Socioeconomic Changes in South Arabia in The First Half of The Sixteenth Century.

One of the world’s largest humanitarian crises that have been going on in Yemen for the last ten years has highlighted the growing tensions within its society. To better understand the rising antagonism between the North and the South, it is necessary to analyze the significant historic events that influenced the development of the Yemeni identity. For the inhabitants of South Yemen and Hadramaut, many of such events took place in the first half of the sixteenth century. The following article presents an analysis of these events focusing on the available Yemeni sources, especially the “Tārīkh al-Shiḥr wa akhbār al-qarn al-‘āshir”, the annals by Muḥammad b. ‘Umar al-Ṭayyib Bā Faqīh al-Shiḥrī (d. 17th cent. AD). The comparison of this chronicle with other sources reveals how the clash between Hadramaut, the Portuguese and the Ottoman empires, as well as an attempt by the Kathīrī Sultan Badr Bū Ṭuwairiq to establish a centralized South Arabian state, caused deeper integration of this region into global politics. Ironically, it was the Sultan’s loyalty towards the Ottoman Empire meant to ensure the rise of al-Shihr as one of the main trade centres of the Arabian Peninsula that soon contributed to its decline. Lastly, the sources reflect the spread of firearms that had an impact on the stratification of South Arabian society and gave more power to the tribes, allowing them to subjugate the sultans, thereby preventing the creation of a unified state in the following centuries.

Witnessed in Stone: Epigraphic Evidence of Addressees of the Prophet’s Missives in Ḥaḍramawt

The present article deals with the authenticity of early Islamic historical tradition. The sceptical approach of some Western scholars is balanced by an attempt to substantiate the data available in the Arab Muslim sources with the information from the inscriptions from South Arabia. The author was fortunate to discover an Islamic source, which dates back to the first half of 9th century AD, the Kitāb al-Ṭabaqāt alkabīr by Ibn Sa‘d, which comprises the missives of the Prophet Muhammad to two noble clans of Ḥaḍramawt: dhū Marḥab and al-Bassī. These clans are also mentioned in two late Sabaean inscriptions, which originate from the territory of Ḥaḍramawt: Beeston – Wādī Sanā’ and MM (al-Mukalla’ Museum) 157. Therefore, the existence of at least two addressees of the missives of the prophet Muḥammad is confirmed in the epigraphic documents from Ancient Yemen.

The Great Aksumite Decorated Stelae: Architectural Characteristics, Functions, and Meanings

The article presents a review of the architectural and iconographic features of the big decorated Aksumite stelae in the May Ḥǝǧǧa stelae field at Aksum. Their location in the urban setting of ancient Aksum is scrutinized alongside their ceremonial and ideological function. The origin and meaning of the different features and decorative patterns characterizing the stelae are focused upon. It is suggested that these attributes may reflect ideological traits regarded as crucial by the Askumite kings and the elite in the first centuries CE. Moreover, it is demonstrated how some of these features are rooted in the local traditions, while others are related to the intense interactions the ancient Aksum had with neighbouring regions, such as the Mediterranean area and South Arabia. In particular, a new interpretation is proposed for the very distinctive outline of the top of the monuments: it may have been shaped after a specific type of shield also occurring in Meroitic and Post-Meroitic Nubia. Finally, it is suggested that the role these monuments may have played in ceremonies aimed at shaping the Aksumite identity.

Treasuring Yemen: Notes on Exchange and Collection in Rasūlid Material Culture

Often distinguished by their characteristic five-petalled rosette emblems, objects dedicated to the Rasūlid sultans of Yemen in Egypt or Syria have long been identified as a distinct corpus in histories of Islamic art. Whether treated singly or as a group, these objects have usually been positioned in the periphery of discussions about Mamlūk luxury arts or cited briefly as evidence of diplomatic relations between the Mamlūk and Rasūlid leadership. Perhaps reflecting a general marginalization of South Arabia in the historiographic traditions of Islamic art scholarship, narratives centered on the imperial Mamlūk enterprise tend to overshadow both the Rasūlid context for these objects and the complexities of their global material histories. This essay explores these two themes together, drawing broadly on visual culture connected with the Rasūlid court to analyze a selection of case studies. It reviews art historical literature on the Rasūlid-Mamlūk corpus as reflected in European and North American scholarship, outlines the various modalities by which this material exchange is understood to have taken place, explores the setting for Rasūlid patronage and collection of such objects, and examines their material afterlives.

To Hegra through al-Qusayr. The al-'Ula-al-Wajh Survey Project

The al-ʿUlā – al-Wajh Survey Project deals with ancient trade routes between al-ʿUlā and Madāʿin ʿāliʿ (ancient Hegra) and the Red Sea in the area of al-Wajh in NW Saudi Arabia. This investigation is related to economics of long-distance maritime and caravan trade and the utilization of the "Incense Route" which served to convey frankincense and other commodities from South Arabia to the Mediterranean during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. The Project is also concerned with the localization of Nabataean seaports on the Red Sea coast, such as Leuke Kome and Egra Kome. The results of two fieldwork seasons are presented including a potential caravan route to Hegra along the Wādī al-ʿamʿ. The site of Nabataean al-Qusayr is highlighted here as the finds from there indicate a participation in the long-distance trade between the Mediterranean, Egypt and the Red Sea region.