The Yemeni Coastal Plain or Plateau is the northwestern region of modern Yemen that lies between the Red Sea and the Yemeni Mountains. Beginning in the ninth and eighth centuries BCE, this region became part of a wider "Sabaean" culture region (from the name of the dominant kingdom, Saba), in which many relatively small kingdoms across south and western Arabia, as well as Ethiopia, shared the same alphabet, the same iconographic repertoire (e.g. widespread depiction of animals such as ibexes and oryxes, and use of symbols such as hands, crescents, and circles), and the same vocabulary and turns of phrases in inscriptions.
[1]
At this time, the largest town in the Yemeni Coastal Plain was Marib, which covered an area of 100 hectares, for a population of about 30,000-40,000.
[2]
It is unclear, however, what the average population of a single kingdom would have been.
[1]: (Robin 2015: 94-96) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ZMFH42PE.
[2]: (Edens and Wilkinson 1998: 96) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/HGK23ABQ.
| Sabaean Culture |
| YeSaRay |
| Preceding: Sabaean Commonwealth (ye_sabaean_commonwealth) [None] | |
| Succeeding: Kingdom of Saba and Dhu Raydan (ye_saba_k) [None] |
| quasi-polity |
| unknown |
| inferred present |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| absent |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| inferred present |
| unknown |
| inferred absent |
| Year Range | Qatabanian Commonwealth (ye_qatabanian_commonwealth) was in: |
|---|---|
| (450 BCE 111 BCE) | Yemeni Coastal Plain |
"Until the end of the third century AD, when the kingdom of Ḥimyar, which had just expelled an Ethiopian invasion, annexed the kingdom of Sabaʾ and conquered Ḥaḍramawt (Ch. 3), South Arabia was divided between numerous kingdoms".
[1]
Language
[1]: (Robin 2015: 94) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3.
"Two rulers, Yathaʿʾamar and Karibʾīl, known in Assyrian sources under the names ‘Itaʾamra the Sabaean’ (c.716 BC) and ‘Karibilu king of Saba’ (between 689 and 681) extended their hegemony over a large section of South Arabia (2.5, 2.31). Subsequently, the Sabaean ‘cultural model’ spread over a wide area including the entirety of Yemen, Ethiopia, the areas neighbouring Yemen, such as Najrān, western Arabia between Najrān and the Levant, and as far as the shores of the Arab-Persian Gulf, as indicated by evidence for the use of the Sabaean alphabet. Sabaean culture was expressed in the lexicon and phraseology of inscriptions and in the use of writing for decorative purposes. It is also reflected in an iconographic repertoire which applies a range of geometric figures, such as denticles, striations, and hollowed-out rectangles; emblematic animals, such as ibexes, oryxes, bulls, bucrania, ostriches; symbols, such as the hand, the crescent, the circle; and stylized representations, such as ‘eye stelae’." [1]
[1]: (Robin 2015: 94-96) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3.
"Until the end of the third century AD, when the kingdom of Ḥimyar, which had just expelled an Ethiopian invasion, annexed the kingdom of Sabaʾ and conquered Ḥaḍramawt (Ch. 3), South Arabia was divided between numerous kingdoms". [1]
[1]: (Robin 2015: 94) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3.
"five major languages attested—Sabaʾic, Maʿīnic, Qatabānic, Ḥaḍramawtic, and Old Arabic" [1]
[1]: (Robin 2015: 94) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3.
"five major languages attested—Sabaʾic, Maʿīnic, Qatabānic, Ḥaḍramawtic, and Old Arabic" [1]
[1]: (Robin 2015: 94) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3.
"five major languages attested—Sabaʾic, Maʿīnic, Qatabānic, Ḥaḍramawtic, and Old Arabic" [1]
[1]: (Robin 2015: 94) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3.
"five major languages attested—Sabaʾic, Maʿīnic, Qatabānic, Ḥaḍramawtic, and Old Arabic" [1]
[1]: (Robin 2015: 94) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3.
"five major languages attested—Sabaʾic, Maʿīnic, Qatabānic, Ḥaḍramawtic, and Old Arabic" [1]
[1]: (Robin 2015: 94) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3.
