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hamburg_mkg_DSC03559_1 by ghoermann

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Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, statue of a praying woman, sabaean/quatanian 3.-1. century BC

hamburg_mkg_DSC03556_1 by ghoermann

Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, statue of a praying woman, sabaean/quatanian 3.-1. century BC

saudi arabia by Retlaw Snellac Photography

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Sabaean (?) inscriptions in Mada'in Saleh.

Mada'in Saleh is one of the best known archaeological sites in Saudi Arabia, located in Al Ula (previously known as Dedan), some 400 kilometers north of Al Madinah. Mada'in Saleh was once inhabited by the Nabataeans some 2000 years ago, Petra (located in Jordan) being the capital of the Nabataean kingdom. The Nabataeans are of Arab origin who became rich by their monopoly on the trade of incense and spices in particular between the East and the Roman, Greek and Egyptian empires. Mada'in Saleh has about 130 dwellings and tombs that extend over some 13 kilometers.

Marib Yemen April 1992 by loose_grip_99

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30 years ago this month I transferred to Yemen for work and we lived in the capital Sana'a for over 2 years. Back then between two civil wars Yemen was almost at peace and we took the opportunity to travel around to see this beautiful historic country. Sadly it has suffered further wars for the last 7 years and no end to the suffering appears to be in sight.

One of our early visits was to Marib, the capital town of the Ma'rib Governorate, and once the capital of the Sabaean kingdom (Ancient Sheba of biblical fame). It is located approximately 120 kilometers east of Sana'a.

The site of Ancient Marib was largely abandoned during the 20th century. Although a small village remains, the multi-story mud-brick and stone buildings of the historic city are largely in ruins. The modern city of Marib is located about 3.5 kilometers north.

Yemen - The Empty Quarter Desert by Lucie Debelkova

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This photo was taken just after the sunrise. It was not the most impressive desert place I’ve ever visited but I still managed to get some nice shots. It was taken in surrounding of troubled Marib area where we have been constantly accompanied by police, army or Bedouins. Marib, one of the key centers of the trade routes of the region, was one of the largest and most prosperous cities in the Sabaean kingdom and the site of some of the world's earliest civil construction projects.

To get to this desert place we have departed Marib at 5AM (accompanied by a armed bedouin) & travelled through the “incense road” across the undulating deserts of the Empty Quarter (Ramlat Al-Sab'atayn) to reach Sayun in the afternoon. It was one of the most amazing drives that took us across dessert with no sign of human existence through hundreds of kilometers.

I've included human figure in top left corner to give feeling of scale.

Canon EOS 400D DIGITAL, f/7.1, 0.008 sec (1/125), ISO 200, 18 mm

All images are exclusive property and may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, transmitted, manipulated or used in any way without expressed, written permission of the photographer.

Talking to Friends, Yemen by Rod Waddington

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Bayt Baws, Yemen

Old South Arabian (Sabaean) Stone Script by Mark McCauley

National Museum, Muscat, Oman

Yemen - The Empty Quarter Desert by Lucie Debelkova

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I've included human figure in top left corner to give feeling of scale.

Canon EOS 400D DIGITAL, f/8, 0.006 sec (1/160), ISO 200, 18 mm

All images are exclusive property and may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, transmitted, manipulated or used in any way without expressed, written permission of the photographer.

Yemeni boy in front of the dam at Wadi Adhana, Marib Governorate, Marib, Yemen by Eric Lafforgue

www.ericlafforgue.com

Yemen - The Empty Quarter Desert by Lucie Debelkova

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Canon EOS 400D DIGITAL, f/9, 0.005 sec (1/200), ISO 200, 18 mm

All images are exclusive property and may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, transmitted, manipulated or used in any way without expressed, written permission of the photographer.

Saba Era Ruins, near Marib, Yemen by David & Bonnie

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Sheba (or Saba in Arabic) is a kingdom mentioned in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and the Quran. Sheba features in Jewish, Muslim, and Christian, particularly Ethiopian Christian, traditions. It was the home of the biblical "Queen of Sheba", who is left unnamed in the Bible, but receives the names Makeda in Ethiopian and Bilqīs in Arabic tradition.

The predominant scholarly view is that the biblical narrative about the kingdom of Sheba was based on the ancient civilization of Saba in South Arabia, in contradiction to several local traditions from different countries. some historians write that "the Sabaean kingdom began to flourish only from the eighth century BCE onward" and that the story of Solomon and Sheba is "an anachronistic seventh-century set piece meant to legitimize the participation of Judah in the lucrative Arabian trade".

The British Museum states that there is no archaeological evidence for such a queen but that the kingdom described as hers was Saba, "the oldest and most important of the South Arabian kingdoms". Kenneth Kitchen dates the kingdom to between 1200 BCE and 275 CE with its capital, Ma'rib. The kingdom fell after a long but sporadic civil war between several Yemenite dynasties claiming kingship, resulting in the rise of the late Himyarite Kingdom.

Sanctuary of the Sabaeans by neilsonabeel

Nikon FM2n

Nikkor-H 50mm f/2

Kentmere 400

Dev: Legacy Pro L110 1:31 for 6 min at 68 degrees

The Anhk & The Hand of Fatima by Andrea - Amberinsea Photography

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The khamsa (Arabic: خمسة ‎, Hebrew: חמסה‎, khamsa lit. five, also romanized hamsa and chamsa) is a palm-shaped amulet popular throughout the Middle East and North Africa. The khamsa is often incorporated in jewelry and wall hangings, as a superstitious defense against the evil eye. It is believed to originate in ancient practices associated with the Sabaeans and Nabataeans.

Symbolism

Another Arabic name for the hamsa (or khamsa) is the hand of Fatima, commemorating Fatima Zahra, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad. Hamsa hands often contain an eye symbol. Depictions of the hand, the eye, or the number five in Arabic (and Berber) tradition is related to warding off the evil eye, as exemplified in the saying khamsa fi ainek ("five [fingers] in your eye"). Another formula uttered against the evil eye in Arabic is khamsa wa-khamis. Due to its significance in both Arabic and Berber culture, it is one of the national symbols of Algeria, and appears in its emblem.

The khamsa is the most popular of the different amulets to ward off the evil eye in Egypt — others being the Eye, and the Hirz (a silver box containing verses of the Koran). The Hand (Khamsa) has long represented blessings, power and strength and is thus seen as potent in deflecting the evil eye. It's one of the most common components of jewelry in the region.

Archaeological evidence indicates that a downward pointing hamsa used as a protective amulet in the region predates its use by members of the monotheistic faiths. It is thought to have been associated with Tanit, the supreme deity of Carthage (Phoenicia) whose hand (or in some cases vulva) was used to ward off the evil eye.

There are two main styles of a hamsa hand: the stylized hamsa hand with two symmetrical thumbs, and hamsa hands that are not symmetrical and shaped like actual hands. Either hamsa hand can be worn with the fingers pointing up or down.

The hamsa is popular as a charm most often worn as a necklace, but can be found as a decorative element in houses, on key chains, on other jewelery items. Many artists use the image of the hamsa hand in jewelry, paintings, sculptures, wall decorations, and amulets.

Wikipedia

High eyes by Alda Cravo Al-Saude

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The roof of Arabia. Yemen

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The history of Yemen dates back to the Minaean (1200–650 B.C.) and Sabaean (750–115 B.C.) kingdoms. Ancient Yemen (centered around the port of Aden) engaged in the lucrative myrrh and frankincense trade. It was invaded by the Romans (1st century A.D.) as well as the Ethiopians and Persians (6th century A.D.). In A.D. 628 it converted to Islam and in the 10th century came under the control of the Rassite dynasty of the Zaidi sect, which remained involved in North Yemeni politics until 1962. The Ottoman Turks nominally occupied the area from 1538 to the decline of their empire in 1918.

The northern portion of Yemen was ruled by imams until a pro-Egyptian military coup took place in 1962. The junta proclaimed the Yemen Arab Republic, and after a civil war in which Egypt's Nasser and the USSR supported the revolutionaries and King Al-Saude of Saudi Arabia and King Hussein of Jordan supported the royalists, the royalists were defeated in mid-1969.

The southern port of Aden, strategically located at the opening of the Red Sea, was colonized by Britain in 1839, and by 1937, with an expansion of its territory, it was known as the Aden Protectorate. In the 1960s the Nationalist Liberation Front (NLF) fought against British rule, which led to the establishment of the People's Republic of Southern Yemen on Nov. 30, 1967. In 1979, under strong Soviet influence, the country became the only Marxist state in the Arab world.

NOTA: Khat has been grown for use as a drug for centuries in parts of Africa mainly Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. There, chewing khat predates the use of coffee and is used in a similar social context. Its fresh leaves and tops are chewed or, less frequently, dried and consumed as tea, in order to achieve a state of euphoria and stimulation."

by Hermes Trismegistus, the Universal Mind of the "highest Power" (situated on the Enneadic plane). the Hermetic Divine triad OTHER GREAT CIRCLE ALIGNMENTS OF ANCIENT SITES by Hughes Songe

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The Great Work in Heidelberg, look at the Serpent (Green Snacke by Goethe) under his face?the Universal Mind of the "highest Power" is over his head?

Palingenesia liberates the soul and is a reversal of physical birth (which imprisoned the soul in the body). This spiritual birth leads (thanks to the presence of a spiritual master and an initiatory father/son-relationship) to the soul's perfection through the knowledge of God, a "baptism in intellect" (IV.3-4). In the process of purification and Self-knowledge, traditional rituals may have been used, but the higher mysteries (the Hermetic initiation proper) involved a "mental" or "spiritual" sacrifice (I.31), the offering of hymns of praise and thanksgiving. The ritual and the noetic were thus fully integrated.Indeed, the "Nous", the Divine intellect or "soul of God", binds together the hierarchy of God, the world (of the Deities, minerals, plants & animals) and man. In particular, "Nous" is the way of the human soul to free itself from the snares of the flesh and be illuminated by the "light" of the "gnosis", for indeed, God is experienced as light. A "good Nous" will be able to repel the assaults of the world. The spiritual master becomes a personification of this Divine intellect. The master becomes one with the Divine Nous ("I am Mind") in the initiation of his disciple. In Hermetism, this "Nous" is personified by Hermes Trismegistus, the Universal Mind of the "highest Power" (situated on the Enneadic plane).In Ancient Egyptian theology, divine triads were used to express the divine family-unit, usually composed out of Pharaoh (the son) and a divine couple (father & mother), legitimizing his rule as divine king. Pharaoh Akhenaten had introduced a monotheistic triad (exclusive and against all other deities) : Aten, Akhenaten and Nefertiti. In Heliopolis, the original triad was Atum, Shu and Tefnut, in Memphis, Ptah, Sekhmet and Nefertem emerged, whereas Thebes worshipped Amun, Mut and Khonsu. The trinity naturally developed into three or one Ennead.In Hermetic triad reads as :God, the Unbegotten One, the essence of being, the Father of All - the "Decad" ;

Nous, the First Intellect, the Self-Begotten One, the Mind or Light of God - the "Ennead" ;

Ennead circle ⭕️ began with Atlantis was a great landing on Earth and a energetic belting game in production of a cosmically electric ⚡️

Logos, the "son" from "Nous", the Begotten One above the Seven Archons - the "Ogdoad". In Global Sacred Alignments, Terry Walsh diagrams several alignments of ancient sites on straight lines around the center of the earth, and mentions several others. He addresses the alignment of the Great Pyramid with Easter Island, Machupicchu and Persepolis, and he diagrams an alignment of Easter Island with Tiahuanaco, Luxor, Mohenjo Daro, Varanasi and Bandiagara, the ancient land of the Dogons. This second alignment also crosses over Dendera, Bodh Gaya and Mandalay.

The total circumference of this second alignment is 24,892 miles. The great circle distance from Easter Island to Tiahuanaco is 2,703 miles, 10.8% of the total circumference. The distance from Tiahuanaco to Bandiagara is 4,930 miles, 19.8%. The distance from Bandiagara to Luxor is 2,473 miles, 9.9%. The distance from Luxor to Easter Island’s antipodal point in the Indus Valley near Ganweriwali is 2,363 miles, 9.5%.

The One Entity or God (the "Tenth") is known to Its creation as the One Mind or Hermes which contains the "noetic" root of every individual existing thing (cf. Plato, Spinoza). This Divine Mind (the attributes or names of the nameless God) allows all things to be sympathetic transformations (adaptations, modi) of God.Hermetism is initiatory because it wants to elevate the soul to the level of its true Divine nature. Palingenesia is an ascension while alive. Rebirth implies more than just a confrontation with the Gods (as in Ancient Egypt), but a true interaction between Perfect Man and -thanks to the Presence of Mind- God. This interaction leads to a total emergence of the Divine spark in man and hence to his Deification (finally being completely his own Divine Self and thus himself "a God", a being permanently realizing the Enneadic nature (XIII.3,10 & 14). This highest state may be attained in the afterlife, although the Ogdoadic nature may be realized while alive on Earth. Because Easter Island, Machupicchu, the Great Pyramid, the Indus Valley and Angkor are also aligned at 10% intervals around the earth, there is a high coincidence of paired sites along these two alignments. In addition to the convergence of the two alignments at Easter Island and Mohenjo-Daro, Machupicchu is paired with Tiahuanaco and the Great Pyramid is paired with Luxor. If the pairing of these sites along these two alignments is not a coincidence, two good places to look for other ancient sites would be in the Sahara Desert, near the border between Mali and Mauritania, at 21° N, 7° 40' W, 2,488 miles southwest of the Great Pyramid, and in the shallow water of the South China Sea, just off the coast of Vietnam, at 18°43'N, 106°27'E, 2,488 miles southeast of Mohenjo-Daro.

The axis points of this great circle are 62°03'N, 124°40'W and 62°03'S, 55°20'E. The great circle crosses the equator at 34°40'W and 145°20'E. The upper latitudes are 27°57'N at 55°20'E and 27°57'S at 124°40'W.

"Man is a Divine being, not to be compared with the other Earthly beings, but with those who are called Gods, up in the heavens. Rather, if one must dare to speak the truth, man truly is established above even these Gods, or at least fully their equal. After all, none of the celestial Gods will leave the heavenly frontiers and descend to Earth ; yet man ascends even into heavens, and measured them, and knows their heights and depths, and everything else about them he learns with exactitude, and, supreme marvel, he even has no need to leave the Earth to establish himself upon high, so far does his power extend ! We must thus dare to say : Earthly man is a mortal God, the celestial God is an immortal Man. And so it is through these two, the world and man, that all things exist ; but they were all created by the One." CH, Libellus X, 24-25.The Hermetic triad can be traced back to Egyptian sources thus :the one god alone, pre-existing before creation as the primordial ocean of Nun ; the self-creative creator (in the form of Atum-Re), emerging out of the Nun (hatching out of his egg) as the origin of everything and the "father of the gods ; the unique "son of god" or Pharaoh, who mediates between the realm of the deities (sky) and the realm of humans (Earth). In this scheme, 10 ontological layers, strata or realms are posited : One supernatural Divine triad ("agennetos, autogennetos, gennetos") and Seven natural "powers of fate" or "archons". Hermetism is a gnosticism because it claims knowledge of God is possible. To know God one has to merge with Universal Mind, conveying a "special" light, causing a private and inner illumination or "gnosis". The purified soul is absorbed into God and realizes its own Divinity. Hermetism is a "way of immortality" (X.7). But as an Alexandro-Egyptian gnosticism, Hermetism did not introduce "evil" in the archons : God our Father is Good and His creation (including His Deities) is beautiful, the crucial moral choice is up to the individual. "For from thee, the unbegotten one, the begotten one came into being. The birth of the self-begotten one is through thee, giving birth to all begotten things that exists."

Robinson, 1984, p.294. The Hermetic Divine triad is modalistic and subordinates the hierarchy of being. God (10 : the Decad) is the first and ultimate level of existence, the One existing for Unity Alone (the Absolute in its Absoluteness). God (the incomprehensible, unrevealable and unknowable Father) is unborn, the "Logos autogenes" and the "son of Nous" born. What this is can not be said (cf. apophasis : absolute silence, no tales). Hermes (9 : the Ennead) is Self-begotten (not created or generated by God) and is the "soul" of God, the mode of God's holding together His creation by Universal Mind (Nous) and Word (logos). The Begotten One (8 : the Ogdoad), again a level lower, has no power of Self-generation, and is part of the process of time and space (this "son" is the "world" or "logos" given by Hermes as master, teacher and father). This level of the Perfect(ed) Human beings is higher than the Deities (or at least equal to them).The Seven Archons, ruling fate and subordinated to supernatural command, are beautiful and good (demons may exists, but there is no evil God). That evil exists at all is due to man's nature and his slavish prostrations before his physical passions & vices. Clouding his true nature, these evils cause ignorance and make man subject to the fatal blows of the blind planetary forces, measured by astrologers and manipulated by magicians. On their own, both astrologers and magi fail to reach the Hermetic goal of life : "gnosis" or an inner awakening in the light coming forth from God's Mind, i.e. an entrance in the supernatural strata of being (the Ogdoad, which borders the natural world, and the Ennead). "{O my Father}, yesterday You promised me that You would bring my mind into the eighth and afterwards You would bring me into the ninth. You said that this is the order of the tradition."Robinson, 1984, p.292.Resisting fate binds one to fate. Only the Divine light of "gnosis" allows the soul to move beyond nature and abide in the supernatural. Here, fate has no hold, for the Gods never leave their heaven, and, as Paracelsus would claim centuries earlier : the wise command the stars !► literary Hermeticism and the Western Tradition : a few highlights The earliest links made between Egyptian wisdom and Christianity appear in the writings of Clement of Alexandria (150 - 215), Origen of Alexandria (185 - 254) and Augustine of Hippo (354 - 430)."As early as Origen's Contra Celsus (I, 28), we encounter the claim that it was in Egypt, and specifically as an adult laborer, that Jesus had learned all the magical arts with which he worked miracles and on which he based his divinity. The tradition also occurred in early rabbinic literature, but it was of course suppressed in official Christianity."Hornung, 2001, pp.76-77.Indeed, Morton (1978) writes :"The rabbinic report that in Egypt Jesus was tattooed with magic spells does not appear in polemic material, but is cited as a known fact in discussion of a legal question by a rabbi who was probably born about the time of the crucifixion. The antiquity of the source, type of citation, connection with the report that he was in Egypt, and agreement with Egyptian magical practices are considerable arguments in its favor."Morton, 1978, pp.150-151.The link between Egyptian wisdom, under the guise of Hermetism, Christianity and Islam is also pertinent and often forgotten. "The mystical powers of Hermes exerted themselves far beyond the Pagan world of Late Antiquity, transmuting medieval Christian and Islamic understanding of the relationship between rational knowledge and revelation." Green, 1992, p.85.This explains why, when Arab translations overflowed Europe, Hermetic concepts came along."The Sabaeans in Harran, who were without a sacred scripture under Islam, in order to count as a 'people of the Book', elevated the Corpus Hermeticum into such a holy book in the ninth century, thereby contributing to the continued existence of Hermetic texts among the Arab writers."Hornung, 2001, pp.53.The first elements of literary Hermeticism were probably introduced in Western Europe by the Knight Templars (an order initiated in 1118). This powerful organization would pass on "the light of the Orient" to Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry. Both drew on the translations of the Corpus Hermeticum, available as early as 1471, but also on alchemy, centuries older."The first Latin texts on alchemy were translated from Arabic in the 12th century, and included the Septem tractatus Hermetis Sapientia Triplicis and the Liber de Compositione Alchemiae of Morienus. A leitmotif that occurs with respect of the Arabic and Latin alchemical texts is the discovery in an underground chamber or crypt of a stela made of marble, ebony or emerald, with mysterious writing or symbols on it."

