their king’s palace, and the removal of all writings and inscriptions on it, which may explain the lack of writings reported about Osun. He ordered that their king and the people’s pillows be offered as offerings to the god of Sheba, Elmqah. The king showed hatred and extreme cruelty against them specifically, and it seems that that kingdom was a strong kingdom and posed a threat to Sheba and began attacking neighboring kingdoms, so the Sabaean punishment was that the king and the people’s masters were offered offerings to the god of Sheba. In the beginning, the king ordered his soldiers to kill everyone they saw in front of them and to bring the masters of “Osun” (the Aws) before him. He decided to offer them as an offering to his god, then he ordered the people of Sheba to retreat. Karbiel set about burning and destroying all their cities until he reached the palace of “Mawdhum” and ordered its demolition and the removal of all writings and inscriptions. The reference to “Mawdhum” (Mawdhum) is an indication that the Aws were actually Ma’inite, because “Mawdhum” is the title of the rulers of the Kingdom of “Mawdhum.”

Then he went towards “Ramda” (Yafa), killed two thousand of them, captured five thousand, burned their cities completely, and ordered the annexation of their lands and “Dethanat” (Dathina), with the exception of the land of “Awdam” (Oud), who were the people of “Ramda” who left it and did not attack it because its sons venerated God. Saba Elmaqah, meaning they surrendered and submitted without resistance, in other words, then he talked about an area called “Anf” and “Rashay”, about which nothing is known, but then he mentioned Jardan, which is a valley in Shabwa, and all the cities belonging to “Sibun” (Siban, which is the name of a tribe from Hadhramaut) and “ Kahd, and the cities of Atakh, Mefa'ah, and Tartah, and the entire Abadan Valley up to the coast. He mentioned that everyone in these areas, whether soldiers, slaves, free men, money, or property, had become the property of Sheba and its god, Ilmqah. Then he ordered the return (gifting) of the lands "from under Dhu Usun" (which had fallen). In their hand) to the two gods Sin (god of the Kingdom of Hadhramaut) and Am (god of the Kingdom of Qataban) because they were allies with him in his campaigns, except that the people of “Khad” mentioned above rebelled, so he marched against them and killed five hundred people and took from them a thousand children hostage in exchange for loyalty, and two thousand weavers among them were captive and all their livestock and possessions.

The Kingdom of Nashq rebelled and was currently in Al-Bayda Governorate, along with another small kingdom called “Nash’an.” So Karbil Watar claimed that the god Athtar had informed him of this, so he killed a thousand of them and returned the lands to the ownership of Sheba again. He fenced all of their lands and forced them to settle the Sabaeans in their lands and build a temple to the god Al-Maqqa. Then he rose up. By annexing one of their dams to Sheba, leasing it to the king of a kingdom allied with the Sabaeans, and imposing an annual tribute on them to pay to Sheba. Then he moved on to talk about the small kingdom of Hurm and how it openly showed hostility to him, so he killed three thousand of them and captured five thousand, and seized one hundred and fifty thousand heads of cattle. Then he talked about a group of tribes called “Mahammar” who was killed. Of them, five thousand were killed, twelve thousand children were captured, and two hundred thousand sheep and cattle. He mentioned that they were in “Najran” (Najran), and he imposed on Najran a tribute to be paid to the god Ilmqah. He concluded the text by presenting a golden statue to the god Athtar, and with that he finished listing his locations to unify the country and moved on to speak. About his urban works.

Karbiel Watar’s campaigns had a great impact on the country. He burned all the cities that showed resistance to him, killed all the warriors, and continued to humiliate the people of the opposing villages. In fact, Karbiel Watar became a symbol for those who came after him, as evidenced by texts about people swearing in his name, and he was not the last ruler of Yemen to burn and kill the people of the villages. Completely surrendering was a policy known to the kings of Sheba and Himyar after them, and Hadhrami and Ma'inite writings in the same style were not discovered. Karbil Watar settled his “coven,” as he is mentioned in the Sabaean word, in all the places he recorded in the name of Sheba or in the name of the god Maqqa, and he moved on to talk about architecture, construction, and repair of irrigation systems. He raised his palace in Ma’rib and strengthened the foundations of its lower floor. Then he repaired the culverts and strengthened the walls of the dams. He registered many lands for his ownership, including “Dhu Habbab,” “Dhu Shammar,” “Dhu Fadhum,” and “Dhu Mahjam.” He mentioned a land called “Khandaf” and “Attab” and “Al-Warkh” and lands he seized from a tribal leader called “Yaqat Dhi Khawlun”, which is Khawlan, and he fenced many cities, including Rada’a, which had not been fenced before, and he fenced and fortified all the Sabaean lands, but he demolished the walls of the Hadhrami and Qataban cities, even though he gave them security on their lands. After these campaigns, the name of a goddess with two branches appeared, and the truth is that her name was mentioned In the form “that of Ghadran”, and since the nun is the definite article, its translation becomes “that of Ghadran”, and the language in the language is the capacity of money, so it seems that she was a goddess responsible for money and livelihood and what is related to them. An Assyrian text was discovered in the same period, about King Sennacherib receiving a gift from the King of Sheba. “Karb Ilu” is undoubtedly Karb Il Watar and has the same purpose, which is to secure the trade of the Sabaeans in Iraq. It is believed that the period of Sabaean expansion in Ethiopia occurred during this period, as texts in the Sabaean language were reported in northern Ethiopia and temples to the god Maqqa dating back to this period or not long before it. The nature of the Sabaean presence in northern Ethiopia near the historical region of Aksum is not known precisely. There were Sabaean colonies in those areas, undoubtedly, indicative of the transmission of the Musnad line to them, but the extent of its political connection to Ma’rib is not known. Many researchers believe that the Kingdom of Aksum, which appeared around the beginning of Birth or the first after that, they were an extension of this Sabaean colony, but it was not pure Sabaean, but rather they were the product of the marriage of the Sabaeans in those areas with the indigenous population.

Sarwah, the land of the Sabaeans and their source, was the capital of Sheba, but Karbil Watar made the city of Ma’rib the capital of his kingdom, where the dam was located. Since then, Ma’rib has been the capital of Sheba and a symbol of it. The remains of a number of palaces are still visible, most of which are buried underground, and only the columns are visible from them.

After unification

Karbiel Watar died and was succeeded by his son, “Simh Ali Dharah.” It is believed that he ruled in the late seventh century BC. Archaeologists were able to deduce a few aspects of his life, including his two sons, “Eli Sharh” and “Karbiel.” Not much is known about him or his sons, except for a text reported by Ifa’. Eli Sharh: This is a vow he had made to the gods, and he ordered his action to be immortalized in a witness in Musnad script for the people to see. They took over the rule in the kingdom, as the involvement of brothers in rule was a common thing in ancient Yemen. Ali Dhari had another brother, Ibn Karbiel Watar, and his name was Yad’el Bean, and nothing important was discovered about them. Except for a few writings by tribal leaders who thank their gods for fulfilling their demands and conclude their texts by mentioning the names of these kings, except for one of these texts that mentions the name of Bakil, a Yemeni tribe that still exists to this day. A king called “Yakrib Malik Watar” assumed power, and this king approved a law specifying taxes on Landowners and the military service assigned to the tribes. The law was sealed by listing his name and the names of the tribesmen who supported the decision, namely the tribes of “Dhu Hazfar,” “Dhu Karim,” “Dhu Thawr,” and “Dhu Khalil.” The text included the phrase “Sa’am Dhat Ilm,” meaning he heard or witnessed this. The media leaders of the aforementioned tribes or provinces. It is believed that he approved what was known as “federalism” among the Sabaeans. The king did not find any embarrassment in writing down texts in which the tribal leaders described themselves as kings, so he made each province autonomous and militarily affiliated with the kingdom in exchange for taxes paid by these provinces to the capital. The researchers made it a principle of wisdom. The beginning of the sixth century BC. This made it difficult for researchers to distinguish between kings and feudal leaders, as their opinions varied greatly about the meanings of the texts.