Inhabitants. "Using population estimates derived from the modern village of Marib (van Beek, 1982), this largest of South Arabian towns might have held 30,000-40,000 people." [1]
[1]: (Edens and Wilkinson 1998: 96) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/HGK23ABQ.
levels. "Marib, whose walls enclosed over 100 ha (Fig. 5e), was the largest by far of these towns and dwarfed the nearby fortified places of about 2-6 ha. [...] Walled centers of regional importance fell in the 15- to 30-ha range (e.g., Timna, Bayda, Sawda’, Shabwa), but were often smaller (Macin, Baraqish, and Inabba were only 4-8 ha), perhaps a reflection of more fragmented political scene away from the primate center at Marib. Towns such as Hajar bin Humeid (4 ha), Rayhani (3 ha), and ad-Durayb (2 ha) represent secondary centers in single wadi settlement systems." [1]
[1]: (Edens and Wilkinson 1998: 96-97) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/HGK23ABQ.
The following quote broadly refers to pre-Islamic Arabia. "Arabian societies with good income from agriculture or trade were not only likely to be more hierarchical than pastoralist tribes, but also to have greater division of labour. In the inscriptions of Hatra, for example, we read about the professions of stonemasons, sculptors, metalworkers, carpenters, scribes, tutors, priests, physicians, accountants, doorkeepers, merchants and winesellers. In south Arabia a number of administrative offices are known, such as kabîr, qayn and maqtawî, though their exact nature and function is unclear." [1]
[1]: (Hoyland 2001, 120) Hoyland, R. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hoylan/titleCreatorYear/items/AUHRSTGG/item-list
The following quote broadly refers to pre-Islamic Arabia. "Arabian societies with good income from agriculture or trade were not only likely to be more hierarchical than pastoralist tribes, but also to have greater division of labour. In the inscriptions of Hatra, for example, we read about the professions of stonemasons, sculptors, metalworkers, carpenters, scribes, tutors, priests, physicians, accountants, doorkeepers, merchants and winesellers. In south Arabia a number of administrative offices are known, such as kabîr, qayn and maqtawî, though their exact nature and function is unclear." [1]
[1]: (Hoyland 2001, 120) Hoyland, R. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hoylan/titleCreatorYear/items/AUHRSTGG/item-list
"Almost all the inhabitants of pre-Islamic Arabia were members of a tribe, that is, a mutual aid group bound together by a notion of kinship. As one pre-Islamic poet astutely observed (‘Amr ibn Qami‘a 8), ‘a man’s tribe are his claws [with which he fends off enemies] and his props [which support him]’. Unlike a state, tribes have no specialised institutions of law and order, so a person’s life, honour and goods were protected by his relatives, who were obliged to assist him in trouble and to avenge or seek compensation for him if he was wronged. ‘When fighting comes, your kinsman alone is near; your true friend your kinsman is, who answers your call for aid with good will, when deeply drenched in bloodshed are sword and spear’ (H. am. 225)."
[1]
"So tribal law was customary law, deter- mined by ancient practice. It is therefore inherently conservative; ‘We found our fathers on a path and we follow in their footsteps’ was the reply of most Meccans to the Prophet Muhammad’s new message (Quran 43.22, 24). And it is echoed by pre-Islamic Arab poets: ‘We follow the ways of our forefathers, those who kindled wars and were faithful to the ties of kinship’ (‘Abid 20). It could only be updated either by such aforementioned paragons of tribal virtue, who won the approval of all, or by the consensus of all full members of the community meeting together."
[2]
"Among the wealthier sedentary polities of Arabia there existed a more elaborate legal system with more of an institutional framework. A number of the cities of south Arabia had a council (mswd), and at each of the capital cities there was a supreme council where the king sat along with delegates from a certain number of tribal groups, representing the whole nation and issuing edicts on its behalf. Such an edict might begin as follows: ‘Thus have ordered and directed and decreed Shahr Yagill Yuhargib, the son of Hawfa‘amm, the king of the Qatabanians, and the Qatabanians, the council, having its full complement. . . . ’ (RES 3566). In this particular text it would appear that Shahr Yagill had to fight to maintain his position, for he goes on to complain that ‘some people from the council and community of landowners determined and enforced their decisions by swearing oaths between themselves in that temple in their very self-willed and loutish manner without the sanction of [me] their lord’."
