Old South Arabian

Old South Arabian Rebecca Hasselbach 1. Introduction The term “Old South Arabian” (OSA) designates the languages attested in inscriptions from pre-Islamic southwest Arabia. Most of the inscriptions were discovered in the area of today’s Yemen, specifically the east- ern central Yemeni highlands and the wadi deltas leading to Ramlat as-Sabʿatayn. A smaller number of inscriptions has been found in today’s Oman and northern Arabia. Since medieval Arab grammarians referred to this area as “Ṣayhad,” the language of the inscriptions is also called “Ṣayhadic” ( Beeston 1984: 1). This designation, however, is not gener- ally used today. The terms “Old South Arabian” and “Epigraphic South Arabian” are more commonly encountered in the scholarly literature. 1.1. Origin and history The historical period of southwest Arabia begins in the early first millennium bce, although material records, which include rock paintings that originate between the fifth and second millennia bce, have shown that the area was settled long before this time (Müller 1987: 50). It is a matter of dispute when the tribes that produced the inscriptional material migrated into southwest Arabia and where they came from (Schippmann 2001: 17). The most widely accepted theory today is that an unknown group migrated into the area in the late third millennium bce, since we do not find evidence for significant changes in the material culture after that time. Furthermore, there is evidence that the population of southwest Arabia was of a mixed nature at the beginning of the first millennium ce, so that we can say with relative certainty that there must have occurred several waves of migration (Schippmann 2001: 17). Despite the fact that it is impossible to say with certainty when the various population groups known to us from the written material migrated into southwest Arabia, we know, based on descriptions by the Greek geographer Eratosthenes, that there were four separate nations in the third century bce, whom he called the Sabaioi, Minaioi, Kittibanoi, DOI 10.1515/9781934078631.160, © 2017 Rebecca Hasselbach, published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License. Old South Arabian 161 and Atramotitai. The inscriptional material attests to four main languages or dialects, which, based on Eratosthenes, are referred to as Sabaic, Mi- naic, Qatabanic, and Hadramitic. We do not have any evidence for the native names of these languages ( Beeston 1984: 1). The earliest evidence for the existence of the OSA kingdoms, more specifically the kingdom of Saba, comes from the Bible in the famous story recounting the visit of the queen of Sheba to Solomon (1 Kgs 10:1–13). It is uncertain how much, if any, of this story reflects historical events, since the biblical text itself was composed no earlier than the fourth century bce. Some historians consider the text evidence for the fact that the Sabaeans had established themselves as important traders by the tenth century bce (de Maigret 2002: 28). Other biblical passages recounting events that date to the seventh and sixth centuries describe Sabaeans as merchants of incense, spices, and similar goods (see Ps 72:10, Isa 60:6, Ezek 27:22, and Jer 6:20). Additional evidence for the presence of Sabaeans in the late eighth and early seventh centuries bce comes from inscriptions of Assyrian kings. A Sabaean named Itamra is mentioned in an inscription of Sargon (715 bce), in which he is described as bringing tribute to the Assyrian king. Another Sabaean, called Karibilu, appears in an inscription of Sen- nacherib from the year 685 bce (Müller 1987: 50). The names Yitʿʾamar and Karibʾilu are known from Sabaean rulers in early Sabaic inscriptions¯ and are commonly identified with the Sabaeans that appear in the Assyr- ian texts (see e.g. Müller 1987: 50; Kitchen 1994: 111). Further, we have archeological evidence from excavations con- ducted for example in Hajar Bin Humeid that shows the development of a major culture in southwest Arabia. During the excavations at this site, archeologists discovered a jar inscription dating to the ninth or eighth century bce that is written in an early form of the OSA alphabet (Kitchen 1994: xxi). Despite the progress made in tracing the early development of the OSA cultures, particularly with the help of archeological data, their chronology especially in the early first millennium bce is still very much debated. The dates provided in the following paragraphs should thus not be taken as absolute dates. They represent the chronology most commonly found in the current scholarly literature. As in the external textual evidence, the earliest attested kingdom in the OSA inscriptional material proper is the kingdom of Saba. The earliest Sabaic period is commonly referred to as the Mukarrib period based on the title of the ruler used at the time, which is written mkrb in the inscriptions