Sheba

Sheba, or Saba, was an ancient South Arabian kingdom that existed in Yemen before 275 CE. It likely began to exist between c. 1000 BCE and c. 800 BCE. In some periods, they expanded to much of modern Yemen and even parts of the Horn of Africa, particularly Eritrea and Ethiopia. The kingdom's native language was Sabaic, which was a variety of Old South Arabian.

Among South Arabians and Abyssinians, Sheba's name carried prestige, as it was widely considered to be the birthplace of South Arabian civilization as a whole. The first Sabaean kingdom lasted from the 8th century BCE to the 1st century BCE: this kingdom can be divided into the "mukarrib" period, where it reigned supreme over all of South Arabia; and the "kingly" period, a long period of decline to the neighbouring kingdoms of Ma'in, Hadhramaut, and Qataban, ultimately ending when a newer neighbour, Himyar, annexed them. Sheba was originally confined to the region of Marib (its capital city) and its surroundings. At its height, it encompassed much of the southwestern parts of the Arabian Peninsula before eventually declining to the regions of Marib. However, it re-emerged from the 1st to 3rd centuries CE. During this time, a secondary capital was founded at Sanaa, which is also the capital city of modern Yemen. Around 275 CE, the Sabaean civilization came to a permanent end in the aftermath of another Himyarite annexation.

The Sabaeans, like the other South Arabian kingdoms of their time, took part in the extremely lucrative spice trade, especially including frankincense and myrrh. They left behind many inscriptions in the monumental Ancient South Arabian script, as well as numerous documents in the related cursive Zabūr script. Their interaction with African societies in the Horn is attested by numerous traces, including inscriptions and temples dating back to the Sabaean presence in Africa.

The Hebrew Bible references the kingdom in an account describing the interactions between King Solomon of Israel and a figure identified as the Queen of Sheba. The Hebrew Bible's account is considered legendary. A similar narrative is also found in the Quran (Sheba is distinct from the Sabians). Traditions concerning the legacy of the Queen of Sheba feature extensively in Ethiopian Christianity, particularly Orthodox Tewahedo, and among Yemenis today. She is left unnamed in Jewish tradition, but is known as Makeda in Ethiopian tradition and as Bilqis in Arab and Islamic tradition. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Sheba was the home of Princess Tharbis, a Cushite who is said to have been the wife of Moses before he married Zipporah. Some Quranic exegetes identified Sheba with the People of Tubba.

History

Formative period

The formative phase of the Sabaeans, or the period prior to the emergence of urban cultures in South Arabia, can be placed the latter part of the 2nd millennium BCE, and was completed by the 10th century BCE, where a fully developed script appears in combination with the technological prowess to construct complex architectural complexes and cities. There is some debate as to the degree to which the movement out of the formative phase was channeled by endogenous processes, or the transfer or technologies from other centers, perhaps via trade and immigration.

Originally, the Sabaeans were part of "communities" (called shaʿbs) on the edge of the Sayhad desert. Very early, at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC, the political leaders of this tribal community managed to create a huge commonwealth of shaʿbs occupying most of South Arabian territory and took on the title "Mukarrib of the Sabaeans".

Emergence

thumb|upright|Statue of found in [[Al Bayda', Yemen|Al-Baydā' (ancient Nashqum, Kingdom of Saba'), 6th–5th century BCE, the Louvre Museum]]

The origin of the Sabaean Kingdom is uncertain and is a point of disagreement among scholars, with estimates placing it around 1200 BCE, by the 10th century BCE at the latest, or a period of flourishing that only begins from the 8th century BCE onwards. Once the polity had been established, Sabaean kings referred to themselves by the title Mukarrib.

First Sabaean kingdom (8th – 1st centuries BCE)

Era of the mukarribs

The first major phase of the Sabaean civilization lasted between the 8th and 1st centuries BCE. For centuries, Saba dominated the political landscape in South Arabia. The 8th century is when the first stone inscriptions appear, and when leaders are already being called by the title Mukarrib ("federator"). Due to this convention, this era can also be called the "Mukarrib period". The title mukarrib was more prestigious than that of mlk ("king") and was used to refer to someone that extended hegemony over other tribes and kingdoms.