Burnett, Ch (Ucko & Champion, 2003, p.94).► the Order of the Temple. Jerusalem fell to the curved swords of Islam in 638 AD. In 1095, Pope Urban II decided to incite the sovereigns of the West to recapture the city. He wanted to bring together the Eastern (Orthodox) and Western (Roman) strains of Christianity, a scandalous divide caused by a fundamental dogmatic difference about the nature of the Holy Spirit (who, in the Eastern Church, does not proceed from the Son as in the Filioquist West). In 1099, the year Godefroy de Bouillon of Flanders conquered the city, the Pope died. It would be recaptured in 1244. According to Templar tradition, the Order of the Knights Templar was founded by Huges de Payns, a 48 year old nobleman, and eight other Knights. They took their vows on the 12th of June 1118 at the Castle of Arginy in the County of Rhône. The nine Knights were devoted to Christ and pledged to ensure the safety of the pilgrims to Jerusalem and the protection of the Holy Sepulchre. The Grand Master was very successful and obtained gifts of land and property to start the order. By 1129, the Templar Order was established in Europe. The battle standard of the Order, the Gonfalon Beauceant or Beauseant was a red eight-pointed cross, the "Croix patteé gueules", on a background of white and black squares. Their motto was : Non nobis Domine, non nobis, sed Nomini Tua da gloriam. The seal of the Order was the design of two horsemen on the same horse, indicating the vow of poverty, the fraternity as well as the dual role of monk and warrior. When Pope Honorius died in 1130, Bernard of St. Clairvaux supported the man who became Innocent II, to the great advantage of the Order, for eventually his Templars were subject to no authority save the Pope's. Their Order became a state within states and enjoyed considerable freedom, endowed with incredible wealth. The purity of these ideals were compromised by the politics of the Near East. Although the inner order retained the ideal, the outer structures failed. This inner order had access to "heretical" knowledge. Hermetical doctrines taught them the universe was conditioned by the laws of sound, color, number, weight and measure. Impregnated with the "Orientale Lumen", studying the "sciences of the Moors", Jewish Qabalah & Muslim Sufism and helped by Arab translations, they were able to read unknown Greek & Latin authors and drink from the grand reservoir of Mediterranean and Hellenistic spirituality. Eventually, new technologies were learned. These were introduced in the West, fertilized Christian culture, transformed the architecture of churches & cathedrals and enlightened the intelligentsia of their time. Hence, the Templar Order helped prepare the European Renaissance ...In 1312, during a Council held in Vienne, Pope Clement V, backed by the King of France (who had been refused by the Order) abolished the Order of the Knights Templar. After this, the Order lost central command, and various groups were created, like the Order of Montesa in Spain (1317), the Order of Christ in Portugal (1319) and the Elder Brothers of the Rose Cross in France (returning from Scotland). These "Frères Aînés de la Rose-Croix" (1317) drew up a new Templar Rule adopted by a college of 33 men, renewed and maintained by co-option.Templars made links with troubadours, alchemists, qabalists and Muslims, in particular certain Muslim brotherhoods (the flowering of Sufism, the mysticism of Islam, was conterminous with the rise of the Knights Templar). It was one of the tasks of St. Bernard and his Templars, to bring Judaism, Christianity and Islam together, and in this intention they saw the work of the Paraclete. They also worked to allow the latter to manifest in this world again and strove for the "Return of the Christ in Solar Glory". This was accepted by both Judaism (the coming of the Messiah), Christianity (the "Parousia") and Islam (prophet Jesus, the "Word" of Allah, returning to judge the world). Templars are called to sacrifice the selfish aspect of their natures, so the spirit of Christ may manifest in them in victu.

► the Zohar..Before the entry of the Hermetica on the European scene, Jewish gnosticism made its move. In the Sepher Zohar (Book of Splendor), the "classic" of Jewish mysticism, a commentary on the Torah is presented. Written in Aramaic, it was purported to be the teachings of the 2nd century Palestinian Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai. During the time of Roman persecution, so its legend relates, Rabbi Shimon hid in a cave for 13 years, studying the Torah with his son. During this time, he is said to have been inspired by God to write the Zohar ... Around the same time, the Corpus Hermeticum was codified.

In the 13th century, a Spanish Jew by the name of Moshe de Leon (according to Graetz "a base and despicable swindler") claimed to have discovered the text, and it was subsequently published and distributed throughout the Jewish world. This strategy of finding so-called "lost texts" would become a standard approach (only in the previous century would it make real science, cf. the Qumran scrolls and the Nag Hammadi library). The influence of the Zohar was considerable, also on members of the Western Tradition. Eventually, its basic scheme, the "Tree of Life", would be viewed as the backbone of Western spirituality ... "... the level of abstraction reached by cabalistic thought was foreign to the Egyptian mindset. Nevertheless, in later esoterica, we constantly find a link between Egyptosophy and cabala, and the connection between Moses and Egyptian wisdom to be found in many Christian writers is also relevant to our theme." Hornung, 2001, p.80. Unfortunately for the literalists, historian Gershom Scholem made clear de Leon himself was the most likely author of the Zohar. He had forged its ancient origins. Among other things, but most importantly, Scholem noticed frequent errors in Aramaic grammar and its highly suspicious traces of Spanish words and sentence patterns ! There is no real mention of this book in any Jewish literature until the 13th century. Moreover, recent studies showed how early qabalah (cf. Sepher Bahir, Sepher Yetzirah) was influenced by the Greeks, in particular the mathematical mysticism of Pythagoras (the Sephiroth and the Greek Decad, numerology and Merkabah mysticism - Barry, 1999). It even contains elements of Egyptian thought, introducing precreation and describing it in identical negative terms as had the Egyptians (cf. Nun and "Ain Soph Aur"). "... it is sufficient to note that Hebrew Qabalist doctrines reached their pinnacle of importance in Judaism in Europe during the Middle Ages. Consequently they also had a huge influence on Western magical tradition, which drew heavily on Jewish esoteric lore, and as a source for the inner gnosis of orthodox Christian thought." Barry, 1999, p.185. In the best case scenario, Jewish mysticism cannot claim roots earlier than the Second Temple and in general the impact of Hellenism (Hermetism and Philonic thought) on Judaism has been largely underestimated by orthodox Jews. Rabbinical Judaism as a whole may well be the product of a Hellenistic interpretation of the available scriptural sources (by themselves posing considerable historical problems regarding authenticity).

"Of the large number of Hebrew sacred writings, the canon of books that were eventually selected for the Hebrew Bible, or 'Old Testament', as the Christians later called it, was only established after the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans in 70 CE, by surviving rabbis at Jamnia who were anxious to preserve their religion from the catastrophe of the failed Jewish revolt." Barry, 1999, p.175. ► the first translation of the Corpus Hermeticumn "The thirteenth century saw a renaissance of pyramids and sphinxes. (...) the first western representation of the pyramids appeared in San Marco in Venice, but they were believed to be the granaries of Joseph, and thus not part of an esoteric tradition."nHornung, 2001, p.83. In Florence, a new Platonic Academy had been founded in 1459. It tried to resume the traditions of the Athenian Academy closed by emperor Justinian in 529. Around 1460 CE, Brother Leonardo of Pistoia brought a Greek manuscript from Macedonia to Florence. Cosimo de' Medici was fascinated and asked his Plato expert Marsilio Ficino (1433 - 1499) to stop translating Plato in order to look into these texts. In 1463, even before finishing his Latin version of the works of Plato, he translated them, which took him only a few months. For Fincino, the CH contained a philosophy older than Plato's. This Latin version of the Corpus Hermeticum was extremely influential, especially its first treatise, the Poimandres, circulating in many copies before it was published in Treviso in 1471 together with the other books as Liber de potestate et sapientia Dei (On the Power and Wisdom of God). Fincino also translated the On the Mysteries of the Egyptians by Iamblichus, and the latter's Opera omnia, published in Basel in 1561. The original Greek version of the CH was published in Paris in 1554.

► A SECOND EASTER ISLAND ALIGNMENT ► A THIRD EASTER ISLAND ALIGNMENT ► A FOURTH EASTER ISLAND ALIGNMENT ► A SECOND GREAT PYRAMID ALIGNMENT ► A THIRD GREAT PYRAMID ALIGNMENT ►A SECOND PERSEOPOLIS ALIGNMENT ► A SECOND ANGKOR ALIGNMENT ► A SECOND NAZCA ALIGNMENT ► A SECOND MACHUPICCHU ALIGNMENT ► A SECOND CHACO CANYON ALIGNMENT ► A SECOND PALENQUE ALIGNMENT ►CONVERGENT ALIGNMENTS ►CONVERGENT ALIGNMENTS - PART II ►THE AVENUE OF THE DEAD ► THE GOLDEN SECTION - PART II ► IN SEARCH OF ATLANTIS - PART II ©

Ruins of Marib, Yemen by David & Bonnie

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Marib is the capital city of Ma'rib Governorate, Yemen. It was the capital of the ancient Sabaean kingdom, which some scholars believe to be the ancient Sheba of biblical fame. It is located approximately 120 kilometers east of Yemen's modern capital, Sana'a, and has a current population of 16,794. Ma'rib has been referred to as "the Al Qaeda capital of Yemen".

The Sabaean kings made their capital at Ma'rib, and built great irrigation works such as the Ma'rib dams, whose ruins are still visible. The Marib Dam supported a flourishing culture for more than a thousand years; its collapse in 575 AD, before the birth of Muhammad, may be one of the main reasons that Arabia did not become Christian. They also built castles and temples in the area, notably Awwam and Barran, respectively. Saba was known for dealing in the lucrative frankincense and myrrh trade. They were a seafaring people and were known to have influence and a population in the Northeast African kingdom of Dʿmt, across the Red Sea in Eritrea and Ethiopia, the only other source of both frankincense and myrrh.

In 25 B.C, Aelius Gallus of Rome led an expedition to Ma'rib, laying siege to the city. He suffered major losses and was forced to retreat to Egypt.

The site of ancient Ma'rib was largely abandoned during the 20th century. Although a small village remains, the multi-story mud-brick buildings of the historic city are largely in ruins. The modern city of Ma'rib is located about 3.5 kilometers north of the center of the ancient city.

Hermes Trismegistus...He is also portrayed as an emissary and messenger of the gods;an intercessor between mortals and the divine, and conductor of souls into the afterlife. by Hughes Songe

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I Hermes stand here at the crossroads by the wind beaten orchard, near the hoary grey coast; and I keep a resting place for weary men. And the cool stainless spring gushes out.

Hermes Trismegistus may be a representation of the syncretic combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth.Greeks in Hellenistic Egypt recognized the equivalence of Hermes and Thoth.Consequently, the two gods were worshiped as one, in what had been the Temple of Thoth in Khemnu, which the Greeks called Hermopolis.Both Hermes and Thoth were gods of writing and of magic in their respective cultures.[citation needed] Hermes, the Greek god of interpretive communication, was combined with Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom, to become the patron of astrology and alchemy. In addition, both gods were psychopomps, guiding souls to the afterlife. The Egyptian priest and polymath Imhotep had been deified long after his death and therefore assimilated to Thoth in the classical and Hellenistic period.The renowned scribe Amenhotep and a wise man named Teôs were co-equal deities of wisdom, science, and medicine; and, thus, they were placed alongside Imhotep in shrines dedicated to Thoth-Hermes during the Ptolemaic period.A Mycenaean Greek reference to a deity or semi-deity called ti-ri-se-ro-e (Linear B: ; Tris Hḗrōs, "thrice or triple hero")[6] was found on two Linear B clay tablets at Pylos and could be connected to the later epithet "thrice great", Trismegistos, applied to Hermes/Thoth. On the aforementioned PY Tn 316 tablet—as well as other Linear B tablets found in Pylos, Knossos, and Thebes—there appears the name of the deity "Hermes" as e-ma-ha (Linear B: ), but not in any apparent connection with the "Trisheros". This interpretation of poorly-understood Mycenaean material is disputed, since Hermes Trismegistus is not referenced in any of the copious sources before he emerges in Hellenistic Egypt.The majority of Greeks, and later Romans, did not accept Hermes Trismegistus in the place of Hermes.[citation needed] The two gods were regarded as distinct. Cicero enumerates several deities referred to as "Hermes": a "fourth Mercury (Hermes) was the son of the Nile, whose name may not be spoken by the Egyptians"; and "the fifth, who is worshiped by the people of Pheneus [in Arcadia], is said to have killed Argus, and for this reason to have fled to Egypt, and to have given the Egyptians their laws and alphabet: he it is whom the Egyptians call Theyt". The most likely interpretation of this passage is as two variants on the same syncretism of Greek Hermes and Egyptian Thoth (or sometimes other gods): the fourth (where Hermes turns out "actually" to have been a "son of the Nile," i.e. a native god) being viewed from the Egyptian perspective, the fifth (who went from Greece to Egypt) being viewed from the Greek-Arcadian perspective. Both of these early references in Cicero (most ancient Trismegistus material is from the early centuries AD) corroborate the view that Thrice-Great Hermes originated in Hellenistic Egypt through syncretism between Greek and Egyptian gods (the Hermetica refer most often to Thoth and Amun).The Hermetic literature among the Egyptians, which was concerned with conjuring spirits and animating statues, inform the oldest Hellenistic writings on Greco-Babylonian astrology and on the newly developed practice of alchemy. In a parallel tradition, Hermetic philosophy rationalized and systematized religious cult practices and offered the adept a means of personal ascension from the constraints of physical being. This latter tradition has led to the confusion of Hermeticism with Gnosticism, which was developing contemporaneously.As a divine source of wisdom, Hermes Trismegistus was credited with tens of thousands of highly esteemed writings, which were reputed to be of immense antiquity. Plato's Timaeus and Critias state that in the temple of Neith at Sais there were secret halls containing historical records which had been kept for 9,000 years. Clement of Alexandria was under the impression that the Egyptians had forty-two sacred writings by Hermes, writings that detailed the training of Egyptian priests. Siegfried Morenz has suggested, in Egyptian Religion: "The reference to Thoth's authorship... is based on ancient tradition; the figure forty-two probably stems from the number of Egyptian nomes, and thus conveys the notion of completeness." The Neo-Platonic writers took up Clement's "forty-two essential texts".The Hermetica is a category of papyri containing spells and initiatory induction procedures. The dialogue called the Asclepius (after the Greek god of healing) describes the art of imprisoning the souls of demons or of angels in statues with the help of herbs, gems, and odors, so that the statue could speak and engage in prophecy. In other papyri, there are recipes for constructing such images and animating them, such as when images are to be fashioned hollow so as to enclose a magic name inscribed on gold leaf.Sayyid Ahmed Amiruddin has pointed out that Hermes Trismegistus has a major place in Islamic tradition. He writes, "Hermes Trismegistus is mentioned in the Quran in verse 19:56-57:'Mention, in the Book, Idris, that he was truthful, a prophet. We took him up to a high place'". The Jabirian corpus contains the oldest documented source for the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus, translated by Jābir ibn Hayyān (Geber) for the Hashemite Caliph of Baghdad Harun al-Rashid the Abbasid. Jābir ibn Hayyān, a Shiite, identified as Jābir al-Sufi, was a student of Ja'far al-Sadiq, Husayn ibn 'Ali's great grandson. Thus, for the Abbasid's and the Alid's, the writings of Hermes Trismegistus were considered sacred, as an inheritance from the Ahl al-Bayt. These writings were recorded by the Ikhwan al-Safa, and subsequently translated from Arabic into Persian, Turkish, Hebrew, Russian, and English. In these writings, Hermes Trismegistus is identified as Idris, the infallible Prophet who traveled to outer space from Egypt, and to heaven, whence he brought back Adam and the Black Stone when he landed on earth in India.According to ancient Arab genealogists, Muhammad the Prophet, who is also believed to have traveled to the heavens on the night of Isra and Mi'raj, is a direct descendant of Hermes Trismegistus. Ibn Kathir said, "As for Idris...He is in the genealogical chain of the Prophet Muhammad, except according to one genealogist...Ibn Ishaq says he was the first who wrote with the Pen. There was a span of 380 years between him and the life of Adam. Many of the scholars allege that he was the first to speak about this, and they call him Thrice-Great Hermes [Hermes Trismegistus]".Ahmad al-Buni considered himself a follower of the hermetic teachings; and his contemporary Ibn Arabi mentioned Hermes Trismegistus in his writings. The Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya of Ibn Arabi speaks of Hermes's travels to "vast cities (outside earth), possessing technologies far superior then ours"[28] and meeting with the Twelfth Imam, the Ninth (generation) from the Third (al-Husayn the third Imam) (referring here to the Masters of Wisdom from the Emerald Tablet), who also ascended to the heavens, and is still alive like his ancestor Hermes Trismegistus".A late Arabic writer wrote of the Sabaeans that their religion had a sect of star worshipers who held their doctrine to come from Hermes Trismegistus through the prophet Adimun.Antoine Faivre, in The Eternal Hermes (1995), has pointed out that Hermes Trismegistus has a place in the Islamic tradition, although the name Hermes does not appear in the Qur'an. Hagiographers and chroniclers of the first centuries of the Islamic Hegira quickly identified Hermes Trismegistus with Idris,[31] the nabi of surahs 19.57 and 21.85, whom the Arabs also identified with Enoch (cf. Genesis 5.18–24). Idris/Hermes was termed "Thrice-Wise" Hermes Trismegistus because he had a threefold origin. The first Hermes, comparable to Thoth, was a "civilizing hero", an initiator into the mysteries of the divine science and wisdom that animate the world; he carved the principles of this sacred science in hieroglyphs. The second Hermes, in Babylon, was the initiator of Pythagoras. The third Hermes was the first teacher of alchemy. "A faceless prophet," writes the Islamicist Pierre Lory, "Hermes possesses no concrete or salient characteristics, differing in this regard from most of the major figures of the Bible and the Quran." A common interpretation of the representation of "Trismegistus" as "thrice great" recalls the three characterizations of Idris: as a messenger of god, or a prophet; as a source of wisdom, or hikmet (wisdom from hokmah); and as a king of the world order, or a "sultanate". These are referred to as müselles bin ni'me.Imad Jafar, in his essay "Enoch in the Islamic Tradition", writes:The lore that developed around Idrīs’ legendary gnosis led to him being further identified with Hermes Trismegistus (Hirmīs) ... whereby Muslims began to acknowledge Idrīs as the founder of alchemy as well..In the Illuminationistic philosophy of the renowned Persian Islamic sage and saint Suhrawardī (c. 1154-1191), Idrīs was revered fundamentally as the teacher of the ancient sages amongst the Hindus, Persians, Babylonians, Egyptians, and Greeks up to the time of Aristotle.... When these Greco-Alexandrian wisdom sciences and the gnostic lore of the Sabaeans of Harrān – who regarded Hermes as their prophet and his writings as their scriptures – spread amongst the Islamic community, Idrīs was immediately identified ... with the founder of Hermeticism ... Mulla Sadra (1571-1636), one of the greatest Muslim sages of the later period, who said: "Know that Wisdom (hikmah) began originally with Adam and his progeny Seth, Hermes, who is Idrīs, and Noah, because the world is never deprived of a person upon whom the science of Unity and eschatology rests. And it is the greatest Hermes who propagated it (hikmah) throughout the regions of the world and different countries manifested it and made it emanate upon the ‘true worshipers’. He is indeed the ‘Father of philosophers’ and the master of those who are the masters of the sciences".