Then the king “Yatha Amr Bin Al-Thani” took over the rule and began his rule by offering a vow to the god Athtar, and the rest of the inscription was damaged. It was difficult for researchers to know the vow, but it was discovered about a rebellion from the Qatabanis and their imposition of their authority on the Sabaean regions. A Qataban text was mentioned of a king called “Yada’ Abu Yajal bin Dhamar Ali.” » It tells the story of his annexation of the lands of a tribe called “Dhahban”, “Ra’in”, and “Sabr” and making them the property of the god uncle, the greatest god of the Qataban gods. So a Sabaean priest called “Taba Karb” presided over the negotiations with Qataban and guarded trenches and built guard towers after the success of the negotiations, the outcome of which he did not mention. Until he mentioned that he had reached an agreement of some kind with the Kingdom of Qataban, he assumed power after “a matter was established between the two,” according to the opinion of researchers, his son, “Karbil Watar II,” who began his rule with a series of amendments to the tax laws, dug rivers and troughs, and built new water dams, and texts were mentioned. Of people mentioning the king and his son “Samh Ali”, including the writing displayed in the Louvre Museum in Paris and presented by a person called “Amimar bin Maadikarb”. Nothing worth mentioning was discovered about the life of “Smah Ali Yanuf II” nor about his son “Ili Sharh II”, and they all ruled in The fifth century BC, and most of the texts that scholars attribute to this era talk about reforms and agricultural work, and then the kingship of “Jadeel Ben III” and his son, “Dhamar Ali I.” Despite the monotony of the texts, it is an indication of the stability of matters politically, and it appears from the texts that the names of other gods appear, such as Wad, the largest god. The Kingdom of Ma’in, alongside the Sabaean gods, is evidence of the stability and political calm that prevailed in this period from the sixth century until the end of the fifth BC. Then “Eli Sharh bin Simh Ali Yanuf” reigned, and after him “Dhamar Ali Bin” was the brother of “Eli Sharh” and was “ Yidiel Watar, son of Dhamar Ali, was among those who assumed power after his father, in the middle of the fifth century BC. Then, “Karbil Watar IV” reigned in the beginning of the fourth century BC. There are many gaps in the historical sequence of this period due to the lack of discoveries, and all the researchers did was to collect The names of the kings are in lists without deducing much about political and social developments, but the mention of the gods of Sheba alongside gods and gods of other tribes in texts written by citizens is an indication of the political calm and understanding between the tribes.

A new royal dynasty

Part of a broken tombstone dating back to this period during the fifth or fourth century BC

According to John Philby in his book “The Background of Islam,” Karbiel Watar IV was the conclusion of a royal dynasty, after which a new royal dynasty appeared led by a king called “El-Karb-Yahnaam,” about whom an inscription was discovered north of Sana’a. A text was discovered that a king called “Wahbael” (Wahhab-il) arrived. To power, he was not from the ruling family called “Fishan,” and it is not known exactly which family he is from, except that a text dating back to his son “Anmar” refers to the god Talab Riam, who is the god of the Hamadan tribe, in the late fourth century BC. Little is known about “Wahbael.” And his son Anmar, but a text was mentioned by a person from the “Dhi Bat’” tribe, and this tribe is from the Hashid or “Hashdum” according to the texts of the Musnad. It is stated in the text that this Hashidi launched a military campaign, but its details are not known due to the damage that befell the writing, causing much of it to be lost, but it is clear that he presented a statue. To the god Talab Riam, who is the largest of the gods of Hamadan and their father according to their ancient beliefs. It was mentioned that King Anmar provided him with military forces to support him.

His son Dhamar Ali Dharh assumed power after “Anmar,” and nothing important was discovered about him. After him, “Nashkarb Ya’amen” assumed power, and the word “Ya’amen” means “to secure.” Several texts were mentioned dating back to his days, including the text of his repair of idols in the temple of the god Athtar that had been damaged. And another text for presenting twenty-four idols to the gods called “Sun” because they blessed his palace and its people. Then he mentioned the gods Ilmaqah and Athtar. It seems that the king suffered from a health problem, as evidenced by the text of the sayings of “Jart” of the leaders of a tribe called “Dhamri,” which belongs to a tribe called “Samhar,” according to the writing, and it is not known. Something about these tribes, and they were not mentioned in the writings of the lineage. They presented two bronze statues of “El-Maqh Baal-Awam” (El-Maqha, Lord of the Temple of Awam) to heal the king and that El-Maqha would continue to make them happy by granting their king health and wellness. A text was mentioned by a tribal leader from “Al-Jamil Al-Arj.” » The leaders of a tribe called “Maida” thanked their god El-Maqah for their return safe and sound after an invasion ordered by the king towards “Ardam Araban” (the land of the Arabs) and for their ability to recover what the Bedouins had stolen and taken captive. At the end of the text, they mentioned the gods Athtar, the One with Two Dimensions, the One with Lava, and the Sun.

It seems that Bedouins attacked a Sabaean caravan returning to Yemen, or perhaps the attack was on Sabaean farms. It is not known precisely what this “Arab land” is. Literally, it means “the land of the Arabs.” The word Arab in all ancient Semitic texts always refers to Bedouins and does not have a national connotation, and it began. It appears most clearly in Sabaean writings starting in the first century BC during the civil war between Hamadan and Himyar. The Bedouins took advantage of this disturbance, as usual, to plunder and plunder, and the kings benefited from them and subjugated them to their interests. The era of Nashkarb Ya'aman, or Yaman, was a stable era and seemed prosperous as evidenced by the many texts written by tribal leaders and ordinary people asking the gods to continue their blessings upon them and to increase these favors.

There is a difference between researchers about the tribe of this king, some of whom consider him to be a Hamedanite, but the absence of the god Reyam from his writings weakens this possibility. Most likely, he is from a tribe called “Jart,” mentioned above from “Samhar.” As for how he reached the palace of government in Ma’rib, it is a mysterious matter whose secrets may be revealed. New archaeological discoveries in Yemen. This problem faces researchers from the nineteenth century, as mystery still surrounds many aspects of the country’s history.

Kings of Hamdan

Old Sana'a, it was mentioned in the Musnad texts in the form "San'u", which is derived from "Musan'a" and the word 'Musanna' means fort. It was the most important center of Hamadan families throughout the ancient and modern history of Yemen

The country entered the third century BC, and researchers listed the name of a king as “Nasir Yahaman.” There is a consensus that he was from the Hamadan tribe, but there is disagreement about whether he was a king or not. John Philby considered him a king and inaugurated the fourth royal dynasty of Sheba with him, but texts were received by people belonging to Hamadan in which they referred to “Nasir Yahaman” as “Amirahmu” (prince), and the title of king was not included before his name without this prince in a writing in which he thanked God for the safety of him and his family on the occasion of the construction of the city. He ended the text by asking their god to increase the power and influence of the people of Hamadan, which is a common thing in Yemen. Although the epithet “Yahaman” is an epithet of reverence, this tribal leader did not consider himself to be less than the king. He was influential and had forces and followers. This statement initiated a gesture of independence. Tribal leaders and their challenge to central authority. There is no doubt that the Sabaean king during the days of this Hamadani prince was weak, otherwise the sons of Hamadan would have mentioned him instead of ignoring him and called him the name of their sheikh.

The name of a king called Wahbael Jahaz I was mentioned, behind the weak king whose name the tribes did not care to mention in their writings, in the middle of the third century BC. The text of the days of this king was recorded by a man called “Rab-Um” from the “Dosum” tribe (Dos). It is believed that this Dos It is the tribe known as “Al-Dusi”. They are considered by the Azd newsmen to have presented a statue to the god Ilmaqah, thanking him for fulfilling their demands and protecting them in all their conquests, and that they were satisfied and found favor with the king of Sheba and Habeel-Jahaz. This is the only inscription discovered so far that refers to this tribe and does not indicate that “ “Lord of Om” this was a king, and it has not been discovered until now that a family of the tribes that the people of the news consider to be the Azd were the kings of Sheba, Fuhab’il Yahaz Hamdani, even though these Azd claimed that they were kings of Sheba and invented many myths and stories behind this claim in Islamic times and the passage of centuries and long generations. After the fall of the kingdom.

