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east and south. According to Gn 2518, the tents of Ishmael were pitched as far east as Havilah on the south-west border of Babylonia (Gn 24), In the west, however, their several routes intersected and their pasture-grounds were contiguous. Dumah (Is 214) and Massa, Ishmaelites, lay in the path of the Keturites, Midian, Dedan, and Asshur. But these by no means exhaust the category of N. Arabians. We must fairly include those’ of the ‘ Edomites’ who are historically and locally Arabs. Thus not only Teman but Amalek is reckoned to Edom in Gn 3618, Furthermore, towards the east side of the desert is the great tribe or country of Mash, which with Uz, the home of Job in the west, is allotted to the Arameans in Gn 1023, though, according to Gn 36%, the latter is given to the Horite Edomites. The explanation of the anomaly comes from the important fact that the Aramzans, who, as a rule, did not wander in ancient times far from the valley of the Euphrates, stretched out in certain regions favourable to pasturage, to mix and mingle with the more purely nomadic tribes of the desert.
() Sabeans.—We call the ancient inhabitants of S.W. Arabia Sabeeans, because this people created the most powerful and extensive kingdom of all that region. Many other tribes, however, sometimes their subjects, also flourished. Among these were the Katabanians, directly north of Aden, and the Himyarites to the east. The latter were so important that scholars formerly called the ancient S.W. Arabians generally by their name. Recent researches, however, which have disclosed elaborate architectural remains, and brought to Europe hundreds of inscriptions, the work of Sabzeans, more than confirm the ancient fame of Sheba, and vindicate its claim, not only to a wide commerce and a productive soil, but to an in- fluential empire as well.* A branch of the same
eople formed a less known nation, whose recently
ound inscriptions have suddenly brought it into great prominence—the Minzans. The proper home of this people was the west coast of Arabia between Yemen and Mecca. That they were not identical with the Sabzans proper is abundantly proved. Their language is, in fact, a distinct dialect of the S. Arabian or ‘Sabean.’ Their inscriptions are found over a very wide range of the west country, from the heart of Yemen itself to the very borders of Palestine. Their abundance, as well as the con- tents of some of them, show that both regions alike were then subject to them. That was, however, before the rise of the Sabzean power, and there- fore long before the Christian era. They are possibly alluded to in 1 Ch 441, 2 Ch 26’, where the word employed (anyQ) reminds us of the original name Main. See, further, art. SHEBA in vol. iv.
(ce) Abyssinians.—This term is more appropriate than the current ‘Ethiopians,’ since that is the proper designation of the people of the Nile Valley above the First Cataract, in other words the bibli- cal Cushites. That is to say, the Ethiopians are an African race, while the Abyssinians are funda- mentally Semitic. At a very early date, far earlier than is generally supposed, a migration from 8. W. Arabia, of a people closely akin to the Sabzeans and Minzans, was made over the narrow sea to the cooler and healthier region of the Abyss. highlands. Here they developed a community which long remained uninfluenced by African elements, and cherished close relations with the Arabian mother-land. Its principal seat was Aksum, the centre of a powerful monarchy, which
*Its ancient capital was Ma’rib, though San‘a, three days’ journey to the west, was a city of greater renown, and is the present capital of Yemen. Thus the Sabwan_ kingdom long comprised the whole of Tihama, the S.W. coastland of Arabia. It also extended itself far both to the east and north.
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at length, in the 4th cent. a.p., conquered, and for a time held, Yemen and W. Arabia.* The Abyssinians have long since ceased to be a pure Semitic race or to speak a pure Semitic idiom ; though ‘Ethiopic,’ as their language is called, is still their sacred tongue; and the Semitic type is au unmistakable in a large section of the popula- ion.
The attempt thus made to bring the Southern Semites under distinct groupings is only approxim- ately successful. Besides the tribes already enumer- ated, many others are found, particularly in the S.E. and E. of Arabia, which, though Semites, have at least no permanent historical association with any of the groups. Very interesting, however, is the tabulation in Gn 10%, which brings the most prominent of these remaining communities under one category. Thus, among the sons of Joktan son of Eber, we find, along with Hazarmaveth, the modern Hadramaut, or the coastland east of Yemen, also Sheba and, to our surprise, OPHIR and MAViLAH. Unfortunately, the remaining nine tribes or localities cannot as yet be absolutely iden- tified. But inasmuch as Ophir is almost certain to be found on the E. coast of Arabia, and Havila 8.W. of Babylonia (but see above, p. 81), the pre- sumption is that they represent families interme- diate between these remotely separated districts. In brief, the summation seems to point to a close connexion between the N.E., E., S., and S.W. inhabitants of ancient Arabia. Furthermore, the brotherhood of Joktan and Eber, the father of Peleg and grandson of Arpachshad, points to a tradition of kinship between the ancient Baby- lonians and the remotest S. Arabians. These are matters deserving serious attention.