Vol . IV. -31
under cultivation in ancient times than now, the extent of territory covered by these feudal estates was very great, and, as we have seen, ere the final extinction of the Salwan State bv the Abyssinians in the 6th cent, it had swallowed up the other States in its neighbourhood. Hence the inscriptions which tell of its former glories are found all over South Araliia, except perhaps in yadramaut, and some even in the far north of the peninsula. Many indeed have been transplanted from the buildings which they originally adorned to distant towns, but of the vast extent of the country which at certain times was subject to the Saba^ans there can be no doubt. Certain episodes of the reign of Alhan Nahfan, as mentioned above, have been enucleated from his inscriptions by Glaser (AA) and Winckler (I.e.); but even in these results there is much that is problematic, and little that is sharply defined ; while for the rest of Saba-an history the inscrip- tions which have as yet been published contain far less material. Arabic writers have only vague recollections of certain events of great importance, s\ich as the bursting of the dam at Marib, which they strangely fancy led to the ruin of the State, and of a few names and words of the old language ; even the Avell-informed Hamdani has only fables and fictions. Hence for a history of Saba the materials are still wantin".
ii. Civilization. — Tlie listof goods said to come from Saba in Is 60' bears a striking likeness to that given by Sargon (I.e.) : ' Gold, precious stones, ivorj', perfumes of all sorts, horses, camels,' and the gold and perf\inies were associ.ited with Saba liy classical writers also. It is remarkable that gold and perfume were called by the .same name in Saba; for the suggestion of IJ. H. Miiller, that dhahab meant perfume as well as gold, has been confirmed by a document brought to light by Count LanJberg (SA p. 30). The inscriptions reveal a lavish use of gold, if indeed the precious metal be meant thereby. AJhan Nahfan oilers thirty statues of gold at once (AA p. 42), and numerous inscriptions commemorate the employ- ment of this metal for images of gods and of animals (e.;]. camels and gazelles, MM 1). Other gifts were of .silver, called, in this language, sir/; and a variety of objects used for devotional pur- poses is enumerated by Alhan Nahfan (I.e.), not many of wliii'h can at present bo identified with certainty. l^erfumes are also mentioned with considerable frequency, and various sorts are enu- merated. D. H. Miiller has devoted many pages to the description of them (Burqi-n, ii. 975 ; MM 26 ; SA 48). The greater number of the texts deal not with the commercial side of the Saba'ans' life (though there may be allusions to that), but with the agricultural and military sides. Prayers for crops and vegetables are mixed « ith supplications for male children. The sorts of fruits which they desire to thrive are sometimes enumerated. In some we learn a little of the artilicial system of irrigation whereby the fertility of the fields was maintained. I5ut more cummemorate successful raids, or successful repulses of raids by other tribes ; and once it would .seem a disaster conse- quent on delay in the fiillilment of a vow is commemorated (C/5 81). The position of women would appear to have been little inferior to that of men, it we may judge by the number of texts in which they ligure as authors or joint-authors of inscriptions. One woni.an (CIS 179) appears to be called mistre.ss of a castle ; and, though a queen of Saba has not apparently been discovered in the inscriptions, queens of other Arabian tribes occur, both in Arabian and Assyrian texts (D. II. Miiller, E[)ir/raphische Denkmdlcr ini.i Arahien, p. 3). The honourable title ' consort,' by which they are often
482
SHEBA
SHEBA
called, confinns this. There are, however, texts which imply the practice of concubinage, though not, api)arently, of polygamy. It is observable that the women make oti'erings to the same gods as the men, describe themselves by similar family names, and profess to have received similar benefits.
The Sabfean art, which in some respects is highly praised by experts, appears to have been greatly affected at dilFerent times by contemporaneous civilizations, i.e. those of Assyria, Persia, Greece, Rome, and Parthia ; and the formuliB of the inscriptions appear here and there to exhibit Assyrian influence. The caligraphy of the in- sciiptions, especially those first brought to Europe, has won much adniuation ; the alphabet in which they are written varies somewhat in different places (see especially D. H. Miiller, Epigraphische Denkmaler, ad fin.), but the present writer sees no reason to doubt that it represents the earliest form of the Semitic alphabet, whence the others are derived, partly by the suppression of a number of unnecessary signs. The excessive vigour with whieli the consonants are pronounced in S. Arabia, on which several writers nave commented, would make that the likeliest country for the invention of a S3stem of writing in which the consonant was the element.
iii. Religion. — The nreater number of the tablets at present accessible are dedicated to two deities, IlMakkih and Ta'lab. The latter appears to have been a specially Hamdanite deity, and is ordinarily described as Ta'lab of Riyam. He is called not 'god,' but shayydm, 'patron' or 'pro- tector,' a title which is also given to Wadd [HI 7), who is sometimes ascribed to Kibab (ib. also in CIS 30) and Khatban (CIS 293), and ^Jajar ('stone'; CIS 49-69).' The former of these 'pat- rons ' also figures in pre-Islamic antiquity. If we may judge by the honours lavished on Ta'lab, the position of ' patron ' can have been little inferior to that of god. The god of the Bakil was II- JIakkih, probably ' the hearing god,' whose name seems connected with a verb WKH, which figures often in the votive tablets. Dili'erent forms of Il-Mal>kili were worshipped in dirterent sanctuaries. The places with which he is most frequently associated are Awam in Aiwa {on which see especially A A p. 16 tl'.), IJirran, and 'Irran. Next in importance to him was probably Athtar, the male form of Ashtoreth, often called Sharljan, which is thought to mean 'Oriental.' He had a divided person- ality : in CIS 293 no fewer than four forms of him are mentioned simultaneously — Athtar lord of Thanain, Athtar lord of Ta'aUulf (?), Athtar lord of Jnmdan, and Athtar Shar^an. Two other deities whose names are of interest are Saini (CIS 282) and JCawim (CIS 194), which seem to be per- petuated in the epithets 'the Hearing' and 'the Sustaining,' which the Koran gives to Allah. Con- siderable popularity was also enjoyed by Ramnian (who figures in the Bible as Rimmon), sometimes called lord of "Alam of Ashkur (CIS 140, by a ^imyarite). The sun was also much worshipped, and IS a-scribed to a number of places (e.g. Barrat, CIS 293. 2; other places 40, 132, 294), and also to particular tribes and persons, e.g. ' Il-Ma^tih and their sun' (CIS 143. 5), and indeed the plural ' their suns ' is of occasional occurrence, implying that the sun was regarded as of divided person- ality, like Athtar. The Sab.T?an worship of the gun was sufficiently famous to be known to the author of the Koran (xxvii. 24). A similar deity is Dhu Samai, ' lord of Heaven,' ascribed to Bakir (MM 1); and there are some goddesses whose names are similarly formed — Dhat Hima, Dhat Badan (CIS 41 etc.). Other gods are called Bashir (' bringer of good tidings,' CIS 41. 3], Uauhas (172,