But the writing written by this “Rab Aum” Al-Dusi refers to a war, and indeed many written texts were received from the leaders of “Dhi-Khulan” (Khulan) and “Marthad bin Bakal” (Bakil) referring to the wars of Habiel Yahaz with the leader of “Raydan” (Himyar), called “Dhamar Ali” is the oldest text that refers to the attempt of the Himyarites to seize the kingship from Sheba. It was mentioned in the text written by the leader of Bakil in the city of “Sana’u” (Sana’a), and it is the oldest writing that refers to it as well. Another text came from the Hamadan tribe in which they referred to the god Al-Maqqa and their own god. Rayam sought to defeat them and made them close to the king of Sheba, “and Hebael Jahaz,” and he agreed with their tribe, “Hashdum” (Hashid), in disciplining the “Arabs” (the Bedouins) who had transgressed against “their masters and lords, the kings of Sheba.” “And they asked the god Al-Maqqa to extend his blessings upon them for the sake of Athtar and Al-Maqqa, their protector and their father, the god Talib Riyam. What is noticeable in these texts is that the Sabaeans distinguished themselves in the texts from the Bedouins. They did not care to mention their names. This was intensified in their contempt, unlike the Bedouin Sabaeans. They used to mention Kinda and Madhhij, even though they were Bedouins, but they were Sabaeans. This also indicates that the Bedouins who were “educated” by the Hashid fighters were strangers to them, and the leaders of the tribes mentioned in the text, namely “Hashdum” (Hashid) and “Marthad bin Bakil” (Bakil), used to call themselves “Olk of Sheba” after the name of the actual king, which is And Hebael Jahaz, and so did “Rab Aum” Al-Dusi, even though he did not refer to himself as a king. This has several indications that the leaders of Hamadan were self-ruling their lands and considered themselves kings participating in the rule of Hebael Jahaz, who in turn belonged to them.

The influence of the Hamadan tribe in the country began to increase, and the mention of “Fishan” disappeared, and the names of the tribes of “Dhu-Khulan” (Khawlan) appeared. However, the Sabaean texts explicitly refer to the Khawlan as being from “Dhu Raydan” (Himyar). Researchers of the German school believe that “Wahbael Jahaz” did not He was not a king, so nothing is known about his father. He was not mentioned in any text. It is believed that he was from among the people and led a revolt against the original kings of Sheba in a time and circumstance that researchers do not know about. The rule continued after that in the hands of the kings of Hamadan, under the rule of his son, “Karbil Watar V,” after his death, which was mentioned in a text. He appointed a leader from the Hashed to head “Mahar,” and “Mahar” is a council for deliberation and consultation of laws

During the reign of this king, many writings were recorded to refer to him when building houses or offering sacrifices, and a writing with important significance was discovered about a new god that had not appeared before, which is the heavenly god (owner of the sky). Researchers date the period of Karbiel Watar V to the beginning of the second century BC, and it seems that his reign He was calm and stable, as evidenced by the many texts thanking the gods for the abundant harvest and keeping “envy” away from them. However, this king made a decision that angered the people of Ma’rib, which was to appoint a man from the Ghayman region as their administrative ruler. They did not like this appointment, as the people of Ma’rib hated the people of Ghayman, so the people of Ma’rib protested and insisted. The king, the administrative governor, suppressed the protests with the force of the army, which is what happened

This king ruled for thirty years, until another man took power, namely Yarim Ayman, the leader of the Hashid tribe. The country entered a new phase, the phase of the Kingdom of Sheba and Dhu Raydan. The kings began to change their titles during this period and were keen to add the names of the lands they owned to their royal title. “Yarim Ayman” the Hashidi is considered the conqueror of a new breed of kings. Although those who came before him were Hamdanids as well, they were not from the Hashid. Fahmadan in the Musnad texts is not necessarily the name of a tribe, but rather a region, even if the genealogists and informants after Islam made it a person with a father named “Zaid,” and it was mentioned. Hamadan in the Musnad texts is in the form “Ardam Hamadan” (Land of Hamad), and the Nun at the end of the flag is the definite article, and Land Hamad means dry land with no vegetation.

The war between Hamadan and Himyar

Sheba included a large number of tribes, and the primary seat of government was in the city of “Marib” (Ma’rib). Each tribe, or rather union, ruled its lands independently, and at their head was a Qal or Dhu. These tribes might come to an understanding with each other or compete with kings over their authority. In the second century BC, Sheba was enjoying a stable situation interspersed with some disturbances, but there is no evidence of the weakness of the kingdom. The Greek writings of that period describe Sheba with much opulence. They described the Sabaeans as the most numerous of the Arab tribes. Their country was fertile, producing frankincense and incense. They described the city of Ma’rib as surrounded by With trees and “their king does not leave his palace and spends most of his time with women,” while the majority of the people were mostly merchants and farmers, and they mentioned that they were supplying Syria with gold and that they had close commercial relations with the Phoenicians, in the third century BC. These writings are better and more realistic than those that preceded Alexander’s campaigns. The Macedonian described the Sabaeans with many exaggerations, including that they had red winged snakes and other myths.

At the end of the second century BC, in the year 115 BC, Sheba and Hadhramaut allied and burned the capital of the Qataban Kingdom, Tannah. Since then, the Yemenis have considered the year 115 BC as the principle of their history. Before that, they dated their evidence in other ways, depending on specific incidents or on the names of kings, so they conclude Their evidence states that the specific act occurred in the year of such-and-such king without mentioning any numbers, but that changed beginning in the year 115 BC. As for the independence of Qataban, it occurred at the end of the fourth century BC until the end of the second century BC, after which it was integrated into Sheba again. This attack was a gesture. A long civil war between the Himyarites (sons of the god, the uncle of the greatest god, Qataban), the Sabaeans, and the Hadramis, during which alliances changed more than once, but there is no doubt that revenge for Qataban was one of the reasons for the Himyarites to continue fighting. This conflict to seize control of the king had a bad impact on Yemen, exhausting the kingdoms greatly, and diseases and epidemics spread. The Roman Empire is called “Arabia Felix”. The victor is exactly the same as the loser. There is no evidence that any of the combatants gained great gains from his war. Every writing about a victory is followed by another victory for the enemy. But there are other reasons for the outbreak of civil war that may go beyond the mere Himyarite desire for revenge. The Kingdom of Sheba was weakened in the late second century BC due to the decline of their maritime trade and their dominance of maritime trade on the Red Sea. This affected sources of income and pushed the ancient Yemenis to rely on agriculture to compensate for their losses from The decline in sea trade prompted the tribes to try to control all of the country and abolish the “federal” system that had prevailed.

