Mukarrib

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mukarrib ( Old South Arabian mkrb ) was a altsüdarabischer official title, the track alternatively from South Arabian rulers malik was ( "King") worn.

The title Mukarrib etymologically belongs to a root krb "(an order) to execute" (?), Albert Jamme , however, derived it from krb "to braid". Despite these etymologies, the function of the mukarrib and in particular the difference between the titles "mukarrib" and "king" has not yet been established.

The earliest Mukarribe can be found in Saba , whose ruler from the beginning of written tradition in the 8th century BC. Beginning with Karib'il I , until shortly before the loss of hegemony over large parts of southern Arabia in the late 5th century BC. Chr. Bore this title. Also Dhakar'il Lihyan of Ausan , who probably lived around 700 BC. Ruled was Mukarrib. Only a few decades after the Sabaean rulers had given up the title "Mukarrib", the kings of Qataban accepted this title for five generations. Also Yashhur'il Yuhar'ish , the birth of Christ in Hadramaut reigned, called himself "Mukarrib". In Ma'in , on the other hand, there was no mukarribe, but there was in the Saba-influenced Da'amot empire in today's Eritrea . It is noticeable that the title Mukarrib only appears in rulers' inscriptions, while subjects and hostile rulers referred to foreign Mukarribs as "kings".

In Qataban in particular, the mukarrib performed priestly functions and carried priestly titles: he was the priest of the imperial god Amm and administered the temple assets. In Saba, the Mukarrib carried out the union , in which certain communities were apparently assigned gods or patrons, a ceremony that was not carried out by the bearers of the royal title.

Due to the obvious cultic functions of the mukarribe, Nikolaus Rhodokanakis suggested a translation with “priest king”, which lasted for a long time. Later researchers, on the other hand, rejected a purely sacred interpretation and instead suggested a translation with "unifier (of the country)". The task of the Mukarrib was therefore to unite the tribes of his territory under his rule. Maria Höfner , on the other hand, took a mediating position: In a theocratic state there was ultimately no difference between sacred and profane acts, which is why Rhodokanakis' strongly sacred interpretation is superfluous.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ AFL Beeston, MA Ghul, WW Müller, J. Ryckmans: Sabaic Dictionary / Dictionnaire sabéen (English-French-Arabic) Louvain-la-Neuve, 1982 ISBN 2-8017-0194-7 , p. 78
  2. ↑ in: Bibliotheca Orientalis, 12 (1953), pp. 219 ff.
  3. ^ Dates according to the Lange Chronologie .
  4. ^ Hermann von Wissmann, Collection Eduard Glaser III, On the history and regional studies of Old South Arabia, Genealogical table I. The Mukarribe of Saba
  5. ↑ about half cited as Eq. 1703

literature

  • Alfred Felix Landon Beeston : In: Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabien Studies 7 (1977) , pp. 5 ff.
  • Maria Höfner : Was the Sabaean Mukarrib a “priest prince”? In: Viennese magazine for the customer of the morning country. Volume 54, 1957, pp. 77-85.
  • Andrey Korotayev . Pre-Islamic Yemen . Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 1996, ISBN 3-447-03679-6 .
  • Nikolaus Rhodokanakis: The land economy in old South Arabia. Vienna 1916
  • Jacques Ryckmans: L'Institution Monarchique en Arabie Méridionale avant l'Islam (Ma'in et Saba) ( Bibliothèque du Muséon 28 ). Louvain 1951 (On the Mukarriben: p. 51 ff.).
  • Hermann von Wissmann : On the history and regional studies of old South Arabia. ( Eduard Glaser Collection , No. III = Austrian Academy of Sciences, philosophical-historical class, session reports, Volume 246) , Böhlaus, Vienna 1964 (On the Genealogy of the Sabaean Mukarribe).