Ḥāz (Yemen)

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Ḥāz (Yemen)
Ḥāz
Ḥāz
Ḥāz in what is now Yemen

Ḥāz (other old South Arabic spellings: Ḥāzī um and hgrn ḤZY-m (with mimation m ); Arabic حاز) is a village and archaeological site from the Sabaean epoch in the Yemeni highland basin.

geography

Ḥāz is located in the west of the Sanaa Governorate , adjacent to the zumAmrān Governorate and west of the route between Sanaa and Shibam Kaukaban . The community lies at an altitude of 2,450 meters and is surrounded by a partially preserved stone defensive wall.

history

The history of the place is not well researched. It is based on the assumption that the Sabeans, as well as the Mineans , Qatabans and Hadramites, who can be distinguished in terms of linguistic cultures, immigrated from the north-east Arab region to what is now Yemen and brought with them the beginnings of the ancient South Arabian high culture.

When in the first half of the 1st millennium BC The Sabaean inscriptions used until today are not adequately documented, as cross-links to historical events outside of South Arabia are largely absent. On the other hand, conclusions about the culture of the region, apart from successful radiometric dating of physical remains, can be drawn almost solely from inscriptions . In addition to the oldest epigraphic evidence from Ma'rib , subsequently cultivated under Karib'il Watar I in the 7th century BC. BC (Tatenbericht RES 3945), temple building under Yada'il Dharih I , dedicated to the empire god Almaqah (as in Awwam , Sirwah or al-Masadschid ) increased. A checkered history of conquests and recaptures shaped the history of the Sabaeans against Ma'in and Qataban in the centuries that followed (e.g. CIH 375 reported on this ), which at least resulted in a considerable economic boom in the myrrh and incense trade (economic report M 349) as well in the development and expansion of infrastructures. The clout was enough to push back Roman advances under Aelius Gallus and to stabilize Arabia Felix .

It was not until internal divisions in the 1st and 2nd centuries that the traditional dynasties from Ma'rib and Himjar received massive resistance from the Yemeni highlands, for example from Ḥāz. According to sources, Ḥāz is said to have been the capital of the Gaus Ḥumlān, which was located within the kingdom of Sum'ay and which is said to have extended over most of the central mountainous Yemen before our era. Sum'ay itself was initially dependent on the Kingdom of Saba, later a member of a federal organization with Saba (as a tribe in the west). However, knowledge of this is by no means certain. On the other hand, reports of facts are recorded several times , which saw the two dynasties of Banū Bata (Ḥāz) and Banū Hamdān from the land of Sum'ay, in conflict with the neighboring Gurat and Marṯad as well as with the traditional dynasty of the Sabaeans. The internal war may have brought them to alliances with other powers in southern Arabia, such as Hadramaut and Himjar, early on . Later, however, they gave themselves the title of King of Sheba, for example the Bata'ide Karab il Watar Yuhan'em I.

architecture

In contrast to Babylonia , where stone material was only available in the distant Zāgros Mountains , southern Arabia's geological past has provided plenty of excellent building materials, such as Jurassic limestone and sandstone , granite , and even the widely used alabaster . As far as possible, the building material had been obtained from the nearby stone deposit. The city wall of Ḥāz was built in its lower layers from the volcanic rock of the area from the Sabaean period .

The city's layout is irregularly oval, the 6 to 8 meter high city wall is broken through by five narrow gates and is in contrast to many buildings of that time, such as Qarnawu , which were laid out in a square or rectangular manner. In the northern part of the city, next to the main gate, there is a square, antique castle porch in the wall, which protrudes like a bastion from the surrounding wall and looks like the rest of a (small) house. It contains a central, enclosed courtyard, which is two meters above street level and is reached from the city through a doorway in the middle of the front. The most important temple in Ḥāz was that of Ta'lab Riyām ba'l Šaṣṣarīm . Ta'lab , about whose function little is known, is said to have replaced Sama , who was mainly worshiped in Sum'ay in the west of Saba, and possibly to have been a moon deity like Almaqah . In any case, the Banū Bata tribe lived in the detachment area , ruling Ḥāz as well as al-Ḥuqqa (Samaʿi region), which is barely 10 kilometers northeast, at its cultural weddings.

