̄ ARABIA ANTICA The special importance of the Kitāb al-ansāb (The book of ARABIA ANTICA 13 genealogies) from al-ʿAwtabī – an Omani historian who lived in the 11th century – is that it is the first historiographic source related 1 - A. Avanzini (ed.), Khor Rori Report 1, 2002, pp. 388. to Oman. Therefore, al-ʿAwtabī presents the history of Oman from the descendants of Noah to the fall of the Umayyads (750). At this 2 - A. Avanzini, Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions I - III. point, the narration ends abruptly. Qatabanic, Marginal Qatabanic, Awsanite Inscriptions, 2004, by al-ʿAwtabı But the present study concerns the pages devoted to the age pp. 606. that preceded the diffusion of Islam, particularly the period when 3 - A.V. Sedov, Temples of Ancient Ḥaḍramawt, 2005, pp. 328. Arab tribes began to arrive in Oman. Because of the disaster of the Maʾrib dam the majority of inhabitants are forced to leave the 4 - D. Mascitelli, L’arabo in epoca preislamica: formazione di town looking for a new home. Regarding migration, according to una lingua, 2006, pp. 316 + 19 figure fuori testo. Arabian tradition, the Azd tribe seem to have separated into dif- ferent groups of which one, guided by Mālik b. Fahm, arrived in 5 - A. Avanzini (ed.), A port in Arabia between Rome and the Oman. So, with his actions and words, the brave chief of the Azd Indian Ocean (3rd C. BC - 5th C. AD). Khor Rori Report 2, 2008, Kitāb al-ansāb determined the first arabization of Oman. The story narrated by al- pp. 742 + 6 tavole fuori testo. ʿAwtabī, following a temporal order of facts, is full of suggestions 6 - A. Avanzini (ed.), Eastern Arabia in the first millennium and includes particularly interesting aesthetic and literary points BC, 2010, pp. 250. The of view. It is mainly a ‘fictional’ reconstruction of the events. This narration suggests that al-ʿAwtabī assembled the written Arabic 7 - J.-F. Breton (ed.), Le sanctuaire de ʿAthtar dhû-Riṣâf THE ORIGINS sources with oral Omani traditions. It is a story whose function d’as-Sawdâʾ, 2011, pp. 224. was to recount the arrival of the Azd in Oman and to highlight the 8 - A. Prioletta, Inscriptions from the southern highlands OF THE HISTORY OF OMAN origins of this territory and its inhabitants. of Yemen. The epigraphic collections of the museums of Baynūn The Kitāb al-ansāb by al-ʿAwtabı̄ and Dhamār, 2013, pp. 408. DANIELA AMALDI was professor of Arabic language and literature at the University of Pisa from 1977 to 2008. She was 9 - M. Mouton & J. Schiettecatte, In the desert margins. DANIELA AMALDI an appointed member of the Italian Commission of the UNESCO The settlement process in ancient South and East Arabia, 2014, from 1995 to 2006. She has been a member of the Scientific board pp. 336. of the Istituto per l’Oriente C. A. Nallino since 1998. Her main 10 - A. Avanzini, By land and by sea. A history of South Arabia field of work is Arabic literature. before Islam recounted from the inscriptions, 2016, pp. 376 + 3 carte fuori testo. STUDIES PHILOLOGICAL 11 - A. Lombardi, South Arabian funerary stelae from the British Museum collection, 2016, pp. 204. 12 - A. Pavan, A cosmopolitan city on the Arabian coast. OF OMAN. THE HISTORY OF The imported and local pottery from Khor Rori. Khor Rori Report 3, 2017, pp. 398. 13 - D. Amaldi, The origins of the history of Oman. The Kitāb al-ansāb by al-ʿAwtabı ̄ , 2017, pp. 266. D. AMALDI THE ORIGINS OF THE HISTORY OF OMAN ISBN 978-88-913-1531-1 DANIELA AMALDI DANIELA THE ORIGINS «L’ERMA» «L’ERMA» di BRETSCHNEIDER ARABIA ANTICA 13 Philological Studies collana diretta da Alessandra Avanzini ARABIA ANTICA 1 - A. Avanzini (ed.), Khor Rori Report 1, 2002, pp. 388. 2 - A. Avanzini, Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions I - III. Qatabanic, Marginal Qatabanic, Awsanite Inscriptions, 2004, pp. 606. 3 - A.V. Sedov, Temples of Ancient Ḥaḍramawt, 2005, pp. 328. 4 - D. Mascitelli, L’arabo in epoca preislamica: formazione di una lingua, 2006, pp. 337. 5 - A. Avanzini (ed.), A port in Arabia between Rome and the Indian Ocean (3rd C. BC – 5th C. AD). Khor Rori Report 2, 2008, pp. 742 + 6 tavole fuori testo. 6 - A. Avanzini (ed.), Eastern Arabia in the First Millennium BC, 2010, pp. 250. 7 - J.-Fr. Breton (ed.), Le sanctuaire de ʿAthtar dhû-Riṣâf d’as-Sawdâʾ, 2011, pp. 224. 8 - A. Prioletta, Inscriptions from the southern highlands of Yemen. The epigraphic collections of the Museums of Baynūn and Dhamār, 2013, pp. 408. 9 - M. Mouton & J. Schiettecatte, In the desert margins. The settlement process in ancient South and East Arabia, 2014, pp. 336. 10 - A. Avanzini, By land and by sea. A history of South Arabia before Islam recounted from inscriptions, 2016, pp. 376 + 3 carte fuori testo. 