Ancient history of Yemen - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The ancient history of Yemen (South Arabia

South Arabia

South Arabia as a general term refers to several regions as currently recognized, in chief the Republic of Yemen; yet it has historically also included Najran, Jizan, and 'Asir which are presently in Saudi Arabia, and Dhofar presently in Oman...

) is especially important because Yemen

Yemen

The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....

is one of the oldest centers of civilization

Civilization

Civilization is a sometimes controversial term that has been used in several related ways. Primarily, the term has been used to refer to the material and instrumental side of human cultures that are complex in terms of technology, science, and division of labor. Such civilizations are generally...

in the Near East

Near East

The Near East is a geographical term that covers different countries for geographers, archeologists, and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...

. Its relatively fertile land and adequate rainfall in a moister climate helped sustain a stable population, a feature recognized by the ancient Greek geographer Ptolemy

Ptolemy

Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...

, who described Yemen as Eudaimon Arabia (better known in its Latin translation, Arabia Felix) meaning Fortunate Arabia or Happy Arabia. Between the 8th century BCE and the 6th century CE, it was dominated by six main states which rivaled each other, or were allied with each other and controlled the lucrative spice

Spice

A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark, or vegetative substance used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food additive for flavor, color, or as a preservative that kills harmful bacteria or prevents their growth. It may be used to flavour a dish or to hide other flavours...

trade

Trade

Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...

: Saba

Sabaeans

The Sabaeans or Sabeans were an ancient people speaking an Old South Arabian language who lived in what is today Yemen, in the south west of the Arabian Peninsula.Some scholars suggest a link between the Sabaeans and the Biblical land of Sheba....

, Ma'in, Qataban

Qataban

Qataban was one of the ancient Yemeni kingdoms. Its heartland was located in the Baihan valley. Like some other Southern Arabian kingdoms it gained great wealth from the trade of frankincense and myrrh incense which were burned at altars...

, Hadhramaut

Hadhramaut

Hadhramaut, Hadhramout, Hadramawt or Ḥaḍramūt is the formerly independent Qu'aiti state and sultanate encompassing a historical region of the south Arabian Peninsula along the Gulf of Aden in the Arabian Sea, extending eastwards from Yemen to the borders of the Dhofar region of Oman...

, Awsan, and Himyar. Islam arrived in 630 CE, and Yemen became part of the Muslim realm.

Pre Dynastic Qahtan (3rd millennium BC - 8th century BC)

According to some hypotheses, in the 3rd millennium BC the Arabs of the southern Arabian peninsula united under the leadership of Qahtan. The Qahtanis began building simple earth dams and canals in the Marib area in the Sayhad

Sayhad

Sayhad is a desert region that corresponds with Northern Deserts of Modern Yemen and Southwestern Saudi Arabia ....

desert. This area would later become the site of the Dam of Marib. A trade route began to flourish along the Red Sea coasts of Tihama. An order of high priests appeared in South Arabian culture who are referred to as the Mukkaribs

Mukkaribs

The Mukkaribs "priest-kings," were the first rulers of the early South Arabian states. They were later replaced by ordinary maliks "kings."...

of the "Sabeans" represented by local tribal leaders who came to rule South Arabia and some parts of East Africa. This period witnessed the reign of the legendary Queen Bilqis mentioned in the Bible/Quran. This period ended with the arrival of the alphabet in the 9th century BC. A variant of the Phoenician script, this will lead to the recording of the South Arabian history.

Kingdom of Saba (8th century BCE - 275 CE)

During Sabaean rule, trade and agriculture flourished generating much wealth and prosperity. The Sabaean kingdom is located in what is now the Aseer region in southwestern Yemen, and its capital, Ma'rib, is located near what is now Yemen's modern capital, Sana'a

Sana'a

-Districts:*Al Wahdah District*As Sabain District*Assafi'yah District*At Tahrir District*Ath'thaorah District*Az'zal District*Bani Al Harith District*Ma'ain District*Old City District*Shu'aub District-Old City:...

. According to Arab tradition, the eldest son of Noah

Noah

Noah was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the tenth and last of the antediluvian Patriarchs. The biblical story of Noah is contained in chapters 6–9 of the book of Genesis, where he saves his family and representatives of all animals from the flood by constructing an ark...

, Shem

Shem

Shem was one of the sons of Noah in the Hebrew Bible as well as in Islamic literature. He is most popularly regarded as the eldest son, though some traditions regard him as the second son. Genesis 10:21 refers to relative ages of Shem and his brother Japheth, but with sufficient ambiguity in each...

, founded the city of Ma'rib.

