This will be a major three-day conference, December 12-14, 2024, with several papers in French and English on ancient Yemen. For details, click here.
Among the contributors are the following:
•Presence and practices of the Minaeans on the incense road. New insights from the oasis of AlUla
Josselin Pinot, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UMR 7041 - ArScAn/VEPMO), CNRS (UMR 8167- Orient & Méditerranée), Archaïos
The incense and aromatics trade flourished on the Arabian Peninsula from the 8 th to the 1 st century BCE. From the 6 th century BCE, this trade appears to have been mainly managed by the Minaean kingdom, whose capital was Qarnawu, located in the Jawf province of present-day Yemen. Evidence of the Minaeans has been found in three trading posts: Timna and Najran in the south, and one in the north in the oasis of AlUla. However, Minaean influence extended much further, with inscriptions discovered in Egypt and as far away as the island of Delos. Recent research conducted as part of the Dadan Archaeological Project (CNRS/AFALULA/RCU) has provided new insights into the nature of one of these trading posts, particularly following the discovery of a Minaean high-place in the heart of the Jabal Khuraybah. This processional pathway, along with numerous Minaean inscriptions found in the oasis, certifies their presence from the 4 th century BC, at least until the 2 nd century BCE. This raises questions about whether their presence was purely commercial. Was it merely a trading post, or did it serve as a genuine colony that sought to replicate aspects of life in the South Arabian kingdom?
This paper will discuss the organization of these Minaean trading posts, their chronology, their particularities and how new archaeological and epigraphic discoveries have enhanced our understanding of them.
• A critical incident of a Sabaean traveller on his voyage by sea to the city of Aden
Mohammed Maraqten, Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Research Center Corpus Coranicum
The critical incident is reported by a Sabaean traveller by sea to Aden, as documented in the Sabaean inscription from the Awam Temple/ Mahram Bilqis in Ma’rib, Yemen. This recently discovered and unpublished text reports an offering to the Sabaean chief god Almaqah in gratitude for protecting the owner of the inscription when his boat was destroyed during a voyage to the city of Aden, and for saving him from illness during that voyage and from dropsy while in the region of Radman. The inscription provides valuable insight into the maritime activities and cultural relationships of the ancient Sabaeans. The inscription is dated to the Middle Sabaean period, around the 2 nd century BC.
• Along the frankincense road: movement of people and goods in Southwestern Arabia during the Iron Age
Silvia Lischi, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oxford
This presentation explores the role of frankincense in shaping the movement of people and goods in Dhofar, southern Oman, during the Iron Age (800 BC-AD 400). It focuses mainly on the archaeological area of Khor Rori, a key hub during the Late Iron Age along the frankincense route. Frankincense, a valuable commodity in the ancient world, attracted trade routes and influenced regional economies. The presentation shows that two distinct cultures were present in Dhofar, on the periphery of the South Arabian Kingdom: the Dhofar Coastal Culture and the Dhofar Inland Culture, each with its own way of life and likely involvement with frankincense.
The arrival of the South Arabians from Hadramawt around the 3rd /2 nd century BC marked a turning point for the entire region, also known as Sa’kalhan. They came to facilitate the frankincense trade with these cultures, and probably to prevent internal problems within the kingdom. Their arrival led to a period of peaceful coexistence, followed by a more defensive approach with fortified settlements. The rise of large-scale maritime trade in the Indian Ocean coincided with a shift in regional dynamics. The inland route from Dhofar to the heart of the Kingdom of Hadramawt and then northwards to the markets of the Middle East and the Mediterranean began to lose its importance with the opening up of maritime trade, leading to the rapid growth and importance of Sumhuram on the international scenario. The South Arabians strengthened their presence and exerted greater control over frankincense production and trade. In conclusion, the presentation tries to understand the role of frankincense in this complex palimpsest, trying to consider it not only as a valuable commodity but also as a driving force behind cultural interaction, political developments, and the movement of people within Dhofar and beyond.
• A new map of trading Arabia in the 3 rd century BC
Mounir Arbach, CNRS (UMR 5133 - Archéorient), Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée, Université Lumière Lyon 2
Following Alexander the Great’s conquest of Persia in 330 and Babylon in 323 BC, a new configuration of the map of Arabian trade routes emerged. Numerous relay cities were created or regained importance, particularly in Eastern Arabia as Ikaros (today Failka, Koweït), Gerrha (today Thaj, al-Hufuf, Saudi Arabia), Tylos (old Dilmun) and Mleiha (al-Shariqa, EAU), where imitations of Greek coins were widely distributed. In South Arabia, while Ma`in controlled the trade of the caravan route of Western Arabia towards the Middle East, the kingdom of Saba` reactivated its presence on the caravan trade market, establishing links with southern Mesopotamia, then under Seleucid control and with the newly established kingdom of Gerrha via Najran and Qaryat al-Faw. This last one is also founded around the 3 rd century BC. The city of Gerrha then became a hub for the incense trade in Arabia eastern.
Further south-east, in the Oman peninsula, Mleiha with its port ad-Dur, became the center of the kingdom of Oman, which ensured commercial traffic with Indian Ocean via Khawr Ruri, the port of Zufar, whose emergence also dates around the end of 3 rd century BC. It was with the small kingdom of Najran that Oman established relations, as evidenced by a new inscription from Najran, whose coins of its sovereign, Abiyatha`, circulated in Qaryat al-Faw and in Arabia eastern.
Finally, it is also in the 3 rd century BC that the South Arabian writing would be introduced into eastern Arabia.
• Sailing the Red Sea: Medieval ships to Arabia
Dionisius Agius, Bradford University, University of Exeter
The northern link of the Red Sea was hazardous to ships sailing south to north. Early medieval Arabic sources agree on the difficulties of navigating these waters. Captains encountered unpredictable north westerly winds and numerous coral reefs and submerged rocks leading to shipwreck and destruction. Navigating north to south was safer with the prevailing winds. Aden, in the south, strategically controlled the Red Sea corridor. Ocean-going ships locally and far away from the Indian Ocean put in at Aden and/or proceeded to Jeddah. At Aden, they unloaded, loaded, or transhipped their cargo onto smaller vessels to minor ports on the African and Arabian Red Sea, while the pilgrim traffic from different ports converged on Jeddah. This study is concerned with ship-types and their functionality. Generic terms safina and markab for ocean-going ships found in medieval Arabic sources are not helpful, though some details of their merchant and pilgrim activities , December are important to our study. One such Arabic source for the information it gives on large vessels known as dimani, sa’il, karimi, shihri ships and others, is the agricultural almanac of Yemen, in particular Aden, compiled by the Rasulid Al-Malik al-Ashraf cUmar b. Yusuf (d. 670/1271). Although questions about ship design, construction methods, sail-types and configuration are hard to find in this and other Medieval Arabic sources, it is possible to find answers in the Genizah letters (354-663/ 965-1265) about smaller ships such as the jalba, sunbuq, cushari, qarib, ghurab and qitci information on which will help to reconstruct the medieval maritime past.
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