Rise of Hashid

In the year 145 BC, the Hashid leader, Yarim Ayman, was able to usurp the throne in some way from Karbil Watar V. This was the beginning of a new dynasty of the Hamdanids led by “Yarim Ayman” and his son, Alhan Nafhan. “Yarim Ayman,” the Hashidite, it was said, was not a king, as evidenced by a text mentioning him himself. Regarding his success in the mission of reconciliation between the kings of Sheba, Hadhramaut, and Qataban, and concluding the text by thanking the god of the Hamadan tribe, Rayam sought to raise his status with the king of Sheba, “Karbil Watar Yahanam” (Karbil Watar V). It is believed that his success in the mission of reconciliation between the kings raised his status in their eyes, so he coveted the kingship. The king chose him as a mediator or negotiator on the side of Sheba with the neighboring kingdoms. It is not known how and when he became king of Sheba, but a text was written down by the leader of a Hamadan tribe called “Yarsam,” in which he thanks the Hamadan god “Talab Riyam” for the safety of his fortress “Riman Fortress” and to bless his land. And he concluded the text by asking Talib Riyam to bless the Sabaean kings, Jairim Ayman and Karbael Watar V. This is an indication that he received the title of king or participated in the rule of Sheba during the life of King Karbael Watar V. What is noted in the text and other texts discovered in this era is that the name Yarim Ayman precedes the name The original king of Sheba. There are other texts that mentioned Yarim Ayman alone without mentioning Karbael and the fifth string. Rather, they were satisfied with mentioning the supplication of Riam, the god of the Hamdanids, to the exclusion of the rest of the gods. This has many connotations, the most important of which is that the Hamdanids had been sitting on the throne of Sheba since the days of Habael and Jahaz, and that the sons of Hamadan used to take the names of their names and ignore them. Weak kings

Indeed, Lirim Ayman had two sons, they were Alhan Nafhan and Barg Yahrajab (Barg Yahrajab), and Karbil Watar had one son, Farea Yhanhab, who was the father of Eli Sharh Yahadhab, the leader of Bakil, who appeared in the second half of the first century BC. This is an indication of a dispute between the Hamdanids over the throne. Sheba. A recorded text came from a person called “Haan Ash’u” from “Al Yadum” in which he described the leader of Hamadan with the word “Amirhamu” (their prince), and what was meant was the son of a Hashid leader “Yarim Ayman.” The writing included this “Ha’an” thanking the god of the Hamdan tribe, Talab Rayam. For his survival in every battle he invaded, and for him to destroy, defeat, and overthrow every enemy of their people, “Hashdum” (Hashid). Not much is known about the period of Yarim Ayman’s rule as king, and when his son succeeded him, Alahan Nafhan (Alahan Nafhan, as Abu Muhammad al-Hamdani read it), so the text he wrote down is “Haan Ashua.” It indicates that he was a prince. This Alhan Nafahan came to power and included his son, “Shaer Uttar,” in power. The country was going through a difficult period, the king of Sheba was greatly diminished, and wars and conflicts broke out between it and the Himyarites and Hadramis.

Hashid tried to stabilize its king by strengthening its alliance with the Kingdom of Hadhramaut. A devotional text came from “Alahan Nafhan,” Ibn Yarim Ayman, in which he prayed to his god “Talab Riyam” to favor him in the negotiations with the King of Hadramaut, “let Abu Ghailan” so that they “brother completely.” » (They become brothers) against “Dhu Raydan” (Himyar). The negotiations between Hamadan and Hadhramaut were taking place in a place called “Dhat Ghilin” (Dhat Al-Ghail). The Hamdanids attacked Himyar from the north, and the Hadramis supported them from the east, and the Himyarites were defeated in the battle of “Dhat Arman” (Dhat Al-Ghail). Al-Aram) and another text was mentioned by the same king describing a battle between Hamadan and “The Khawlan” (Khawlan and “Umyanis ibn Sanhan”) and “Raydan” led by a Himyarite man or an ally of them called “Sabt ibn Ulayan.” The text ended with Talib thanking Riyam for his success to the Hamadanis in The battle and the destruction of the fields of the Khawlanis and their offering of their sons as hostages in exchange for loyalty, and the Khawlan tribe is a Himyarite tribe, while Sanhan according to the Ikhbaris is from Madhaj, but from the texts of the Musnad script it appears that they and Khawlan are of one origin. There is no text that refers to Khawlan unless it refers to them. There was another tribal leader from Hamadan and specifically from Bakil, and he is “ Osiel Rafshan, whom the texts of the Musnad script describe as saying “Shibam Aqyan,” and it is believed that what is meant by “Shibam Aqyan” is Shibam Kawkaban in the present-day Mahwit Governorate, the majority of whose population is still from Bakil. This Osiel launched a raid on “Araben” (the Arabs) and concluded the text with thanks “ “Remam” (Ream sought) for his success in “disciplining” them.

Another text came from the leader of Hamadan, “Ilhan Nafhan,” in which he prayed to his god to grant him success in concluding another alliance with the Hadhrami. The reason for this was that the king of the Hadhramaut Kingdom, “Yada Abu Ghaylan,” had died and his son, “Yada’el,” succeeded him. This is evidence that the Hamdanids, even if they called themselves the kings of Sheba, were captured. Others were threatening them and they saw the Himyarites as their biggest enemy. King Sha'ar Awtar, the son of the aforementioned "Ilhan", presented thirty gold statues of the god Talib Riyam to conciliate Hamadan by concluding a second alliance with Hadhramaut against Himyar. The title of Sha'r Awtar is the one who rallied himself as "King of Sheba" and did not mention Dhu Raydan (Himyar), which is an indication. Despite the victory at “Dhat Arman” and over Khawlan and Sanhan, Himyar had not yet been subjugated, but he mentioned an ancient Sabaean tribe called “Fishan” who had kingship over Sheba, including a large number of Makariba, as being from “Adammu” (his servants), and he claimed that the god Elmqah ordered him to fight the Himyarites. In Harib, which is a site in Ma’rib Governorate, Hamdan was victorious in this battle. Likewise, despite the ungratefulness of the tribes to them, they were the strongest and most organized tribal unions in that period.

A statue that was found in the village of Al-Faw, the capital of the Kingdom of Kinda. The disc on the head is a reference to the sun and the small ibex is a symbolic reference to the god Athtar.

The map of alliances changed, and a text was reported about a battle between Hamdan and mercenaries belonging to the king of the Kingdom of Hadhramaut, which ended with the victory of Hamdan and the seizure of Sha’ar Awtar over “Shabbut” (Shabwa), “Dhat Ghilam” (Dhat Ghil), “Dhat Gharban” (Dhat Al Gharb), and the appointment of “Muqtawa” ( An officer) called “Saad Ahras” to monitor the borders, and without “Saad Ahras” this is a writing in which he tells of an invasion he made on a site called “Sawarn” in the Al-Qatn District currently in Hadramaut, from which he took a lot of spoils and thanked his god “Talab Riyam” for healing him from the wounds he sustained in the battlefield. The battle was mentioned in another writing that tells the story of the battles with Hadhramaut led by three land forces and one from the sea, led by “Muhaqib bin Wazaan,” “Dhabn Athqaq,” “Asad bin Asaad,” and “Haitha’ bin Kalb.” They all thanked their god Elmaqah for the spoils they had taken in Shabwa and Qena, but he ignored them. The name of the god Talib Riam (the god of the Hamdan tribe) indicates that they were not Hamedanites, but rather from other tribes allied with them. Sha’ar Uttar tried to seize Dhofar (currently in the Sultanate of Oman) from the Kingdom of Hadhramaut. He headed out himself and fought several battles against the Hadramawt and won in them, but he was surprised by Bedouin forces loyal to Hadhramaut. He was forced to retreat to Ma'rib, but he took control of "Shabout" (Shabwa), which is the capital of the Hadhramaut Kingdom, and he sent the commander of his armies called "Saad Ahras bin Ghadab" to extend his control over Dhofar. It seems that the battle with Hadhramaut was decisive, so Hamdan took control of the Himyarites and Shabwa, the capital of the Hadhramaut Kingdom, and all the tribes joined. She pledged allegiance to the King of Sheba, and the evidence of his control over the Himyarites was his addition of “Dhu Raydan” to his royal title, so his title in the texts became “Sha’ar Uttar bin Dhi Bat’ bin Hashdum, King of Sheba and Dhu Raydan.”