During Sabaean rule, Yemen was called "Arabia Felix" by the Romans who were impressed by its wealth and prosperity. The Roman emperor Augustus

Augustus

Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...

sent a military expedition to conquer the "Arabia Felix", under the orders of Aelius Gallus. After an unsuccessful siege of Ma'rib, the Roman general retreated to Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

, while his fleet destroyed the port of Aden

Aden

Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...

in order to guarantee the Roman merchant route to India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

.

The success of the Kingdom was based on the cultivation and trade of spices and aromatics including frankincense and myrrh. These were exported to the Mediterranean, India, and Abyssinia where they were greatly prized by many cultures, using camels on routes through Arabia, and to India by sea.

Agriculture in Yemen thrived during this time due to an advanced irrigation system which consisted of large water tunnels in mountains, and dams. The most impressive of these earthworks, known as the Ma'rib Dam was built ca. 700 BCE, provided irrigation for about 25,000 acres (101 km²) of land and stood for over a millennium, finally collapsing in 570

570

Year 570 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 570 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Europe :* Spoleto becomes the capital of an...

CE after centuries of neglect. The final destruction of the dam is noted in the Qur'an and the consequent failure of the irrigation system provoked the migration of up to 50,000 people.

The Sabaean kingdom, with its capital at Ma'rib

Ma'rib

Ma'rib or Marib is the capital town of the Ma'rib Governorate, Yemen and was the capital of the Sabaean kingdom, which some scholars believe to be the ancient Sheba of biblical fame. It is located at , approximately 120 kilometers east of Yemen's modern capital, Sana'a...

where the remains of a large temple can still be seen, thrived for almost 14 centuries. Some have argued that this kingdom was the Sheba

Sheba

Sheba was a kingdom mentioned in the Jewish scriptures and the Qur'an...

described in the Old Testament

Old Testament

The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...

Kingdom of Hadhramaut (8th century BCE - 300 CE)

The first known inscriptions of Hadramaut are known from the 8th century BCE. It was first referenced by an outside civilization in an Old Sabaic

Sabaean language

Sabaean , also known as Himyarite , was an Old South Arabian language spoken in Yemen from c. 1000 BC to the 6th century AD, by the Sabaeans; it was used as a written language by some other peoples of Ancient Yemen, including the Hashidites, Sirwahites, Humlanites, Ghaymanites, Himyarites,...

inscription of Karab'il Watar from the early 7th century BCE, in which the King of Hadramaut, Yada`'il, is mentioned as being one of his allies. When the Minaeans took control of the caravan routes in the 4th century BCE, however, Hadramaut became one of its confederates, probably because of commercial interests. It later became independent and was invaded by the growing kingdom of Himyar

Himyar

The Himyarite Kingdom or Himyar , historically referred to as the Homerite Kingdom by the Greeks and the Romans, was a kingdom in ancient Yemen. Established in 110 BC, it took as its capital the modern day city of Sana'a after the ancient city of Zafar...

toward the end of the 1st century BCE, but it was able to repel the attack. Hadramaut annexed Qataban in the second half of the 2nd century AD, reaching its greatest size. During this period, Hadramaut was continuously at war with Himyar and Saba', and the Sabaean

Sabaeans

king Sha`irum Awtar was even able to take its capital, Shabwa, in 225. During this period the Kingdom of Aksum began to interfere in South Arabian affairs. King GDRT

GDRT

GDRT was a king of the Kingdom of Aksum , known for being the first king to involve Axum in the affairs of what is now Yemen. He is known primarily from inscriptions in South Arabia that mention him and his son BYGT...

of Aksum acted by dispatching troops under his son, BYGT, sending them from the western coast to occupy Thifar, the Himyarite capital, as well as from the southern coast against Hadramaut as Sabaean allies. The kingdom of Hadramaut was eventually conquered by the Himyarite king Shammar Yuhar`ish around 300 CE, unifying all of the south Arabic kingdoms.

Kingdom of Awsan (800 BCE - 500 BCE)

The ancient Kingdom of Awsan in South Arabia (modern Yemen

Yemen

), with a capital at Bisgog Yahirr in the wadi Markha, to the south of the wadi Bayhan, is now marked by a tell

Tell

A tell or tel, is a type of archaeological mound created by human occupation and abandonment of a geographical site over many centuries. A classic tell looks like a low, truncated cone with a flat top and sloping sides.-Archaeology:A tell is a hill created by different civilizations living and...

or artificial mound, which is locally named Hagar Asfal in Shabwa. Once it was one of the most important small kingdoms of South Arabia. The city seems to have been destroyed in the 7th century BCE by the king and mukarrib of Saba

Sabaeans

Karib'il Watar, according to a Sabaean text that reports the victory in terms that attest to its significance for the Sabaeans.