11 - A. Lombardi, South Arabian funerary stelae from the British Museum collection, 2016, pp. 204. 12 - A. Pavan, A cosmopolitan city on the Arabian coast. The imported and local pottery from Khor Rori. Khor Rori Report 3, 2017, pp. 398. 13 - D. Amaldi, The origin of the history of Oman. The Kitāb al-ansāb by al- ʿAwtabī, 2017, pp. 266. Daniela Amaldi THE ORIGINS OF THE HISTORY OF OMAN The Kitāb al-ansāb by al-ʿAwtabī «L’erMA» di BRETSCHNEIDER DANIELA AMALDI The origins of the history of Oman. The Kitāb al-ansāb by al-ʿAwtabī Redazione e impaginazione: Alessandra Lombardi Traduzione: Claudia Alborghetti Revisione lingua inglese: Geoffrey Phillips © Copyright 2017 «L’erMA» di BRETSCHNEIDER Via Cassiodoro, 11 – 00193 Roma Tutti i diritti riservati. È vietata la riproduzione di testi e illustrazioni senza il permesso scritto dell’Editore Amaldi Daniela, The origins of the history of Oman. The Kitāb al-ansāb by al-ʿAwtabī - Roma : «L’erMA» di BRETSCHNEIDER, 2017. - 266 p.; 22 cm. - (Arabia Antica ; 13) (Philological Studies) ISBN: 978-88-913-1531-1 (brossura) ISBN: 978-88-913-1534-2 (pdf) CDD: 953.2 1. Epigrafia ... mas a história assim o deixou registado como facto incontroverso e documentado, avalizado pelos historiadores e confirmado pelo romancista, a quem haverá que perdoar certas liberdades em nome, não só do seu direito a inventar, mas também da necessidade de preencher os vazios para que não viesse a perder-se de todo a sagrada coerência do relato. No fundo, há que reconhecer que a história não é apenas selectiva, é também discriminatória, só colhe da vida o que lhe interessa como material socialmente tido por histórico e despreza todo o resto, precisamente onde talvez poderia ser encontrada a verdadeira explicação dos factos, das coisas, da puta realidade. José Saramago Viagem do elefante, Lisboa, Caminho 2008: 226-227 Borne out by the historians and confirmed by the novelist, who must be excused certain liberties in the name not only of the right to invent but also of the need to fill the gaps, so that the all-holy coherence of the tale may not be entirely lost. Ultimately, it must be recognised that history is not only selective but also discriminatory; it picks out from life only that which interests it as material socially held to be historical, and despises all the rest. José Saramago, The Elephant’s Journey SUMMARY Preface 9 Chapter 1 – al-ʿAwtabī and the Kitāb al-ansāb 11 Chapter 2 – Early history 31 Chapter 3 – Maʾrib and the devastating flood 55 Chapter 4 – The journey 81 Chapter 5 – Mālik ibn Fahm and Oman 111 Addendum – Text and translation 137 Classical Arabic sources 225 Bibliography 233 Index 253 7 Preface In 1995 Alessandra Avanzini organised a journey of ‘exploration’ in Oman. This journey became the basis for the mission that began the following year,1 on her initiative and under her direction. Over the years this activity has contributed to a broadening of our knowledge of the realities of pre- Islamic Oman in its manifold aspects; including facts about various differ- ent regions of the country.2 My involvement in that journey, as in the journeys made in southern Arabia both before3 and since, was an upshot of a 30-year-long stretch of teaching at the University of Pisa. At that time, as far back as 1977, Edda Bresciani put me in charge of Arabic Language and Literature. As a con- sequence I became involved in relations with Alessandra, which rapidly bloomed into friendship. In fact, in what was then the Institute for Ancient History Studies – a rather odd setting for the teaching of Arabic language and lit-erature – I found myself rubbing shoulders with colleagues whose interests revolved around periods and subjects somewhat remote from those my subject is mainly associated with in the Italian universities. So it was 1 The University of Pisa Mission to Dhofar began in February 1996. 2 Alongside the Khor Rori mission, the year 2004 saw a further mission in the plane traversed by the Wadi Bahla and the Wadi Sayfam, dominated by the remains of the set- tlement, the qaṣr of Salūt, which lies at about two kilometres north of the city of Bisya. (Coordinates: N 22° 46’ 19.58 E 57° 12’ 32.54). 3 The first, in 1985, was to Yemen, together with Alessandra Avanzini and Stefania Mazzoni: so many places, so many discussions and exchanges of ideas ranging over varied fields of study, but also no lack of good humour and warm friendship. 9 The origins of the history of Oman that, also on the strength of the courses held by Francesco Gabrieli at the Scuola Orientale, I decided to abandon the study of contemporary Arabic literature and turned to pre-Islamic and early Islamic poetry.