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes_Trismegistus

Facade in the Old town of Sanaa - Yemen by Eric Lafforgue

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Sunset on Sanaa. Imagine hundred of muezzins calling all around you!

Sanaa is the capital of Yemen and the centre of Sanaa Governorate. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. At an altitude of 2,300 meters, Sanaa is also one of the highest capital cities in the world. It is Yemen's largest city. Sanaa has a population of 1,700,000.Sanaa is one of the ancient Yemeni cities dating back to the Sabaean dynasty of the 6th century BC. In the 7th and 8th centuries the city became a major centre for the propagation of Islam. This religious and political heritage can be seen in the 103 mosques, 14 hammams and over 6,000 houses, all built before the 11th century. Sanaa’s many-storeyed tower-houses built of rammed earth add to the beauty of the site. Moreover the old city is a World Heritage site recognised by UNESCO. As of the dawn of Islam until the detachment of independent sub states in many parts of Yemen Islamic Caliphate, Sanaa persisted as the governing seat, who himself is Caliph's deputy in running the affairs. The city of Sanaa recurrently assumed an important status and all Yemenite States competed to control it. The Mamelukes arrived in Yemen in AD 1517. Following the collapse of the Mamelukes in Egypt at the hands of the Ottoman Turks, Yemen fell under the Ottoman rule and during the first Ottoman rule of Yemen between 1538–1635, Sanaa became the capital of the Ottoman wilayah and also during the Ottoman second rule 1872-1918. In 1918, Sanaa was the capital of Imam Yahya, who ruled North Yemen. At the onset of the 1962 revolution which deposed the imamate rule, it became the capital of the Yemen Arab Republic. It was then the capital of unified Yemen in 1990 where it is dubbed as the historical capital of Yemen.

www.ericlafforgue.com

Mareb ghost town - Yemen by Eric Lafforgue

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Marib (Mareb - مأرب) is the capital town of the Ma'rib Governorate, Yemen and was the capital of the Sabaean kingdom. The old town is now a ghost town, with mud houses falling down. The place is not easy to reach now as some terrorists attacks have took place there. Yemeni officials have blamed al-Qaeda for the attacks.

www.ericlafforgue.com

Yemeni men chewing khat, Marib Governorate, Marib, Yemen by Eric Lafforgue

www.ericlafforgue.com

Detail of Marib temple - Yemen by Eric Lafforgue

For many year i went in this place, and the archeologist were digging in the sand, and discovered the foundations of the temple. Nowadays, terrorism is high in the Marib area, so i'm a fraid they stopped the research...

The great temple of Marib, the Awwam (sometimes called Mahram Bilqis) is dedicated to the moon god Almaqah. It was partly excavated by Wendell Phillips' expedition of 1951-19522. A series of monolithic pillars, probably the propylaeum, mark the entrance to the temple, which may have been used as a sanctuary. The finest sculpture of the ancient Arabs, a figurative bronze of a Sabaean nobleman Ma'adi Karib (of probably the seventh or eighth century BC) was originally found here. It is now in the National Museum.

Arsh Bilqis, the Throne of Bilqis, is the second most important temple in Marib. A line of five elegant symmetrical pillars, also known as the Almaqah or Moon Temple, was built towards the end of the eighth century BC. This has now been extensively excavated, uncovering a broad temple floor surrounded by steps and inscribed marble plinths. It has a pure abstraction and geometrisation that can be seen in Yemeni structures even Today.

www.ericlafforgue.com

Bar'an Temple, Marib, Yemen by David & Bonnie

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The Temple of Barran is a Sabaean temple near Ma'rib, Yemen; also known as "Throne of Bilqis". The temple is dedicated to the god Almaqah. The main features of the structure are the six columns and the sacred well in the middle of the courtyard. It was partly excavated by Wendell Phillips' expedition of 1951–1952.

Virtually all modern scholars agree that Sheba was the South Arabian kingdom of Saba, centered around the oasis of Marib, in present-day Yemen. Sheba was quite well known in the classical world, and its country was called Arabia Felix. Around the middle of the first millennium B.C., there were Sabaeans also in the Horn of Africa, in the area that later became the realm of Aksum.

Alphabetic inscriptions from South Arabia furnish no evidence for women rulers, but Assyrian inscriptions repeatedly mention Arab queens in the north. Queens are well attested in Arabia, though not after 690 B.C.

Memory by Alda Cravo Al-Saude

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Countryside in mountains region. Yemen

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The history of the Yemen stretches back over 3,000 years, and its unique culture is still in evidence today in the architecture of its towns and villages. From about 1000 BC this region of the Southern Arabian Peninsula was ruled by three successive civilisations -- Minean, Sabaean and Himyarite. These three kingdoms all depended for their wealth on the spice trade. Aromatics such as myrrh and frankincense were greatly prized in the ancient civilized world and were used as part of various rituals in many cultures, including Egyptian, Greek and Roman. In the 11th century BC, land routes through Arabia were greatly improved by using the camel as a beast of burden, and frankincense was carried from its production centre at Qana (now known as Bir 'Ali) to Gaza in Egypt. The camel caravans also carried gold and other precious goods which arrived in Qana by sea from India. The chief incense traders were the Minaeans, who established their capital at Karna (now known as Sadah), before they were superseded by the Sabaeans in 950 BC. The Sabaean capital was Ma'rib, where a large temple was built. The mighty Sabaean civilisation endured for about 14 centuries and was based not only on the spice trade, but also on agriculture. The impressive dam, built at Ma'rib in the 8th century, provided irrigation for farmland and stood for over a millennium. Some Sabaean carved inscriptions from this period are still extant. The Himyarites established their capital at Dhafar (now just a small village in the Ibb region) and gradually absorbed the Sabaean kingdom. They were culturally inferior to the Sabaeans and traded from the port of al-Muza on the Red Sea. By the first century BC, the area had been conquered by the Romans.

With the rise of the great ancient civilizations in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and along the Mediterranean Sea, historic Yemen became an important overland trade link between these civilizations and the highly prized luxury goods of South Arabia and points east and south. As a result, several pre-Islamic trading kingdoms grew up astride an incense trading route that ran northwest between the foothills and the edge of the desert. First, there was the Minaean kingdom, which lasted from about 1200 to 650 BC, and whose prosperity was due mainly to the trade of frankincense and spices. The large and prosperous kingdom of Saba' (Sheba), founded in the 10th century BC and ruled by Bilqis, the queen of Sheba, among others, was known for its efficient farming and extensive irrigation system built around a large dam constructed at Ma'rib. Farther south and east, in the region that would later become South Yemen, were the Qataban and Hadhramaut kingdoms, which also participated in the incense trade. The last of the great pre-Islamic kingdoms was that of Himyar, which lasted from about the 1st century BC until the 500s AD (seeHimyarites). At their heights, the Sabaean and Himyarite kingdoms encompassed most of historic Yemen. Because of their prominence and prosperity, the states and societies of ancient Yemen were collectively called Arabia Felix in Latin, meaning "Happy Arabia." However, when the Romans occupied Egypt in the 1st century BC they made the Red Sea their primary avenue of commerce. With the decline of thecaravan routes, the kingdoms of southern Arabia lost much of their wealth and fell into obscurity. Red Sea traffic sailed past Yemen, and what seaborne commerce Yemen engaged in had little impact on the country's interior. The Tihamah region, which was hot, humid, swept by sandstorms, and clouded in haze, isolated the comparatively well-watered and populous highlands. The weakened Yemeni regimes that followed the trading kingdoms were unable to prevent the occupation of Yemen by the Christian Abyssinian kingdom (modern Ethiopia) in the 4th and early 6th centuries AD and by the Sassanids of Persia in the later 6th century, just before the rise of Islam. The Rise of Islam The Islamic era, which began in the 7th century, contains many events critical to the formation of Yemen and the Yemeni people.

Ugaritic Letters and their Values in Other Old Alphabets by Muntajab Ali Deeb

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This paper was originally written in German by Muhammad Ali Alsouki, and you can find it in the National Museum of Damascus as well as in Ugarit.

Well, I cropped it and replaced the German names with English ones.

Links:

Ugaritic: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugaritic

Byblos: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byblos_syllabary

Moabite: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moabite

Thamudic: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thamudic

Lihyanite: www.mnh.si.edu/epigraphy/e_pre-islamic/lihyanite.htm

Safaitic: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safaitic

Sabaic: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabaean_language

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabaean

South Arabian: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_South_Arabian

Aramaic: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramic

Hieratic: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieratic

Greek: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_alphabet#Use_of_the_Greek_alp...

Hieroglyphic: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_hieroglyphs

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hieroglyphs

Nabataean: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabataean#Language

Latin: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Latin

Palmyrene: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmyrene

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmyra

Syriac: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syriac

Mandiac: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandaic_language

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabians#Mandaean_Nasaraean_Sabeans

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandaeanism

Arabic: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_alphabet

Sabean Calligraphy In Marib, Yemen by Eric Lafforgue

www.ericlafforgue.com

The Ezana Stone by A.Davey

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This tablet, situated in a field and well below today's ground surface, is believed to have been erected some time during the first half of the fourth century of the current era by King Ezana of Axum in what is now called Ethiopia.

The monument is interesting for several reasons. First, it is one of the few ancient written records to come from pre-Islamic Africa, Egypt being the other major source of inscriptions.

Second, the text on the Ezana Stone is written in several languages. If you Google this monument, you'll be told the monument is trilingual: Greek, which at the time was the lingua franca in many parts of the ancient world; Ge'ez, an ancient Ethiopian language that is still a liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and others, and Sabaean, an Old South Arabian language used in what is now Yemen and in parts of Eritrea and northern Ethiopia.

However, the actual facts are much more interesting than this. Please see the comment below from fellow flickerite YomArkegzi, who explains how the text is actually bilingual, something I wasn't aware of even though I visited the site with a guide and researched this monument on the Web after my return.

Third, unless I'm mistaken, the stone stands more or less where it was originally erected (or at least where it came to rest in antiquity), instead of gracing a hushed and elegant museum gallery in, say, Rome, Berlin or London, or, god forbid, a billionaire's private collection.

==================================================================

King Ezana ruled the Axumite Kingdom during the first half of the fourth century of the current era.

Ezana is known principally for having converted to Christianity, paving the way for the eventual Christianization of Ethiopia.

King Ezana also left his mark in the annals of history by invading the Kingdom of Kush in what is now southern Sudan. Sources differ on whether King Ezana conquered and put an end to the Kingdom of Kush, or merely inflicted damage that, along with other factors, led to the Kingdom of Kush's decline.

=================================================================

What does the tablet say, you ask? Well, I wasn't able to find a clear answer to that question. It appears King Ezana erected several "Ezana Stones" during his reign, including one in what is now southern Sudan.

My default answer would have been that the monument records King Ezana's conversion to Christianity and/or his victories over the Kushites, because that seems to be the consensus on the Internets.

However, I am grateful to viewer and contributor YomArkegzi, who explained the text "is actually on a campaign against the Beja in what is now NE Sudan that the inscription is about. There was a rebellion there which he suppressed; he relocated 4400 of the rebelling people and confiscated some of their cattle."

Ruins of Ma'rib, Yemen by David & Bonnie

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Ma'rib (or Marib) was the capital of the Sabaean kingdom, which some scholars believe to be the ancient Sheba of biblical fame. It is located approximately 120 kilometers east of Yemen's capital, Sana'a. It has a current population of 16,794. Ma'rib is sometimes referred to as "the Al Qaeda capital of Yemen".

The Sabaeans were known for trading frankincense and myrrh. They were a seafaring people and were known to have influence and a population in the Northeast African kingdom of Dʿmt, across the Red Sea in Eritrea and Ethiopia, the only other source of both frankincense and myrrh.

queen of sheba - yemen by Emmanuel Catteau

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Beautiful girl I photographed in Marib, close to the old temple of Marham Bilqis… We knew each other how sensitive (and dangerous) was the situation. I never get the opportunity to send her the picture… I just wish she has a good life now. Marib was the capital of the Sabaean kingdom, which some scholars believe to be the ancient Sheba of biblical fame.

The Ezana Stone - Detail by A.Davey

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Detail: This is a close-up photo of the text on one side of the famous Ezana Stone. I am going to guess this is the Greek side of the tablet, since I think I can make out a few sigmas, pis, and deltas and maybe even a theta or two.

This monument would be a both an epigrapher's nightmare and a delight. To my untrained eye, it looks like many of the letters are damaged. However, one of my faithful viewers assures me the text is in pretty good condition.

Imagine the time, skill and effort that went into creating these inscriptions in the first place.

================================================================

The monument is interesting for several reasons. First, it is one of the few ancient written records to come from pre-Islamic Africa, Egypt being the other major source of inscriptions.

Second, the text on the Ezana Stone is written in several languages. If you Google this monument, you'll be told the text is in Greek, which at the time was the lingua franca in many parts of the ancient world; Ge'ez, an ancient Ethiopian language that is still a liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and others, and Sabaean, an Old South Arabian language used in what is now Yemen and in parts of Eritrea and northern Ethiopia.

However, the facts are much more interesting than this. According to fellow flickerite YomArkegzi,

"It's not actually trilingual, but bilingual. The Sabaean inscription is actually a "pseudo-Sabaean" - the language is Ge'ez but the script is South Arabian. The Ge'ez also has a few pseudo-Sabaean features such as "M" affixed to many words (a grammatical marker used in Sabaean but not in Ge'ez) and the use of Sabaean versions of words where cognates exist (e.g. BN or "bin" for son, instead of the more common Ge'ez term - WLD - "wald")." Thank you, YomArkegzi!

================================================================

King Ezana ruled the Axumite Kingdom during the first half of the fourth century of the current era.

Ezana is known principally for having converted to Christianity, paving the way for the eventual Christianization of Ethiopia.

================================================================

My default answer would have been that the monument records King Ezana's conversion to Christianity and/or his victories over the Kushites, because that seems to be the consensus on the Internets.

However, I am grateful to viewer and contributor YomArkegzi, who explained the text actually concerns a military campaign against the Beja in NE Sudan. For more information, please see his comments below.

Temple Of Moon God, Marib, Yemen by Eric Lafforgue

www.ericlafforgue.com

Gardens in old Sanaa town - Yemen by Eric Lafforgue

In the middle of Sanaa, you still can find those gardens. A heaven in the heaven, as around, thousands of cars are horning!

www.ericlafforgue.com

YEMEN, SABAEAN BRONZE HEAD OF A YOUTH, 2nd Century AD by Monopthalmos

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The bronze head may have been part of a dedication figure at the sanctuary of Madrah at Ghayman.

It was a gift from the ruler of N. Yemen, Imam Yahya bin Mohammad, to King George VI on the occasion of his coronation, 11th December 1936.

The British Museum, London

Ruined house with painted window made of mud, Marib Governorate, Marib, Yemen by Eric Lafforgue

www.ericlafforgue.com

the second ashra - forgiveness by mony_

Min al Jinnati wa Naas

(From the Jinn and Mankind)

Part I - The Cause

April 17th, 2020: “Brave new world” by Aldous Huxley starring Demi Moore! The tag selling the show: A world where monogamy is illegal. “Yikes” I thought! Infidelity in marriages and otherwise single partner relationships being berated in Hollywood’s writing, or perhaps all of the West, is not new. It first became noticeable to me in the mid 2000’s, 15 years ago. But illegal? That was definitely a whole different story.

The episode I remember in particular is from Gray’s Anatomy. The most insignificant and plain character in an otherwise “beautiful” cast was moping around because he wanted Thursdays to himself to do whatever he wished with whomever he chose. His wife was apparently being a pain about it. The insert was horrendous in terms of its deliberateness.

In Lahore the idea appeared differently in my generation. People started hiding behind “philosophical” discussions of whether monogamy was really a part of human nature to avoid saying, “I’m dying to have an affair.” It’s not like infidelity is a new concept having been around since time immemorial. The generation before mine just accepted it for what it was; a transgression. Mine has always wanted things to be somehow deemed kosher by someone else.

For the millenials and whatever the generation after them is called, the stakes were even higher. They were being taught subversively that there was no such thing as fidelity to begin with. Like religion it was outdated and irrelevant. The most overt example for me came from the first season of Ryan Murphy’s The Politician, a dark comedy about high school seniors, out on Netflix this January, Alice says to Payton after getting caught cheating on him, “Sex has nothing to do with loyalty. We're not our parents.” If the diktat of Hollywood prevails, which history has proven it almost always does, perhaps we can also safely arrive to a society where monogamy is illegal.

It made me wonder what that meant in terms of the verses of the Quran that spelled out the future in clear terms for those who were about to embark on the journey of being available to all.

الْخَبِيثَاتُ لِلْخَبِيثِينَ وَالْخَبِيثُونَ لِلْخَبِيثَاتِ ۖ وَالطَّيِّبَاتُ لِلطَّيِّبِينَ وَالطَّيِّبُونَ لِلطَّيِّبَاتِ

(In the nature of things), corrupt women are for corrupt men, and corrupt men, for corrupt women - just as good women are for good men, and good men for good women – Surah An-Nur, Verse 26

Talk about going head to head on an issue!

I knew people personally who, come a certain age, upon reading these verses had changed lifestyles completely. They had dropped whatever they were doing for eons. It wasn’t so surprising. Who wants to be with a corrupt, also translated as “evil, impure, wicked, unclean, bad, vile, indecent and dirty” person? No one I would think. But Iblis has his ways.

Huxley wrote his novel in the 1930s. It was required reading by my Mamu but I stopped when I got to the part of “hundreds of naked children engaged in sexual play and games.” It was too disturbing. The plot of the book moves around “a futuristic society, the World State, and warns of the dangers of giving the state control over new and powerful technologies…In this society, emotions and individuality are conditioned out of children at a young age. The embyros hatched in a lab are divided into five castes and there are no lasting relationships because ‘every one belongs to everyone else.’”

“People are divided into five castes; Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, or Epsilon. The Alpha embryos are destined to become the leaders and thinkers of the World State. Each of the succeeding castes is conditioned to be slightly less physically and intellectually impressive. One group, the Delta infants, are reprogrammed to dislike books and flowers. This conditioning helps to make Deltas docile and eager consumers. The Epsilons, stunted and stupefied by oxygen deprivation and chemical treatments, are destined to perform menial labor.”

“‘Hypnopaedic’ (sleep-teaching) methods are used to teach children the morals of the World State. The State successfully removes strong emotions, desires, and human relationships from society. Religion is abolished because it causes wars, pain, suffering and tears. Ford is the perfect “god” for World State society because, in developing his Ford Motor Company, he invented mass production by means of the assembly line and the specialization of workers, each of whom has one single, specific job.”

There were too many boxes to check in terms of the novel resonating with what was happening today so I leave that to the reader. I guess if one was writing a novel of that nature today, the “god” could be named Schmidt or Zuckerberg although the most promising choice seems to be Gates. A good friend of mine had been very upset with the Common Core system that the Gates Foundation, had sold to the public school system in 2009, “spending 400 million itself and influencing $4 trillion in US tax payer funds.”

She thought its sole purpose was to sift students through math and standardized tests and divide them into leaders and welders. Alphas and Epsilons so to speak! Her son was on the autism spectrum. The program ignored children with learning difficulties altogether. The stranger thing was that “the (Common Core) program had no pilot…There wasn’t even a draft available to the public before the Obama administration hooked states into contracts.” Today it’s dead.

A billionaire had an idea of what counts as success, decided to put it to action through what is these days knows as “advocacy philanthropy” and ended with naught. Except that for many schools, books were eliminated and learning became technology based. Technology in education had already made its advent much before Gates. In the 1920’s came radio programming in schools. In the 50’s and 60’s instructional television was introduced with huge grants from the Ford Foundation. In the 80’s came the computer. And that’s when the Jinn apparently came into my life.

