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Ancient South Arabian art was the art of the pre-Islamic cultures of South Arabia, which was produced from the 3rd millennium BC until the 7th century AD. [1]
Old Arabian art experienced its first flourishing at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC at the time of the South Arabian classical culture, [2] centred on the kingdoms of the Sabaeans and Minaeans in modern Yemen. The 5th century BC marked the golden age of Saba, whose main centres were Ma'rib and Sirwah. [1] The region was known to the Romans as 'Arabia Felix' (Fortunate Arabia) as a result of its wealth.
The Geometric, stylised forms typical of ancient South Arabian art, both in sculpture and in architecture, took on smoother forms form the 5th century BC.[ citation needed ] The kingdom of the Nabataeans, established in the northern part of the Arabian peninsula in the late 4th century BC acted as an intermediary between the Arabian cultures and those of the Mediterranean.
The kings of Himyar gained control of South Arabia at the end of the 3rd century AD. With the Islamic expansion in the second half of the 6th century AD, South Arabian art was displaced by early Islamic art.
Since scholarship on ancient South Arabia has long concentrated on philological investigation of Old South Arabian inscriptions, the material culture of South Arabia has received little scholarly attention, so that little work has been done on the provenance of artefacts. Periodisations have only been developed for some regions and a general periodisation of South Arabian art is not yet possible. As a result, ancient South Arabian artefacts are categorised by stylistic features, not chronology. A general division of South Arabian art into three periods has been proposed by Jürgen Schmidt. According to him, the first phase sees the individual motifs begin to develop, the second sees the individual artistic forms become canonised, and in the last period there is some influence from foreign styles, particularly Greek art.
Unlike Mesopotamia, ancient South Arabia was dominated by stone buildings. Only in the coastal areas and the Hadhramaut capital of Shabwa were there also large numbers of mudbrick structures. For monumental buildings, large hewn blocks of stone were used, which were fitted together without mortar and unhewn stone which required mortar. Lime mortar, mud, and asphalt were used as binding materials. In tall walls, vertical lead props and horizontal pins and brackets were inserted as well. Only the exterior face of the stones was smoothed. Larger walls were often double-shelled, with the rough sides of the stones abutting one another inside the wall. Possibly for aesthetic reasons, the walls of monumental structures were sloped, and buttresses or small bastions helped maintain the stability of the wall.
In the 5th century BC, a new kind of stoneworking appeared, in which the edges of the stones were polished, while the centre of the exposed faces were pecked. This 'marginally drafted' style changed over time, making a chronological arrangement of walls built in this style possible. [3]
Interior walls were either plastered (sometimes featuring wall paintings) or covered with stone cladding, with paintings imitating ashlar blocks and sometimes even three-dimensional friezes. Little is known about ceiling construction, although vaulting survives in pillbox-graves - simple gabled roofs decorated with images. 3 cm thick translucent marble or alabaster sheets, sometimes with incised decoration, served as window panes.
Columns were a very important structural element. Until the 5th century BC, they were undecorated monoliths with rectangular or square cross-sections. This sort of column is found in the entrance hall of the Awwam temple and Ḥaram-Bilqīs in Ma'rib, for example. From the 5th century BC, the corners were reduced until eventually they became round columns. From the 5th century, columns also had capitals - initially simple plinths, which subsequently developed into various forms. [4] From the 2nd century BC, these forms were significantly influenced by Hellenistic architecture and later Sasanian influence is detectable.