Saba reached the height of its powers between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE. In particular, through protracted warfare, Karib'il Watar carried out a series of conquests that extended Sabaean territory to Najran in the north, the Gulf of Aden in the southwest, and eastward from that point along the coast until the western foothills of the Hadhramaut plateau. Saba reigned supreme over South Arabia, and Karib'il established diplomatic contacts with the Assyrian emperor Sennacherib. This territorial range by a South Arabian kingdom would not be seen again until Himyar achieved it over 1,100 years later. Karib'il's success is reflected by the dynastic succession of four rulers from his lineage, including sons, grandson, and great-grandons, a rare occurrence in the face of the rarity of dynastic succession in ancient South Arabian culture. The next time this would be seen was six centuries later in Qataban.

Era of the kings

After the 6th century BCE, Saba was unable to maintain its supremacy over South Arabia in the face of the expanding adjacent powers of Qataban and Hadhramaut militarily, and Ma'in economically, leading it contract back to its core territory around Marib and Sirwah. Sabaean leaders reverted to use of the title malik ("king") instead of mukarrib. This decline began soon after the end of the reign of Karib'il Watar. While Karib'il established hegemony over the Jawf, his immediate successors only consolidated their power over some of its former city-states (including Nashq and Manhayat) whereas others (like Yathill and the towns of Wadhi Raghwan) were absorbed into Ma'in. Qataban expanded into the Southern Highlands, formerly under Sabaean rule.

Economically, the first Sabaean period was dominated by a caravan economy that had market ties with the rest of the Near East. Its first major trading partners were at Khindanu and the Middle Euphrates. Later, this moved to Gaza during the Persian period, and finally, to Petra in Hellenistic times. The South Arabian deserts gave rise to important aromatics which were exported in trade, especially frankincense and myrrh. It also acted as an intermediary for overland trade with neighbours in Africa and further off from India.

thumb|Map of southern Arabia in 100 BCE

By the end of the 1st millennium BCE, several factors came together and brought about the decline of the Sabaean state and civilization. The biggest challenge came from the expansion of the Roman Republic. The Republic conquered Syria in 63 BCE and Egypt in 30 BCE, diverting Saba's overland trade network. The Romans then attempted to conquer Saba around 26/25 BCE with an army sent out under the command of the governor Aelius Gallus, setting Marib to siege. Due to heat exhaustion, the siege had to be quickly given up. However, after conquering Egypt, the overland trade network was redirected to maritime routes, with an intermediary port chosen with Bir Ali (then called Qani). This port was part of the Kingdom of Hadhramaut, far from Sabaean territory. Greatly economically weakened, the Kingdom of Saba was soon annexed by the Himyarite Kingdom, bringing this period to a close.

Second Sabaean kingdom (1st – 3rd centuries CE)

right|thumb|Old Sana'a town with tower buildings

After the disintegration of the first Himyarite Kingdom, the Sabaean Kingdom reappeared and began to vigorously campaign against the Himyarites, and it flourished for another century and a half. This resurgent kingdom was different from the earlier one in many important respects. The most significant change with the earlier Sabaean period is that local power dynamics had shifted from the oasis cities on the desert margin, like Marib, to the highland tribes. The Almaqah temple at Marib returned to being a religious center. Saba inaugurated a new coinage and the remarkable Ghumdan Palace was built at Sanaa which, in this period, had its status elevated to that of a secondary capital next to Marib.

Despite liberating itself from Himyar by around 100 CE, leaders of Himyar continued calling themselves the "king of Saba", as they had been doing during the period in which they ruled the region, to assert their legitimacy over the territory. The Kingdom fell after a long but sporadic civil war between several Yemenite dynasties claiming kingship, and the late Himyarite Kingdom rose as victorious. Sabaean kingdom was finally permanently conquered by the Ḥimyarites around 275 CE. Saba lost its royal status and reverted to a normal tribe, limited to the citizens of Marib, who are named in the last time in South Arabian sources in CIH 541 in requesting assistance from the king in repairing a rupture in the Marib Dam.