To be clear I never knew anything about this particular creation of God. Then in the early days of the virus, I received a video from a friend of mine on the Naqshbandi path. It was intriguing. The speaker was Sheikh Hisham Qabbani and this is what he said:

April 20th, 2020: “We are in a war that has not been known before. Everybody is involved in it. We leave it to Allah who knows best what He has created. We need to adhere to the Zikr (remembrance of God) that follows this battle, which is a spiritual battle. Involving Jinn and human beings, the righteous ones against the corrupt (fasid) ones. And we are the ones oppressed in this battle that has come upon us from every side, but in the end we are the victors. We are the victors and victory is for the people of Islam and for the entire community (of Mankind), so do not be afraid.”

“This is a battle involving Jinn because it is coming from corrupt Jinn. There will come a time when the corrupt ones will perish. Like other corrupt ones have perished before them. So stay steadfast where you are and do not be afraid. There is someone coming to purify the Earth and that is Imam Mahdi (as) and the family of the Prophet (saw).”

Jinn! The only thing I ever heard about them in my life in Lahore was of people reading verses of the Quran specifically to call them for furtive purposes. Information could be retrieved though them or other favours asked. There seemed to always be a clear code for the arrangement. Between the human beings money exchanged hands or other compensation was due. Between the human supposedly in control of the Jinn, if you asked anything from the Jinn one thing was certain; they would ask something of you.

The Naqshbandi Spiritual Masters have been giving lectures on a regular basis to prepare and support their disciples throughout the world through the crisis of the disease that had enveloped the world. One of my friends happened to send me one titled “Jinn, Demon and Technology” by Sheikh Nurjan Mirahmadi. But it was a year old so had nothing to do with COVID-19. I include parts of it throughout the piece.

Feb 10th, 2019: “In the way of knowing ourselves, Mankind invented computers…This is from the world of Jinn. This is the convergence of the Jinn world into the human world with the intention to overtake Insaan. They (Jinn) are the smokeless fire.”

I asked Qari Sahib where exactly their creation was mentioned in the Quran. It was in Surah Ar-Rahman.

وَخَلَقَ الْجَانَّ مِن مَّارِجٍ مِّن نَّارٍ

And He (Allah) created the Jinn from a smokeless flame of fire – Surah Ar-Rahman, Verse 55

“You are using a smokeless fire that is called electricity,” Shiekh Nujan said. “Before that was the ‘horse and buggy world.’ How much change came about in that time (in the lives of human beings)? As soon as the Jinn world was allowed to enter the Earth, it began to enslave Mankind to be worshipped and to be taken as lords.”

“There are Jinn who live amongst us and those who live outside of this planet. The computer is (to make us) enter into their world. The Jinn are spiritual beings whose subtle reality has no physical protection. As a result of their spiritual power but physical frailty they conceal themselves in different forms…The computer was their way of asking us to communicate with them.”

“They are a reality from the time of Sayydana Sulaiman (as) who was given command of them. Allah did not want to establish the sunnah (way) of the Prophet to ask the Jinn for anything so his vizier who had the knowledge of the Book said, ‘I will bring it.’ So then using the Jinn became a choice for Mankind; to rely on the Jinn or the heavenly Book and the people of the Book?”

I knew the story of the Prophet Sulaiman (as) somewhat but not in great detail so I looked it up. It was the proof that whatever ability a fasid (corrupt) Jinn possessed, humans surpassed and so were not in need of them.

“The Prophet Sulaiman (as) could understand the speech of animals, even of the lowly ant. He was grateful to Allah for all his gifts and he always tried to serve God. Hazrat Sulaiman (as) had Jinn and birds serving in his army as well as men.

The kingdom of Saba was ruled by a rich and powerful queen. She and her people worshipped the sun and other idols instead of Allah. The Prophet Sulaiman (as) sent a letter to the queen, greeting her and requesting her to submit to God. The queen consulted with her ministers. They informed her that the country had the strength to wage a war, but they entrusted her with the decision of whether to use her armies or seek a peaceful settlement. The queen was reluctant to expose her country to the destruction and waste that would accompany a war. Instead she decided to try to please Sulaiman (as) by sending him expensive gifts. Her chiefs and ministers agreed with her decision.

When the messengers of the queen delivered the queen’s presents to the Prophet Sulaiman (as), he rejected the gifts. He said that the gifts which he had received from Allah were infinitely better than those which she had sent. He sent the messengers back with a message to the queen that she had better submit or he would send armies which would thoroughly destroy the Sabaeans and their country.

While the Prophet Sulaiman (as) was awaiting the arrival of the queen, he desired that her throne be brought to him. A Jinn present in his court raised his hand.

قَالَ عِفْرِيتٌ مِّنَ الْجِنِّ أَنَا آتِيكَ بِهِ قَبْلَ أَن تَقُومَ مِن مَّقَامِكَ ۖ

وَإِنِّي عَلَيْهِ لَقَوِيٌّ أَمِينٌ

Said a strong one of the Jinn, “I will bring it to you before you rise from your place. And indeed, I am for it surely strong, trustworthy” – Surah An-Naml, Verse 39

The Prophet (as) demanded it be faster than what the Jinn had offered.

قَالَ الَّذِي عِندَهُ عِلْمٌ مِّنَ الْكِتَابِ أَنَا آتِيكَ بِهِ قَبْلَ أَن يَرْتَدَّ إِلَيْكَ طَرْفُكَ ۚ

Said one who, with the knowledge of the Book, “I will bring it to you before returns to you your glance (in the blink of an eye).” - Surah An-Naml, Verse 40

Sheikh Nurjan had said that the vizier in possession of knowledge of the Book was able to do that which the Jinn could not. Bring the throne as he said, within a fraction of second. Why was that? I looked up the exegesis of the verse by Hazrat Abdul Qadir Jilani who I will henceforth refer to as Ghaus Pak (ra);

“He, (the one who brought the throne), was the one bestowed a little from the Divine Knowledge and the Lauh e Mahfouz, The Preserved Tablet, as well as the knowledge of the Names of God and knowledge of the realities of each and everything. This empowered him to make anything appear or disappear in a moment or less.”

Just a little! The man was Asif Bin Barkhia. He was an Auliya Allah, a Friend of God.

Back to Sheikh Nurjan: “The Jinn want to be the lords of Mankind. This device of the computer and its technologies, this is the Jinn world…They Jinns preferred environment is the sand hence the silicon chip. They taught them to make a chip based on silica. ‘We can live there and facilitate for you whatever you ask of us.’”

Throughout this talk, the Sheikh never said who the “them” were but I was too busy thinking, “Wow!” Google must have the king Jinn because no one was bringing anything faster and with more accuracy than them.”

Sheikh Nurjan continued: “The Jinn want to bring you more but in exchange so they say, ‘We want you to worship us and you will have to think of us as your provider.’ Their intention is to be worshipped by Mankind, to set themselves as an authority that ‘we will protect you and if you don’t follow us, we will destroy you. Fear us and not Allah.’”

Verses in the Quran sounded what he was saying.

إِنَّمَا ذَٰلِكُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ يُخَوِّفُ أَوْلِيَاءَهُ فَلَا تَخَافُوهُمْ وَخَافُونِ إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ

It is only that the Shaitaan frightens you of his allies. So do not fear them, but fear Me, if you are Believers – Surah Al e Imran, Verse 175

The exception was made for the believers. Everyone else would be scared. So who was it then that fell in the trap of fear? I looked up the Tafseer e Jilani again. It was the hyprocrites, the Munafiqeen. I went back to read what Hazrat Sahel had said about how one became a hypocrite; Sin, anything that torments the self, leads to disobedience. The disobedience is rooted in refuting something while knowing it’s the truth. The denial of something whole knowing it to be true leads to falsehood. The falsehood results in hardness of the heart. The hardness of the heart leads to hypocrisy thus rendering one of the Munafiqeen. Everything lay in the heart.

قال رسول اللہ :اَلاَ وَاِنَّ فِی الْجَسَدِ مُضْغَۃً اِذَا صَلَحَتْ صَلَحَ الْجَسَدُ کُلُّہٗ

وَاِذَا فَسَدَتْ فَسَدَ الْجَسَدُ کُلُّہٗ اَلآَ وَھِیَ الْقَلْبُ

Said the Prophet (peace be upon him): “There is a piece of flesh inside you, that if it is healthy the rest of the body is healthy and if it is sick, the rest of the body is sick. And that piece of flesh is the heart.”

Towards the end Sheikh Nurjan offered advice: “Now people are farther from their beliefs. The more they use these devices, the more they stop using their spiritual abilities. The heart has ability that exceeds that of a machine. You think this (pointing to his phone) can do anything, but what God created you deny? People have become idol worshippers. These are the idols of the modern times. You can use it as your servant or become a servant to it. Either you can use it to propagate the Message of Allah and the glory of His Prophet (saw) or be a slave to it.”

“But the reality is important to understand. We (humans) are a power source of Divine Energy. ‘We are going to absorb everything from you,’ the Jinn are saying. ‘We want to feed off what you have and what we were not given. We want to take away your belief in Allah’ and that’s exactly what has happened.”

I looked forward to my next class with Qari Sahib. I asked him two things. One, what made a Jinn good or bad? Qari Sahib explained that the Jinn were created from Iblis who is called Abu al-Jinn, the Father of Jinn, just like the Prophet Adam (as) is called the Abu-al Adam. Like humans, some were good and some, not so good.

وَأَنَّا مِنَّا الصَّالِحُونَ وَمِنَّا دُونَ ذَٰلِكَ ۖ كُنَّا طَرَائِقَ قِدَدًا

And among us are the righteous, and among us are (others) not so; we were (of) divided ways – Surah Jinn, Verse 11

The righteous brought faith upon God and the ones who did not were those who left for a path divergent.

وَأَنَّا لَمَّا سَمِعْنَا الْهُدَىٰ آمَنَّا بِهِ ۖ فَمَن يُؤْمِن بِرَبِّهِ فَلَا يَخَافُ بَخْسًا وَلَا رَهَقًا

Hence, as soon as we heard this call to His Guidance, we came to believe in it. And he who believes in his Sustainer need never have fear of loss or burden – Surah Al-Jinn, Verse 13

I wanted to know about the ones who did not. The Quran calls them the Qasitoon, the unjust. They are unjust because “they, in their disobedience, turned their faces away from the guidance sent upon them only to roam in the valleys of disbelieving the Truth in a state of perpetual bewilderment.”

وَأَنَّا مِنَّا الْمُسْلِمُونَ وَمِنَّا الْقَاسِطُونَ

And there are among us some who have surrendered (to Allah), the Muslimoon and there are among us some who are unjust, the Qasitoon – Surah Al-Jinn, Verse 14

Same as us pretty much!

The second thing I wanted to know from Qari Sahib was what it was exactly that we had that the Sheikh kept referring to that they might want. It seemed like they were the ones controlling the distribution of information, processing everything in milliseconds. What was it about us that they envied exactly?

وَلَقَدْ كَرَّمْنَا بَنِي آدَمَ وَحَمَلْنَاهُمْ فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ وَرَزَقْنَاهُم مِّنَ الطَّيِّبَاتِ

وَفَضَّلْنَاهُمْ عَلَىٰ كَثِيرٍ مِّمَّنْ خَلَقْنَا تَفْضِيلًا

And certainly, We have honored (the) children of Adam and We carried them on the land and the sea, and We have provided them of the good things and We preferred them over many of those whom We have created with preference – Surah Al-Isr’a, Verse 70

Ghaus Pak (ra) says that this preference from God is granted in many forms; ability of reflection, moderation in behavior, a balanced disposition with attributes derived from the Attributes of God, a pleasing appearance, countless blessings of nature and livelihood from that which is kosher. The list went on and on. The human being is bestowed aql, the power of reflection, for a particular purpose; it is what allows one to gain from Divine Knowledge to become informed about the Essence of God and then worship Him by connecting with Him through His Prophets, His Books and His Friends.

But the Jinn are bestowed the power to reflect as well so as to gain the same recognition (ma’rifat) of Divine Reality. The purpose of our creation was exactly the same.

وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ

And I did not create the Jinn and Mankind except to worship Me – Surah Al-Isra’, Verse 56

Why was it then that the human being was chosen to be God’s Vicegerent, His Khalifa, the earthly representative in this world?

Ghaus Pak (ra) says when Allah wanted His Essence to be examined, it was through the one who is the perfect manifestation of His Attributes. Uzair explained in a lecture who this akmal, the most perfect, most complete being was.

“When Allah wanted to manifest Himself, He says he ‘loved to be known.’

كُنتُ كنزاً مَخفياً فأحببتُ أن أُعْرَف فخَلَقتُ الخَلْقَ لكي أُعرف

I, Allah, was a treasure hidden so I loved to be known.

Therefore I created Creation so that I will be known.

That love is the light of the Prophet Muhammad (saw) that Allah created from His Nur. The Prophet (saw) is the one who is the perfect reflection of all of His Attributes and a copy derived from His Essence. The Prophet Adam (as) is a copy of him and we, in turn, are all versions of the model of the Prophet Adam (as).”

Then he came to the verse.

وَلَقَدْ كَرَّمْنَا بَنِي آدَمَ

And certainly, We have honored (the) children of Adam…

“Abdul Kareem Jili (ra) says that irrespective of your belief and what you do, whoever you are, there is a basic ta’zeem, an honour, that is bestowed upon every human being. But he asks, ‘What is in you that you deserve such greatness from your Creator?’ It is only and only that you are formed in the image of the Prophet Adam (as) and he is created in the image of the Beloved of God (saw). And the Beloved of God, the Prophet Muhammad (saw), is created directly from the Essence of God. That and only that is why you receive this exalted honour.”

وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلَىٰ خُلُقٍ عَظِيمٍ

And you, O Beloved (saw), are certainly on the most exalted standard of moral excellence – Surah Al-Qalm, Verse 4

It was remarkable what Jili was saying; Nabi Kareem (saw) was the only one deemed by God to be the one who fulfilled His Rights as they were worthy of being fulfilled. In return, God bestowed for the sake of that perfect devotion of just one individual, an honour that permeated to all the other human beings who then came through him.

From the Tafseer e Tustari; “That is in the beginning when God, Transcendant and Exalted is He, created him (the Prophet Muhammad) as a light within a column of light, a million years before creation, with the essential characteristic of faith, in a witnessing of the unseen through the unseen.”

Elation is all I could feel to be included in that love between the two. It made me think of myself in a particular way which I had never done before.

(Audio by Ustad Imran Jafri @the.softest.heart)

جام ہر ذرہ ہے سرشار تمنا مجھ سے

کس کا دل ہوں کہ دوعالم سے لگایا ہے مجھے

Every speck of the goblet is intoxicated with desire for me

Whose heart am I that the two worlds are made to feel enraptured by me? - Ghalib

And it made me realize that envy was indeed the worst of poisons.

Sheikh Nurjan: “People have lost their humanity. Nobody even has the ability to communicate. Everyone is looking only at their phone. That is what Shaitan (Iblis) wanted. ‘Look at me, just look at me,’ he says. ‘Whatever you want, I will send it to you. You don’t even have to move. Just ask me.’”

I wanted to know more about Iblis, the master Jinn whose resentment ran so deep he was hell-bent on devouring us all as well. Qari Sahib told me to go to a most interesting verse of Surah An-Nisa.

لَّعَنَهُ اللَّهُ وَقَالَ لَأَتَّخِذَنَّ مِنْ عِبَادِكَ نَصِيبًا مَّفْرُوضًا

Allah cursed him and he (Iblis) said, "Verily, of Your Servants I shall most certainly take my due share – Verse 118

What was the share he wanted that he thought was due? Turned out it was stealing the faith of those who believed in God. He didn’t have to worry about the others. He possessed them in his control anyway.

Ghaus Pak (ra): Iblis is referring to the ones who are on the Path of Oneness. He vows to delude them and make Allah’s Truth appear hidden from them. Then he convinces them to take on other worshippers and speak against God. He knows better than anyone that disregard will render one deprived of the honour of His Closeness and safeguarding, instead becoming deserving of His Anger.

The next verse continued Iblis’ vow of devastation that he would unleash upon us.

وَلَأُضِلَّنَّهُمْ وَلَأُمَنِّيَنَّهُمْ وَلَآمُرَنَّهُمْ فَلَيُبَتِّكُنَّ آذَانَ الْأَنْعَامِ وَلَآمُرَنَّهُمْ فَلَيُغَيِّرُنَّ خَلْقَ اللَّهِ ۚ

وَمَن يَتَّخِذِ الشَّيْطَانَ وَلِيًّا مِّن دُونِ اللَّهِ فَقَدْ خَسِرَ خُسْرَانًا مُّبِينًا

“And I shall lead them astray, and fill them with vain desires. And I shall command them - and they will cut off the ears of cattle. And I shall command them - and they will corrupt God’s Creation!” But all who take Satan rather than God for their master do indeed, most clearly, lose everything. – Verse 119

“Command them” (twice)? The arrogance and rage was certainly palpable. “Cut off the ears of cattle?” What did that even mean?

Ghaus Pak (ra): “I will make them lose themselves in delusion and paranoia so that they leave the Oneness of God and become astray. I will sow in them greed for worldly life and the lust of indecency. They will go against the Laws and Commands decreed by Allah and cause harm to all of God’s beings, destroying and devastating them through that which is forbidden. In accordance with my will and pleasure, I will make them alter their natural being.” Hence the last line from God; Leaving the friendship offered by God, instead making Iblis an ally, was the cause of the the loss of everything.

“Check, check, check and check,” I thought. Iblis must be smug about his success in fulfilling his mission of our destruction thus far.

But all his promises are false and misleading, God says further in the next verse. “These vain desires will never be fulfilled because his promises itself are delusions. These false promises will never come to pass. They have no reality and existence and therefore no benefit or result.”

That explained the years of going around in circles if not physically, then in one’s own head. Except it wasn’t flat ground. It was quicksand, inching one deeper into it until there was just plain stuckness and a drowning in slow motion.

It was the promotion of indecency, fahsha’, that appeared to be Iblis’ most favoured mode of corruption.

إِنَّمَا يَأْمُرُكُم بِالسُّوءِ وَالْفَحْشَاءِ وَأَن تَقُولُوا عَلَى اللَّهِ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ

He (Iblis) will only command you to evil and indecency (immorality) and that you should say of Allah what you do not know – Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse 169

At 50 I had, for the most part, left the overt sins of my life. That’s one of the easier things to give up in the world, the worldly "forbidden" acts. Been there done that, moving on! But the Sufis explain indecency differently which makes it much more complicated.

“Fahsha’ (shamlessness) is a form of being wayward and astray. It refers to the corrupt ideology and intellectual doubts and misconceptions that are sowed in the hearts of those who are lost or otherwise immersed in lust of the world. Their state of darkness comes from the absence of the light of the Prophets, their disobedience towards them, their refusal to follow them. Therefore they are firmly attached to their own beliefs and their “grandiose” intellect. In that state when prodded by Iblis they say that which is inappropriate about God and completely incorrect.”

Sheikh Nurjan continued: “And the next generation (of technology) will be integrated with your thought. Because this (current) technology is only as good as the speed of your fingers. They say, ‘We want to integrate with your brain where we overtake your thinking process. Not wait for your command.’ Be aware, it’s not going to be singularity with the machine. It’s singularity with the Jinn world!”

It was most definitely an OMG moment! Elon Musk is the tech billionaire bringing that particular brand of technology to the city nearest you. Which luckily is nowhere near Lahore. Although I’m guessing India, which these days serves as the khalifa for Israel, will be all over it so who knows? I had read that the Modi government had recently mandated a contract tracing app in his country which had shocked even the West.

