Amir (Arabia)
The Amir ( Arabic أمير Amīr , DMG Amīr ; Old South Arabic ʾmr-m) were an ancient tribe in the north of today's Yemen . According to the reports of the Arab geographer al-Hamdani , they lived in the over 2000 m high mountainous region between the Jauf and the Najran oasis. Its center was probably in Hanan (Ḥanān), today's Sūq al-ʿAnān. Their tribal god was Dhu-Samawi .
The Amir are first mentioned in the first victory report of the Sabaean ruler Karib'il Watar I (around 680 BC). On his last traditional campaign, he subjugated the Amir together with two other tribes north of Saba and imposed a tribute on the Amir. Around 510 BC BC the Sabaean ruler Yitha'amar Bayyin II defeated Ma'in , the Muha'mir and the Amir and built a temple in Hanan. In the 4th century BC The Amir were defeated by Qataban together with Hadramaut . Hanan gained some political importance around 150 AD when the Hadramitic King Yada'il Bayyin II occupied Hanan to control the incense route from Shabwat to Najran. After the victory of the Sabaean general Nascha'karib, Hanan fell under Sabaean control, as probably before.
Although the Amir, as can be seen from the few historical reports about them, achieved no significant military success, they were important camel breeders and controlled the section of the Frankincense Route south of Najran, which is why their southern neighbors vied for dominance over the north Yemeni mountainous country argued. Probably because of this important role for trade from southern to northern Arabia, the Amir had colonies in some, especially Sabaean, cities and suburbs, which apparently formed a special group within the normal population with their own rights. Due to the Amirite personal names as well as the traditional Amirite camel names, strong relationships with northern Arabia, possibly even an origin from the north, can be identified.
literature
- Hermann von Wissmann : On the history and regional studies of ancient South Arabia ( Eduard Glaser Collection , No. III = Austrian Academy of Sciences, philosophical-historical class, session reports , volume 246) Böhlau, Vienna 1964 (on the Amir: pp. 81–159 )
Individual evidence
- ^ So Wissmann (see bibliography), p. 137 ff .; different AH al-Sheiba: The place names in the old South Arabic inscriptions with the attempt to identify and localize them . In: Archaeological Reports from Yemen , No. 4, 1987, pp. 25 ff.