Outside the city gate there is a cistern 36 x 41 meters and 5 to 6 meters deep, from which there is said to have been an underground water inlet into the place. It is lined with huge slabs of rock ( orthostats ), partly mortared. The water is fed through an aqueduct.

The attraction of Ḥāz are the facades of the palace buildings, in which historical inscription and motif stones are set. Pictures have become known in which a row of raised, seemingly door-like, double-stepped recesses can be recognized, which are reminiscent of the recesses in part of the outer wall of the pyramid complex at Saqqara . A “human hand” is recognizable and rows of Urae friezes were used to top it off. The modern place Ḥāz is built on the ruins of the ancient city, partly using the ornamented stones.

literature

  • Horst Kopp (Ed.): Geography of Yemen. Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-89500-500-2
  • Hermann von Wissmann : On the history and regional studies of old South Arabia ( Eduard Glaser Collection , No. 3 = Austrian Academy of Sciences, philosophical-historical class, meeting reports , volume 246) Böhlaus, Vienna 1964, especially p. 276 ff.
  • Gerd Simper, Petra Brixel: Yemen. Reise-Know-How, Bielefeld 2002, ISBN 3-921497-09-4
  • Walter W. Müller : Sketch of the history of old South Arabia . In: Werner Daum: Yemen , Umschau, Frankfurt / Main, ISBN 3-7016-2251-5 ; Pp. 50-56
  • Hermann von Wissmann: The history of the Sabaean empire and the campaign of Aelius Gallus , in: Hildegard Temporini (Hrsg.): Rise and decline of the Roman world . II. Principate. Volume ninth, first half volume, De Gruyter, Berlin, New York 1976 ISBN 3-11-006876-1 .
  • Walter W. Müller (ed.) / Hermann von Wissmann: The story of Sabaʾ II. The great empire of the Sabaeans up to its end in the early 4th century BC. Chr. (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Philosophy and history class. Proceedings, Vol 402) published by the Austrian Academy of Sciences Vienna, 1982 ISBN 3700105169 (Sumuhu'ali Yanuf III .: p 339-351)
  • Hermann von Wissmann: On the archeology and ancient geography of southern Arabia UT: Ḥaḍramaut, Qatabān and the ʿAden area in antiquity , Nederlands Historisch-Archäologische Instituut in Het Nabije Oosten, Istanbul 1968.
  • Hartmut Gese , Maria Höfner , Kurt Rudolph : The religions of Old Syria, Altarabia and the Mandaeans (= The religions of mankind. Volume 10.2). Kohlhammer, Stuttgart et al. 1970.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hermann von Wissmann : On the history and regional studies of Old South Arabia ( Eduard Glaser Collection ) , to 1. Notation: Table between p. 25 and 27; 2. Notation: p. 324.
  2. ↑ Horst Kopp (ed.): Yemen geography. Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden 2005, pp. 30 and 37.
  3. ↑ Gerd Simper, Petra Brixel: Yemen. Bielefeld 2002, p. 217.
  4. ↑ a b Walter W. Müller : Sketch of the history of Old South Arabia. In: Werner Daum: Yemen. Umschau, Frankfurt / Main, pp. 50–53.
  5. ^ A b Hermann von Wissmann: On the history and regional studies of Old South Arabia ( Eduard Glaser Collection ) , pp. 320–326
  6. ↑ The History of al-Ṭabarī 5: The Sāsānids, the Byzantines, the Lakhmids, and Yemen, translated and annotated by CE Bosworth. Albany, State University of New York Press 1999, p. 204 .
  7. ^ A b Hermann von Wissmann: On the history and regional studies of Old South Arabia (Eduard Glaser Collection), (see lit.), pp. 47–49.
  8. ↑ a b Adolf Grohmann : Cultural History of the Ancient Orient: Arabia (= Handbook of Classical Studies III 1,3,3,4). CH Beck Verlag, Munich 1963, p. 140 ff.
  9. ^ A b c Carl August Rathjens , Hermann von Wissmann : Südarabienreise Vol. 2: Pre-Islamic antiquities . 1931-1934, pp. 59 ff., Pp. 99-103.

Coordinates: 15 ° 30 ′ 36 ″  N , 44 ° 0 ′ 10 ″  E