Archaeological excavations of ancient South Arabian settlements reveal a highly developed civic culture with complex irrigation techniques. For example, the Marib dam dates back to the 9th century BC and remains of it are still visible today. Substantial remains from the 6th century BC can still be seen. There were cities with public buildings made from polished limestone blocks with inscriptions naming their builders, along with city gates, fortifications, streets, temples, markets, and royal residences. [1]
As the inscriptions show, numerous fortified cities (hagar) existed in pre-Islamic South Arabia. Archaeology has so far only revealed civic facilities; unfortified settlements have not yet been investigated archaeologically. The cities were often located in valleys on natural or artificial raised areas, which protected them from floods. Cities were also founded on plateaus or at the feet of mountains, as in the case of the Himyarite capital, Zafar. The majority of ancient South Arabian cities were rectangular or nearly rectangular, like Ma'rib and Shabwa. A notable example of this rectangular city plan is the Minaean capital city, Qarnawu. [5] The rectangular plan of that city has a main street running through the centre and side streets bisecting it perpendicularly at regular intervals, which indicates central planning, either at the time of original foundation or after a destruction event. However, round and entirely irregular city plans are also found. Compared to other Near Eastern cities, the ancient South Arabian cities had a relatively small total area; the largest city of South Arabia, Ma'rib, covered only 110 hectares (270 acres).
All cities were protected by a city wall (two consecutive walls in the case of Shabwa), with at least two gates, which could be protected by towers. The course of the walls, which was either simply structured or included bastions, had to follow the terrain, especially in mountainous regions, and this is what created irregular city plans. Sometimes cities were protected by citadels, as in Shabwa, Raidan, Qana', and the Citadel of Rada'a. [6]
Due to a lack of archaeological investigation, the civic centres are so far only poorly known. In Timna in Qataban, there was a large open space inside the southern gate, from which streets ran in various directions. In addition to the normal residential buildings, fortresses, palaces and temples have been detected in various cities. Substantial excavations have only been undertaken at Khor Rori and Shabwa. At Shabwa, too, a large open space was located on the inside of the gate, with the royal palace located on one side of it. From this open space, a wide street ran directly through the city, with smaller streets crossing this main street at right angles.
In addition to civic fortifications, there are also other fortifications, which were located at important crossroads or key points in the irrigation system. Substantial ruins of such fortresses still exist, [7] but none have been excavated. Even so, it is clear that these fortresses contained residential quarters as well as temples and water sources. To secure whole areas, barrier walls, which blocked passes and similar bottlenecks, were built, like the wall of Libna, which would have blocked the road from Qana' to Shabwa.
Due to the climate, irrigation systems were necessary for agriculture. The simplest elements of these systems were various kinds of well and cistern. The largest cisterns could hold up to 12,800 m³. For the efficiency of these wells and citadels, canal networks were essential. These collected and stored the water from the wadis when it rained. The most impressive example of these structures is the Dam of Ma'rib, which blocked the Wadi Dhana with a span of almost 600 m and channeled its water through two sluice gates into two "primary canals", which distributed it to the fields by means of a network of smaller canals. Such structures have been detected or attested by inscriptions elsewhere as well. In Najran, aqueducts were carved into the cliffs to lead the water away.
In various places in South Arabia, especially in mountain passes (manqal), paved roads were built, which were sometimes many kilometres long and several metres wide.
Compared to secular structures, temples are generally better known, so that it has been possible to develop a possible typology and history of development. In the following, the systems proposed by Jürgen Schmidt and (in more detail) M. Jung are described, which take into account both the floor plans and the actual appearance of the structure. [8] Comparatively few temples have been excavated to date, so these schemas remain provisional.