[3]
[1]: (Hoyland 2001, 113) Hoyland, R. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hoylan/titleCreatorYear/items/AUHRSTGG/item-list
[2]: (Hoyland 2001, 121-122) Hoyland, R. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hoylan/titleCreatorYear/items/AUHRSTGG/item-list
[3]: (Hoyland 2001, 124) Hoyland, R. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hoylan/titleCreatorYear/items/AUHRSTGG/item-list
"Almost all the inhabitants of pre-Islamic Arabia were members of a tribe, that is, a mutual aid group bound together by a notion of kinship. As one pre-Islamic poet astutely observed (‘Amr ibn Qami‘a 8), ‘a man’s tribe are his claws [with which he fends off enemies] and his props [which support him]’. Unlike a state, tribes have no specialised institutions of law and order, so a person’s life, honour and goods were protected by his relatives, who were obliged to assist him in trouble and to avenge or seek compensation for him if he was wronged. ‘When fighting comes, your kinsman alone is near; your true friend your kinsman is, who answers your call for aid with good will, when deeply drenched in bloodshed are sword and spear’ (H. am. 225)."
[1]
"So tribal law was customary law, deter- mined by ancient practice. It is therefore inherently conservative; ‘We found our fathers on a path and we follow in their footsteps’ was the reply of most Meccans to the Prophet Muhammad’s new message (Quran 43.22, 24). And it is echoed by pre-Islamic Arab poets: ‘We follow the ways of our forefathers, those who kindled wars and were faithful to the ties of kinship’ (‘Abid 20). It could only be updated either by such aforementioned paragons of tribal virtue, who won the approval of all, or by the consensus of all full members of the community meeting together."
[2]
"Among the wealthier sedentary polities of Arabia there existed a more elaborate legal system with more of an institutional framework. A number of the cities of south Arabia had a council (mswd), and at each of the capital cities there was a supreme council where the king sat along with delegates from a certain number of tribal groups, representing the whole nation and issuing edicts on its behalf. Such an edict might begin as follows: ‘Thus have ordered and directed and decreed Shahr Yagill Yuhargib, the son of Hawfa‘amm, the king of the Qatabanians, and the Qatabanians, the council, having its full complement. . . . ’ (RES 3566). In this particular text it would appear that Shahr Yagill had to fight to maintain his position, for he goes on to complain that ‘some people from the council and community of landowners determined and enforced their decisions by swearing oaths between themselves in that temple in their very self-willed and loutish manner without the sanction of [me] their lord’."
[3]
[1]: (Hoyland 2001, 113) Hoyland, R. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hoylan/titleCreatorYear/items/AUHRSTGG/item-list
[2]: (Hoyland 2001, 121-122) Hoyland, R. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hoylan/titleCreatorYear/items/AUHRSTGG/item-list
[3]: (Hoyland 2001, 124) Hoyland, R. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hoylan/titleCreatorYear/items/AUHRSTGG/item-list
"Almost all the inhabitants of pre-Islamic Arabia were members of a tribe, that is, a mutual aid group bound together by a notion of kinship. As one pre-Islamic poet astutely observed (‘Amr ibn Qami‘a 8), ‘a man’s tribe are his claws [with which he fends off enemies] and his props [which support him]’. Unlike a state, tribes have no specialised institutions of law and order, so a person’s life, honour and goods were protected by his relatives, who were obliged to assist him in trouble and to avenge or seek compensation for him if he was wronged. ‘When fighting comes, your kinsman alone is near; your true friend your kinsman is, who answers your call for aid with good will, when deeply drenched in bloodshed are sword and spear’ (H. am. 225)."
[1]
"So tribal law was customary law, deter- mined by ancient practice. It is therefore inherently conservative; ‘We found our fathers on a path and we follow in their footsteps’ was the reply of most Meccans to the Prophet Muhammad’s new message (Quran 43.22, 24). And it is echoed by pre-Islamic Arab poets: ‘We follow the ways of our forefathers, those who kindled wars and were faithful to the ties of kinship’ (‘Abid 20). It could only be updated either by such aforementioned paragons of tribal virtue, who won the approval of all, or by the consensus of all full members of the community meeting together."