After Hamadan's control over the Himyarites, Sha'r Uttar directed a force led by a commander named "Abu Karb bin Ahras" towards "Najran" (Najran) and "Ash'arn" (Asha'ari). He was victorious in the battles and was able to subdue the rebellion. Then he headed towards "Rabi'a Al Thawr", the village of Dhat Kholm. And the king of Kinda and Qahtan” (Rabi’a of Al Thawr, the lord of the village of Kahil (the village of Al-Faw) and the king of Kinda and Qahtan). The battles ended with the surrender of the king of the Kingdom of Kinda in Najd and the seizure of money and many horses by the Hamdanids and their allies. A brief text was received from Al-Kindi in which he thanked his god Ilmaqah for his success in a battle in favor of a king. Sheba Sha'r Uttar, which is a very brief text, does not provide any details. The Kinda tribe, which controlled Qaryat al-Faw at the time, entered into alliances against the Sabaeans, which led to disruption of the safety of the caravans leaving or returning to Yemen. Qaryat al-Faw was a strategic stop for the caravans, and as usual in Sabaean texts, it does not give a reason for wars The relationship between the Kingdom of Kindah and the kingdoms of Yemen was a relationship of tension and turmoil. Their lands were invaded by the Sabaeans and Maenites more than once, and they themselves invaded these kingdoms. This was clearly evident during the efforts of the Himyarites to overthrow Saba, despite the fact that they were Sabaeans. The Musnad texts refer to the Banu Kinda and Madhaj. Explicitly, with the word “Arabs of Sheba,” that is, Bedouins or Bedouins of Sheba, the Sabaean texts did not always refer to the kings of Kindah and Madhhij in a positive way, especially those recorded from the kings of Hamadan. The relationship between Kindah and Madhhij is very close, and no text has been discovered that refers to a battle between them. On the contrary, all victories and all defeats appear. They were more like a single body in those ancient times

Himyari from Khawlan launched an attack on Ma'rib and destroyed the temple of the god Ilmqah. Sha'ar Uttar sent a force against Khawlan, inflicting great losses on them. The text concluded that what happened to the Khawlan tribe punishment and the punishment from the god Elmaqah. Despite the hostility of the Himyarites, the Hashidi helped them in various situations, as the Abyssinians on the opposite side tried to take advantage of the disturbances to find a foothold. They believed that this deterioration of the situation would enable them to expand. Ford stated that they tried to attack the Himyarites, so the poet of Uttar sent a force to track them down, and this is evidenced. An officer called “Lathi’ah Yarkhum” fought “Najshin” (the Negus), who “assaulted on his masters, the kings of Sheba,” as it is read from the text. He fought them from “Bahrn and Yabsan” (the sea and land), and cut off the heads of four hundred of their men, and pursued those of them who took refuge in Asir mentioned that he headed towards “Gedert king of Habasht” (Gedrat king of Abyssinia), which indicates that he took the sea towards their lands. He concluded the text by presenting a statue to the god Al-Maqqa who granted him many spoils and granted him a good, fertile land and asked him to bestow blessings on him, his land, and the lands of his tribe during the summer seasons. And in the winter of the last days of Sha'ar Awtar, other families appeared that shared the Hashid title of "King of Sheba and Dhi Raydan", a family from Bakil led by "Il Sharh Yahdhab" and his brother "Ya'azal" and two Himyarite families, one led by "Lazaz Yahnaf Yasdiq" (Al-Aziz Yahnaf Yasdiq) and the other led by " “Lhatha’a Yarham,” which, if it indicates anything, indicates the state of chaos and fighting that prevailed in Sheba since the late second century BC. Sha’ar Utar died around the year 60 BC.

Rise of Bakil

One of the doors of Ghamdan Palace, built by the leader of Bakil Ili Sharh Yahdhab

The leadership of Hamdan moved to Bakil and they were located in “Hijr Sana’u” (Sana’a city). In those days, Himyar was divided into three parts: one group was forced to ally with Sha'ar Uttar, another group was forced to ally with Eli Sharh Yahdhab, and a third section remained independent and continued to fight the two leaders of the Hamadan tribe. Eli Sharh Yahdhab was a warrior king, and Sabaean texts were mentioned about him in his youth fighting to... At his father's side, his reign was turbulent like the rest of Hamadan's reign, until he became old and suffered from insomnia before his death due to the large number of turmoil and battles during his reign.

Il Sharh attacked the tribes of Raymah Governorate, mentioned in the text as “Raymat”, who are people from Khawlan, and defeated them. Il Sharh faced another battle with a leader named “Sahib bin Jayash”, and it is not known which tribe he was from, except that he fought fierce battles with Hamadan and they lasted for a period of time and did not Il Sharh went out to him himself. Rather, he sent a commander from the Hashid to take over the battles, which ended with the victory of “Nouf,” the designated Hashidi commander, and the submission of the head and hands of “Bin Jayash.” Il Sharh Yadhb in Sana’a. The Himyarites returned again under the leadership of “Shammar Dhi Raydan” and they fought in several battles with Il Sharh Yahdb. Hamadan and his supporters were dominant there, as is clear from the texts they wrote down themselves and many writings on places about which nothing is known in the current era, but there is no evidence that Shammar Al-Himyari was killed and returned to fortify himself in Sana’a, and the word Sana’a or “Sana’u” literally means the fortress, and it must have been A very impregnable fortress. Shammar took advantage of Il Sharh’s return to Sana’a to contact “Axmen” (the Kingdom of Axum). In a desperate move, he asked them for support against the Hamadan tribe. It seems that Il Sharh Yahdhab was aware of Shammar’s plan, so he went out at the head of one thousand five hundred knights and sixteen thousand riders on The camels pursued the Himyarites in Dhamar and in Asir, led by Il Sharh himself, while he directed other forces from Hamadan, including one thousand and twenty-six horsemen, to confront the supplies coming from Axum to help the Himyarites. He mentioned in a text that they were captured and some of them fled “disappointed,” in the words of his writer, and the Kingdom of Axum had It appeared at that time and tried to exploit the civil war and the state of fighting and conflict to find a foothold for itself in Yemen with the support and instruction of the Roman Empire. After the Romans discovered the monsoon winds and the decline of the Sabaeans’ maritime trade and their involvement in fierce disputes and rivalries, the Romans decided to make them “friends,” which was not friendship, but rather they wanted to subjugate Sheba. And all its lands and all of Yemen are subject to their rule either directly or through a “friendly” government.

Eli Sharh Yahdhab clashed with twenty-five groups. He began with a campaign against Al-Hudaydah, the closest region in Yemen to Bab Al-Mandab, which is in Tihama. Then he continued his march north to Asir (Jerash, as it is known in the texts of Al-Musnad), and fought battles against the Ak tribe, which is an ancient Tihami tribe that the people of the news consider to be from the Azd. “Ahzb Habasht” up to Jabal Jamdan, which is a site in the Khulais Governorate, north of Jeddah in present-day Saudi Arabia. These areas fell under the rule of the Abyssinians for a long time, as evidenced by the fact that the Greeks mentioned that the coast of “Cinaedocolpitae” (Kenana) is between a place called “Yimbo” and “Leith” ( Al-Layth Governorate) was subject to the Abyssinians, and they mentioned that under the coast of Kenana this was the Kingdom of Ma’in and then the Kingdom of Sheba. Heritage books mentioned that the Quraish used to call the Banu al-Harith bin Abd Manat, “Bani al-Mustaliq,” and the Banu al-Hun, and they were from Kenana, the Abyssinians, which is an indication of their submission to the Abyssinians and their mingling with them, but they did not They mention nothing about the reason for the name, nor about the borders of Ma’in and Sheba, and there is no archaeological research that addresses the history of the Hijaz. All that researchers currently have are the writings of the Greeks.