The oldest south Arabian sanctuaries belong to the prehistoric period and were simple stone monoliths, sometimes surrounded by stone circles or mortarless masonry walls. In a second phase, actual temples were constructed. These temples were simple rectangular stone structures without roofs. Their interiors were initially very different from one another. Some cult buildings at Jabal Balaq al-Ausaṭ southwest of Ma'rib, which consist of a courtyard and a tripartite cella, provide a link to a temple type found only in Saba, which had a rectangular ground plan and a propylon and was divided into two parts - an inner courtyard with pillars on three sides and a tripartite cella. Schmidt includes in this type the temple of the moon god Wadd built around 700 BC between Ma'rib and Sirwah at Wadd ḏū-Masmaʿ, as well as the temple built by Yada'il Dharih I at Al-Masajid, which is surrounded by a rectangular wall. Later examples of this schema are found at Qarnawu (5th century BC) and Al-Huqqa (1st century BC). The entrance hall of the great Temple of Awwam in Ma'rib might belong to this group. This temple dates from the 9th-5th centuries BC and consisted of an oval ashlar structure which was over 100 metres (330 ft) long and was linked to a rectangular entrance hall, which was surrounded by a peristyle consisting of 32 5-metre (16 ft) high monolithic pillars. Only a few traces of this structure remain today. [1]
In the other kingdoms, this type contrasted with the hypostyle 'multi-support temples' which were built with square, rectangular or even asymmetrical ground plans and were surrounded by regularly spaced columns. In contrast to the aforementioned Sabaean temples, these structures were not arranged around a cella or an altar. Initially these temple contained six or eight pillars, but later they ranged up to thirty-five. Klaus Schippmann has identified yet another type: the Hadhramite 'terrace temple', seven examples of which are known to date. [9] All these temples are accessed by a great stairway, which leads up to an enclosed terrace, on top of which stands a cella with a podium.
It is still unclear whether there were images of deities, but the statuettes of humans which were dedicated in the sanctuary of Ma'rib demonstrate that highly developed bronze casts existed by the middle of the 1st century, on which the individual donor was recorded by means of an inscription. Stone pedestals with dedicatory inscriptions show that votive statuettes made of precious metals and bronze were created in Himyar until late antiquity. There were also alabaster statuettes - figures wearing smooth, knee-length robes, with their arms outstretched. [1]
The most remarkable artworks aside from architecture from pre-Islamic South Arabia are sculptures. In addition to bronze (and occasionally gold and silver), limestone was a common material for sculptures, especially alabaster and marble. Typical features of ancient South Arabian sculpture are cubic base forms, a plump overall shape and very strong emphasis on the head. The rest of the body is often depicted only in a schematic and reduced fashion; often only the upper body is depicted at all. Much South Arabian art is characterised by minimal attention to realistic proportion, which manifests with large ears and a long, narrow nose. In most cases, sculpture in the round and reliefs faced directly at the viewer; in reliefs the frontal perspective typical of ancient Egyptian art, in which the head and legs are depicted from the side, but the torso from the front, is occasionally encountered. Pupils were made of coloured material which was inserted into holes in the eyes. Initially, drapery was not depicted, but later it was indicated by deep grooves or layers. There are no general characteristics in the arrangement of arms and legs.
There are very few examples of large ancient South Arabian sculptures, so the inscription on an over-life-size bronze statue of the son of the Sabaean king Dhamar'ali Yuhabirr is of particular interest. It reveals that the statue was made by a Greek artist and his Arabian assistant. Much more common are small alabaster statues, portraits and reliefs, which generally depict people and more rarely animals or monsters (dragons and winged lions with human heads), and whole scenes in the case of flat reliefs. A particularly popular scene shows a vine bearing grapes with animals or birds nibbling at it and a man who aims a bow at an animal (or variations thereon). Scenes from life are also depicted in reliefs, such as feasts, battles, and musical performances, as well as scenes of the dead meeting with a deity.
Alongside the larger artworks, ancient South Arabia also produced a whole range of different smaller artefacts. As elsewhere, ceramics were a major medium, but it has not yet been possible to arrange this material typologically or chronologically, so unlike in the rest of the Near East it does not help to date individual stratigraphic layers. Some general statements are still possible, however. The manufacture of ceramics was very simple; only part of the vessel was turned on a potter's wheel. Jugs and bowls of various sizes are common, mostly decorated with engraved or dotted motives, but painted patterns and attached bumps, prongs, or even animal heads are also found. In addition to these everyday ceramic items, some pottery figurines have also been found.