[2]
"Among the wealthier sedentary polities of Arabia there existed a more elaborate legal system with more of an institutional framework. A number of the cities of south Arabia had a council (mswd), and at each of the capital cities there was a supreme council where the king sat along with delegates from a certain number of tribal groups, representing the whole nation and issuing edicts on its behalf. Such an edict might begin as follows: ‘Thus have ordered and directed and decreed Shahr Yagill Yuhargib, the son of Hawfa‘amm, the king of the Qatabanians, and the Qatabanians, the council, having its full complement. . . . ’ (RES 3566). In this particular text it would appear that Shahr Yagill had to fight to maintain his position, for he goes on to complain that ‘some people from the council and community of landowners determined and enforced their decisions by swearing oaths between themselves in that temple in their very self-willed and loutish manner without the sanction of [me] their lord’."
[3]
[1]: (Hoyland 2001, 113) Hoyland, R. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hoylan/titleCreatorYear/items/AUHRSTGG/item-list
[2]: (Hoyland 2001, 121-122) Hoyland, R. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hoylan/titleCreatorYear/items/AUHRSTGG/item-list
[3]: (Hoyland 2001, 124) Hoyland, R. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hoylan/titleCreatorYear/items/AUHRSTGG/item-list
"Almost all the inhabitants of pre-Islamic Arabia were members of a tribe, that is, a mutual aid group bound together by a notion of kinship. As one pre-Islamic poet astutely observed (‘Amr ibn Qami‘a 8), ‘a man’s tribe are his claws [with which he fends off enemies] and his props [which support him]’. Unlike a state, tribes have no specialised institutions of law and order, so a person’s life, honour and goods were protected by his relatives, who were obliged to assist him in trouble and to avenge or seek compensation for him if he was wronged. ‘When fighting comes, your kinsman alone is near; your true friend your kinsman is, who answers your call for aid with good will, when deeply drenched in bloodshed are sword and spear’ (H. am. 225)."
[1]
"So tribal law was customary law, deter- mined by ancient practice. It is therefore inherently conservative; ‘We found our fathers on a path and we follow in their footsteps’ was the reply of most Meccans to the Prophet Muhammad’s new message (Quran 43.22, 24). And it is echoed by pre-Islamic Arab poets: ‘We follow the ways of our forefathers, those who kindled wars and were faithful to the ties of kinship’ (‘Abid 20). It could only be updated either by such aforementioned paragons of tribal virtue, who won the approval of all, or by the consensus of all full members of the community meeting together."
[2]
"Among the wealthier sedentary polities of Arabia there existed a more elaborate legal system with more of an institutional framework. A number of the cities of south Arabia had a council (mswd), and at each of the capital cities there was a supreme council where the king sat along with delegates from a certain number of tribal groups, representing the whole nation and issuing edicts on its behalf. Such an edict might begin as follows: ‘Thus have ordered and directed and decreed Shahr Yagill Yuhargib, the son of Hawfa‘amm, the king of the Qatabanians, and the Qatabanians, the council, having its full complement. . . . ’ (RES 3566). In this particular text it would appear that Shahr Yagill had to fight to maintain his position, for he goes on to complain that ‘some people from the council and community of landowners determined and enforced their decisions by swearing oaths between themselves in that temple in their very self-willed and loutish manner without the sanction of [me] their lord’."
[3]
[1]: (Hoyland 2001, 113) Hoyland, R. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hoylan/titleCreatorYear/items/AUHRSTGG/item-list
[2]: (Hoyland 2001, 121-122) Hoyland, R. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hoylan/titleCreatorYear/items/AUHRSTGG/item-list
[3]: (Hoyland 2001, 124) Hoyland, R. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hoylan/titleCreatorYear/items/AUHRSTGG/item-list
"It was quite common in the sedentary regions of Arabia to inscribe texts of a legal nature on stone (see chapter 5 above for examples). The advantage of this was that these texts were then easily available for all to read (or have read for them) and would endure for many lifetimes. The subjects are diverse: commercial ordinances (such as the list of taxes owing on goods sold in Palmyra put up by the city council, and the regulations concerning trade in the market of Timna established by the king of Qataban), sanctions against criminals, hydrological legislation, cultic prescriptions, boundary settlements, property claims and so forth. The issuing authority was most often a deity (whose edicts were effected by means of an oracle and received and transcribed by a religious functionary), a king or his representative, or a city or tribal council. And even individuals might avail themselves of this practice, laying down conditions for use of their tombs, asserting their ownership of houses and the like. A special type of juridical inscription, so far known chiefly from the Jawf region of south Arabia and Raybun in Hadramawt, is the penitential text, in which persons confess their infraction of a law, usually to do with purity, and make an offering in atonement." [1]
[1]: (Hoyland 2001, 124) Hoyland, R. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hoylan/titleCreatorYear/items/AUHRSTGG/item-list
"In the irrigated regions of the piedmont and in the cultivated lands of mountainous and highland areas, the numerous hydraulic and agricultural installations—dams, canals, sluice gates, wells, or terraced fields—testify to a high degree of technical skill associated with these settlements (2.19 and 2.27)." [1]
[1]: (Robin 2015: 93) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3.
