14 chapter one
opportunity to eliminate the control of the Byzantines, through the
Abyssinians, over South Arabia. Six ships of the Persian army sailed
from the Persian Gulf towards al-Yemen, two of which sank on
the way and the other four reached al-Yemen in 575 A.C. and
defeated the Abyssinian garrison (Al- ̨abarì). Instead of only com-
ing to help, the conqueror, as usually happens, occupied the land
and soon al-Yemen was converted into a Persian province, and one
master was changed for another. In 628 A.C., al-Yemen fell into
the hands of Muslims and the fifth, and last Persian ruler converted
to Islam.
The political strength of the South Arabian kingdoms was based
on economic strength. As was mentioned earlier, the fertility of the
land coupled with the strategic location on the trade routes helped
South Arabia to develop its economic strength. Agriculture flourished
and various agricultural products were grown: corn, vegetables, fruit,
and vines and, most important for trade, spices, myrrh and frank-
incense. Besides exporting their own products, of which spices, myrrh
and frankincense were highly demanded, the area lay on a very
important trade route to India. Saba"was a transit place for many
products coming from different areas: pearls from the Persian Gulf,
silk from China, swords and fabrics from India, and gold, ivory and
ostrich feathers from Ethiopia. The Sabaeans, as Hitti says, were the
Phoenicians of the Southern sea (Hitti, 1963). They commanded a
strong commercial fleet, which connected the two sides of the Indian
Ocean with South Arabia. Also, due to the navigating difficulty of
the Red Sea, overland trade routes were developed between al-Yemen
and Syria along the western coast of the Peninsula with several car-
avan cities, such as Makkah, Petra, and Palmyra. Another trade
route was developed between Œadramawt and Ma"rib, where it joined
the south-to-north route.
The economic development of South Arabia suffered a setback by
the end of the third century A.C. Three major factors could be said
to have contributed to the setback: the increased external maritime
competition, internal schism and the breaking of the dam of Ma"rib.
External maritime competition appeared first through the interven-
tion of the Ptolemies, though the Romans followed suit. The Ptolemies
developed such a strong navy that they transferred the northern part
of the Red Sea into a Ptolemic lake. By reopening the canal between
the Nile and the Red Sea by Ptolemy II, a canal which was dug
originally during the rule of Sesostris 1700 years earlier, part of the