In any case, the King of Sheba and the leader of Bakil continued his march north and inflicted heavy losses on the inhabitants of those areas, took many spoils of livestock and livestock, captured large numbers, and returned to “Hijr Sana’u” (Sana’a). His palace was Ghamdan Palace, and the residents of the Jamdan Mountains in Khulais Governorate presented their children as hostages to him in exchange for loyalty. Najran revolted, and the many texts referring to cases of rebellion indicate the weakness of Sabaean control in that period. However, Il sent a force led by a Hashid officer called “Nouf” who besieged Najran for two months, killing 924 people, capturing 662, desecrating 68 cities, burning sixty thousand fields, and burying 97 wells. This was an extension of the humiliation of the people of Najran until they submitted and offered a thousand children hostage in exchange for their loyalty. Eli Sharh mentioned Najran as the name of a tribe. After he finished, he distributed “guides” (guides) to find out the locations of the dissidents and put down any rebellion. They told him that a group of them was still in Asir, and they were keen to To station themselves in areas far from their women and children so that Al-Bakili would not take them hostage, Eli Sharh ordered his army to kill them and track down those who tried to escape across the sea. When he returned, he did not return to Sana’a, but rather headed towards Ma’rib, where his brother “Yazel” was. A text was mentioned by a saying by the name of Rab Shams, “Say everything you want.” (It was said that Bakil Dhu Raydah, meaning the district of Raydah now) He presented two gold statues to the god Ilmaqah because it enabled him to support his master, Eli Sharh Yahdhab, and he humiliated his enemies and forced them to offer hostages and impose obedience. The “Shammar al-Himyari” revolution ended, and he led the army of Eli Sharh Yahdhab himself to seize Hadramaut.

The Himyarites gathered again under the leadership of “Karbil Dhu Raydan.” The Greeks mention in the same period that a Himyarite called “Karbil” was in control of the coast of Africa as far as Tanzania. It is not known how and when this happened, but it is an indication of the defeats they suffered that did not affect them much. With his brother “Yazal” towards the throne, which is a site in Radaa, the Himyarite forces retreated to Ibb, where the Himyarites are from, and Karbil fortified himself in a fort called “Zulman.” Not much is currently known about it, but there is an area in the north of Ibb called “Zulma” near Wadi Sahul, and Ibb is the land of the Himyarites. In their homeland, Il Sharh asked Karbiel to surrender, but he refused, so he stormed the fort and plundered what was in it. The battle ended with his surrender, and he was not killed because he was surprised by an attack from the Kinda tribe led by “Imru’ al-Qays ibn Awf.” He stated that his god inspired him and helped him to confront the attack. He captured Sayyid Kinda and made a pledge not to rebel against God. It is an indication of the nature of the priestly rule of the Kingdom of Sheba, as rebellion against the king is rebellion against the gods and the ruler of Kinda was a young man, and the location of the Kinda tribe at that time was in a place called Al-Qashm in Ma’rib.

Roman ruler of Egypt

The victories of Eli Sharh Yahdhab did not satisfy the Romans, and Augustus Caesar decided to facilitate a force led by the Roman governor of Egypt, Aelius Gallus, to seize and subdue Arabia Felix. There is no doubt that they contacted the Axumites on the opposite bank for help, and it is believed that they tried to take advantage of the Himyarite discord and were aware of it, but the Romans wanted to occupy The south of the Arabian Peninsula goes back to the days of Alexander the Great, but he died before achieving his goal, so Augustus Caesar tried to complete his vision. A text was provided by Eli with a great explanation. There is no doubt that he lived through the Roman campaign, as his name appears in the writings of Strabo, companion of Aelius Gallus, who tried to justify the failure of the campaign in various ways and methods, and there is an agreement between Modern-day researchers accused him of resorting to lies and justification, finding excuses for his friend Gallus, and placing the blame on their Nabataean guide, “Saleh,” because Strabo believed in the superiority and cultural and racial supremacy of the Romans over other people. No writing in the Musnad script was discovered about this campaign, and researchers hope to discover it one day, but a text has been provided to explain it. He refers to a foreign, hostile force that “dared to attack the gods of Sheba.” He thanked El, explaining the gods, and ordered the people of Sheba to thank them for their escape from it and for confronting it. The situation in Yemen was turbulent, so it is possible that the Roman army actually returned due to thirst, but the water resulting from the Ma’rib Dam was abundant, and Strabo mentioned that they besieged Ma’rib for six days. Access to water was available, which weakens the justification put forward by Strabo. Strabo mentioned that ten thousand Arabs confronted the Romans in Yemen, which is a huge number. He stated that the Romans killed them all, which is an exaggeration and a clear lie. If they killed this huge number, they would have remained in Yemen and there was no justification for their withdrawal. Eli Sharh Yahaddhab died after an illness. His affliction is evidenced by the receipt of many texts from his supporters praying to the gods to preserve and heal him. Il Sharh died in the year 20 BC or shortly after that, that is, several years after the campaign of Aelius Gallus, which was in the year 25 BC. The Qur’an referred to the capabilities of the Sabaean army in Surah An-Naml when it requested Queen of Sheba Advice from “the leaders” about the appropriate response to King Solomon’s message to them, and they responded to her, saying, according to the Qur’an: “They said, ‘We are the possessors of power and the possessors of mighty might, but the matter is yours, so consider what you will command.’” [An-Naml: 33] And if it is not found This queen has no trace of Solomon. However, Eli Sharh Yahdhab’s history is abundant in the writings of the people of the news. They knew him and even made him the father of Bilqis, as they claimed that her name was “Bilqis bint Eli Sharh.” There is no doubt that they meant by that Eli Sharh Yahdhab, so they made him a contemporary of Suleiman, and this is not true in any case. Suleiman, if there is any trace of him, lived. In the tenth century BC, that is, the days of the period of the priests on Sheba, and not the first century BC

The reign of Hamadan was full of turmoil and left a very bad impact on Yemen, as much of the agricultural land was desertified as a result of tribal disputes and wars, so much so that their leader became anxious and insomnia, or “disgusting” in the language of the Sabaeans, and many farmers were forced to leave and leave their work as a result of the turmoil and the cruelty of the landowners towards them, which cost these wars. The battles to gain control over the country carried a heavy price. They destroyed lives and barren lands because the tribes were too busy fighting for agriculture and production. They affected people’s psyches and made their livelihood difficult, as evidenced by the many texts asking the gods to grant them a blessing by stopping the fighting over the land of Sheba.

Attack on Muharram Balqis

Mahram Bilqis. The truth is that Bilqis has nothing to do with the name of the Sanctuary among the Sabaeans. Rather, the name was attached to him among the common people, and his Sabaean name is Ma’bad Baran or “Muharram Baran,” which means the Temple of Bara’.

The ruling of Watar Yahaman, who was the son of Eli. Explained by Yahdhab. Several texts were included during his reign, including a text to put down a new rebellion from Khawlan, and another text for tribal tribes thanking their gods for completing the construction of a water cistern. They concluded the text by mentioning the king’s name, and other texts for people asking the gods to bless them with male sons. The king continued in Bakil. King Nashkarb Yahaman was succeeded by his father, Watar Yahaman, and his reign was stable, and the people began to return to their normal state after the war, as indicated by the texts that talk about thanking the gods for answering the people’s requests and presenting them with statues of gold and silver, but two texts were mentioned about the rebellion of the first from Hadhramaut, and he was very young and was not recorded. King Bel “Muqtawa” (an officer) presented a golden statue for killing two men from there and suppressing the rebellion, but there is a text that refers to tribes that are mentioned for the first time in the texts of the Musnad, which are the “Hakam” tribes and a tribe called “Ghamd” and other tribes about which nothing is currently known. They abstained from He paid the taxes, so the king sent a large military force that took from them spoils and captured prisoners from the rule of a well-known tribe from Madhaj, one of whom was Al-Hakami. As for “Ghamd,” the orientalist, the researcher of the text, did not provide an opinion on it.

