Shibam Kaukaban
|
Arabic شبام كوكبان, DMG Šibām Kaukabān Schibam Kaukaban |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|||
| Coordinates | 15 ° 30 ' N , 43 ° 54' E | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | Yemen | ||
| Sanaa | |||
| ISO 3166-2 | YE-SN | ||
| height | 2900 m | ||
| Residents | 48,215 (calculation 2012) | ||
 Shibam as seen from Kaukaban
|
|||
Schibam Kaukaban (also: Shibam Kawkaban , Arabic شبام كوكبان, DMG Šibām Kaukabān ) is a twin city in Yemen located about 40 km northwest of Sanaa . The city is located along the almost 100 km long route from Sanaa via at-Tawīla to al-Mahwit in the western mountain slope , which is considered the most spectacular landscape in the whole country. The ancient site of Hāz is passed . To the north, a small stretch leads to Thula (about 10 km) and to ʿAmrān (about 100 km).
The two settlements that belong together were built at the end of the first millennium using old Yemeni natural stone architecture . In the mid-1980s it was still a traditional village that housed around 2000 residents. Together with Thula , Shibam Kaukaban was the capital of the Banu Yufir (7th / 8th centuries).
location
Schibam is located at the foot of the Kaukaban Mountain ( Jabal Kaukaban ) at an altitude of 2580 m and thus about 360 m lower than Kaukaban. The mountain consists of red, well-banked Cretaceous Tawilah sandstone. The city was leaned directly at the foot of the mountain massif, because this meant that a special defense of the west of the city was unnecessary. The situation was different with the open east of the city, which was secured by a city wall with three gates. Remnants of this fortification still exist today. One city gate (the Bab Madinat Sam ) shows Sabaean spolia .
Kaukaban is a fortress on the mountain top of Jabal Kaukaban . There is a good panoramic view from here. This example extends in a northerly direction to the striking, from Tawilah existing -Sandstein witnesses Mountain , on the Thula is. To the east the view becomes clear to the mountains of the Sanaa basin and to the south to the highest mountain in Yemen, which at the same time also forms the highest peak of the Arabian Peninsula , the 3,665 m high Jabal an-Nabi Shuʿaib . Kaukaban is accessible via a steep, well-developed path down to Shibam.
Ancient South Arabian History
The temples ḏāt Ẓahrān (cited as CIH 110 and CIH 111 ) and Almaqah ba'l ʿAwwām (cited as CIH 126 / Criminal Law of Yada'il Bayin IV. , Son of Karib-il Watar III. , Around 235 ) are located on the Kaukaban Castle Hill BC), located on the ʿAlw castle there . The temples go back to the ancient South Arabian era of the Sabeans ; then placed in a Bakilic context as Sibām 'Aqyān . As in 'Amrān the tribe who lived in the area in and around Shibam Kaukaban Marṯad , it attested by numerous inscriptions . The Yemeni, Muslim polymath of the 10th century, al-Hamdānī later also referred to the existence of the city and its spelling at that time. With regard to the temple of Almaqah ba'l ʿAwwām , it is assumed that it is a daughter temple of Awwam / Ḥaram Bilqīs , near Ma'rib .
The Sabao-Himyar king Ischarah Yahdib I (cited as CIH 140, CIH 141, CIH 145) is also mentioned in the town's inscriptions . In a later inscription (cited as CIH 106), Aqyān appears for the first time under the name Kaukaban ; in Kaukaban itself initially as mḥrbn , next to it in an inscription in Ḥāz as KWKBN (cited as CIH 259).
The cave tombs that are embedded in the Kaukaban massif are worth seeing .
see also article section: Architectural history of South Arabia
Islamic history
Shibam
Shibam has a number of mosques. The oldest mosque ( The Great Mosque ) represents the architecture of the 9th century in Yemen and provides excellent evidence of the “early mosques” in the country. It is one of the best preserved. The temporal proximity to the previous old South Arabian architecture still gives an impression of how large mosques looked at that time. Surrounded by a mighty stone wall with only a few openings, a traditional ensemble presents itself. High stone columns enclosed a square inner courtyard in the old Persian Apadana style. This was surrounded by stone columns with wooden support structures for a flat roof structure with arched alabaster windows and a crowning arcade of the Sassanid type. The northern prayer hall was considered a special showpiece. The columns towered 8 meters from column drums up to the ceiling of the mosque. Magnificent ceilings with richly carved and painted woodwork and multiple panel arrangements characterize the picture. A mosque comes from the time of early Islamic architecture and is a Friday mosque.