Kingdom of Qataban (4th century BCE - 200 CE)

Qataban was one of the ancient Yemeni kingdoms which thrived in the Baihan valley. Like the other Southern Arabian kingdoms it gained great wealth from the trade of frankincense and myrrh incense which were burned at altars. The capital of Qataban was named Timna and was located on the trade route which passed through the other kingdoms of Hadramaut, Saba and Ma'in. The chief deity of the Qatabanians was Amm, or "Uncle" and the people called themselves the "children of Amm".

Kingdom of Ma'in (8th century BCE – 100 BCE)

During Minaean rule, the capital was at Karna (now known as Sadah). Their other important city was Yathill (now known as Baraqish). Other parts of modern Yemen include Qataban

Qataban

and the coastal string of watering stations known as the Hadhramaut

Hadhramaut

. Though Saba' dominated in the earlier period of South Arabian history, Minaic inscriptions are of the same time period as the first Sabaic inscriptions. They pre-date the appearance of the Minaeans themselves, and, hence, are called now more appropriately as "Madhabic" rather than "Minaic". The Minaean Kingdom was centered in northwestern Yemen, with most of its cities lying along the Wadi Madhab. Minaic inscriptions have been found far afield of the Kingdom of Ma'in, as far away as al-`Ula

Al-`Ula

The Al-`Ula oasis , some 110 km southwest of Tayma in northwestern Arabia was located at the incense route.It was the capital of the ancient Lihyanites...

in northwestern Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...

and even on the island of Delos

Delos

The island of Delos , isolated in the centre of the roughly circular ring of islands called the Cyclades, near Mykonos, is one of the most important mythological, historical and archaeological sites in Greece...

and in Egypt

Egypt

. It was the first of the South Arabian kingdoms to end, and the Minaic language died around 100 CE.

Kingdom of Himyar (2nd Century BCE - 525 CE)

The Himyarites had united Southwestern Arabia, controlling the Red Sea as well as the coasts of the Gulf of Aden. From their capital city, the Himyarite Kings launched successful military campaigns, and had stretched its domain at times as far east to the Persian Gulf and as far north to the Arabian Desert.

During the 3rd century CE, the South Arabian kingdoms were in continuous conflict with one another. GDRT

GDRT

of Aksum began to interfere in South Arabian affairs, signing an alliance with Saba', and a Himyarite text notes that Hadramaut and Qataban were also all allied against the kingdom. As a result of this, the Kingdom of Aksum was able to capture the Himyarite capital of Thifar in the first quarter of the 3rd century. However, the alliances did not last, and Sha`ir Awtar of Saba' unexpectedly turned on Hadramaut, allying again with Aksum and taking its capital in 225. Himyar then allied with Saba' and invaded the newly taken Aksumite territories, retaking Thifar, which had been under the control of GDRT's son BYGT, and pushing Aksum back into the Tihama

Tihamah

Tihamah or Tihama is a narrow coastal region of Arabia on the Red Sea. It is currently divided between Saudi Arabia and Yemen. In a broad sense, Tihamah refers to the entire coastline from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Bab el Mandeb Strait but it more often refers only to its southern half, starting...

.

They established their capital at Thifar (now just a small village in the Ibb

Ibb

Ibb is a city in Yemen, the capital of Ibb Governorate, situated on a mountain ridge, surrounded by fertile land and is known as "The Green City". It is located about 73 miles north-east of Mocha. Ibb was governed by a semi-autonomous emir until 1944, when the emirate was abolished...

region) and gradually absorbed the Sabaean kingdom. They traded from the port of Mawza'a on the Red Sea. Dhu Nuwas

Dhu Nuwas

Yūsuf Dhū Nuwas, was the last king of the Himyarite kingdom of Yemen and a convert to Judaism....

, a Himyarite king, changed the state religion to Judaism

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

in the beginning of the 6th century and began to massacre the Christians. Outraged, Kaleb

Kaleb of Axum

Kaleb is perhaps the best-documented, if not best-known, king of Axum. Procopius of Caesarea calls him "Hellestheaeus", a variant of his throne name Ella Atsbeha or Ella Asbeha...

, the Christian King of Aksum with the encouragement of the Byzantine Emperor Justin I

Justin I

Justin I was Byzantine Emperor from 518 to 527. He rose through the ranks of the army and ultimately became its Emperor, in spite of the fact he was illiterate and almost 70 years old at the time of accession...

invaded and annexed Yemen. About fifty years later, Yemen fell to Persia.