Conquests

Conquests of Karib'il Watar

The major conquests in Saba were driven by the exploits of Karib'il Watar. Karib'il conquered all surrounding neighbours, including the Awsan, Qataban, and Hadhramaut. Karib'il's exploits largely unified Yemen.thumb|[[Karib'il Watar's campaign against Awsan]]The conquests of Karib'il are documented in two lengthy inscriptions (RES 3945–3946) discovered at the Temple of Almaqah at Sirwah. These inscriptions describe a series of eight campaigns to show how Karib'il ultimately brought South Arabia under the control of Saba. The first campaign took place in the highlands west of Marib, where Karib'il declares that he had captured 8,000 and killed 3,000 enemies. The second campaign concerned the Kingdom of Awsan, which flourished in the 8th and 7th centuries BCE. Up until the reign of Karib'il, it was a significant regional competitor with the Kingdom of Saba. However, Karib'il's campaign brought about the obliteration of the Kingdom of Awsan. The tribal elite leading Awsan were slaughtered, and the palace of Murattaʿ was destroyed, as well as their temples and inscriptions. The wadi was depopulated, which is reflected in the abandonment of the wadi. Sabaean inscriptions claim that 16,000 were killed and 40,000 prisoners were taken. This may not have been a significant exaggeration, as the Awsan kingdom disappeared as a political entity from the historical record for five or six centuries. The third and fourth campaigns involve attacks against tribes living in low-lying hills that geographically face the Gulf of Aden. The fifth and sixth campaigns were against Nashshan. Nashshan was, like Awsan, one of Saba's most powerful competitors. However, against Karib'il, combined with the destruction of several towns and buildings and the imposition of a tribute on its people. Any dissidents were killed and the cult of Almaqah was imposed onto Nashshan, with Nashshan's leaders being required to build a temple for him. The final two campaigns were against the Tihamah coastal region and the Najran region.

Horn of Africa

The role played by Sabaeans in the formation of Dʿmt (Di'amat), located in modern-day Ethiopia's Tigray Region and founded c. 800 BCE, continues to be debated by scholars. Evidence of strong Sabaean influence includes Sabaic inscriptions and Sabaean temples. Scholars of South Arabian archaeology and epigraphy tend to favour a migration and/or colonisation, while scholars of African archaeology tend to stress an indigenous origin. Sabaean populations migrated to maintain the new polity, and link it with the mother country, including through managing trade between the two (ivory might have especially been a driver of the expansion). The capital of the new kingdom was Yeha, where a great temple was built for Almaqah, the national god of Saba. Four other Almaqah temples are also known from Di'amat (including the Temple of Meqaber Gaʿewa), and other inscriptions mention the complete remainder of the known Sabaean deities. The great Yeha temple was modelled by Sabaean masons off of the Almaqah Temple at Sirwah (a major urban center of Saba). Besides religion, Sabaean culture also diffused into Di'amat through the use of objects, architectural techniques, artistic styles, institutions, paleographical styles for writings inscriptions, and the use of abstract symbols. Leaders in Di'amat used the classical South Arabian title, the mukarrib, and one particular title that is seen is the "Mukarrib of Diʿamat and Saba" (mkrb Dʿmt s-S<sup>1</sup>bʾ). The exact timing of the collapse of Di'amat is not known: it happened around the mid-1st millennium BCE and involved a destruction of Yeha along with a number of adjacent sites. This also happened when Saba was beginning to lose its grip on power over South Arabia.

In 2019 Sabaean inscriptions were found in Somaliland and Puntland, as well as a Sabaean temple whose inscriptions say its construction was ordered by the admiral of Sheba's fleet.

