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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".
The Himyarite Kingdom was a polity in the southern highlands of Yemen, as well as the name of the region which it claimed. Until 110 BCE, it was integrated into the Qatabanian kingdom, afterwards being recognized as an independent kingdom. According to classical sources, their capital was the ancient city of Zafar, relatively near the modern-day city of Sana'a. Himyarite power eventually shifted to Sana'a as the population increased in the fifth century. After the establishment of their kingdom, it was ruled by kings from dhū-Raydān tribe. The kingdom was named Raydān.
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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.
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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.
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The practice of polytheistic religion dominated in pre-Islamic Arabia until the fourth century. Inscriptions in various scripts used in the Arabian Peninsula including the Nabataean script, Safaitic, and Sabaic attest to the practice of polytheistic cults and idols until the fourth century, whereas material evidence from the fifth century onwards is almost categorically monotheistic. It is in this era that Christianity, Judaism, and other generic forms of monotheism become salient among Arab populations. In South Arabia, the ruling class of the Himyarite Kingdom would convert to Judaism and a cessation of polytheistic inscriptions is witnessed. Monotheistic religion would continue as power in this region transitioned to Christian rulers, principally Abraha, in the early sixth century.
Thaʾrān Yuhanʿim was a king of the Himyarite Kingdom, and was the second king of the new dynasty founded by his father Dhamar Ali Yuhabirr. He had an unusually long reign, on the order of fifty to fifty-five years and his son, Malkikarib Yuhamin, appears to have entered the throne at an advanced age.
Marthad'ilan Yanuf, also romanized as Murthid 'Alan Yanuf, was a Himyarite king who reigned in the early 6th century CE. A devout Christian, Marthad'ilan Yanuf engaged in diplomatic relations with the Aksumite Empire as well as renovated churches in his territory. He is the first Christian ruler to have official rule over Himyar.
'Abd-Kulāl al-Ḥimyarī, or simply 'Abdkulāl or 'Abd-kalal, was a governor of Himyar who lived in the 5th century CE. He was a convert to Nontrinitarianism, but kept his religious beliefs confidential. 'Abd-Kulal also held the power of regent rule temporarily during his time in office.
The event of Yawm al-Nakhla was an armed conflict between the forces of the Himyarite Kingdom and the Tribes of Arabia which happened around the 3rd century CE in Pre-Islamic Mecca.
References
- 1 2 "La dynastie de Šaraḥbiʾil Yakûf et la documentation épigraphique sud-arabe". omnia.college-de-france.fr. Retrieved 2024-04-20.
- ↑ "Himyaritic Inscription, CIH 6 (RES 2637C)". dasi.cnr.it. Retrieved 2024-06-10.
- ↑ Jawad `Ali (1955). Tarikh al-'Arab qabl al-Islam (in Arabic). Majma` al-Ilmi al-Iraqi.
- ↑ J. Robin, Christian (2011). "Walter W. Müller: Sabäische Inschriften nach Ären datiert. Bibliographie, Texte und Glossar". Aethiopica. 14: 263–265. doi:10.15460/aethiopica.14.1.427.
- ↑ Gajda, iwona (2017). "Remarks on Monotheism in Ancient South Arabia". In Bakhos, Carol; Cook, Michael (eds.). Islam and its past: Jahiliyya, Late Antiquity, and the Qur'an. Oxford studies in the abrahamic religions. Oxford: Oxford university press. pp. 253–254. ISBN 978-0-19-874849-6.
- ↑ J.H. Mordtmann; Eugen Mittwoch (1931). Sabäische Inschriften. Rathjens-v. Wissmannsche Südarabischen-Reise (in German). Hamburg: De Gruyter.