"A rock inscription in the Qatabānic language from the third or second century BC, commemorating the construction of a pathway between the Upper Lands of the region of al-Bayḍāʾ (at an elevation of about 2000 m above sea level) and the plain of Lawdar (1000 m below)." [1]
[1]: (Robin 2015: 101) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3.
"It was quite common in the sedentary regions of Arabia to inscribe texts of a legal nature on stone (see chapter 5 above for examples). The advantage of this was that these texts were then easily available for all to read (or have read for them) and would endure for many lifetimes. The subjects are diverse: commercial ordinances (such as the list of taxes owing on goods sold in Palmyra put up by the city council, and the regulations concerning trade in the market of Timna established by the king of Qataban), sanctions against criminals, hydrological legislation, cultic prescriptions, boundary settlements, property claims and so forth. The issuing authority was most often a deity (whose edicts were effected by means of an oracle and received and transcribed by a religious functionary), a king or his representative, or a city or tribal council. And even individuals might avail themselves of this practice, laying down conditions for use of their tombs, asserting their ownership of houses and the like. A special type of juridical inscription, so far known chiefly from the Jawf region of south Arabia and Raybun in Hadramawt, is the penitential text, in which persons confess their infraction of a law, usually to do with purity, and make an offering in atonement.""
[1]
"One of the salient features of Yemen (and, to a lesser extent, Arabia) is the substantial quantity of epigraphic documents—texts written on non-perishable materials, such as stone and metal, or on durable media, such as wood—yielded by these regions. [...] The oldest local inscriptions, which originate from Yemen, were carefully carved texts and the work of professionals, and would date from the mid-eighth century BC."
[2]
[1]: (Hoyland 2001, 124) Hoyland, R. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hoylan/titleCreatorYear/items/AUHRSTGG/item-list
[2]: (Robin 2015: 90-91) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3.
"It was quite common in the sedentary regions of Arabia to inscribe texts of a legal nature on stone (see chapter 5 above for examples). The advantage of this was that these texts were then easily available for all to read (or have read for them) and would endure for many lifetimes. The subjects are diverse: commercial ordinances (such as the list of taxes owing on goods sold in Palmyra put up by the city council, and the regulations concerning trade in the market of Timna established by the king of Qataban), sanctions against criminals, hydrological legislation, cultic prescriptions, boundary settlements, property claims and so forth. The issuing authority was most often a deity (whose edicts were effected by means of an oracle and received and transcribed by a religious functionary), a king or his representative, or a city or tribal council. And even individuals might avail themselves of this practice, laying down conditions for use of their tombs, asserting their ownership of houses and the like. A special type of juridical inscription, so far known chiefly from the Jawf region of south Arabia and Raybun in Hadramawt, is the penitential text, in which persons confess their infraction of a law, usually to do with purity, and make an offering in atonement.""
[1]
"widespread use of a single script, Sabaean"
[2]
[1]: (Hoyland 2001, 124) Hoyland, R. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hoylan/titleCreatorYear/items/AUHRSTGG/item-list
[2]: (Robin 2015: 94) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3.
"South Arabian writing uses an alphabet of 29 consonants." [1]
[1]: (Robin 2015: 99) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3.
"South Arabian writing uses an alphabet of 29 consonants." [1]
[1]: (Robin 2015: 99) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3.
"Notably, none of these documents is a poem, a hymn, a collection of sayings, a mythological narration, a chronicle, a manual, or indeed any other sort of literary or technical composition." [1]
[1]: (Robin 2015: 92) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3.
"Notably, none of these documents is a poem, a hymn, a collection of sayings, a mythological narration, a chronicle, a manual, or indeed any other sort of literary or technical composition." [1]
[1]: (Robin 2015: 92) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3.