Smaller stone artefacts include bottles, oil lamps, vases, and vessels with animal heads as handles. Intaglios and imitations of Egyptian scarabs. In addition to these, there are also various friezes attached to various parts of buildings, which include zigzag patterns, tessellations, perpendicular lines, dentils, niches, small false doors, and meanders, as well as floral and figural elements, including series of ibex heads and grape vines. Other common artistic elements in buildings include rosettes and volutes, ears of corn, and pomegranates. In two excavations, wallpaintings have also been discovered: geometric paintings in the temple of al-Huqqa and figural paintings from the French excavations at Shabwat. Artefacts in wood have not survived, but stone images of furniture allow us some insight into ancient South Arabian woodworking.
On the other hand, small bronze and copper artefacts are common, including vases and other chased copper or bronze vessels, lamps, handles and animal figurines. Jewellery is also common, including partially golden necklaces, gold plates with images of animals and small golden sculptures.
As in other cultures of the ancient 'periphery' which minted coinage, the ancient South Arabian coinage was modeled on ancient Greek coinage. Silver coinage is well known from South Arabia, while bronze and gold coinages are comparatively rare. The following typology generally follows that of Günther Dembski. [10] The numbering of the coin types only partially reflects a certain chronology.
The end of South Arabian coinage is not certainly dated, but was probably somewhere around AD 300.
Sheba is an ancient kingdom mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and the Quran. It particularly features in the tradition of Orthodox Tewahedo in today's Yemen and is also asserted as the home of the Queen of Sheba, who is left unnamed in Jewish texts, but is known as Makeda in Ethiopian texts and as Bilqīs in Arabic texts. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Sheba was the home of Princess Tharbis, who is said to have been the wife of Moses before he married Zipporah.
The Sabaeans or Sabeans were an ancient group of South Arabians. They spoke Sabaic, one of the Old South Arabian languages. They founded the kingdom of Sabaʾ in modern-day Yemen, which is considered to be the biblical land of Sheba and "the oldest and most important of the South Arabian kingdoms".
Ancient art refers to the many types of art produced by the advanced cultures of ancient societies with different forms of writing, such as those of ancient China, India, Mesopotamia, Persia, Palestine, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The art of pre-literate societies is normally referred to as prehistoric art and is not covered here. Although some pre-Columbian cultures developed writing during the centuries before the arrival of Europeans, on grounds of dating these are covered at pre-Columbian art and articles such as Maya art, Aztec art, and Olmec art.
The ancient Kingdom of Awsān in South Arabia, modern-day Yemen, with a capital at Ḥajar Yaḥirr in Wādī Markhah, to the south of Wādī Bayḥān, is now marked by a tell or artificial mound, which is locally named Ḥajar Asfal. Once it was one of the most important small kingdoms of South Arabia. The city seems to have been destroyed in the 7th century BCE by the king and Mukarrib of Saba' Karab El Watar, according to a Sabaean text that reports the victory in terms that attest to its significance for the Sabaeans.
Old South Arabian (also known as Ancient South Arabian (ASA), Epigraphic South Arabian, Ṣayhadic, or Yemenite) is a group of four closely related extinct languages (Sabaean/Sabaic, Qatabanic, Hadramitic, Minaic) spoken in the far southern portion of the Arabian Peninsula. The earliest preserved records belonging to the group are dated to the beginning of the 1st millennium BCE. They were written in the Ancient South Arabian script.
The Marib Dam is a modern dam blocking the wadi or valley of Adhanah in the Balaq Hills, located in the Ma'rib Governorate in Yemen. The current dam was built in the 1980s and is close to the ruins of the ancient dam, first built in the 8th century BC. It was one of the engineering wonders of the ancient world and a central part of the Sabaean and Himyarite kingdoms around Ma'rib.
GDRT was a King of the Kingdom of Aksum, known for being the first king to involve Aksum in South Arabian affairs. He is known primarily from inscriptions in South Arabia that mention him and his son BYGT. GDRT is thought to be the same person as GDR, the name inscribed on a bronze wand or sceptre that was found in an area near Atsbi and Dar'a/Addi-Galamo in northern Ethiopia.
