Arabia Felix

Arabs: the people living in the country to the west and south of Mesopotamia.

Ancient Yemen
Ancient Yemen

Although the name "Arab" means something like "nomad", most Arabs were sedentary farmers and lived in towns. In Antiquity, their land can be divided into several zones:

Dromedary-shaped pendant

The domestication of the dromedary allowed the Arab nomads to move over greater distances. Trade along the Incense Route from Yemen to Syria started to create some kind of homogenity. At the same time, it allowed Arab tribes to move out of their homelands. They gradually took over an urban periphery in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. The rise of the Umayyad Caliphate in the seventh century CE marks the final stage of this process.

Kingdoms

The Arab warrior Mushayqat Hamayat ibn Yusuf on a dromedary. Funerary stela from Saba (second century CE?)
The Arab warrior Mushayqat Hamayat ibn Yusuf on a dromedary. Funerary stela from Saba (second century CE?)

In Antiquity, modern Yemen was famous for its incense and cinnamon - the latter being imported from India. There were several minor kingdoms in Arabia Felix:

Statue of a man from Timna
Statue of a man from Timna

Each of these kingdoms possessed extensive hydraulic installations, enabling the population to cope with both drought and the sometimes devastating river floods. The city of Marib boasted a famous dam, allowing irrigation of the fields without being too dependent on the rainfall, one of the engineering wonders of the ancient world.

Incense

The incense trade was the most important source of wealth. The product was transported from Hadramaut to Ma`in, and from there to Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean world. (The traders used dromedaries: this animal was domesticated in the tenth century BCE and could travel some hundred kilometers/day.) Several new towns were founded along the incense road; the most important was Yathrib. Mecca was a little off the main road.

When Alexander the Great had conquered the Achaemenid empire, he wanted to launch a naval expedition to Arabia Felix, but he died several days before the expedition started (323 BCE). Although this expedition had come to nothing, southern Arabia was now part of a larger world, and several economic changes took place. It is clear that several new towns were founded in this period and that access to the trade routes changed the balance of power: we already noticed how Qataban seized the country known as Himyar during the third century. About 120 BCE, Saba managed to reconquer Ma`in, a war that may have been motivated by economic motifs.

However, the trade route by land had declined. It had become possible to use the monsoon to make long voyages across the Indian Ocean. Himyar, situated in the southwest, now became independent (about 110 BCE), because it controlled harbor towns like modern Al-Mukha and Aden. The capital of Himyar was Zafar.

Rise of Himyar

Dedication by Ilîmagud Mayfa
Dedication by Ilîmagud Mayfa

From now on, Saba and Himyar were competitors, and they sometimes invited foreign powers to assist them in their wars: e.g., tribes from Arabia Deserta or Ethiopian warriors from Aksum. Later, the foreigners came uninvited, such as the army that was sent by the Roman emperor Augustus in 24 BCE, who wanted to control Himyar's ports.

During the first stages of the conflict between Himyar and Saba, the latter was the leading power. Together with Hadramaut, it destroyed Qataban; later, king Ša`r Awtar conquered Hadramaut. Saba now controlled all the countries in the interior.

However, Himyar's control of the sea routes was decisive. The discovery of many bronze statuettes in Jabal al-Awd, not far from Zafar, proves that there were good trade contacts with the Roman Empire. At the end of the third century, its king Šamir Yuhar`iš united Yemen. He was important enough to negotiate on equal terms with the king of the Sasanian Empire. At a later stage (sixth century), king Dhu Nuwas of Himyar (518-525) converted to Judaism, adopting the name of Yusuf. Several inscription mention his "merciful Lord", a title that was later used for Allah.

Literature