Contact tracing apps appeared to me as one of the most insidious yet transparent modes of the “enslaving” the Shiekh was talking about. Google and Apple have teamed up in the effort as they have between them 3 billion users. Almost half the world’s population! Everybody was doing it anyway but if all private information of one’s existence was handed over voluntary, there was really nothing left.

Every human being would literally become a data byte that could be sold or manipulated. The "social credit system" in place by the state (China) or private corporations in the West meant denial and access to services (Uber, AirBnB etc) for anyone would be in the control of others. The Factbook-Cambridge Analytica fiasco had proven elections could be won.

And if people weren’t willing, it seemed like they would be forced.

May 7th, 2020: “In early April, India’s government launched a contact tracing app that processes users’ travel history, symptoms, and location data to calculate their risk of contracting the coronavirus…The government has made the app mandatory for public workers and has ordered companies to ‘ensure 100 percent coverage’ among employees. In the city of Noida, near New Delhi, people caught without the app could be fined $13 or face six months in jail.” And this is the world’s largest “democracy!”

Only to be outdone by Israel again. On May 8th the Jersualem Post headlined, “Netanhayu suggests microchipping kids.” The man just straight up suggests it. This from a state that already has “a classified Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) database that stores information on all Israeli citizens and most Palestinians in the West Bank. The data tracked by the agency included movements, phone calls and text messages.”

Singularity with the Jinn world through the brain, although that is probably not how he would put it, was originally Musk’s brainchild. From what I have read nobody seemed clear on what it was really for. All I found was a lot of “it could be for this or that or something else.”

July 2019: “Musk presented the first product from his company Neuralink. It’s a tiny computer chip attached to ultrafine, electrode-studded wires, stitched into living brains by a clever robot. And it’s either a state-of-the-art tool for understanding the brain, a clinical advance for people with neurological disorders, or the next step in human evolution.

The operation of Neuralink will develop computer chips that able to be implanted in human brain. The implanted chip aimed to increase the capacity of brain to memorized as well as installing or downloading ‘thoughts.’

In 2019 Musk said the process “will take a long time.” Then just this month, May 7th, 2020 he said. “‘We may be able to implant a neural link in less than a year in a person I think.’…Musk likened the process of his neural stimulation device zapping the brain to “kicking a TV”… the purpose being to restore functionality where it has been lost. For instance, those with Alzheimer’s could have their memories restored…‘We are already a cyborg to some degree.’”

The kick in the head didn’t sound like bad idea (I jest). Of course Musk is not the only one trying to do this. Facebook is making its own inroads.

When I had heard Sheikh Nurjan say that Jinns were electricity I got the movie “The Current War.” It was about the rivalry between Westinghouse and Thomas Edison in making widespread the use of electricity in the States. It was also terribly boring. The only thing striking about the movie was how electricity was used for capital punishment for the first time, replacing hanging, in the effort to be more civilized. Only turning out to be “extra brutal” to put it mildly.

Edison had vowed he would never use his inventions for anything that was harmful for the human race. Until of course came the time he needed money. It’s always the same ending. Sometimes I feel what Allah said in the Quran about alcohol and gambling ends up being true of most things we humans do. It always starts off with something that is “good.” Before you know it has been overshadowed by unparalleled harm. Some subversive agenda appears reversing the “goodness” that was due in a matter of, more and more, just a few years.

يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الْخَمْرِ وَالْمَيْسِرِ ۖ

قُلْ فِيهِمَا إِثْمٌ كَبِيرٌ وَمَنَافِعُ لِلنَّاسِ وَإِثْمُهُمَا أَكْبَرُ مِن نَّفْعِهِمَا ۗ

They ask you, (O Beloved (saw)), about intoxicants and games of chance. Say, “In both of them is a sin great, and some benefits for people. But sin of both of them is greater than the benefit of the two.” – Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse 219

The Sufis interpret the verse through another lens. The intoxicants are of two types, overt (zahiri) and inner (baatini). It is the intoxicants that sicken the soul they focus upon (baatini sharaab). Hazrat Najmuddin Kubra (ra) says that the ingredients of the latter are forgetfulness of God, indecency, lust for the forbidden and love of the world. All things that corrupt the mind and soul are harmful. Therefore, they are not allowed even in small doses and forbidden altogether.

I decided to read the Suraj Jinn in its entirety. One verse in particular popped out; the people who sought refuge from the Jinn.

وَأَنَّهُ كَانَ رِجَالٌ مِّنَ الْإِنسِ يَعُوذُونَ بِرِجَالٍ مِّنَ الْجِنِّ فَزَادُوهُمْ رَهَقًا

And there were men from mankind who sought refuge in men from the Jinn, so they (only) increased them in burden – Surah Jinn, Verse 6

I didn’t understand the translation so I asked Qari Sahib to explain it. His go-to is the same as mine, Ghaus Pak (ra). We opened the Tafseer e Jilani.

“The Jinn said (about that which he knew happened), ‘Before it was unveiled upon us the Oneness of Truth, there were some men amongst the humans seeking refuge from the men of the Jinns, when they traveled in desolate areas. Whilst in such places, the humans used to say, “I ask for refuge from the king of this valley from the wicked of his tribe.”’

“Then the humans thought we have received help from the Jinn and are in their protection. This made the Jinn and humans increased in their arrogance and wrongdoing and allowed the Jinn to snatch for them (secrets and information they did not know) as well as speak to them.”

I asked Qari Sahib, “But the Jinn is talking in the past sense, Sir. So this used to happen but a long time ago. How do we know it happens now?”

“Because Nabi Kareem (saw) already said,” my teacher responded, “that there is nothing forbidden that has happened before which my Ummah will not do again.”

أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ ، قَالَ : لَتَتَّبِعُنَّ سَنَنَ مَنْ قَبْلَكُمْ شِبْرًا بِشِبْر

وَذِرَاعًا بِذِرَاعٍ حَتَّى لَوْ سَلَكُوا جُحْرَ ضَبٍّ لَسَلَكْتُمُوهُ

The Prophet (saw) said, “You will follow the wrong ways, of your predecessors so completely and literally that if they should go into the hole of a mastigure, you too will go there.”

Man!

For me personally, the most harmful thing about the corrupt Jinns in machines was not about staring at a screen for eight hours a day or more. I don’t do that. It was about two things, the first being technology leading to over exposure, information overload and therefore the mass desensitization of the masses. It started a while ago with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan where the numbers of innocent civilians and children killed reached millions. Then came the terrorist attacks and the thousands of innocent civilians and children killed. That certainly muted reactions to the dying of others.

Time had confirmed that my own reaction to disturbing events was initially intense but always short-lived. Recent examples; Domestic violence is up 40% is Europe and the UK! Deep concern, next! Muslims in India are being targeted for “spreading the virus,” facing violence and denied medical services with some hospitals taking out full page ads in newspapers to say if they will not be treated if tested positive for COVID-19. Extreme rage, next! Tens of thousands of Americans are standing are standing for hours in lines to receive something to eat from food banks across the country, while Amazon clocks 10,000 dollars a minute. Genuine sadness, next! I hated it.

The second was what Huxley called ‘Hypnopaedic’ (sleep-teaching). In my world, the teacher of morality was popular culture, specifically the media which, through technology, had successfully stripped in two decades the values of societies thousands of years old. I witnessed such happenings countless times in my generation. Case in point; movies and the world’s largest film industry, Bollywood. The wheels set in motion in 2006. Disney started acquiring share in UTV, a Mumbai-based leading media and entertainment company. Within a decade India had fallen.

Other Bollywood studios started joint ventures with Hollywood and the on-screen erosion and systemic eradication of a country’s culture and religious morality began. We went from images of butterflies and birds as a proxy for intimacy in the 80’s to hook-ups between the young where you have sex first and ask the other’s name later. If ever! I literally saw that and it amazed me how anyone could even buy it.

In the writing New York or Los Angeles were transposed onto Delhi or Mumbai just like that and not a peep was heard. Not from the censor boards, not the clergy, not the actors who were “willing to go naked” to land roles, certainly not the viewer. The exact same thing happened in Pakistani cinema to a lesser extent but it didn’t matter. Up until all things Indian were banned recently, our society was imbued with Bollywood as much as the Indians. Mehndi’s had become sangeets and I don’t know who came up with the word “shandi.”

Then courtesy of the internet and smart phones, within a decade, South Asians became the top porn-watchers in the world. Sexual violence against women and children in conservative societies became rampant. Recently China has started flexing its muscles with Hollywood. Given the size of its viewership the state began to dictate content, censoring what was “against” them. They made no qualms about controlling the narrative or simply deleting what was offensive to their “values.” Kisses were edited out of upcoming movies like Mulan and songs, the cornerstone of a Disney flick, were removed. The driver remained the same; money begets control.

‘Hypnopaedic!’ For one generation a drug, marijuana, was illegal and criminalized so intensely, thousands of young African American men was incarcerated for years for minor possession. For another it was an ingredient for brownies and gummy bears sold in cafes and Maureen Dowd was writing an op-ed about her experience of edibles for the New York Times. Yet the same minorities continue getting brutally assaulted, if not killed by the police, most recently for not maintaining social distancing of all things, in the East Village of all places and everyone is programmed to swallow that with a sip of Diet Coke.

The Prophet (ﷺ) had told me what to do when faced with injustice for oneself or another.

“Whosoever of you sees an evil, let him change it with his hand. And if he is not able to do so, then (let him change it) with his tongue. And if he is not able to do so, then with his heart — and that is the weakest of faith.”

I felt upset that just expressing outrage in my heart or at best in my writing, was all I could do. I would feel bad but then I just forgot everything too as if it never happened. Till I read about it again. I asked Qari Sahib why I was like this, what was it that rendered me essentially unaffected by everything and anything. He gave me my answer.

أَفَلَمْ يَسِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ فَتَكُونَ لَهُمْ قُلُوبٌ يَعْقِلُونَ بِهَا أَوْ آذَانٌ يَسْمَعُونَ بِهَا ۖ

فَإِنَّهَا لَا تَعْمَى الْأَبْصَارُ وَلَٰكِن تَعْمَى الْقُلُوبُ الَّتِي فِي الصُّدُورِ

Have they, then, never journeyed about the earth, letting their hearts gain wisdom, and causing their ears to hear? Yet, verily, it is not their eyes that have become blind - but blind have become the hearts that are in their breasts! – Surah Al-Hajj, Verse 46

A heart being blind! What did that even mean? Ghaus Pak’s (ra) explanation was spellbinding.

“The world has been created for you to travel in so you learn from it and open your eyes. And your ears have been given the ability to hear so as to be informed of the news and the states of why others are destroyed and disconnected from their origins.”

“But did those before you learn from these stories and incidents? Their eyes were not blind because they watched their happenings and were informed. But their hearts were blind in seeing. They did not learn a lesson from them or open their eyes to their realities or see the happenings to gain insight as a thinking person. They were not being watchful.”

“Overall know this; The one who does not learn lessons from that which is destroying others from detriment, these people their hearts have become blind even though their eyes are well.”

It was emulation of the worst kind! I was reminded of Confucius who said that there were three ways of acquiring wisdom. The most difficult and most noble was reflection. The easiest was emulation. The most bitter, experience. It certainly didn’t seem like our lustful desire to experience everything that came our way from the West or even closer was going to end anytime soon.

Personally I was never an emulator of any kind but that’s easy when you live on the periphery of society. It doesn’t let you in unless you mainstream yourself to death so if you don’t mind being alone, I guess you are rendered safe. Finally I understood what it was that Iblis wanted from me at least. My softness was the best part of me so it was the slow but sure stripping of my ehsaas, the ability to be sensitive to the state of another’s heart, that him the happiest.

June 30th, 2015 Live Science “Our brains can't handle the barrage of emotionally draining stories told to us, and this leads to a negation or suppression of emotion that destroys empathy. The natural response is to shut down our compassion, because we are emotionally exhausted..."

"...However, if we are conscious of the diminishment of empathy, we can recover it… Remember that empathy is a muscle: The more you use it, the stronger it gets. So, flex those empathy muscles through storytelling and expand your notion of who is in your group (meaning only the ones you care about). Or, be willing to fall prey to the increasing ideological polarization of our time and face the global consequences.”

To better understand how to hold on to that which made me human, I decided to look up the verses of the Prophet Adam (as) after he and Amma Hawwa (ratu) were made to leave Heaven for a transgression they were enticed to commit. In their sadness of their error how did they react?

قَالَا رَبَّنَا ظَلَمْنَا أَنفُسَنَا وَإِن لَّمْ تَغْفِرْ لَنَا

وَتَرْحَمْنَا لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ

The two replied, "O our Sustainer! We have sinned against ourselves and unless You grant us forgiveness and bestow Your Mercy upon us, we shall most certainly be lost!"

So one: blame yourself when you commit a wrongdoing and not the other, not even Iblis when it is him who misleads you. That was unexpected! Since he was the one who quite literally mislead them. Only when a mistake was committed by another person did the Prophet’s deflect blame from their loved ones to Satan. For sowing discord, as the Prophet Yousaf (as) had done when it came to his brothers.

وَقَدْ أَحْسَنَ بِي إِذْ أَخْرَجَنِي مِنَ السِّجْنِ

وَبَيْنَ إِخْوَتِي ۚ وَجَاءَ بِكُم مِّنَ الْبَدْوِ مِن بَعْدِ أَن نَّزَغَ الشَّيْطَانُ بَيْنِي

And He (Allah) was certainly good to me when He took me out of prison and brought you (here) from the desert life after Satan had caused discord between me and my brothers.” - Surah Yusuf, Verse 100

But when it came to their own selves and anything related to their lives, the Prophets never blamed anyone. Certainly never fate. Not during any trials. Not even though they were innocent, masoom, devoid of free will. It was because blame and accusation expels love from a relationship. But I digress. That’s another story.

Out of curiosity I asked Qari Sahib what it was exactly that Iblis had promised the Prophet Adam (as) when he lured him into doing that which was forbidden to him by God.

فَوَسْوَسَ إِلَيْهِ الشَّيْطَانُ قَالَ يَا آدَمُ هَلْ أَدُلُّكَ عَلَىٰ شَجَرَةِ الْخُلْدِ وَمُلْكٍ لَّا يَبْلَىٰ

Then whispered to him Shaitaan and he said, "O Adam! Shall I direct you to (the) tree (of) life eternal and a kingdom not (that will) deteriorate?" – Surah Taha, Verse 120

Eternal life! I had come across articles over recent years on the desire of billionaires to live longer.

Sep 2nd, 2015: “6 Billionaires who want to live forever” and the first line reads, “A growing number of tech moguls are trying to solve their biggest problem yet: Aging.” Who are they; Theil - Paypal, Ellison – Oracle, Larry Page – Alpahbet, Sergey Brin – Google, Zuckerburg – Facebook, Sean Parker – Napster.” Ellison’s quote; “Death has never made any sense to me. How can a person be there and then just vanish, just not be there?” I guess he hadn't come across the Quran : )

كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَائِقَةُ الْمَوْتِ

Every soul will taste death - Surah Aal e Imran, Verse 185

But perhaps many people not so rich want to live forever too. It was the second part of Iblis’ lure that I was interested in. Ghaus Pak (ra) defines the kingdom without decline in a particular way: “It is a kingdom that will only grow. It will be forever and it will be the first of its kind, not coming from another. It will never be in decline nor will it be transferred to another.”

I paused when I read the lines with Qari Sahib and looked at him in surprise. I didn’t know about the past but anybody could guess which “kingdoms” were the first of their kind in our lifetime.

“Maybe it was the banks before Sir or whoever but it’s definitely the tech companies now,” I spoke the words slowly. Nothing like them ever existed before. I guess that’s why they give their wealth to so-called philanthropy. The advancement of an agenda long after they’re dead must continue. Iblis offers them the wealth and the power that comes with it. Then he just keeps it while they die taking nothing to the grave. I had read about that being his modus operandi enough times in the books of the Auliya Karaam. It made sense why “advocacy philanthropy” or as I heard recently from enraged activists “philanthro-capitalism” was the call of the day.

But the most concise explanation of the problem with the corrupt Jinn lay in Surah An-Naas. In it is the last line of the Quran which formed the inspiration of the title of this piece. The surah was hugely significant. It contained God’s parting words to me. The strange thing was I knew the surah inside out because for my book where I had translated the entire tafseer from the Arabic so as not to miss a word. But I had done it entirely ignoring the word Jinn because I knew nothing about them. And what did it encompass; a warning!

(Begin excerpt “The Softest Heart”)

End of Part I - Click below to continue

www.flickr.com/photos/42093313@N00/49916190422/in/datepos...

www.youtube.com/channel/UCqb01bB-J3kyiu-HKIX2MKw

Cheers ... by Luc V. de Zeeuw

Harar, Ethiopia

Ancient Blocks With Sabaean Inscriptions, Yeha, Ethiopia by A.Davey

The Iqa-bet, a two-story stone storage building next to the Church of Abba Afse in Yeha, Tigray Region, northern Ethiopia, houses ancient artifacts as well as Ethiopian Orthodox Christian religious objects.

This photo shows blocks bearing inscriptions in Sabaean language. I don't know whether all the blocks are stone or whether some are stone and others are fired clay. Arranged atop the blocks are other ancient artifacts that were no doubt found nearby and brought to the Iqa-bet for safekeeping and display. The one on the far right, with two vertical holes, looks like a piece of engineered masonry.

According to Wikipedia:

"The Sabaean (or, to be more exact, rather Sabaic) languagewas an Old South Arabian language spoken in Yemen from c. 1000 BC to the 6th century AD, by the Sabaeans; it was used as a written language by some other peoples . . . It was written in the South Arabian alphabet." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabaean_language

Wikipedia also states:

"The Sabaeans (Arabic: السبأيين‎) were an ancient people speaking an Old South Arabian language who lived in what is today Yemen, in south west Arabian Peninsula; from 2000 BC to the 8th century BC. Some Sabaeans also lived in D'mt, located in northern Ethiopia and Eritrea, due to their hegemony over the Red Sea." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabaeans

This explains the presence of Sabaean inscriptions in Yeha, Ethiopia. There is disagreement on Yeha's role and significance during the D'mt Kingdom in what is now northern Ethiopia and Eritrea. However, it is certain Yeha, with its imposing Temple of the Moon, was an important center in the D'mt Kingdom 2,500 years ago.

I wish I knew what these inscriptions say. Anyone?

Ruins of Marib, Yemen by David & Bonnie

12 8

In 25 B.C, Aelius Gallus of Rome led an expedition to Ma'rib, laying siege to the city. He suffered major losses and was forced to retreat to Egypt.

Queen of Sheba by Hughes Songe

19 4

The Queen of Sheba is a figure first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. The tale of her visit to King Solomon has undergone extensive Jewish, Islamic, and Ethiopian elaborations, and has become the subject of one of the most widespread and fertile cycles of legends in the Orient.

Bible[edit]

Queen of Sheba and Solomon, around 1280, window nowadays in Cologne Cathedral

The Queen of Sheba's visit to Solomon, Tintoretto (around 1555)

The queen of Sheba "malkat-šəḇā" in the Hebrew Bible, βασίλισσα Σαβὰ in the Septuagint) came to Jerusalem "with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices, and very much gold, and precious stones" (I Kings 10:2). "Never again came such an abundance of spices" (10:10; II Chron. 9:1–9) as those she gave to Solomon. She came "to prove him with hard questions," which Solomon answered to her satisfaction. They exchanged gifts, after which she returned to her land.

