The principal Joktanite kingdom, and the chief state of ancient Arabia, was that of the Yemen, found- ed (according to the Arabs) by Yaarub, the son (or descendant) of Kahtan (Joktan). Its most ancient capital was probably Sana, formerly called Azal, after Azal, son of Joktan (Yakut, ut sup.'). See Uzal. The other capitals were Mareb, or Seba, and Zafari. This was the Biblical kingdom of Sheba. Its rulers, and most of its people, were descendants of Seba ( = Sheba), whence the classical Sabcei (Diod. Sic. iii, 38, 46). Among its rulers was probably the queen of Sheba who came to hear the wisdom of Solomon (2 Kings x, 2). The Arabs call her Balkis, a queen of the later Himyarites; and their traditions respecting her arc otherwise not worthy of credit. See Sheba. The dominant family was apparently that of Ilimyer, son (or descendant) of Seba. A member of this family founded the more modern kingdom of the Himyarites. The testimony of the Bible and of the classical writers, as well as native tradition, seems to prove that the latter appellation superseded the former only shortly before the Christian era; i. e. after the foundation of the later kingdom. "Himyarite," however, is now very vaguely used. Himyer, it may be observed, is perhaps " red," and several places in Arabia whose soil is reddish derive their names from Aafar, "red- dish." This may identify Himyer (the red man?) with Ophir, respecting whose settlements, and the po- sition of the country called Ophir, the opinion of the learned is widely divided. See Ophir. The similar- ity of signification with (poiviK and tpuOpoc lends weight to the tradition that the Phoenicians came from the Erythrrean Sea (Herod, vii, 80). The maritime na- tions of the Mediterranean who had an affinity with the Egyptians — such as the Philistines, and probably the primitive Cretans and Carians — appear to have been an offshoot of an early immigration from Southern Arabia which moved northward, partly through Egypt. See Caphtor. It is noticeable that the Shepherd in- vaders of Egypt are said to have been Phoenicians ; but Manefho, who seems to have held this opinion, also tells us that some said they were Arabs (Manetho, ap. Cory, Anr. Frogmen's, 2d ed. p. 171), and the hiero- glyphic name has been supposed to correspond to the common appellation of the Arabs, Shasu, the " cam-
I el-riding Shasu" (Select Papyri, pi. liii), an identifi- I cation entirely in accordance with the Egyptian his- torian's account of their invasion and polity. In the opposite direction, an early Arab domination of Chal- : daea is mentioned by Berosus (Con-, p. 60), as pre- ceding the Assyrian dynasty. All these indications, slight as they are, must be borne in mind in at- tempting a reconstruction of the history of Southern ' Arabia. The early kings of the Yemen were at con- tinual feud with the descendants of Kahlan (brother of Himyer) until the fifteenth in descent (according to the majority of native historians) from Himyer united the kingdom. This king was the first Tubbaa, a title also distinctive of his successors, whose dynas- ! ty represents the proper kingdom of Himyer, whence I the Homeritm (Ptol. vi, 7 ; Plin. vi, 28). Their rule 1 probably extended over the modern Yemen, Hadra- ; maut, and Mahreh. The fifth Tubbaa, Dhu-1-Adhar, or Zu-1-Azar, is supposed (Caussin, i, 73) to be th? I Ilasarus of iElius Gallus (B.C. 24). The kingdom of Himyer lasted until A.D. 525, when it fell before i an Abyssinian invasion. Already, about the middle of the fourth century, the kings of Axum appear to , have become masters of part of the Yemen (Caussin, ; Essai, i, 114 ; Zeitschr. d. Deutsch Morgenland. GeselU ! schaft, vii, 17 sq. ; xi, 338 sq.), adding to their titles j the names of places in Arabia belonging to Himyer. I After four reigns they were succeeded by Himyarite • princes, vassals of Persia, the last of whom submitted to Mohammed. Kings of Hadramaut (the people of I this district are the classical Chatramotitre , Plin. vi, I 28 ; comp. Adramitce) are also enumerated by the I Arabs (Ibn-Khaldim, ap. Caussin, i, 135 sq.), and t distinguished from the' descendants of Yaarub, an in- dication, as is remarked by Caussin (1. c), of their ! separate descent from Hazarmaveth (q. v.). The Greek geographers mention a fourth people in conjunc- tion with the Sabaei, Homeritse, and Cliatramotita? — the Mimm (Strab. xvi, 768 ; Ptol. v, 7, § 23 ; Plin. vi, 32; Diod. Sic. iii, 42), who have not been identified with any Biblical or modern name. Some place them as high as Mekkeh, and derive their name from Mina (the sacred valley north-east of that city), or from the goddess Minah, worshipped in the district between Mekkeh and El-Medinah. Fresnel, however, places them in the Wady Doan in Hadramaut, arguing that the Yemen anciently included this tract, that the Mi- nrci were probably the same as the Rhabanitse or Rha- manitse (Ptol. vi, 7, § 24 ; Strab. xvi, 782), and that "Pafiavir&v was a copyist's error for 'lefiavirwv.
The other chief Joktanite kingdom was that of the Hejaz, founded by Jurhum, the brother of Yaarub, who left the Yemen and settled in the neighborhood of Mekkeh. The Arab lists of its kings are inextri- cably confused ; but the name of their leader and that of two of his successors was Mudad (or El-Mudad), : who probably represents Almodad (q. v.). Ishmael, ' according to the Arabs, married a daughter of the first I Mudad, whence sprang Adnan the ancestor of Mo- hammed. This kingdom, situate in a less fertile dis- \ trict than the Yemen, and engaged in conflict with aboriginal tribes, never attained the importance of that of the south. It merged, by intermarriage and ■ conquest, into the tribes of Ishmael. (Kutb-ed-Din, ! ed. Wustenfeld, p. 35 and 39 sq. ; comp. authorities ! quoted by Caussin.) Fresnel cites an Arab author who identifies Jurhum with Hadoram (q. v.).