pre-islamic arabia:poetry,tribal rivalry and heroism 11or earlier (ibid.). It is sufficient to focus on the socio-economic elements
of the civilisation with a brief description of its political dimension.
Different from the environment elsewhere in Arabia, the south
had fertile land caused by rainfall. South Arabians were skilled enough
to build dams to help irrigate the land. The dam of Ma"rib was per-
haps the most famous, the older part of which was built around the
mid seventh century B.C., and was constructed in the city of Ma"rib,
the capital of Saba"(ibid.). This allowed water to be divided into
many streams running into a wide plain. As the skill developed, the
Ma"ribeans constructed a dam at the narrow point between the two
mountains east of the city with gates that allowed controlled distri-
bution of water (Haykal, 1976). In contrast to wandering Bedouins
in the north, the people in the south had a sedentary existence.
Four main Kingdoms were established in South Arabia: Saba",
Ma"in, Qatabàn and Œadramawt.
Saba"
Saba", biblical Sheba, was the most dominant of the four kingdoms.
Besides the fertile land, the strategic position on the India trade route
and the nearness to the Red Sea contributed to making Saba"the
most important kingdom in the south. The Sabaean period extended
from about 750 B.C., or 1500 B.C. according to some, to 115 B.C.
(Della Vida, 1944). The kingdom started as a theocracy first, where
the king had priestly authority, but in about 610 B.C. it became
secularised with a change in the royal title that did not bear a priestly
character and with a new capital, Ma"rib. Gradually, the kingdom
of Saba"overshone, and absorbed, the other kingdoms in the south.
The Qur"àn refers to an encounter between the Queen of Saba"
(Queen of Sheba) and King Solomon. King Solomon learned from
his intelligence sources that the Sabaeans with their rich and pow-
erful queen were worshiping the sun, not God. He wrote to the
queen inviting her and her people to believe in God and to give up
worshiping the sun. The Qur"ànic reference indicates a few inter-
esting points related to Saba": (a) the deity of the kingdom at that
time was the sun, (b) Saba"kingdom was very rich and powerful,
(c) the kingdom had a very powerful army, (d) the Queen had a
wise council, and (e) the Queen was not an autocratic monarch as
she is reported to have sought the opinion of her council, “I am
not to take an action (on this matter) unless you are part of it”.