The use of the term ḥiddot or "riddles" (I Kings 10:1), an Aramaic loanword whose shape points to a sound shift no earlier than the sixth century B.C., indicates a late origin for the text.[6] Since there is no mention of the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, Martin Noth has held that the Book of Kings received a definitive redaction around 550 BC.

Virtually all modern scholars agree that Sheba was the South Arabian kingdom of Saba, centered around the oasis of Marib, in present-day Yemen. Sheba was quite known in the classical world, and its country was called Arabia Felix. Around the middle of the first millennium B.C., there were Sabaeans also in the Horn of Africa, in the area that later became the realm of Aksum. There are five places in the Bible where the writer distinguishes Sheba (שׁבא), i. e. the Yemenite Sabaeans, from Seba (סבא), i. e. the African Sabaeans. In Ps. 72:10 they are mentioned together: "the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts". This spelling differentiation, however, may be purely factitious; the indigenous inscriptions make no such difference, and both Yemenite and African Sabaeans are there spelt in exactly the same way.

The alphabetic inscriptions from South Arabia furnish no evidence for women rulers, but Assyrian inscriptions repeatedly mention Arab queens in the north.Queens are well attested in Arabia, though according to Kitchen, not after 690 B.C.[6] Furthermore, Sabaean tribes knew the title of mqtwyt (high official). Makada or Makueda, the personal name of the queen in Ethiopian legend, might be interpreted as a popular rendering of the title of mqtwyt. This title may be derived from Ancient Egyptian m'kit ) "protectress, housewife".

The queen's visit could have been a trade mission. Early South Arabian trade with Mesopotamia involving wood and spices transported by camels is attested in the early ninth century B.C. and may have begun as early as the tenth.

The ancient Sabaic Awwām Temple, known in folklore as Maḥram (the Sanctuary of) Bilqīs, was recently excavated by archaeologists, but no trace of Queen of Sheba has been discovered so far in the many inscriptions found there.

Bible stories of the Queen of Sheba and the ships of Ophir served as a basis for legends about the Israelites traveling in the Queen of Sheba's entourage when she returned to her country to bring up her child by Solomon.

Christian

The Queen of Sheba, from a 15th-century manuscript now at Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen

Christian scriptures mention a "queen of the South" (Greek: βασίλισσα νότου, Latin: Regina austri), who "came from the uttermost parts of the earth", i.e. from the extremities of the then known (Christian) world, to hear the wisdom of Solomon (Mt. 12:42; Lk. 11:31).

The mystical interpretation of the Canticles, which was felt of supplying a literal basis for the speculations of the allegorists, makes its first appearance in Origen, who wrote a voluminous commentary on the Canticles.[16] In his commentary, Origen identified the bride of the Canticles with the "queen of the South" of the Gospels, i. e. the Queen of Sheba, who is assumed to have been Ethiopian.[17] Others have proposed either the marriage of Solomon with Pharaoh's daughter, or his marriage with an Israelitish woman, the Shulamite. The former was the favorite opinion of the mystical interpreters to the end of the 18th century; the latter has obtained since its introduction by Good (1803)

The Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba, Claude Lorrain (1600‒1682), oil on canvas

The bride of the Canticles is assumed to have been black due to a passage in Cant. 1:5, which the Revised Standard Version (1952) translates as "I am very dark, but comely", as does Jerome (Latin: Nigra sum, sed formosa), while the New Revised Standard Version (1989) has "I am black and beautiful", as the Septuagint (Greek: μέλαινα ἐιμί καί καλή).

Solomon and The Queen of Sheba Giovanni De Min 1789–1859

One legend has it that the Queen of Sheba brought Solomon the same gifts that the Magi later gave to Christ.

During the Middle Ages, Christians sometimes identified the queen of Sheba with the sibyl Sabba.

Jewish

According to Josephus (Ant. 8:165–73), the queen of Sheba was the queen of Egypt and Ethiopia, and brought to Israel the first specimens of the balsam, which grew in the Holy Land in the historian's time.Josephus (Antiquities 2.5-2.10) represents Cambyses as conquering the capital of Aethiopia, and changing its name from Seba to Meroe.Josephus affirms that the Queen of Sheba or Saba came from this region, and that it bore the name of Saba before it was known by that of Meroe. There seems also some affinity between the word Saba and the name or title of the kings of the Aethiopians, Sabaco.

The Talmud (Bava Batra 15b) insists that it was not a woman but a kingdom of Sheba (based on varying interpretations of Hebrew mlkt) that came to Jerusalem, obviously intended to discredit existing stories about the relations between Solomon and the Queen.Baba Bathra 15b: "Whoever says malkath Sheba (I Kings X, 1) means a woman is mistaken; ... it means the kingdom (מַלְכֻת) of Sheba".

The most elaborate account of the queen's visit to Solomon is given in the 8th century (?) Targum Sheni to Esther (see: Colloquy of the Queen of Sheba). A hoopoe informed Solomon that the kingdom of Sheba was the only kingdom on earth not subject to him and that its queen was a sun worshiper. He thereupon sent it to Kitor in the land of Sheba with a letter attached to its wing commanding its queen to come to him as a subject. She thereupon sent him all the ships of the sea loaded with precious gifts and 6,000 youths of equal size, all born at the same hour and clothed in purple garments. They carried a letter declaring that she could arrive in Jerusalem within three years although the journey normally took seven years. When the queen arrived and came to Solomon's palace, thinking that the glass floor was a pool of water, she lifted the hem of her dress, uncovering her legs. Solomon informed her of her mistake and reprimanded her for her hairy legs. She asked him three (Targ. Sheni to Esther 1:3) or, according to the Midrash (Prov. ii. 6; Yalḳ. ii., § 1085, Midrash ha-Hefez), more riddles to test his wisdom.

A Yemenite manuscript entitled "Midrash ha-Hefez" (published by S. Schechter in "Folk-Lore", 1890, pp. 353 et seq.) gives nineteen riddles, most of which are found scattered through the Talmud and the Midrash, which the author of the "Midrash ha-Hefez" attributes to the Queen of Sheba. Most of these riddles are simply Bible questions, some not of a very edifying character. The two that are genuine riddles are: "Without movement while living, it moves when its head is cut off," and "Produced from the ground, man produces it, while its food is the fruit of the ground." The answer to the former is, "a tree, which, when its top is removed, can be made into a moving ship"; the answer to the latter is, "a wick."

The rabbis who denounce Solomon interpret I Kings 10:13 as meaning that Solomon had criminal intercourse with the Queen of Sheba, the offspring of which was Nebuchadnezzar, who destroyed the Temple (comp. Rashi ad loc.). According to others, the sin ascribed to Solomon in I Kings 11:7 et seq. is only figurative: it is not meant that Solomon fell into idolatry, but that he was guilty of failing to restrain his wives from idolatrous practises (Shab. 56b).

The Alphabet of Sirach avers that Nebuchadnezzar was the fruit of the union between Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

In the Kabbalah, the Queen of Sheba was considered one of the queens of the demons and is sometimes identified with Lilith, first in the Targum of Job (1:15), and later in the Zohar and the subsequent literature. A Jewish and Arab myth maintains that the Queen was actually a jinn, half human and half demon.

In Ashkenazi folklore, the figure merged with the popular image of Helen of Troy or the Frau Venus of German mythology. Ashkenazi incantations commonly depict the Queen of Sheba as a seductive dancer. Until recent generations she was popularly pictured as a snatcher of children and a demonic witch.

Islam

Bilqis reclining in a garden, Persian miniature (ca. 1595), tinted drawing on paper

Illustration in a Hafez Frontispiece Depicting Queen Sheba, Walters manuscript W.631, around 1539

In the Quran, the story is essentially similar to the Bible and other Jewish sources.[7] Solomon commanded the Queen of Sheba to come to him as a subject, whereupon she appeared before him (XXVII, 30–31, 45). Before the queen had arrived, Solomon had moved her throne to his palace with the help of a wise man, who was able to move the throne faster than a Jinn. She recognized the throne, which had been disguised, and finally accepted the faith of Solomon.

Muslim commentators such as al-Tabari, al-Zamakhshari, al-Baydawi supplement the story at various points. The Queen's name is given as Bilqīs (Arabic: بلقيس‎), probably derived from Greek παλλακίς (pallakis) or the Hebraised pilegesh, "concubine". According to some he then married the Queen, while other traditions assert that he gave her in marriage to a tubba of Hamdan.[1] According to the Islamic tradition as represented by al-Hamdani, the queen of Sheba was the daughter of Ilsharah Yahdib, the Himyarite king of Najran.

The Quran and its commentators have preserved the earliest literary reflection of the complete Bilkis legend, which among scholars complements the narrative that is derived from a Jewish Midrash.

Coptic

The story of Solomon and the queen was popular among Copts, as shown by fragments of a Coptic legend preserved in a Berlin papyrus. The queen, having been subdued by deceit, gives Solomon a pillar on which all earthly science is inscribed. Solomon sends one of his demons to fetch the pillar from Ethiopia, whence it instantly arrives. In a Coptic poem, queen Yesaba of Cush asks riddles of Solomon.[30]

Ethiopian

Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, Konrad Witz

The fullest and most significant version of the legend appears in the Kebra Nagast (Glory of the Kings), the Ethiopian national saga, translated from Arabic in 1322. Here Menelik I is the child of Solomon and Makeda (the Ethiopic name of Bilkis) from whom the Ethiopian dynasty claims descent to the present day. While the Abyssinian story offers much greater detail, it omits any mention of the Queen's hairy legs or any other element that might reflect on her unfavourably.

Based on the Gospels of Matthew (12:42) and Luke (11:31), the "queen of the South" is claimed to be the queen of Ethiopia. In those times, King Solomon sought merchants from all over the world, in order to buy materials for the building of the Temple. Among them was Tamrin, great merchant of Queen Makeda of Ethiopia. Having returned to Ethiopia, Tamrin told the queen of the wonderful things he had seen in Jerusalem, and of Solomon's wisdom and generosity, whereupon she decided to visit Solomon. She was warmly welcomed, given a palace for dwelling, and received great gifts every day. Solomon and Makeda spoke with great wisdom, and instructed by him, she converted to Judaism. Before she left, there was a great feast in the king's palace. Makeda stayed in the palace overnight, after Solomon had sworn that he would not do her any harm, while she swore in return that she would not steal from him. As the meals had been spicy, Makeda awoke thirsty at night, and went to drink some water, when Solomon appeared, reminding her of her oath. She answered: "Ignore your oath, just let me drink water." That same night, Solomon had a dream about the sun rising over Israel, but being mistreated and despised by the Jews, the sun moved to shine over Ethiopia and Rome (i. e. the Byzantine empire). Solomon gave Makeda a ring as a token of faith, and then she left. On her way home, she gave birth to a son, whom she named Baina-leḥkem (i. e. bin al-ḥakīm, "Son of the Wise Man", later called Menilek). After the boy had grown up in Ethiopia, he went to Jerusalem carrying the ring, and was received with great honors. The king and the people tried in vain to persuade him to stay. Solomon gathered his nobles and announced that he would send his first-born son to Ethiopia together with their first-borns. He added that he was expecting a third son, who would marry the king of Rome's daughter and reign over Rome, so that the entire world would be ruled by David's descendants. Then Baina-leḥkem was anointed king by Zadok the high priest, and he took the name David. The first-born nobles who followed him are named, and even today some Ethiopian families claim their ancestry from them. Prior to leaving, the priests' sons had stolen the Ark of the Covenant, after their leader Azaryas had offered a sacrifice as commanded by one God's angel. With much wailing, the procession left Jerusalem on a wind cart lead and carried by the archangel Michael. Having arrived at the Red Sea, Azaryas revealed to the people that the Ark is with them. David prayed to the Ark and the people rejoiced, singing, dancing, blowing horns and flutes, and beating drums. The Ark showed its miraculous powers during the crossing of the stormy Sea, and all arrived unscathed. When Solomon learned that the Ark had been stolen, he sent a horseman after the thieves, and even gave chase himself, but neither could catch them. Solomon returned to Jerusalem, and gave orders to the priests to remain silent about the theft and to place a copy of the Ark in the Temple, so that the foreign nations could not say that Israel had lost its fame.

According to some sources, Queen Makeda was part of the dynasty founded by Za Besi Angabo in 1370 B.C., with her grandfather and father being the last male rulers of the royal line. The family's intended choice to rule Aksum was Makeda's brother, Prince Nourad, but his early death led to her succession to the throne. She apparently ruled the Ethiopian kingdom for more than 50 years.

In the Ethiopian Book of Aksum, Makeda is described as establishing a new capital city at Azeba.

Edward Ullendorff holds that Makeda is a corruption of Candace, the name or title of several Ethiopian queens from Meroe or Seba. Candace was the name of that queen of the Ethiopians whose chamberlain was converted to Christianity under the preaching of Philip the Evangelist (Acts 8:27) in 30 A.D. In the 14th century (?) Ethiopic version of the Alexander romance, Alexander the Great of Macedonia (Ethiopic Meqédon) is said to have met a queen Kandake of Nubia.

Historians believe that the Solomonic dynasty actually began in 1270 with the emperor Yekuno Amlak, who, with the support of the Ethiopian Church, overthrew the Zagwe Dynasty, which had ruled Ethiopia since sometime during the 10th century. The link to King Solomon provided a strong foundation for Ethiopian national unity. Despite the fact that the dynasty officially ended in 1769 with Emperor Iyaos, Ethiopian rulers continued to trace their connection to it, right up to the last 20th-century emperor, Haile Selassie.

According to one tradition, the Ethiopian Jews (Beta Israel, "Falashas") also trace their ancestry to Menelik I, son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.[39] An opinion that appears more historical is that the Falashas descend from those Jews who settled in Egypt after the first exile, and who, upon the fall of the Persian domination (539–333 B.C.) on the borders of the Nile, penetrated into the Sudan, whence they went into the western parts of Abyssinia.

Yoruba

The Yoruba Ijebu clan of Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria, claim that she was a noblewoman of theirs known as Oloye Bilikisu Sungbo, which is similar to the queen's name mentioned in the Quran. They also assert that a medieval system of walls and ditches, built sometime around the 10th century, was dedicated to her.

After excavations in 1999 the archaeologist Patrick Darling was quoted as saying, "I don't want to overplay the Sheba theory, but it cannot be discounted... The local people believe it and that's what is important... The most cogent argument against it at the moment is the dating."

In art Medieval

The treatment of Solomon in literature, art, and music also involves the sub-themes of the Queen of Sheba and the Shulammite of the Song of Songs. King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba was not a common subject until the 12th century. In Christian iconography Solomon represented Jesus, and Sheba represented the gentile Church; hence Sheba's meeting with Solomon bearing rich gifts foreshadowed the adoration of the Magi. On the other hand, Sheba enthroned represented the coronation of the virgin.

Renaissance

Piero della Francesca's frescoes in Arezzo (ca. 1466) on the Legend of the True Cross contain two panels on the visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon. The legend links the beams of Solomon's palace (adored by Queen of Sheba) to the wood of the crucifixion. The Renaissance continuation of the analogy between the Queen's visit to Solomon and the adoration of the Magi is evident in the Triptych of the Adoration of the Magi (ca. 1510) by Hieronymus Bosch.

Literature

Boccaccio's On Famous Women (Latin: De Mulieribus Claris) follows Josephus in calling the Queen of Sheba Nicaula. Boccaccio goes on to explain that not only was she the Queen of Ethiopia and Egypt, but also the queen of Arabia. She also is related to have had a grand palace on "a very large island" called Meroe, located someplace near the Nile river, "practically on the other side of the world." From there Nicaula crossed the deserts of Arabia, through Ethiopia and Egypt and up the coast of the Red Sea, to come to Jerusalem to see "the great King Solomon."

Christine de Pizan's The Book of the City of Ladies continues the convention of calling the Queen of Sheba "Nicaula". The author praises the Queen for secular and religious wisdom and lists her besides Christian and Hebrew prophetesses as first on a list of dignified female pagans.[citation needed]

Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus refers to the Queen of Sheba as Saba, when Mephistopheles is trying to persuade Faustus of the wisdom of the women with whom he supposedly shall be presented every morning.

Gérard de Nerval's autobiographical novel, Voyage to the Orient (1851), details his travels through the Middle East with much artistic license. He recapitulates at length a tale told in a Turkish cafe of King Soliman's love of Balkis, the Queen of Saba, but she, in turn, is destined to love Adoniram (Hiram Abif), Soliman's chief craftsman of the Temple, owing to both her and Adoniram's divine genealogy. Soliman grows jealous of Adoniram, and when he learns of three craftsmen who wish to sabotage his work and later kill him, Soliman willfully ignores warnings of these plots. Adoniram is murdered and Balkis flees Soliman's kingdom.

Léopold Sédar Senghor's "Elégie pour la Reine de Saba," published in his Elégies majeures in 1976, uses the Queen of Sheba in a love poem and for a political message. In the 1970s, he used the Queen of Sheba fable to widen his view of Negritude and Eurafrique by including 'Arab-Berber Africa.'

Neil Gaiman's 2001 novel American Gods features a version of Sheba called Bilquis. The character is played by Yetide Badaki in the identically named television adaptation on Starz.

Rudyard Kipling's book Just So Stories includes the tale of "The Butterfly That Stamped." Therein, Kipling identifies Balkis, "Queen that was of Sheba and Sable and the Rivers of the Gold of the South" as best, and perhaps only, beloved of the 1000 wives of Suleiman-bin-Daoud, King Solomon. Explicitly ascribed great wisdom, "Balkis, almost as wise as the Most Wise Suleiman-bin-Daoud", nevertheless Kipling perhaps implies in her a greater wisdom than her husband, in that she is able to gently manipulate her husband, the afrits and djinns he commands, the other quarrelsome 999 wives of Suleimin-bin-Daoud, the butterfly of the title and the butterfly's wife, thus bringing harmony and happiness for all.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_of_Sheba

Ertra / Iritriya / Eritrea / ኤርትራ / ٳرِتْرِيَّا / Eritreia by Hugo Carriço

7 2

officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast. The east and northeast of the country have an extensive coastline on the Red Sea, directly across from Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The Dahlak Archipelago and several of the Hanish Islands are part of Eritrea. Its size is just under 118,000 km2 (45,560 sq mi) with an estimated population of 5 million. The capital is Asmara.

History

Eritrea is an ancient name, associated in the past with its Greek form Erythraía (Greek alphabet Ερυθραία), and its derived Latin form Erythræa. In the past, Eritrea had given its name to the Red Sea, then called the Erythræan Sea. The Italians created the colony of Eritrea in the 19th century around Asmara, and named it with its current name. After World War II Eritrea was annexed to Ethiopia.In 1991 the People's Liberation Front defeated the Ethiopian government. Eritrea officially celebrated its independence on May 24, 1992.

Prehistory

One of the oldest hominids, representing a possible link between Homo erectus and an archaic Homo sapiens, was found in Buya (Eritrean Danakil) in 1995 by Italian scientists. The cranium was found to be over 1 million years old. Furthermore, in 1999, the Eritrean Research Project Team discovered some of the earliest evidence of human tool-use in the harvesting of marine resources. The site contained obsidian tools dated to the paleolithic era, over 125,000 years old.

Epipaleolithic or mesolithic cave paintings in central and northern Eritrea attest to early hunter-gatherers in this region. An American paleontologist, William Sanders of the University of Michigan, also discovered a possible missing link between ancient and modern elephants in the form of the fossilized remains of a pig-sized creature in Eritrea. The fossil, which is 27 million years old, pushes the origins of elephants and mastodons five million years further into the past and indicates that modern elephants originated in Africa.