"Notably, none of these documents is a poem, a hymn, a collection of sayings, a mythological narration, a chronicle, a manual, or indeed any other sort of literary or technical composition." [1]
[1]: (Robin 2015: 92) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3.
"Notably, none of these documents is a poem, a hymn, a collection of sayings, a mythological narration, a chronicle, a manual, or indeed any other sort of literary or technical composition." [1]
[1]: (Robin 2015: 92) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3.
"Notably, none of these documents is a poem, a hymn, a collection of sayings, a mythological narration, a chronicle, a manual, or indeed any other sort of literary or technical composition." [1]
[1]: (Robin 2015: 92) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3.
"Notably, none of these documents is a poem, a hymn, a collection of sayings, a mythological narration, a chronicle, a manual, or indeed any other sort of literary or technical composition." [1]
[1]: (Robin 2015: 92) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3.
"Notably, none of these documents is a poem, a hymn, a collection of sayings, a mythological narration, a chronicle, a manual, or indeed any other sort of literary or technical composition." [1]
[1]: (Robin 2015: 92) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3.
"Notably, none of these documents is a poem, a hymn, a collection of sayings, a mythological narration, a chronicle, a manual, or indeed any other sort of literary or technical composition."
[1]
[1]: (Robin 2015: 92) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3.
"Sabaʾ’s culture was represented through a language, Sabaʾic, a pantheon, a calendar, and a dating system, all specific to this kingdom." [1]
[1]: (Robin 2015: 94) Robin, Christian Julien. 2015. “Before Himyar: Epigraphic Evidence for the Kingdoms of South Arabia.” In Arabs and Empires before Islam, edited by Greg Fisher, 91-126. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seshat URL: https://www-oxfordscholarship-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654529.001.0001/acprof-9780199654529-chapter-3.
"In south Arabia the earliest coins (fourth/third century BC) are imitations of Athenian tetradrachms, the dollar of their day: the obverse shows the head of Athena with helmet, the reverse has an owl, olive branch, crescent moon and the Greek letters AθE." [1]
[1]: (Hoyland 2001, 194) Hoyland, R. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hoylan/titleCreatorYear/items/AUHRSTGG/item-list
The following quote suggests the circulation of foreign coinage before the emergence of indigenous coinage. "In south Arabia the earliest coins (fourth/third century BC) are imitations of Athenian tetradrachms, the dollar of their day: the obverse shows the head of Athena with helmet, the reverse has an owl, olive branch, crescent moon and the Greek letters AθE." [1]
[1]: (Hoyland 2001, 194) Hoyland, R. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hoylan/titleCreatorYear/items/AUHRSTGG/item-list
The following broadly refers to pre-Islamic Arabia. "The majority of the inhabitants of Arabia would not have been involved in the incense or international transit trade, but all would have participated to some degree in the local trade, that is, in the exchange of commodities of Arabian origin and destined for consumption in Arabia itself or on its fringes. Pastoralists bartered their surplus of animals and animal products (milk, clarified butter, wool, hides, skins, etc.) for the goods of agricultural communities (grain, oil, clothing, wine, arms, etc.)." [1]
[1]: (Hoyland 2001, 110) Hoyland, R. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hoylan/titleCreatorYear/items/AUHRSTGG/item-list
"The Near East is no stranger to land-based empires, and empires have never been able to survive without the ability of rulers to com- municate regularly and speedily with the remotest provinces of their lands. The usual method of communication employed by imperial rulers is often referred to as a ‘postal system’. By the time the caliphs created their own postal-system, called al-Barìd, they were able to draw on the centuries, if not millennia, of postal experience imprinted on the lands they ruled. [...] Noth’s general conclusion is that any literary sources that refer to the Barìd must be no earlier than c. 700. Although I agree with Noth’s cautious approach to the literary sources and respect his uncompromising reliance on documentary evidence, in this case he is over a century and a half off the mark: a South Arabian inscription from c. 542 makes reference to two couriers bearing news of the breaching of the Ma’rib Dam, the term for these couriers being represented by the consonants BRDN" [1]
[1]: (Silverstein, 153, 156) Silverstein, A. Documentary Evidence for the Early History of the Barìd. In SIJPESTEIJN, P. M. and L. Sundelin (eds) PAPYROLOGY AND THE HISTORY OF EARLY ISLAMIC EGYPT pp. 153-162. Brill. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/8BIFF7D2/library