In 2025 said "we can perhaps discern two different models: a proper colonialist one along the northern Somali seaboard, with direct intervention of the state and aimed at the extraction of resources, and a diasporic model in the northern Horn [where Dʿmt was located], led by élites who soon mixed with local people, while maintaining ties with their ancestral homeland". The Old Testament Book of Ezekiel reads, "Dedan traded in saddle blankets with you. Arabia and all the princes of Kedar were your customers; they did business with you in lambs, rams and goats. ‘The merchants of Sheba and Raamah traded with you; for your merchandise they exchanged the finest of all kinds of spices and precious stones, and gold." The Chinese explorer Faxian, who passed through Sri Lanka in 414 CE, reported that Saebaean merchants and Arabs from Oman and Hadhramaut lived in ornate homes in settlements on the island and traded in timber.

Society

The gods

thumb|The inscription CIH 393 with the symbol of Almaqah in the top

Limitations in the available evidence prevent a full reconstruction of the full religious world in Ancient South Arabian kingdoms. While many of the known inscriptions speak about gods, most only hand down the name of the divinity without describing its nature, function, or cult. It is not known, for example, if these kingdoms had a god of war or a god of the underworld. Familial relationships between the gods are frequently mentioned, however.

thumb|The [[Temple of Awwam where Almaqah was worshipped|left]]

Saba had five gods of its pantheon: Almaqah, Athtar, Haubas, Dhat-Himyam, and Dhat-Badan. The first three are male, and the last two are female. The high god of the pantheon, and the national god of Saba, was Almaqah, whose worship was centered at the Temple of Awwam. Military victory helped spread this cult, such as when a temple to Almaqah was built in Nashshan after being conquered by Saba. The mention of Almaqah in the Jawf also indicates the political role played by Saba in that valley. The nature of the god is not entirely clear, but Almaqah has been hypothesized to be a moon god by some researchers.

Athtar was not limited to Saba, but was instead the common god of the South Arabian pantheon during its polytheistic era. Athtar was also once the great god of the Sabaean pantheon, before being supplanted by Almaqah. Generally however, South Arabian deities are region-specific and lack parallel elsewhere in the Near East.

Anthropomorphic representations of the gods are lacking entirely from the Old Sabaean period, and only begin to appear with the onset of Hellenistic and Roman influences at the turn of the Christian era.

The king

Ancient South Arabian kings built great public works, had special ties with the gods legitimated through rites only they could perform, and led their armies during battle. They are represented as brave warriors, pious worshippers, and active builders. The fathers of the king is rarely attested independently. The function of the king was distinct from the role of the sheikh. The Geographica by Strabo claims that in the region, the succession of kings was not familial, a claim that is partly confirmed by inscriptions. South Arabian kings did not appeal to their genealogy or the accomplishments of their fathers to legitimate their own rule. Only late in Sabaean history, from the second half of the 2nd century CE, did a real dynastic succession from father to son appear, and it only lasted for two generations.

The Sabaean king was called the mukarrib ("federator") more often than the malik ("king") between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE, to indicate their hegemony over their neighbours. When Saba declined after the 6th centuries BCE and Sabaean territory contracted to what it was prior to the conquests of Karib'il Watar, the title mukarrib is replaced by that of malik.

In the early centuries of Saba, the title of the king was a combination of a name and an epithet. All titles were chosen from a combination of six possible names (Dhamar'ali, Karib'il, Sumhu'alay, Yada"il, Yakrubmalik and Yitha'amar) and four possible epithets (Bayan, Dharih, Watar and Yanu). The repetitiveness of names has caused difficulties for historians trying to determine the relative succession of kings (even when they are attested) and raises questions about what the personal names were of each king. A similar practice took place in the neighbouring Kingdom of Hadhramaut. In the centuries leading up to the Christian era, this changed, kings began identifying with their real name, and reconstructions of Sabaean chronology become simpler.

Accession to the Sabaean throne required the consent of "the Sabaeans, the qayls and the army" in one inscription. The legislative body extended beyond the king, including other functionaries. The Sabaean monarchs did not implement taxes but derived their wealth from royal lands, war boody, and rent from clients. Military service could be compelled and financial requests could be made for the purpose of funding construction work. Any tithes on temple lands went to the temples themselves, not the monarch.

The king of Saba was not deified. The only known case of deification from ancient South Arabian cultures is from the Kingdom of Awsan during its resurgent phase.