Antiquity

The oldest written reference to the territory now known as Eritrea is the chronicled expedition launched to the fabled Punt (or Ta Netjeru, meaning land of the Gods) by the Ancient Egyptians in the twenty-fifth century BC under Pharaoh Sahure. Later sources from the Pharaoh Hatshepsut in the fifteenth century BC present a more detailed portrayal of an expedition in search of frankincense. The geographical location of the missions to Punt is described as roughly corresponding to the southern west coast of the Red Sea. The name Eritrea is a rendition of the ancient Greek name Ἐρυθραία, Erythraía, meaning the "Red Land". The earliest evidence of agriculture, urban settlement and trade in Eritrea was found in the western region of the country consisting of archaeological remains dating back to 3500 BC in sites called the Gash group. Based on the archaeological evidence, there seems to have been a connection between the peoples of the Gash group and the civilizations of the Nile Valley namely Ancient Egypt and Nubia.

In the highlands, especially in Asmara's suburbs, scores of ancient sites have been documented, including Sembel, Mai Chiot, Ona Gudo, Mai Temenai, Weki Duba and Mai Hutsa. Mostly dating to the early and mid-1st millennium BCE (800 to 350 BCE), these communities consisted of small towns, villages, and hamlets built of stone. The proximity of these ancient communities to gold mines suggest that part of their prosperity was linked to the mining and processing of gold. Around the mid-1st millennium, several sites with Sabaean remains (inscriptions, artifacts, and monuments) seem to emerge in the central highlands, for example, at Keskese. Between the eighth and fifth century BCE, a kingdom known as D'mt was supposedly established in what is today Eritrea and the Tigray province of northern Ethiopia.

After D'mt's decline around the fifth century BC, the state of Aksum arose in much of Eritrea and the northern Ethiopian Highlands. It grew during the fourth century BC and came into prominence during the first century AD, minting its own coins by the third century, and converting in the fourth century to Christianity, thereby becoming the second official Christian state (after Armenia), and the first country to feature the cross on its coins. According to Mani, it grew to be one of the four greatest civilizations in the world, on a par with China, Persia, and Rome. In the seventh century, with the advent of Islam across the Red Sea in Arabia and the Arab invasion and subsequent destruction of Adulis, Aksum's main port city, Aksum's trade and power on the Red Sea began to decline and the empire gradually diminished and was overtaken by smaller rival kingdoms.

Medieval period

During the medieval period, contemporary with and following the gradual disintegration of the Aksumite state between the 9th and 10th centuries, several states as well as tribal and clan lands emerged in the area known today as Eritrea. Between the eighth and thirteenth century, northern and northwestern Eritrea had largely come under the domination of the Beja, a Cushitic people from northeastern Sudan. The Beja brought Islam to large parts of Eritrea and connected the region to the greater Islamic world. Nonetheless, Christians of the Axumite era continued to inhabit these areas and retain their religion.

In the main highland area and adjacent coastline of what were previously Muslim (Beja) ruled areas, a Christian Kingdom called Midir Bahr or Midri Bahri (Tigrinya for land of the sea) arose, ruled by the Bahr Negus or Bahr Negash, ("ruler of the sea") emerged in the 15th century. The southeastern parts of Eritrea, inhabited by the independent Afar since ancient times, came to form part of the Islamic Adal Sultanate. Parts of the southwestern lowlands of Eritrea were under the dominion of the then Christian/Animist Funj Sultanate of Sinnar.

An invading force of the Turkish Ottoman Empire, under Suleiman I, conquered Massawa in 1557 from the Christians, building what is now considered the "old town" of Massawa on Batsi island. They also conquered the towns of Hergigo and Debarwa, the capital city of Yeshaq, the contemporary Christian Bahr Negus, before being driven back to the coast by 1578. The Ottomans remained in control of the important ports of Massawa and Hergigo and their environs, and maintained their dominion over the coastal areas for nearly 300 years, absorbing the coastal areas of the disintegrated Adal Sultanate as vassals in the 16th century. The Funj Sultanate of Sinnar converted to Islam in the 16th century but maintained independent control of the southwestern areas of Eritrea until being absorbed into the Ottoman Empire in the early 19th century.

With the feudal rule of the Bahr Negus in the predominantly Christian highland interior severely weakened from the 17th century up until modern times, the area was dubbed Mereb Mellash by locals and neighboring Ethiopians alike, meaning "beyond the Mereb" (in Tigrinya). This name defined the territory as being north of the Mareb River which to this day is a natural boundary between the modern states of Eritrea and Ethiopia.[18] Roughly the same area also came to be referred to as Hamasien, a name that survived until modern times, designating a much smaller area (province) immediately surrounding the capital Asmara, until being absorbed into the new administrative divisions in 1994. In these areas, feudal authority was particularly weak or nonexistent, and the autonomy of the landowning peasantry was particularly strong; a kind of republican rule was prevalent, governed by local customary laws legislated by elected elder's councils (shimagile). In 1770, the Scottish researcher James Bruce describes Hamasien and Abyssinia as "different countries who are often fighting" (SUKE, p. 25).

Colonialism

Italian colonisation arguably began with the purchase of the locality of Assab by a Roman Catholic priest by the name of Giuseppe Sapeto acting on behalf of a Genovese shipping company called "Rubattino" who bought the land from the Afar Sultan of Obock (a vassal of the Ottomans) in 1869. This happened in the same year as the opening of the Suez Canal.

With the approval of the Italian parliament and King Umberto I of Italy (later succeeded by his son Victor Emmanuel III), the government of Italy in 1879 bought the Rubattino company's holdings and from 1882 expanded its possessions northward along the Red Sea coast toward and beyond Massawa, encroaching on and quickly expelling previous 'Egyptian' possessions but meeting stiffer resistance in the Eritrean highlands from the invading army of the Emperor Yohannes IV of Ethiopia.

Italy declared Eritrea a territory of Italy as of New Years Day 1890. The Kingdom of Italy ruled Eritrea from 1890 to 1941. Approximately 100,000 Italian colonists settled during the 1930s in the Colonia Primigenia (as Eritrea was called by the Italians, meaning they considered Eritrea their first and most important colony). Some of the greatest feats accomplished by the Italian colonialists in Eritrea was the building of Eritrea's modern capital; Asmara, and the Eritrean railway.

Between 1936 and 1941, the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini briefly created the Italian Empire, with the short-lived union of Eritrea, Ethiopia and Italian Somaliland. Eritrea enjoyed considerable industrialization and development of modern infrastructure during Italian rule (such as roads and the Eritrean Railway). The Italians remained the colonial power in Eritrea throughout the lifetime of Fascism and the beginnings of World War II, until they were defeated by Allied forces in 1941, and Eritrea came under British administration.

In the Peace Treaty of February 1947, Italy surrendered all her colonies, including Eritrea. While under British trusteeship, the United Nations decided to federate Eritrea with Ethiopia in 1950 after a lengthy inquiry regarding the status of Eritrea.

Eritrean War of Independence

The sandals worn by the fighters of independence have become iconic. A monument in central Asmara of such sandals was erected in memoriam. Barely 10 years into the federation with Ethiopia, in 1961, the 30-year Eritrean Struggle for Independence began, following the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I's dissolution of the federation and shutting down of Eritrea's parliament.

The Emperor declared Eritrea the fourteenth province of Ethiopia in 1962.[22] Eritreans formed the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) and rebelled.

The ELF was initially a conservative grass-roots movement dominated by Muslim lowlanders. The ELF received backing from Nasser's Egypt as part of a policy of expanding Arab Nationalist political influence in the region (some Eritreans were Arabic-speakers - one of the rather loose conditions for being part of the 'Arab Nation'). Ethiopia's imperial government received support from the United States which had established a radio listening base, called the Kagnew Station, in Eritrea's Ethiopian-occupied capital, Asmara. Internal divisions within the ELF based on religion, ideology, ethnicity, clan and, sometimes, personalities, led to the weakening and factioning of the ELF from which sprang the Eritrean People's Liberation Front.

The EPLF professed Marxism and egalitarian values devoid of gender, religion, or ethnic bias. Its leadership was educated in China. It came to be supported by a growing Eritrean diaspora. Bitter fighting broke out between the ELF and EPLF during the late 1970s and 1980s for dominance over Eritrea. The ELF continued to dominate the Eritrean landscape well into the 1970s when the struggle for independence neared victory due to Ethiopia's internal turmoil caused by a socialist revolution against the monarchy there.

The ELF's gains suffered when Ethiopia's ailing US-backed Emperor was deposed and replaced by the Derg, a Marxist military junta with backing from the Soviet Union and other communist countries, who continued the Ethiopian policy of repressing Eritrean "separatists" with increased military assistance and fervor. Nevertheless, the Eritrean resistance, which saw itself forced to retreat from most of the Eritrean countryside it had previously occupied, became instead entrenched in the northern parts of the country around the Sudanese border from where the most important supply lines came. The heavily bombarded and embattled northern town of Nakfa came to symbolize the Eritrean struggle. (The Eritrean currency is named after it.)

The numbers of the EPLF swelled in the 1980s. The EPLF relied largely on armaments captured from the Ethiopian army itself as well as financial and political support from the Eritrean diaspora and the cooperation of neighboring states hostile to Ethiopia's government Somalia and Sudan (although the support of the latter turned into hostility in agreement with Ethiopia during the Gaafar Nimeiry administration between 1971 and 1985) as well as Ethiopian resistance and separatist movements. Drought, famine, and intensive offensives launched by the Ethiopian army on Eritrea took a heavy toll on the population — more than half a million fled to Sudan as refugees. In 1985, Eritrean elite commandos infiltrated the Ethiopian- and Soviet-held air force base in Asmara and destroyed all 30 fighter jets there, suffering only one casualty. In 1988, a massive Ethiopian military offensive against Eritrean rebels backfired with a third of the Ethiopian army annihilated in the northern Eritrean town of Afabet.

Following the decline of the Soviet Union in 1989 and diminishing support for the Ethiopian war, Eritrean rebels advanced further, capturing the port of Massawa and putting the Ethiopian and Soviet naval capabilities there out of action. By 1990 and early 1991 virtually all Eritrean territory had been liberated by the EPLF except for the capital, whose only connection with the rest of government-held Ethiopia during the last year of the war was by an air-bridge. In 1991, the Ethiopian army finally capitulated and its leader Mengistu Hailemariam fled to Zimbabwe where he resides to this day. Eritrean rebels entered the capital Asmara and began to govern Eritrea on May 24, 1991. The new Ethiopian government, consisting of a coalition of Ethiopian resistance and separatist movements allied with Eritrea's rebels, conceded Eritrea's demand to have an internationally (UN) supervised referendum dubbed UNOVER to be held in Eritrea. This took place in April 1993 with an overwhelming vote by Eritreans for independence. Independence was declared on May 24, 1993.

Independence

Upon Eritrea's declaration of independence, the leader of the EPLF, Isaias Afewerki, became Eritrea's first Provisional President, and the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (later renamed the People's Front for Democracy and Justice, or PFDJ) created a government.

Faced with limited economic resources and a country shattered by decades of war, the government embarked on a reconstruction and defense effort, later called the Warsai Yikalo Program, based on the labour of national servicemen and women. It is still continuing and deploys the conscripted, which is drawn from anyone male or female who has graduated high school, into a combination of duties ranging from military service to construction projects, health care, teaching and training/education as well as agricultural work to improve the country's food security.

The government also attempts to tap into the resources of the Eritreans living abroad by levying a 2% tax on the gross income of those who wish to gain full economic rights and access as citizens in Eritrea (land ownership, business licenses and other privileges for nationals etc), while at the same time encouraging tourism and investment both from Eritreans living abroad and other foreign investors. This has been complicated by Eritrea's tumultuous relations with its neighbours, lack of stability and subsequent political problems.

Eritrea severed diplomatic relations with Sudan in 1994, citing that the latter was hosting Islamic terrorist groups to destabilize Eritrea, and both countries entered into an acrimonious relationship, each accusing the other of hosting various opposition rebel groups or "terrorists" and soliciting outside support to destabilize the other. Diplomatic relations were resumed in 2005 following a reconciliation agreement reached with the help of Qatar's negotiation in 1999.[29][30] Eritrea now plays a prominent role in the internal Sudanese peace and reconciliation effort.

Perhaps the conflict with the deepest impact on independent Eritrea has been the renewed hostility with Ethiopia. In 1998, a border war with Ethiopia over the town of Badme occurred. The Eritrean-Ethiopian War ended in 2000 with a negotiated agreement known as the Algiers Agreement, which assigned an independent, UN-associated boundary commission known as the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC), whose task was to clearly identify the border between the two countries and issue a final and binding ruling. Along with the agreement the UN established a temporary security zone consisting of a 25-kilometre demilitarized buffer zone within Eritrea, running along the length of the disputed border between the two states and patrolled by UN troops in the mission named UNMEE. Ethiopia was to withdraw to positions held before the outbreak of hostilities in May 1998. The peace agreement would be completed with the implementation of the Border Commission's ruling, also ending the task of the peacekeeping mission of UNMEE. The EEBC's verdict came in April 2002, which awarded Badme to Eritrea. However, Ethiopia refused to withdraw its military from positions in the disputed areas, including Badme, and also refused to implement the EEBC's ruling, and the dispute is ongoing.

Eritrea's diplomatic relations with Djibouti were briefly severed during the border war with Ethiopia in 1998 due to a dispute over Djibouti's intimate relation with Ethiopia during the war but were restored and normalized in 2000. Relations are again tense due to a renewed border dispute. Similarly, Eritrea and Yemen had a border conflict between 1996 to 1998 over the Hanish Islands and the maritime border, which was resolved in 2000 by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague.

Geography

Eritrea is located in Northeast Africa, more specifically in the Horn of Africa, and is bordered on the northeast and east by the Red Sea. The country is virtually bisected by one of the world's longest mountain ranges, formed by the processes that formed the Great Rift Valley, with fertile lands to the west, descending to desert in the east. Eritrea, at the southern end of the Red Sea, is the home of the fork in the rift. The Dahlak Archipelago and its fishing grounds are situated off the sandy and arid coastline. The land to the south, in the highlands, is slightly drier and cooler.

The Afar Triangle or Danakil Depression of Eritrea is the probable location of a triple junction where three tectonic plates are pulling away from one another: the Arabian Plate, and the two parts of the African Plate (the Nubian and the Somali plate) splitting along the East African Rift Zone (USGS). The highest point of the country, Emba Soira, is located in the center of Eritrea, at 3,018 meters (9,902 ft) above sea level.

The main cities of the country are the capital city of Asmara and the port town of Asseb in the southeast, as well as the towns of Massawa to the east, and Keren to the north.

Other Info

Oficial Name:

tir: ሃግሬ ኤርትራ (Hagəre Ertra)

ara: دولة إرتريا (Dawlâtu Iritriyā)

Hagere Ertra

Independence:

May 24, 1991

-de jure May 24, 1993

Area:

121.320 km2

Inhabitants:

4.906.585

Language:

Afar [aar] 160,000 in Eritrea (2001 Johnstone and Mandryk). Southern Eritrea. May also be in Somalia. Alternate names: Afaraf, "Danakil", "Denkel". Dialects: Central Afar, Northern Afar, Aussa, Ba'adu. Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic, East, Saho-Afar

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Arabic, Hijazi Spoken [acw] Red Sea coast. Alternate names: Hijazi. Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, South, Arabic

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Arabic, Standard [arb] Middle East, North Africa. Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, South, Arabic

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Bedawi [bej] 150,000 in Eritrea (2001 Johnstone and Mandryk). Population includes 20,000 Hadendoa (1970 Bendor). Alternate names: Bedàwie, Beja, Bedawiye, Bedawye, Bedauye, Bedwi, Bedya, Bedja, Lobat. Dialects: Hadareb (Hadaareb), Bisharin (Bisarin, Bisariab), Hadendoa (Hadendowa), Beni-Amir, Ababda, Amara. Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic, North

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Bilen [byn] 70,000 (1995). Central Eritrea, in and around the town of Keren. Alternate names: Bogo, Bogos, Bilayn, Bilin, Balen, Beleni, Belen, Bilein, Bileno, North Agaw. Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic, Central, Northern

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English [eng] Classification: Indo-European, Germanic, West, English

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Italian [ita] A few monolinguals. Classification: Indo-European, Italic, Romance, Italo-Western, Italo-Dalmatian

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Kunama [kun] 107,000 in Eritrea (2001 Johnstone and Mandryk). Population includes 1,000 in Ilit, 600 in Odasa. Population total all countries: 108,883. Western Eritrea, on the Gash and Setit rivers, Sudan border and into Tigray Province. Barka is south of Barentu; Marda is north, northeast, and east of Barentu and in Barentu; Aimara is west of Barentu; Laki-Tukura is south of Aimara, west of Barka; Tika is south of Laki-Tukura, west of Barka. None in Sudan. Also spoken in Ethiopia. Alternate names: Baza, Baaza, Bazen, Baazen, Baazayn, Baden, Baaden, Bada, Baada, Cunama, Diila. Dialects: Barka (Berka), Marda, Aimara (Aaimasa, Aymasa, Odasa), Tika (Tiika, Lakatakura-Tika), Ilit (Iliit, Iiliit, Iilit), Bitama (Bitaama), Sokodasa (Sogodas, Sogadas), Takazze-Setiit (Setiit, Setit), Tigray. Bitama and Ilit are nearly unintelligible to speakers of other Kunama. Barka is the largest dialect and intelligible to speakers of all others. Classification: Nilo-Saharan, Kunama

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Nara [nrb] 80,000 (2001 Johnstone and Mandryk). In and north of Barentu, western Eritrea, adjoining Kunama territory which is to the south. Alternate names: Nera, "Barea", "Barya", "Baria", Higir, Koyta, Mogareb, Santora. Dialects: Considerable dialect variation within the four main groups: Higir, Mogareb, Koyta, Santora. Little intelligibility of Kunama. Classification: Nilo-Saharan, Eastern Sudanic, Eastern, Nara

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Saho [ssy] 180,000 in Eritrea (2001 Johnstone and Mandryk). Population total all countries: 202,759. Southern Eritrea. Also spoken in Ethiopia. Alternate names: Sao, Shaho, Shoho, Shiho. Dialects: Very close to Afar. The Irob dialect is only in Ethiopia. Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic, East, Saho-Afar

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Tigré [tig] 800,000 in Eritrea (1997 census). Also spoken in Sudan. Alternate names: Khasa, Xasa. Dialects: Mansa' (Mensa). Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, South, Ethiopian, North

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Tigrigna [tir] 1,200,000 in Eritrea (2001 Johnstone and Mandryk). South and central Eritrea. Alternate names: Tigrinya, Tigray. Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, South, Ethiopian, North

More information.

Extinct languages

Geez [gez] Extinct. Alternate names: Ancient Ethiopic, Ethiopic, Ge'ez, Giiz. Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, South, Ethiopian, North

Capital city:

Asmara

Meaning country name:

Named by Italian colonizers, from the Latin name for the Red Sea "Mare Erythraeum" ("Erythraean Sea") which in turn derived from the ancient Greek name for the Red Sea: "Erythrea Thalassa".

Description Flag:

The current flag of Eritrea was adopted on December 5, 1995, and uses the basic layout of the flag of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front, with the wreath with upright olive branch symbol derived from the 1952 flag.

