Sabaeans
The Sabaeans or Sabeans (Sabaean: 𐩪𐩨𐩱, S¹Bʾ; Arabic: ٱلسَّبَئِيُّوْن, romanized: as-Sabaʾiyyūn; Hebrew: סְבָאִים, romanized: Səḇāʾīm) were an ancient group of South Arabians. They spoke Sabaic, one of the Old South Arabian languages. They founded the kingdom of Sabaʾ (Arabic: سَبَأ) in modern-day Yemen, which is considered to be the biblical land of Sheba and "the oldest and most important of the South Arabian kingdoms".
Sabaean Kingdom | |||||||
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| 1200 BCE–275 CE | |||||||
Coat of arms
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Map of the Kingdom in the 8th century BCE | |||||||
| Capital | Ma'rib | ||||||
| Common languages | Sabaic | ||||||
| Religion | Arabian paganism | ||||||
| Demonym(s) | Sabaean | ||||||
| Government | Theocracy (Early) Monarchy (Late) | ||||||
| Mukarrib | |||||||
• 700–680 BCE | Karibi-ilu | ||||||
• 620–600 BCE | Karib'il Watar | ||||||
• 60–20 BCE | Ilasaros | ||||||
| Historical era | Iron Age to Antiquity | ||||||
• Established | 1200 BCE | ||||||
• Disestablished | 275 CE | ||||||
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| Today part of | Yemen | ||||||
The exact date of the foundation of Sabaʾ is a point of disagreement among scholars. Kenneth Kitchen dates the kingdom to between 1200 BCE and 275 CE, with its capital at Maʾrib, in what is now Yemen. On the other hand, Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman believe that "the Sabaean kingdom began to flourish only from the eighth century BC onward" and that the story of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba is "an anachronistic seventh-century set piece." The Kingdom fell after a long but sporadic civil war between several Yemenite dynasties claiming kingship; from this, the late Himyarite Kingdom arose as victors.
Sabaeans are mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible. In the Quran, they are described as either Sabaʾ (سَبَأ, not to be confused with Ṣābiʾ, صَابِئ), or as Qawm Tubbaʿ (Arabic: قَوْم تُبَّع, lit. 'People of Tubbaʿ').