Kingdom of Aksum (520 - 570 CE)

Around 517/8, a Jewish

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

king called Yusuf Asar Yathar

Dhu Nuwas

Yūsuf Dhū Nuwas, was the last king of the Himyarite kingdom of Yemen and a convert to Judaism....

(also known as Dhu Nuwas) usurped the kingship of Himyar from Ma`adkarib Ya`fur. Interestingly, Pseudo-Zacharias

Zacharias Rhetor

Zacharias of Mytilene , also known as Zacharias Scholasticus or Zacharias Rhetor, was a bishop and ecclesiastical historian....

of Mytilene

Mytilene

Mytilene is a town and a former municipality on the island of Lesbos, North Aegean, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lesbos, of which it is a municipal unit. It is the capital of the island of Lesbos. Mytilene, whose name is pre-Greek, is built on the...

(fl. late 6th century) says that Yusuf became king because the previous king had died in winter, when the Aksumites could not cross the Red Sea

Red Sea

The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...

and appoint another king. Ma`adkarib Ya`fur's long title puts its truthfulness in doubt, however. Upon gaining power, Yusuf attacked the Aksumite garrison in Thifar, the Himyarite capital, killing many and destroying the church there. The Christian King Kaleb of Axum

Kaleb of Axum

Kaleb is perhaps the best-documented, if not best-known, king of Axum. Procopius of Caesarea calls him "Hellestheaeus", a variant of his throne name Ella Atsbeha or Ella Asbeha...

learned of Dhu Nuwas's persecutions of Christians and Aksumites, and, according to Procopius

Procopius

Procopius of Caesarea was a prominent Byzantine scholar from Palestine. Accompanying the general Belisarius in the wars of the Emperor Justinian I, he became the principal historian of the 6th century, writing the Wars of Justinian, the Buildings of Justinian and the celebrated Secret History...

, was further encouraged by his ally and fellow Christian Justin I

Justin I

of Byzantium, who requested Aksum's help to cut off silk

Silk

Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...

supplies as part of his economic war against the Persians

Sassanid Empire

The Sassanid Empire , known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran , was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651...

.

Kaleb sent a fleet across the Red Sea and was able to defeat Dhu Nuwas, who was killed in battle according to an inscription from Husn al-Ghurab, while later Arab tradition has him riding his horse into the sea. Kaleb installed a native Himyar

Himyar

ite viceroy, Sumyafa` Ashwa`, who ruled until 525, when he was deposed by the Aksumite general (or soldier and former slave) Abraha

Abraha

Abraha also known as Abraha al-Ashram or Abraha b...

with the support of disgruntled Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

n soldiers. According to the later Arabic sources, Kaleb retaliated by sending a force of 3,000 men under a relative, but the troops defected and killed their leader, and a second attempt at reigning in the rebellious Abraha also failed. Later Ethiopian sources state that Kaleb abdicated to live out his years in a monastery and sent his crown to be hung in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also called the Church of the Resurrection by Eastern Christians, is a church within the walled Old City of Jerusalem. It is a few steps away from the Muristan....

in Jerusalem. While uncertain, it seems to be supported by the die-links between his coins and those of his successor, Alla Amidas

Alla Amidas

Alla Amidas was a king of Axum. He is primarily known from the coins minted during his reign.Due to die-links between the coins of Alla Amidas and Kaleb, Munro-Hay suggests that the two kings were co-rulers, Alla Amidas possibly ruling the African territories while Kaleb was across the Red Sea...

. An inscription of Sumyafa` Ashwa` also mentions two kings (nagaśt) of Aksum, indicating that the two may have co-ruled for a while before Kaleb abdicated in favor of Alla Amidas.

Procopius notes that Abraha later submitted to Kaleb's successor, as supported by the former's inscription in 543 stating Aksum before the territories directly under his control. During his reign, Abraha repaired the Marib Dam

Marib Dam

The Marib or Ma'rib or Ma'arib Dam blocks the Wadi Adhanah in the valley of Dhana in the Balaq Hills, Yemen. The current dam is close to the ruins of the Great Dam of Marib, dating from around the eighth century BC...

in 543

543

Year 543 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 543 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Religion :* The doctrine of apocatastasis is...

, and received embassies from Persia and Byzantium, including a request to free some bishops who had been imprisoned at Nisbis (according to John of Epheseus's Life of Simeon). Abraha ruled until at least 547, sometime after which he was succeeded by his son, Aksum. Aksum (called "Yaksum" in Arabic sources) was perplexingly referred to as "of Ma'afir" (ḏū maʻāfir), the southwestern coast of Yemen, in Abraha's Marib dam inscription, and was succeeded by his brother, Masruq. Aksumite control in Yemen ended in 570 with the invasion of the elder Sassanid general Vahriz

Vahriz

Vahriz was a Deylamite spahbod in the service of the Sassanid Empire. He was the head of a small expeditionary force of low ranking Azatan nobility, numbering around 700, sent by Khosrau I to Yemen....

who, according to later legends, famously killed Masruq with his well-aimed arrow.