and vocalized based on Arabic (for the dating of the Mukar‑ rib period see Section 1.2). The period of the Mukarribs constitutes the apogee of the Sabaean kingdom. At this time, the other OSA territories 162 Rebecca Hasselbach were subject to Saba. The Sabaeans established trade relations over a vast area, including Ethiopia, where Sabaic inscriptions dating to this time were discovered (Müller 1987: 50). Furthermore, there is evidence for extensive building activities during the Mukarrib period, as exemplified in the building of the great dam of Marib around 550 bce, which existed until the seventh century ce and secured the irrigation of the area. Around 450 bce, the Minaeans gained independence from Saba. In the fourth century, Qataban and Hadramawt equally established themselves as independent kingdoms, so that we have evidence for four independent kingdoms from the fourth century on. The restructuring of the power relations in Southwest Arabia coincided with a change in the titulary of the Sabaean rulers. From around 350/330 bce – the exact date is debated – rulers are called mlk ‘king’ instead of mkrb (Kitchen 1994: xxiv). The four kingdoms coexisted for two to three centuries. This time was characterized by constant rivalries and battles for control over the major trade routes. During their time of independence, the Minaeans controlled major parts of the incense route, up to the oasis of Dedan in northern Arabia. They further extended their trade relations to Gaza, Egypt, Phoenicia, and Ionia (Müller 1987: 51). This extension of Minaean trade is also re- flected in the spread of their inscriptional material, for which see Section 1.2. The Minaean kingdom was the first to lose its independence, at the turn of the second century bce. Initially, it became a vassal of Qataban and was subsequently taken over by the Sabaeans. The Qatabanian kingdom with its capital Timnaʿ flourished in the third century bce. At the end of the second century bce, Qataban lost its western territories to Saba but continued to exist in a reduced form until around 160 ce when it was conquered by Hadramawt. Hadramawt had risen to a major power in southwest Arabia in the late first millenniumbce because of its control of the incense-producing areas in Dofar in today’s Oman. Toward the end of the second¯ century bce we find evidence for a new population group that quickly gained political importance in southwest Arabia, the Himyar, who established their capital Zafar in the southern Yemeni highlands. The citadel of Zafar, called Raydan, is often mentioned in inscriptions. The Himyar founded a relatively long-lasting kingdom into which they incorporated the two remaining OSA kingdoms, Saba (around 275 ce) and Hadramawt (around 300). The Him- yarite era lasted from approximately 115 bce to 533 ce. The beginning of the end of the OSA and Himyarite cultures occurred in 523 ce. In this year, the Himyar killed the Christian population of the city of Najran, which caused the (Christian) Ethiopians to invade southwest Arabia in 525. During the Ethiopian campaign, the Himyarite king was killed and Old South Arabian 163 the area became an Ethiopian province. The South Arabian population asked the Persians for aid against the Ethiopians. The Persians drove the Ethiopians out of southwest Arabia in 577 but also made the territory a Persian province. The conquest by the Persians marks the end of the Himyarite kingdom and the OSA cultures. As a final destructive event, the great dam of Marib broke at the beginning of the seventh century. The oasis was destroyed and the area around Marib became a wasteland. 1.2. The OSA languages and inscriptional material At the beginning of OSA studies, Sabaic, Minaic, Qatabanic, and Hadra- mitic were understood as dialects of a single language that was called OSA. The designation of the four as “dialects” was maintained until the mid twentieth century, when Beeston argued that they are sufficiently different to be considered independent languages ( Beeston 1984). Bee- ston’s analysis has been widely accepted among scholars working on OSA. Despite the fact that Sabaic, Minaic, Qatabanic, and Hadramitic are now considered distinct languages, they are clearly linguistically related and derive from a common ancestor since they share certain morpho- logical innovations. One of the main isoglosses attested in all four OSA languages is the suffixed definite article ‑(h)n ( Beeston 1987: 103). There are, however, also significant differences between the four languages. Sabaic is the most distinctive of the OSA languages. It has third- person independent pronouns, pronominal suffixes, and a causative with /h/, while the corresponding forms of Minaic, Qatabanic, and Hadramitic have /s1/; compare Sabaic -hw ‘his’ versus Minaic -s1w. Sabaic is more in- novative regarding this phonological feature than the other OSA languages.

Load more