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The Himyarite Empire
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21729 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
1 / 2002 |
353 Words |
| Author
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Peter Slavin is a freelance writer based in Virginia. |
The Himyarite Empire was the last of Yemen's ancient kingdoms. It was also the only one to nominally control most of the territory of modern Yemen. Himyar emerged near the end of the second century b.c.e. but became a powerful state only in the first century c.e., when it defeated the more famous Sabaean kingdom.
Yemen's early city-states were built on agriculture and trade. The latter produced the wealth that gave rise to the Sabaean (Sheba), Qataban, Ma'in, Awsan, and Hadramaut kingdoms. Each state comprised a network of cities that served as caravan stations on the incense road running from the Arabian Sea to the Mediterranean.
In addition to exporting locally grown frankincense and myrrh, the kingdoms profited as middlemen for trade goods from Asia and Africa, shipped to the port at Aden. Dispersed over a wide area, all the kingdoms shared a culture and spoke dialects of a common language. Saba dominated the others--especially the three that were its satellites--but as is suggested by the absence of fortifications, relations between the kingdoms were generally amicable.
The Himyarite dynasty emerged as Saba was on the decline. It became the main power in the region, and the two kingdoms were linked. Himyar kings referred to themselves as kings of Saba and Dhu Raydan, the mountain on which their capital was built. The Himyarites centered their empire in the highlands, where they developed terraced agriculture. Their trade routes ran from near the seaport at Mocha through the mountains to modern day Sana'a and on to Mecca.
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