In the time of Eratosthenes (B.C. 240) Saba was one oifour nations which shared S. Arabia between them — Mina;ans with cajiital Kama, Sab;eans with capital Marjab, Kattabanians with capital Tamna, and yadramaut with capital Katabanon. The Greek writer adds that these were all monarchies, but that they were not hereditary, the succession falling to the first male bom to one of the leading families after a king's accession. How such a system would work it is impossible to conjecture; but a study of the texts makes it certain that Eratosthenes' account contains some truth, though he may have omitted important details. So about the time of the Aelius Gallus expedition (B.C. 24) we find kings of the Ilamdanide family preceded and followed by kings of another family. Alhan Nalifan seems to disclaim the title ' king of Saba ' himself, while giving it to his two sons (A A 42. 1), though he allows it to be given him by others (ib. 24), and in another inscription (III 2G98) appears as a subject of the then kin" of Saba, and in yet another (CIS 2, 10) is called simply Hamdanite and Bata'ite by the men who put up a votive tablet for help received in his service. Quite similarly Il-Sharh (Elisaros), who in some inscriptions figures as king of Saba and son of a king of Saba, in others is called Kabir of AVj'an, a title of which the import is not known, but
• This name (tribe) Is also sometimeB applied to Sal)a (SA p. 17), The term 'fifth' is also found in other divi»'0D8 (ib. p. 38).
SIIEBA
SHEBA
481
which seems to have been coiiibine<l with fome- thinp like roynl functions (^/l S2 and 1(I5). What we slioulil infer from tliese facts is that the king- ship was held by the leading families in some sort of rotation. This inference is further supported by the nature of the kings' names, which Jo not appear to differ in form from those of other eminent men ; they are ordinarily, though not always, double, consisting apjiarently of a name and an epithet (rarely of a name and two epithets), and arc ordinarily retained unaltered by those persons fcho ligure in dillerent inscriptions as kings and in ifome other capacity. Finally, the fact that the in.icriptions otten speak of ' the kings of Saba," and tliat as many as three appear as Icings simul- taneously, implies that the sense which attached to the word 'king' in tliis community was different from that which attached to it elsewhere. And this not only explains the great number of the kings who hgure in the inscriptions, — Miiller (Burgcn, ii. p|). 982-986) counted 33, and some have since been added to the number, — but har- monizes with the fact that Sargon does not give the Saba'an the title ' king.'
Besides the kings, there were eponymous magis- trates, after whom the years were named, till the adoption of an era, which (ilaser fixes at B.C. 115 (AA p. 29 ; Ge.tch. i. 3), whereas others regard it as the Selcucid era (see CIS p. 18) ; the text CIS 46 seems to date ' in the year 386 from the year of Mubih son of Abu-IJubb,' an era of wliich nothin" is at present known. The tribes of which the Sabajan communitv consisted had sometimes their kings (as the Sam ai, CIS 37), but more often chieftains called haul (in .Arabic kail) ; another titl<» is fojfiir (' great '), which in one case appears lo be given to the eponymous magistrate (CIS 80), but is also held by the king Il-Sharh, probably before his accession (CIS 46). Since, however, this person.age has a 'minister' (muktawi, A A p. 10.5), while he is still hibir, we clearly (\annot yet settle the precise meaning of these terms. A dis- tinction which pervades the inscriptions is that between ' lords ' and ' men,' analogous to that be- tween ' royalties ' and ' men ' which is found in the I'hcenician inscriptions : probably the former were what Eratosthenes calls 'distinguished,' i.e. quali- lied to particinate in the sovereignty. In most of the votive tablets the author prays the god for the favour of his lords, who sometimes are the whole of a family, sometimes one or more members of it. A ditlicult constitutional term is that rendered ' heirs ' or ' coheirs ' (CIS 95. 5) in the same con- text in which ' lords ' usually ti^ures ; and indeed the number of terms which imidy some unknown status or caste is very considerable.
The state of society seems in general to have borne some resemblance to that of feudal Europe. The great families possessed towers and castles, the building of which is commemorated in many inscriptions ; and the word hnit, which in ordinary Semitic means ' house,' would seem with this com- munity to have meant ' tower.' The Iklil of the archa'ologer Ilamdani contains a description of these feudal dwellings, portions of which are still to be seen. The right to build a castle was sometimes given by the head of a family (CIS 145, 1.53), sometimes bv a king (CIS 172) ; in some of the texts amjile details (not as a rule intelligible) are given of the manner in which the building was carried out (CIS 17, 29, 40), and these .seem to have involved measurements of land and technical distributions of it. In each case the building is put under the protection of a deity. Many of the texts also commemorate renewals, repairs, the digging of wells and other domestic operations, in all of which the deity had some sliare. Owing to a far larger portion of S. Arabia being