Kaukaban
Kaukaban played a crucial role in the history of Yemen between 841 and 997 . In the village, a local family founded the Yuʿfirid dynasty . With the failed attempts of Abbasid ruling troops in Yemen in 843 and 844 to besiege the city of Shibam, the victorious Yuʿfirids from Shibam Kaukaban tried to expand their power in the Yemeni highlands. For the first time in the Islamic history of Yemen, a dynasty from Yemen itself created the historical scene. In the year 847 Sanaa could be conquered. However, since the city governors received Abbasid troops to support them, the siege was short-lived. Shibam itself could always be defended, so that the area of dominion was mainly extended southwards to Taizz . In 872 Shibam became the capital of the Kaukaban dynasty. The dynasty did not go out until 997.
The place is known for its poetry and for folk dances and songs.
Kaukaban was badly damaged in air raids in the civil war between 1962 and 1969 (especially 1964). Many houses were not built after that. The city gate Bab al Hadiet (the iron gate) , together with the adjoining brick fort and a large cistern on the south-eastern outskirts, have been preserved. There was also a small Jewish quarter in the southeast of Kaukaban . In the south of Kaukaban the remains of the city fortifications can be seen on the steep edge of the high plateau.
Surrounding area
Schibam Kaukaban is located on the eastern edge of the western mountain slope . The region is considered to be the most spectacular landscape in Yemen. Deeply cut valleys separate the steep mountain ranges and convey the image of extreme verticals. The small chambers and inaccessibility of the mountain world are characteristic of this natural area. Often there is a lack of patience. The western mountain country thus formed a natural cultural boundary between the mountain and the lowlands, which required protection against invading enemies. It is thanks to these circumstances that the tribal society in the highlands developed autochthonously over the centuries.
In order to be able to obtain agricultural products from the rare fertile soils, the population has always been dependent on terraced farming. For this purpose, species-rich dry forests have been cleared since ancient times . Succulent euphorbias (for example the Euphorbia ammak) have established themselves as natural vegetation . Coffee can be grown where the valleys spread.
literature
- Werner Daum: Yemen. Umschau-Verlag, Frankfurt / Main, ISBN 3-7016-2251-5 .
- Volker Höhfeld : Cities and urban growth in the Middle East - comparative case studies on the regional differentiation of recent urban development processes in the oriental-Islamic culture; Wiesbaden 2005 (= supplement to the Tübingen Atlas of the Middle East, Series B, No. 61).
- Horst Kopp (Editor): Regional Geography Yemen , Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag Wiesbaden, 2005, ISBN 3-89500-500-2 .
- Gerd Simper, Petra Brixel: Yemen. Reise-Know-How, Bielefeld 2002, ISBN 3-921497-09-4 .
- 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, p. 329; especially pp. 361-364.
- Hermann von Wissmann, Maria Höfner : Contributions to the historical geography of pre-Islamic South Arabia (= treatises of the humanities and social science class of the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz. Born 1952, No. 4). Publishing house of the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz, Mainz 1953.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: World Gezatteer population data
- ↑ a b Horst Kopp, s. Lit., pp. 30-37
- ↑ Dietrich Bannert, From Sanaa to Kawkaban: Pure Geology in Yemen Report Volume 39 Issue 2, 2008
- ↑ Gerhard Heck, Anfred Wöbcke, Arabian Peninsula
- ^ A b c d Hermann von Wissmann: On the history and regional studies of Old South Arabia ( Eduard Glaser Collection ), p. 329; Pp. 361-363
- ↑ Müller and Hommel interpreted mḥrbn as a sanctuary or Adyton
- ^ Hermann von Wissmann, Maria Höfner : Contributions to the historical geography of pre-Islamic South Arabia (= Academy of Sciences and Literature, treatises of the humanities and social sciences class. 1952, No. 4). Franz Steiner, Wiesbaden 1971, p. 18.
- ↑ a b Ronald Lewcock: Yemenite Architecture in the Middle Ages , pp. 181–201
- ↑ A detailed description of this mosque can be found in: RB Lewcock, GR Smith, Two Early Mosques in the Yemen , Art & Archeology Research Papers, London IV (1973), pp. 117-130
- ↑ Hans-Thomas Gosciniak, Brief History of Islamic Art