"The Near East is no stranger to land-based empires, and empires have never been able to survive without the ability of rulers to com- municate regularly and speedily with the remotest provinces of their lands. The usual method of communication employed by imperial rulers is often referred to as a ‘postal system’. By the time the caliphs created their own postal-system, called al-Barìd, they were able to draw on the centuries, if not millennia, of postal experience imprinted on the lands they ruled. [...] Noth’s general conclusion is that any literary sources that refer to the Barìd must be no earlier than c. 700. Although I agree with Noth’s cautious approach to the literary sources and respect his uncompromising reliance on documentary evidence, in this case he is over a century and a half off the mark: a South Arabian inscription from c. 542 makes reference to two couriers bearing news of the breaching of the Ma’rib Dam, the term for these couriers being represented by the consonants BRDN" [1]
[1]: (Silverstein, 153, 156) Silverstein, A. Documentary Evidence for the Early History of the Barìd. In SIJPESTEIJN, P. M. and L. Sundelin (eds) PAPYROLOGY AND THE HISTORY OF EARLY ISLAMIC EGYPT pp. 153-162. Brill. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/8BIFF7D2/library
"The Near East is no stranger to land-based empires, and empires have never been able to survive without the ability of rulers to com- municate regularly and speedily with the remotest provinces of their lands. The usual method of communication employed by imperial rulers is often referred to as a ‘postal system’. By the time the caliphs created their own postal-system, called al-Barìd, they were able to draw on the centuries, if not millennia, of postal experience imprinted on the lands they ruled. [...] Noth’s general conclusion is that any literary sources that refer to the Barìd must be no earlier than c. 700. Although I agree with Noth’s cautious approach to the literary sources and respect his uncompromising reliance on documentary evidence, in this case he is over a century and a half off the mark: a South Arabian inscription from c. 542 makes reference to two couriers bearing news of the breaching of the Ma’rib Dam, the term for these couriers being represented by the consonants BRDN" [1]
[1]: (Silverstein, 153, 156) Silverstein, A. Documentary Evidence for the Early History of the Barìd. In SIJPESTEIJN, P. M. and L. Sundelin (eds) PAPYROLOGY AND THE HISTORY OF EARLY ISLAMIC EGYPT pp. 153-162. Brill. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/8BIFF7D2/library
"These urban centres, containing temples and aristocratic dwellings, were protected by stone enclosures, which could reach 14 m in height." [1]
[1]: (Robin 2015: 93) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/ZMFH42PE.
"These urban centres, containing temples and aristocratic dwellings, were protected by stone enclosures, which could reach 14 m in height." [1]
[1]: (Robin 2015: 93) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/ZMFH42PE.
Urban fortification in Yemen at time is relatively well studies and sources do not mention the existence of concentric fortifications. [1]
[1]: (De Maigret 2002: 267-273) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/X3MRZCH5.
The following quote broadly refers to pre-Islamic Arabia. "The manner of deployment of this arsenal is elucidated by battle scenes in the rock art of pastoralist tribes (Pl. 29c) and by their poetry, which commonly narrates whole incidents. Both, incidentally, make clear that the camel was ridden to battle and in retreat (Pl. 29d), but the horse was used during the battle itself" [1]
[1]: (Hoyland 2001, 191) Hoyland, R. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hoylan/titleCreatorYear/items/AUHRSTGG/item-list
The following quote broadly refers to pre-Islamic Arabia. "The manner of deployment of this arsenal is elucidated by battle scenes in the rock art of pastoralist tribes (Pl. 29c) and by their poetry, which commonly narrates whole incidents. Both, incidentally, make clear that the camel was ridden to battle and in retreat (Pl. 29d), but the horse was used during the battle itself" [1]
[1]: (Hoyland 2001, 191) Hoyland, R. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hoylan/titleCreatorYear/items/AUHRSTGG/item-list
The following quote broadly refers to pre-Islamic Arabia. "The manner of deployment of this arsenal is elucidated by battle scenes in the rock art of pastoralist tribes (Pl. 29c) and by their poetry, which commonly narrates whole incidents. Both, incidentally, make clear that the camel was ridden to battle and in retreat (Pl. 29d), but the horse was used during the battle itself" [1]
[1]: (Hoyland 2001, 191) Hoyland, R. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/hoylan/titleCreatorYear/items/AUHRSTGG/item-list