Later Arabic sources also say that Abraha

Abraha

Abraha also known as Abraha al-Ashram or Abraha b...

constructed a great Church called al-Qulays at Sana'a

Sana'a

in order to divert pilgrimage from the Kaaba

Kaaba

The Kaaba is a cuboid-shaped building in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and is the most sacred site in Islam. The Qur'an states that the Kaaba was constructed by Abraham, or Ibraheem, in Arabic, and his son Ishmael, or Ismaeel, as said in Arabic, after he had settled in Arabia. The building has a mosque...

and have him die in the Year of the Elephant

Year of the Elephant

The Year of the Elephant is the name in Islamic history for the year approximately equating to 570 AD. According to Islamic tradition, it was in this year that Muhammad was born...

(570) after returning from a failed attack on Mecca (though he is thought to have died before this time). The exact chronology of the early wars are uncertain, as a 525 inscription mentions the death of a King of Himyar, which could refer either to the Himyarite viceroy of Aksum, Sumyafa` Ashwa`, or to Yusuf Asar Yathar. The later Arabic histories also mention a conflict between Abraha

Abraha

Abraha also known as Abraha al-Ashram or Abraha b...

and another Aksumite general named Aryat occurring in 525 as leading to the rebellion.

Sassanid period (570 - 630 CE)

The Persian king Khosrau I

Khosrau I

Khosrau I , also known as Anushiravan the Just or Anushirawan the Just Khosrau I (also called Chosroes I in classical sources, most commonly known in Persian as Anushirvan or Anushirwan, Persian: انوشيروان meaning the immortal soul), also known as Anushiravan the Just or Anushirawan the Just...

, sent troops under the command of Vahriz

Vahriz

, who helped the semi-legendary Sayf ibn Dhi Yazan

Sayf ibn Dhi Yazan

Sayf ibn dhī-Yazan was a Yemeni Himyarite king who lived between 516 and 574 CE, known for ending Aksumite rule over Southern Arabia...

to drive the Ethiopian Aksumites out of Yemen. Southern Arabia became a Persian dominion under a Yemenite vassal and thus came within the sphere of influence of the Sassanid Empire

Sassanid Empire

. Later another army was sent to Yemen, and in 597/8 Southern Arabia became a province of the Sassanid Empire under a Persian satrap

Satrap

Satrap was the name given to the governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as the Sassanid Empire and the Hellenistic empires....

. It was a Persian province by name but after the Persians assassinated Dhi Yazan, Yemen divided into a number of autonomous kingdoms.

This development was a consequence of the expansionary policy pursued by the Sassanian king Khosrau II Parviz (590-628), whose aim was to secure Persian border areas such as Yemen against Roman

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

/Byzantine

Byzantine

Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...

incursions. Following the death of Khosrau II in 628, then the Persian governor in Southern Arabia, Badhan

Badhan

Badhan may refer to:* Badhan, Sanaag, Somalia* al-Badhan, a Palestinian village in the West Bank* Badhan , a group founded at the University of Dhaka to promote blood donation* Badhan , a clan of the Jat people....

, converted to Islam and Yemen followed the new religion.

External links

Map: South Arabia in 540 CE (Archived 2009-10-25)

Original text from U.S. State Dept. Country Study
(1): DAUM, W. (ed.): Yemen. 3000 years of art and civilisation in Arabia Felix., Innsbruck / Frankfurt am Main / Amsterdam [1988]. pp. 53–4.
History of Yemen at utcyemen.com
Timeline of Art History of Arabia (including Yemen) on The Metropolitan Museum of Art website.
A Dam at Marib
Das Fenster zum Jemen (German)
Geschichte des Jemen (German)
History of Yemen on al-bab.com

Pre Dynastic Qahtan (3rd millennium BC - 8th century BC)

Kingdom of Saba (8th century BCE - 275 CE)

Kingdom of Hadhramaut (8th century BCE - 300 CE)

Kingdom of Awsan (800 BCE - 500 BCE)

Kingdom of Qataban (4th century BCE - 200 CE)

Kingdom of Ma'in (8th century BCE – 100 BCE)

Kingdom of Himyar (2nd Century BCE - 525 CE)

Kingdom of Aksum (520 - 570 CE)

Sassanid period (570 - 630 CE)

External links

Further reading