Marib is the capital city of Marib Governorate, Yemen. It was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Sabaʾ, which some scholars believe to be the ancient Sheba of biblical fame. It is about 120 kilometres east of Yemen's modern capital, Sanaa, and is in the region of the Sarawat Mountains. In 2005 it had a population of 16,794. However, in 2021, it had absorbed close to a million refugees fleeing the Yemeni Civil War.
Barāqish or Barāgish or Aythel is a town in north-western Yemen, 120 miles to the east of Sanaa in al Jawf Governorate on a high hill. It is located in Wādī Farda(h), a popular caravan route because of the presence of water. It was known to the Greeks and Romans as Athlula, from the ancient Sabaean yθl.
The ancient history ofYemen or South Arabia is especially important because it is one of the oldest centers of civilization in the Near East. Its relatively fertile land and adequate rainfall in a moister climate helped sustain a stable population, a feature recognized by the ancient Greek geographer Ptolemy, who described Yemen as Eudaimon Arabia meaning Fortunate Arabia or Happy Arabia. Between the eighth century BCE and the sixth century CE, it was dominated by six main states which rivaled each other, or were allied with each other and controlled the lucrative spice trade: Saba', Ma'īn, Qatabān, Hadhramaut, Kingdom of Awsan, and the Himyarite Kingdom. Islam arrived in 630 CE and Yemen became part of the Muslim realm.
The architecture of Yemen dates back to ancient times, when it was part of a tradition of South Arabian architecture. Developments continued during the Islamic period, displaying both local characteristics and external influences. The historic cities and towns of Yemen are known for their traditional tower-houses.
The Minaean language was an Old South Arabian or Ṣayhadic language spoken in Yemen in the times of the Old South Arabian civilisation. The main area of its use may be located in the al-Jawf region of North-East Yemen, primarily in the Wādī Madhāb. Most of texts in this language were composed by the Minaeans, but the other civil-temple communities of the Wādī Madhāb also used it as a literary medium.
The ancient city of Shabwa was the capital of the Kingdom of Hadhramaut at the South Arabian region of the Arabian Peninsula. The ruins of the city are located in the north of modern Shabwah Governorate of the Republic of Yemen. Pliny the Elder and Strabo refer to the city as Sabota, formerly a royal city with multiple local temples.
The art of Mesopotamia has survived in the record from early hunter-gatherer societies on to the Bronze Age cultures of the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires. These empires were later replaced in the Iron Age by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires. Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Mesopotamia brought significant cultural developments, including the oldest examples of writing.
The Temple of Awwam or "Mahram Bilqis" is a Sabaean temple dedicated to the principal deity of Saba, Almaqah, near Ma'rib in what is now Yemen. The temple is situated 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) southeast of ancient Marib, and was built in the outskirts of the city. Although usually major Sabaean sanctuaries are located outside urban centers, its placement was probably for reasons of religious privacy, and to facilitate the conduct of rituals by arriving pilgrims from remote areas of Sabaean territories. Such patterns are observed in several temples from Al-Jawf and the Hadramawt.
Kaminahu is the name of an ancient South Arabian city in the northern al-Jawf region of present day Yemen, 107 km north-east of Sana'a at about 1100 meters above sea level.
Haram is an ancient city in the north of al-Jawf in modern-day Yemen, at about 1100 metres above sea level. It is bordered by the Yemen Highlands to the north, in the west by the ancient Kaminahu, in the east by the ancient Qarnāwu, and in the south by the Ghayl, otherwise known as the village of al-Ḥazm.
Sirwah was, after Ma'rib, the most important economical and political center of the Kingdom of Saba at the beginning of the 1st century BC, on the Arabian Peninsula. Ṣirwāḥ was surrounded by a fortified wall. The city layout inside the oasis included a number of large buildings. It’s also a part of Khawlan.
Al-Masajid is an archaeological site from the Old South Arabian-Sabaean period, which lies at the edge of the Yemeni highland-basin, below the Jabal Ṣaḥl mountain range near the border with Qataban.
Nakrah was an ancient South Arabian god of protection and salvation worshiped in the Minaean Kingdom.
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