In the year 30 AD, the name of a king appeared called “Dhamar Ali Bin.” He ruled for fifteen years and not much is known about him. He was succeeded by his son, Karbiel Watar Yahanam. His name was found engraved on several coins. He ruled until the year 75 AD, after which Dhamar Ali Dharah ruled for five years. For years, not much is known about these three kings, but a text was reported about a rebellion in Ma’rib against Dhamar Ali Dharih, led by a man called “Lathi’ah bin Hamisa” from the “Shaddad” tribe, one of the Madhaj tribes. This Lathi’ah stormed the palace of government in Ma’rib and took refuge inside it, but he did not want to attack him. King Dhamar Ali Dharah was harmed, which is an indication that he was not present in Ma’rib at the time. A Sabaean officer named “Os’il” (Aws Ill) confronted him, liberated the palace, and sent a force to track down three hundred fighters belonging to the leader of the rebellion who fled from Ma’rib. He concluded the text by thanking God Ilmaqah for granting him success in bringing happiness. Over the heart of the king of Sheba and Dhu Raydan because he annihilated and killed all the rebels, and this Osiel was from Gaiman, which indicates the continued influence of Hamadan, but researchers are not sure exactly about the tribes of these kings. He reigned after Dhamar, Ali Dharah, his son Karbiel. Among the text was mentioned about a man from a tribe called “Hilal” whose name was “Harb” on his recovery from an illness that struck him after a battle in Hadramaut. Hadramaut came out under the leadership of “Yadiel” and harassed Sabaean sites in Al-Jawf Governorate and captured the city of Baraqish, so the king sent Karbiel Between a force led by a man called “Thuban,” and it was stated in a Hadrami text that “Mundhir” (a spy) informed the Hadramis about the supplies, so the Hadramis fortified themselves in Baraqish and wanted to lure the king to them, and in fact he went out to them himself, so the Hadramis attacked Ma’rib and wanted to sabotage the temple of Baran or “Muharram Bilqis,” as the Yemenis call it. Today, that attack cost the Hadramis two thousand of their men, and Karbiel ordered Ben to seize all the money, horses, and camels of the Hadramis, and to fight all their tribes, urban and Bedouin. There is a gap after this victory, as a new Himyarite dynasty appeared around the year 100 AD, which was the family of Yasser Yassidq I, from whose dynasty were the kings of the Himyarite Kingdom, but Things have not settled down for them yet, as they have faced many revolts from different families and tribes, all of them aspiring to power or to avenge a defeat they suffered. The country has become a theater of chaos. One war does not subside until another arises.

The last stages

A text came from the tribe of Bakil, thanking the gods for completing the construction of the “Mahar” (consultation council), and they concluded the text by mentioning the name of the king, “Yasser Siddiq, king of Sheba and Dhu Raydan,” which is an indication of the submission of Bakil, a Sabaean tribe, to the Himyarites in the end, and Yasser Siddiq is the father of Dhamar Ali Yahabar the First. Dhamar built a dam in Abyan and named it after his name. After Dhamar, his son Tharn Ya’ab ruled, and nothing is known about him. His son, Dhamar Ali Ya’habar II, succeeded him, and then Shammar Ya’harash I, and not much is known about them except their names appear on coins. An inscription was found referring to Dhamar Ali Ya’habr the first in Sana'a, which is an indication of his control over the most powerful centers of the Hamdanids, and Tharn Ya'ab sent envoys to Hadhramaut to congratulate its new king at the inauguration ceremony.

Until approximately the year 160 - 180 AD, a family of Himyarites was on the throne of Sheba, then a family from the Hashid evacuated it. How this happened is currently a mystery. Their first king after the evacuation of the Himyarites was King Rab Shams bin Nimran, and he ruled for twenty years. A text was mentioned that refers to a tribe called “Baljurash.” It is believed that It has a relationship with Baljurashi, and the Hasid king “Lord of the Sun of Nimran” fought a battle against them, and “Al-Muqtawa” (an officer) wrote down a text in which he thanked the gods Al-Maqh and Dhat Badan for his success in the battle and his salvation from a disease that had spread in the country at that time. The commander at the head of the battalion was a man called “Abdullah.” Athtar. Researchers believe that an epidemic spread in the Arabian Peninsula coming from India. Indeed, several texts were received of people thanking the gods for saving them from “Khom” (epidemic) and “death” who ruled after the Lord of the Sun, a king called “Sakhman becomes.” A few writings were found that refer to him. It was damaged, and then Saad Nimran ruled until the year 245 AD

Then the Himyarite family came to power again for mysterious reasons under the leadership of Al-Aziz Yahnaf Yamant, who was the father of Yasir Yahannam (Yan'am) and the grandfather of Shammar Yahrash, who was able to subjugate the tribes and is considered the founder of the Kingdom of Sheba, Dhu Raydan, Hadhramaut, and Yamant (the Himyarite Kingdom), in the year 275 AD, and the country entered a new phase, which is The period of absolute rule by the Himyarites. Shammar sent forces from Khawlan towards “Jerash” (Asir), Asir, to put down a rebellion that ended with the subjugation of those tribes. The battalion commander, “with the people of Asaad,” brought two thousand and four hundred Asir prisoners to Ma’rib, and he directed another force from “Sufyan,” who are currently one of the Khawlan tribes as well. He headed toward Hamadan and subjugated it, and Al-Sufyani thanked the gods for blessing him in his mission that he was assigned to, and for enabling him to strengthen the Ma’rib Dam and to erect barriers and barriers to prevent the torrents from diverting from their sweeping of the cities, to please his master, Shammar. Shammar benefited from Kinda and Madhaj during his efforts to annex Hadhramaut and then rid Najd, Bahrain, and Al-Ahsa from Al-Manathira was at an advanced stage in his reign. Kinda and Madhhij were strong Bedouins who loved invasion and fighting and were good at it. The Himyarite kings took advantage of them to intimidate their enemies with them.

Thus, the era of the Kingdom of Sheba ended and the Kingdom of Himyar arose after approximately one thousand two hundred years, interspersed with quite a few years of conflict, fighting, ups and downs, and what was discovered still represents a small percentage of this history, which is shrouded in darkness from all sides, and there is a great difference between researchers in the dating of many of the discovered texts. There are many gaps in the historical sequence of events. Archaeologists and anthropologists have rewritten the history of Yemen from the memoirs left by travelers such as Edward Glazer and Joseph Halevy, and they were not part of an organized archaeological mission. Modern exploratory campaigns are exposed to several obstacles, most notably the turbulent security situation in Yemen. Researchers hope that new research can be conducted that contributes to narrating the country’s ancient history more accurately. He explained

Slab with an inscription about the political activities of the kings of Sheba. Ancient South Arabian script appears. From Yemen, 2nd century CE. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul

Biblical tradition

The two names Sheba (spelled in Hebrew with shin) and Seba (spelled with samekh) are mentioned several times in the Bible with different genealogy. For instance, in the Generations of Noah [29] Seba, along with Dedan, is listed as a descendant of Noah's son Ham (as sons of Raamah, son of Cush). Later on in the Book of Genesis, [30] Sheba and Dedan are listed as names of sons of Jokshan, son of Abraham. Another Sheba is listed in the Table of Nations [31] as a son of Joktan, another descendant of Noah's son Shem.

There are several possible reasons for this confusion. One theory is that the Sabaeans established many colonies to control the trade routes and the variety of their caravan stations confused the ancient Israelites, as their ethnology was based on geographical and political grounds and not necessarily racial. [32] Another theory suggests that the Sabaeans hailed from the southern Levant and established their kingdom on the ruins of the Minaeans. [33]

The most famous claim to fame for the biblical land of Sheba was the story of the Queen of Sheba, who travelled to Jerusalem to question King Solomon, arriving in a large caravan with precious stones, spices and gold ( 1 Kings 10). The apocryphal Christian Arabic text Kitāb al-Magall ("Book of the Rolls"), [34] considered part of Clementine literature, and the Syriac Cave of Treasures, mention a tradition that after being founded by the children of Saba (son of Joktan), there was a succession of 60 female rulers up until the time of Solomon.

