Ancient History of Yemen - Chronology

Chronology

Although the Kingdom of Saba' already appears in Assyrian sources in the 8th century BCE, this benchmark is not sufficient to date the early history of ancient South Arabia, because the first absolutely reliable dating starts with the military campaign of Aelius Gallus in 25 BCE, and the mention of the king Ilasaros. For earlier times the chronology must be established on the basis of a comparison of the Old South Arabian finds with those from other regions, through palaeography, on the basis of the reconstructed sequence of kings and by radio carbon dating. Here two schools of thought have essentially evolved: the “Short Chronology” and the “Long Chronology”. At the end of the 19th century Eduard Glaser and Fritz Hommel dated the beginning of the Old South Arabian Civilisation to the late 2nd century BCE, a dating that persisted for many years. In 1955 Jacqueline Pirenne published a comparison of Old South Arabian and Greek art and came to the conclusion that the South Arabian Civilisation first developed in the 5th century BCE under Greek influence. She also supported this new "Short Chronology" by means paleaeographic analysis of the forms Old South Arabian letters. Based on the American excavations in Timnah and Ma’rib in 1951–52 another “Intermediary Chronology” came into being at about the same time, which merely set the beginning of Qatabān and Ma'īn at a later time than in the “Long Chronology”. On the basis of the study of a rock inscription at Ma’rib (“Glaser 1703”) A. G. Lundin and Hermann von Wissmann dated the beginning of Saba’ back into the 12th or the 8th century BCE. Even if their interpretation was later demonstrated to be partially incorrect, the “Short Chronology” is not proven, in more recent times many more arguments have been brought against it. Above all because of the results of new archaeological research, such as that carried out by the Italians in Yala / Hafari and by the French in Shabwah the "Long Chronology" attracts more and more supporters. Meanwhile the majority of experts in Sabaean studies adhere to Wissman’s Long Chronology, which is why the dates in this article have been adjusted in accordance with it.