The tribe

In the South Arabian tribal system, a fictitious shared ancestor was created and members of the tribe are referred to as the sons of the national god (in the case of Saba, they are "sons of Almaqah"). Allied states and tribes are called "brothers". Tribes were divided into lineages and sub-lineages, reflected by the names of members. The individual proper name appears along with the patronymic, the lineage name, and the name of the tribe, with the exception of funerary inscriptions, where the individual name is attested alone. In areas closer to the desert, the family name was more privileged and commonly mentioned, with the tribal name becoming less mentioned. Personal identity only went back to the name of the father, unlike in North Arabia in the same time period or the later Islamic period where a long sequence of ancestors is used to identify a figure. Identity was also in reference to the kingdom that one belonged to (Sabaeans, Qatabanians), not to a broader geographical construct (like "South Arabian").

Culture

Language

Sabaic was the spoken language of the Kingdom of Saba. Geographically, Sabaic was spoken in Saba, just as Qatabanic was spoken in Qataban and Hadraumitic was spoken in Hadhramaut. The only exception to this is Minaic, which is attested well-beyond the geographical territory of its corresponding kingdom, Ma'in. These four languages share and are distinguished by a number of linguistic features. The documentation for Sabaic is the best of any language of Ancient South Arabian, attested in all phases of the history of Saba.

Writing schools

The South Arabian kingdoms had writing schools with a common cultural background, although each school also had distinct practices.

Legacy

Bible

Saba appears in the Hebrew Bible, also the first place that the Sabaeans are mentioned by an external source. Most famously, Saba is presented as, through its female monarch the Queen of Sheba, engaging in trade with Solomon in goods of aromatics and gold. Historians have subjected this story to questions concerning its historicity. The Hebrew Bible links the Sabaean caravan trading network with other cities including Dedan, Tayma, and Ra'mah.

Islamic tradition

The story of the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon is discussed in Quran 27:15–44.

thumb|Bilqis reclining in a garden, Persian miniature (ca. 1595), tinted drawing on paper

thumb|Illustration in a [[Hafez frontispiece: Bilqis enthroned, under a flying simurgh (c. 1539)]]

The name of Saba' is mentioned in the Qur'an in Surah 5:69, Surah 27:15-44 and Surah 34:15-17. Surah 34 is named Sabaʾ. Their mention in Surah 5 refers to the area in the context of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, whereas their mention in Surah 34 refers to the Flood of the Dam, in which the dam was ruined by flooding. There is also an epithet, Qawm Tubbaʿ or "People of Tubbaʿ" (Surah 44:37, Surah 50:12-14) that some exegetes have identified as a reference to the kings of Saba'.

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". According to some he then married the Queen, while other traditions assert that he gave her in marriage to a tubba of Hamdan.

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.

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. 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.thumb|Inscription that shows religious practice during pilgrimage

The Ottoman scholar Mahmud al-Alusi compared the religious practices of South Arabia to Islam in his Bulugh al-'Arab fi Ahwal al-'Arab.

According to the medieval religious scholar al-Shahrastani, Sabaeans accepted both the sensible and intelligible world. They did not follow religious laws but centered their worship on spiritual entities.

Ethiopian and Yemenite tradition

In the medieval Ethiopian cultural work called the Kebra Nagast, Sheba was located in Ethiopia. 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. Donald N. Levine links Sheba with Shewa (the province where modern Addis Ababa is located) in Ethiopia.

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.

Notes

References

Sources

External links

"Queen of Sheba mystifies at the Bowers" – UC Irvine news article on Queen of Sheba exhibit at the Bowers Museum
"A Dam at Marib" from the Saudi Aramco World online – March/April 1978
Queen of Sheba Temple restored (2000, BBC)
William Leo Hansberry, E. Harper Johnson, "Africa's Golden Past: Queen of Sheba's true identity confounds historical research", Ebony, April 1965, p. 136 — thorough discussion of previous scholars associating Biblical Sheba with Ethiopia.
S. Arabian "Inscription of Abraha" in the Sabaean language , at Smithsonian/NMNH website
Saba' (Encyclopædia Britannica)