Josephus, in his Antiquities of the Jews, describes a place called Saba as a walled, royal city of Ethiopia that Cambyses II renamed as Meroë. He writes that "it was both encompassed by the Nile quite round, and the other rivers, Astapus and Astaboras", offering protection from both foreign armies and river floods. According to Josephus it was the conquering of Saba that brought great fame to a young Egyptian prince, simultaneously exposing his personal background as a slave child named Moses. [35]

Muslim tradition

In the Quran, Sheba is mentioned in surat an-Naml in a section that speaks of the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon. [36] The Quran mentions this ancient community along with other communities that were destroyed by God. [37]

Bilqis reclining in a garden, Persian miniature (ca. 1595), tinted drawing on paper
Illustration in a Hafez frontispiece: Bilqis enthroned, under a flying simurgh (c. 1539)

According to the Quran, Solomon commanded the Queen of Sheba to come to him as a subject, whereupon she appeared before him (an-Naml, 30–31, 45). Before the queen had arrived, Solomon had moved her throne to his place with the help of one who had knowledge from the scripture (Quran 27:40). She recognized the throne, which had been disguised, and finally accepted the faith of Solomon.

Muslim commentators such as al-Tabari, al-Zamakhshari, al-Baydawi supplement the story at various points. The Queen's name is given as Bilqis, probably derived from Greek παλλακίς or the Hebraised pilegesh, "concubine". [38] According to some he then married the Queen, while other traditions assert that he gave her in marriage to a tubba of Hamdan. [39] According to the Islamic tradition as represented by al-Hamdani, the queen of Sheba was the daughter of Ilsharah Yahdib, the Himyarite king of Najran. [40]

Although the Quran and its commentators have preserved the earliest literary reflection of the complete Bilqis legend, there is little doubt among scholars that the narrative is derived from a Jewish Midrash. [39]

Bible stories of the Queen of Sheba and the ships of Ophir served as a basis for legends about the Israelites traveling in the Queen of Sheba's entourage when she returned to her country to bring up her child by Solomon. [41] There is a Muslim tradition that the first Jews arrived in Yemen at the time of King Solomon, following the politico-economic alliance between him and the Queen of Sheba. [42]

Muslim scholars, including Ibn Kathir, related that the people of Sheba were Arabs from South Arabia. [43]

Ethiopian and Yemenite tradition

In the medieval Ethiopian cultural work called the Kebra Nagast, Sheba was located in Ethiopia. [44] Some scholars therefore point to a region in the northern Tigray and Eritrea which was once called Saba (later called Meroe), as a possible link with the biblical Sheba. [45] Donald N. Levine links Sheba with Shewa (the province where modern Addis Ababa is located) in Ethiopia. [46]

Traditional Yemenite genealogies also mention Saba, son of Qahtan; Early Islamic historians identified Qahtan with the Yoqtan ( Joktan) son of Eber ( Hūd) in the Hebrew Bible (Gen. 10:25-29). James A. Montgomery finds it difficult to believe that Qahtan was the biblical Joktan based on etymology. [47] [48]

Speculation on location

Modern historians agree that the heartland of the Sabaean civilization was located in the region around Marib and Sirwah, in what is now Yemen. [49] [50] They later expanded their presence into parts of North Arabia [50] and the Horn of Africa, in modern-day Ethiopia. [51]

Owing to the connection with the Queen of Sheba, the location has become closely linked with national prestige, and various royal houses claimed descent from the Queen of Sheba and Solomon. According to the medieval Ethiopian work Kebra Nagast, Sheba was located in Ethiopia. Ruins in many other countries, including Sudan, Egypt, Oman and Iran have been credited as being Sheba, but with only minimal evidence.

See also

References

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  2. ^ Frzel Hommel History of the Ancient South Arabian Kingdoms, p. 64
  3. ^ Mlaker, Die Hierodulenlisten von Main nebst untersuchengen zur altsudarabischen Bechtgeschiclite und Chronologie, Leipzig, 1943 - Philby Background, P. 143
  4. ^ Alois Musil The Northern Hegaz, A Topographical Itinerary. Published Under the Patronage of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Arts and of Charles R. Crane p. 288
  5. ^ سيد القمني، الأسطورة والتراث ط 3 ج 151
  6. ^ سيد القمني، الأسطورة والتراث ط 3 ج 151
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  12. ^ Freytag, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, Lexicon arabico-latinum (1837) Ch.4 p.21
  13. ^ Nicholas Clapp Sheba: Through the Desert in Search of the Legendary Queen p.204 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2001 ISBN 0-547-34501-1
  14. ^ محمد عبد القادر بافقيه، تاريخ اليمن القديم ص 53
  15. ^ Kremer, Alfred Von,Kulturgeschichte des Orients unter den Chalifen, vols. 1–2. Vienna, 1875–77. p.90
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  18. ^ W. H. Irvine Shakespear, In The Geogr. Journal, Lix., No. 5, “1922”, P.321
  19. ^ Procopius, The Secret History, translated by G. A. Williamson. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1966 p.180
  20. ^ Strabo's Geography XVI.iv.21
  21. ^ N. St. J. Groom,Frankincense and Myrrh: A Study of the Arabian Incense Trade Longman, 1981 p.44
  22. ^ strabo's geography book 16:28
  23. ^ Ben Abrahamson and Joseph Katz,Yosef Dhu Nuwas, a Sadducean King with Sidelocks p.28
  24. ^ بيرين، جاكلين : الفن في منطقة الجزيرة العربية في فترة ما قبل الإسلام، 1986 م، ص 28
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  27. ^ Martin Hartmann, The Islamic East: The Arab question, attempts to archeology Yemen, p. 185
  28. ^ Martin Hartmann, The Islamic East: The Arab question, attempts to archeology Yemen, p. 185
  29. ^ Genesis 10:7.
  30. ^ Genesis 25:3.
  31. ^ Genesis 10:28.
  32. ^ Javad Ali, The Articulate in the History of Arabs before Islam Volume 7, p. 421.
  33. ^ HOMMEL, Südarabische Chrestomathie (Munich, 1892), p. 64.
  34. ^ "Kitab al-Magall".
  35. ^ Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews II.10.
  36. ^ Wheeler, Brannon (2002). Prophets in the Quran: An Introduction to the Quran and Muslim Exegesis. A&C Black. ISBN  978-0-8264-4956-6.
  37. ^ Qur'an 50:14
  38. ^ Georg Freytag (1837), "ﺑَﻠٔﻘَﻊٌ", Lexicon arabico-latinum, Schwetschke, p. 44a
  39. ^ a b E. Ullendorff (1991), "BILḲĪS", The Encyclopaedia of Islam, vol. 2 (2nd ed.), Brill, pp. 1219–1220
  40. ^ A. F. L. Beeston (1995), "SABAʾ", The Encyclopaedia of Islam, vol. 8 (2nd ed.), Brill, pp. 663–665
  41. ^ Haïm Zʿew Hirschberg; Hayyim J. Cohen (2007), "ARABIA", Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 3 (2nd ed.), Gale, p. 295
  42. ^ Yosef Tobi (2007), "QUEEN OF SHEBA", Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 16 (2nd ed.), Gale, p. 765
  43. ^ Brannon M. Wheeler. "People of the Well". A-Z of Prophets in Islam and Judaism.
  44. ^ Edward Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible (Oxford: University Press for the British Academy, 1968), p. 75
  45. ^ The Quest for the Ark of the Covenant: The True History of the Tablets of Moses, by Stuart Munro-Hay
  46. ^ Donald N. Levine, Wax and Gold: Tradition and Innovation in Ethiopia Culture (Chicago: University Press, 1972).
  47. ^ Maalouf, Tony (2003). "The Unfortunate Beginning (Gen. 16:1–6)". Arabs in the Shadow of Israel: The Unfolding of God's Prophetic Plan for Ishmael's Line. Kregel Academic. p. 45. ISBN  9780825493638. Archived from the original on 28 July 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2018. This view is largely based on the claim of Muslim Arab historians that their oldest ancestor is Qahtan, whom they identify as the biblical Joktan (Gen. 10:25–26). Montgomery finds it difficult to reconcile Joktan with Qahtan based on etymology.
  48. ^ Maqsood, Ruqaiyyah Waris. "Adam to the Banu Khuza'ah". Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2015-08-15.
  49. ^ Michael Wood, "The Queen Of Sheba", BBC History.
  50. ^ a b Nebes 2023, p. 299.
  51. ^ Nebes 2023, pp. 348, 350.

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