The flag is dominated by a red triangle extending from the hoist to the fly with complementary green and blue triangles above and below. Green stands for the fertility of the country respectively for agriculture; blue stands for the ocean and red for the blood lost in the fight for freedom. In the red triangle a yellow wreath symbol with 14 leaves on each side derived from the 1952 flag replaces the yellow star of the EPLF flag. The use of triangles is also important, because reading the flag from left to right it is important to note that the red shrinks which represents that in the end Eritrea will see peace and blood will no longer be spilled for the nation.

Coat of arms:

The Coat of Arms of Eritrea was adopted May 24, 1993, on the date of declaration of independence. It shows a dromedary in natural colors surrounded by an olive wreath. On the bottom is a band with the name of the nation in the official languages - English in the middle, Tigrinya on the left and Arabic on the right.

National Anthem: Ertra, Ertra, Ertra ,

Tigrinya: ኤርትራ ኤርትራ ኤርትራ

Tigrinya

ኤርትራ ኤርትራ ኤርትራ፡

በዓል ደማ እናልቀሰ ተደምሲሱ፡

መስዋእታ ብሓርነት ተደቢሱ።

መዋእል ነኺሳ ኣብ ዕላማ፡

ትእምርቲ ጽንዓት ኰይኑ ስማ፡

ኤርትራ'ዛ ሓበን ውጹዓት፡

ኣመስኪራ ሓቂ ከምትዕወት፡

ኤርትራ ኤርትራ (ክልተ ግዜ)

ኣብ ዓለም ጨቢጣቶ ግቡእ ክብራ።

ናጽነት ዘምጽኦ ልዑል ኒሕ፡

ንህንጻ ንልምዓት ክንሰርሕ፡

ስልጣኔ ከነልብሳ ግርማ

ሕድሪ'ሎና ግምጃ ክንስልማ፡

ኤርትራ ኤርትራ (ክልተ ግዜ)

ኣብ ዓለም ጨቢጣቶ ግቡእ ክብራ።

Tigrinya with Romanization

Ertra, Ertra, Ertra,

Beal dema'nalkese tedemsisu,

Meswaéta bharnet tdebisu.

Mewaél nekhisa'b élame,

TémErti tsnt koynu sma,

Ertra za haben wtsuAt,

Ameskira haki kem téwet.

Ertra, Ertra,

Abalem chebitato gbué kbra.

Natsänet zemtsä’ lä‘ul nihh,

N'hntsa n'lm‘at k'serihh,

S'lthane k'nelbsa grma,

Hihdri-lena gmja k'nslma.

Ertra, Ertra,

Abalem chebitato gbué kbra.

English translation

Eritrea, Eritrea, Eritrea,

Her enemy decimated,

and her sacrifices vindicated by liberation.

Steadfast in her goal,

symbolizing endurance,

Eritrea, the pride of her oppressed people,

proved that the truth prevails.

Eritrea, Eritrea,

holds her rightful place in the world.

Dedication that led to liberation,

Will buildup and make her green,

We shall honour her with progress,

We have a word to her to embellish.

Eritrea, Eritrea,

holds her rightful place in the world.

Internet Page: www.eritreaeritrea.com

www.shabait.com

eritrea in diferent languages

eng | afr | arg | ast | bre | cat | ces | cor | cym | dan | est | eus | fao | fin | glg | glv | hun | ibo | ina | ita | jav | jnf | lim | lld | mlg | mlt | nld | nor | roh | rup | slk | sme | spa | sqi | srd | swa | swe | tgl | vor: Eritrea

dsb | hrv | hsb | lav | slv: Eritreja

crh | kaa | uzb: Eritreya / Эритрея

deu | ltz | nds: Eritrea / Eritrea; Erythräa / Erythräa

hat | tur | zza: Eritre

hau | kin | run: Eritreya

ind | msa: Eritrea / اريتريا

pol | szl: Erytrea

aze: Eritreya / Еритреја

bam: Eritire

bos: Eritreja / Еритреја

epo: Eritreo

fra: Érythrée

frp: Èritrê

fur: Eritree

gla: Ertra

gle: An Eiritré / An Eiritré

haw: ʻElikilea

isl: Erítrea

kmr: Êrîtrê / Еритре / ئێریترێ

kur: Erître / ئەریترە

lat: Erythraea

lin: Elitré

lit: Eritrėja

mol: Eritreea / Еритрея

nrm: Éritraée

oci: Eritrèa

por: Eritreia / Eritréia

que: Iritrya

rmy: Eritreya / एरित्रेया

ron: Eritreea

scn: Eritrìa

slo: Eritrea / Еритреа

smg: Eritrėjė

smo: Eriteria

som: Ereteeriya; Eriteeriya; Eretareeya

tet: Eritreia

tuk: Eritreýa / Эритрея

vie: Ê-ri-tơ-rê-a

vol: Lerüträn

wln: Eritrêye

wol: Eritere

abq | alt | che | chm | kir | kjh | kom | krc | kum | rus | tyv | udm: Эритрея (Ėritreja)

bak: Эритрея / Eritreya

bel: Эрытрэя / Erytreja

bul: Еритрея (Eritreja)

chv: Эритрейӑ (Ėritrejă)

kaz: Эритрея / Erïtreya / ەريترەيا

kbd: Эритрея (Ăritreja)

mkd: Еритреа (Eritrea)

mon: Эритрей (Äritrej)

oss: Эритрей (Ėritrej)

srp: Еритреја / Eritreja

tat: Эритрея / Eritreä

tgk: Эритрея / اریتریه / Eritreja

ukr: Еритрея (Erytreja)

ara: إريتريا (Irītriyā); أريتريا (Arītriyā); إرتريا (Iritriyā); أرتريا (Aritriyā); إرتيريا (Irtīriyā); أرتيريا (Artīriyā)

fas: اریتره (Erītre)

prs: اریتریا (Erītriyā)

pus: اريتريا (Irītriyā); اېريتريا (Erītriyā)

uig: ئېرىترېيە / Éritréye / Эритрея

urd: اریٹریا (Irīṫriyā); ارٹریا (Iriṫriyā); اریٹیریا (Irīṫīriyā)

div: އެރިތްރިއާ (Eritri'ā)

heb: אריטראה (Erîṭreʾah); אריטריאה (Erîṭrêʾah); אריתריאה (Erîtrêʾah)

lad: איריטריאה / Eritrea

yid: עריטרײאַ (Eritreya)

amh | tir: ኤርትራ (Ertra)

ell-dhi: Ερυθραία (Eryṯraía)

ell-kat: Ἐρυθραία (Eryṯraía)

hye: Էրիտրեա (Ēritrea)

kat: ერიტრეა (Eritrea)

hin: इरिट्रिया (Iriṭriyā); एरिट्रिया (Eriṭriyā); एरीट्रिया (Erīṭriyā)

ben: ইরিত্রিয়া (Iritriyā); এরিট্রিয়া (Eriṭriyā)

pan: ਈਰਿਟਰੀਆ (Īriṭrīā)

kan: ಎರಿಟ್ರಿಯ (Eriṭriya)

mal: എരിട്രിയ (Eriṭriya)

tam: எரித்திரியா (Erittiriyā); எரித்ரியா (Eritriyā)

tel: ఎరిట్రియా (Eriṭriyā)

zho: 厄立特里亞/厄里特尼亚 (Èlǐtèlíyà)

jpn: エリトリア (Eritoria)

kor: 에리트레아 (Eriteuraea)

mya: အီရီထရီးယား (Iẏitʰáẏìyà)

tha: เอริเทรีย (Ēritʰriya)

khm: អេរីទ្រា (Erītrā)

Yemen Marib Arabia April 1992 by loose_grip_99

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Marib is the capital town of the Ma'rib Governorate, Yemen and was the capital of the Sabaean kingdom (Ancient Sheba of biblical fame). It is located approximately 120 kilometers east of Yemen's modern capital, Sana'a.

The site of Ancient Marib was largely abandoned during the 20th century. Although a small village remains, the multi-story mud-brick buildings of the historic city are largely in ruins. The modern city of Marib is located about 3.5 kilometers north.

Old historic dam at Wadi Adhana, Marib Governorate, Marib, Yemen by Eric Lafforgue

www.ericlafforgue.com

Temple Of Moon God, Marib, Yemen by Eric Lafforgue

www.ericlafforgue.com

Marib dam - Yemen by Eric Lafforgue

Marib is also the site of one of the world's great ancient structures, a magnificent feat of early engineering and masonry techniques. This is the dam across Wadi Adhana, the largest wadi in the south Arabian highlands. Its purpose was to hold and to divert the water, which flooded down the wadi from time to time during the rainy season, over the nearby agricultural land. It would have also allowed the water to soak into the ground and recharge the aquifers, thus supplying the wells. Recent excavations by the German Archaeological Institute show that, while the structure whose impressive remains stand clear today was erected in the eighth century BC, irrigation works in the Wadi Adhana at Marib were undertaken at least from the beginning of the second millennium BC. The two masonry sluices of the much repaired eighth century dam remain: the northern one, usually approached first, and the southern one on the other side of the wadi, which is more extensive and almost as high as it was originally.

They demonstrate the Sabaeans’ skill in quarrying the stone blocks, cutting and dressing them, transporting them to the site and then erecting them and binding them together with lead and iron. Between them once stretched the dam, an earth bank 600m long and 16m high covering a foundation of loose, broken stones. Al little of this rockfill barrage remains and all along its line the massive piles of siltdeposited by the floods can be seen.

The dam is believed to have held up to 150.000 cubic meters of water. The remains of the irrigation system and the system of canals around the dam can still be seen on the plain in front of it.

www.ericlafforgue.com

A Unique and Important Greek/South Arabian Silver Tetradrachm of Ma'in, Imitating Athens by Ancient Art & Numismatics

ARABIA, Southern. Ma'in (Minaia)(?). Circa 250-150 BC. AR Tetradrachm (24mm, 17.08 g, 9h). Imitating Athens. Helmeted head of Athena right, of ‘barbarous’ style / Owl standing right, head facing; ‘fused’ olive spray and crescent to left, AΘE to right; all within circular incuse. Cf. Huth 152 (for similar). Good VF, lightly toned, overstruck on uncertain type. Unique.

As can be seen from the style of both its images and inscription, as well as from the strangely 'fused' olive-spray and crescent, this coin clearly belongs to the same series as the curious 'folded flan' tetradrachms (CCK 152 ff.). These coins were probably minted in the Minaean kingdom (composed of several city-states) that was situated in the area of Wadi Al-Jawf northeast of Sana'a, and bordering the Sabaean kingdom to the south. As discussed by M. Huth (“Monetary Circulation” in CCK, pp. 86ff.), the folded-flan coins were probably produced by hammering imported coins (in all likeliness, Athenian tetradrachms) into a flat round that was subsequently folded once or twice, and then struck. Obviously, overstriking imported coins would have been a much easier way of producing new coins from existing ones, and one has to ask why the Minaeans chose such a cumbersome method of production. The present coin, however, proves that overstriking was indeed used concurrently with the folding technique. As a consequence, the folded flan technique becomes even more enigmatic. It would be most interesting to identify the undertype of the present coin.

CNG99, 376

Stone Columns, near Bar'an Temple, Marib, Yemen by David & Bonnie

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The Sabaean kingdom was located in what is now Marib in northern Yemen. The Sabaean kings made their capital at Ma'rib, and built great irrigation works such as the Ma'rib dams, whose ruins are still visible.

The Marib Dam supported a flourishing culture for more than a thousand years; its collapse in 575 CE, before the birth of Muhammad, may be one of the main reasons that Arabia did not become Christian. They also built castles and temples (Awwam and Bar'an) in the area, and were known for trading the valuable frankincense and myrrh. They were a seafaring people and were known to have influence and a population in the Northeast African kingdom of Dʿmt, across the Red Sea in Eritrea and Ethiopia, the only other source of both frankincense and myrrh.

Nov 12 - Site of the Grand or 'Paradise' mosque (744-750, Ummayad), Harran (the seat of the Caliphal government of the Islamic world [!] in the 740s when this was built) by Best of Rob

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Harran has such great importance to history. Consider:

1. According to the Book of Genesis 11:31,32; 12:4,5, Harran [Haran in the bible] was "where Terah settled with his son the Patriarch Abraham (who was known as Abram at that time), his nephew Lot, and Abram's wife Sarai, all descendants of Arpachshad, son of Shem, during their planned journey from Ur Kaśdim (Ur of the Chaldees) to the Land of Canaan. ... Abram lived there until he was 75 yr.s old before continuing on to Canaan, in response to the command of God. Although Abram's nephew Lot accompanied him to Canaan, Terah and his other descendants remained in [Haran,] where Abraham's grandson [Isaac's son] Jacob sought his parents' relatives, namely Laban, for whom he worked for 20 yr.s in Haran. (Wikipedia) Harran was also the home of Isaac's wife Rebekah. (Genesis 31:38 & 41). In Genesis 28:10–19, Abraham's grandson Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. He had his dream of Jacob's Ladder en route.

2. Harran was a "major commercial, cultural and religious centre" in Upper Mesopotamia that became and remained a centre of worship of the moon god Sin from the early Assyrian period in the early 2nd mill. BC until well after the fall of the Neo-Assyrians to the Neo-Babylonians and the Medes in the 7th cent. BC. With the fall of Nineveh to Nabopolassar in 612 BC, the Assyrian elite ran to Harran and it became the provisional and last neo-Assyrian capital ("the stronghold of the last [neo-Assyrian] king, Ashur-Ubalit II") for 2 years until it fell to Nabopolassar and Cyaxares in 610 BC. (!!)

3. It's believed that Nabonidus, the last neo-Babylonian king, hailed from Harran "as substantiated by evidence from the temple stele of his mother Adad-Guppi." She's believed to have been a priestess of Sin. The city again became a centre for moon worship during his reign from 555-536 BC "much to the consternation of the city of Babylon in the south where Marduk remained the primary deity." (Wikipedia) This presented an opportunity to "the Persian King Cyrus, who promised to restore the cult of Marduk, [and] was able to take control of Babylon and Harran." (See the link below). And so the favour shown to Harran by Nabodinus was an important factor which led to the fall of Babylon and the rise of the Persian empire, the greatest the world would see (in area) until Genghis Khan. (An analogy is the British crown's treatment of Quebec city and New France after the fall of Quebec in 1759, perceived to be favourable by colonists in the '13 colonies', and a source of resentment which led to the American Revolution.)

4. Nabonidus, the last Babylonian king, conducted one of the earliest archaeological excavations in recorded history (or THE earliest?) in 550 B.C. when he led men to Sippar to uncover the foundation deposits of the temples of Samas, the sun god and of Nunatu, the warrior goddess, and the sanctuary that the great Akkadian emperor Naram-Sin had built here at Harran to Sin, the moon god. Nabonidus then restored these sites to their former glory. He also attempted to date the artifacts discovered at Naram-Sin's sanctuary (although his estimates were off by @ 1,500 yr.s.)

5. Harran was at a crossroads of major trade routes, on a road from the Mediterranean to the plains of the middle Tigris. "It lay directly on the road from Antioch eastward to Nisibis and Ninevah ... and from Harran 2 royal highways led to Persia." The city was "frequently mentioned in Assyrian inscriptions as early as the time of Tiglath-Pileser I", @ 1100 BC, who had a fortress here and "mentioned that he was pleased with the abundance of elephants in the region." (Wikipedia)

6. Harran was known as 'Carrhae' in the Roman period when, in 53 BC, it was the site of a great battle between the Romans and the Parthians in which the Romans were so badly beaten that the defeat led to the instability and fall of the Republic and the emergence of Julius Caesar and Imperial Rome.

7. Centuries later, "the [Roman] emperor Caracalla was murdered here at the instigation of Macrinus" in 217 AD. (Wikipedia)

8. The Moon god was worshipped here by the 'Sabians' (or Sabaeans) until as late as 1032 or 1033 AD when their temple was destroyed and converted into a fortress. (Wikipedia)

9. "Harran was a centre of Assyrian Christianity from early on, and was the first place where purpose-built churches were constructed openly." (Wikipedia) Wow!

10. During the crusades, Baldwin, Count of Edessa (Urfa) (who later became 'King of Jerusalem') was captured by the Seljuqs at what became known as 'the Battle of Harran' (although the battle site could have been as far as "2 days away").

- But "in the 1260s the city was completely destroyed and abandoned during the Mongol invasions of Syria." (Wikipedia)

- More here: traveltoeat.com/harran-southeasten-turkey/ and more re the importance of Harran to the early history of the Islamic world in the description for the next shot (the one of the minaret).

www.google.ca/maps/@36.8646994,39.0313889,305m/data=!3m1!1e3

- Update, Feb. '23: Watching the video of this lecture re the 'Early Armenian Reuse of Urartian Inscriptions' just now on youtube, I learned that a stele from the reign of King Nabonidus had been placed and used as a step in the stairs leading up to the 'Grand mosque' in Harran, so that the faithful would step on it in a symbolic rejection of paganism. See it at the 43:28 min. pt.: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SG5owPePAA

Mar 12 - Quality columns at the palaestra on what was the island of Tyre, Al Mina excavations by Best of Rob

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The history of this part of the city was as momentous as possible from the early 1st millenium to the 300s BC. This was the greatest Phoenician city at the time of the greatest Phoenician achievements (the earlier part of the 1st mill. BC, and the Phoenician colonization of much of the Mediterranean, including the foundation of Carthage), an impregnable island fortress widely considered unconquerable. It was also such an important outpost of the Persian empire in 332 B.C. that Alexander the Great knew he had to conquer it (or the local fleet might have attacked Greece once Alexander's forces had marched further east), and so it was here that his engineers invented and first used the torsion catapult and built a 1/2 km. long causeway for use in one of the most amazing sieges in history. www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1GIHgUgLZI

- King Hiram had an offshore fortress built on the island, and It was from here that he ruled a maritime empire in the 10th cent. BC that produced the best sailors the world had yet seen to explore further than anyone would until the arrival of the Vikings 1700 years later, passing the 'pillars of Hercules' at Gibraltar, rounding the Cape of Good Hope (according to Herodotus), and sailing north to Wales to trade for tin. Their journeys, which could be the greatest in ancient history, began here. They might have been inspired by Hiram, their 'sea king', whose throne "sat before large windows opening upon the sea and crashing waves" and by the central importance of the worship of gods of the sea in Phoenician religion (Melkart, a principle Phoenician deity, was god of the sea and storms, and Baal was a son of the fish god Dagon and a patron deity of mariners.)

- There's evidence that Sidon and Byblos paid tribute to Tyre as it grew in a period of Egyptian decline and a lull in the procession of aggressive Mesopotamian empires. (Babylon was in eclipse and Assyria was at rest. The 10th cent. BC would be remembered as a golden age until 911 and the return of Assyrian aggression and dominance, which would last until 612 and the destruction of Nineveh.) It was from Tyre that the Phoenicians colonized much of the Mediterranean, establishing Cyrene and Sabratha (in Libya), and colonies at Cyprus, Rhodes, Crete, Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, Marseilles, Cadiz, and, of course, Carthage, which would become the greatest rival and threat that Rome would face before the appearance of the Huns. Tyre's early history was so widely admired and romanticized that when Judaean bards and historians were glorifying David and Solomon in accounts or sources written in the 7th or 6th cent. BC (or earlier for some elements?) which would become or be incorporated into the biblical books of Samuel, Judges and Kings en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Books_of_Samuel, they made a point to portray Solomon as the BFF of Hiram, who supplied him with much cedar for the First temple in Jerusalem which Solomon paid for generously with "20,000 cors of wheat ... and 20,000 cors of beaten oil" to be paid every year (1 Kings 5:1-12), and later gave Hiram a gift of 20 cities in the land of Galilee. "Hiram's servants, "shipmen that had knowledge of the sea", taught the sailors of Solomon the route from Ezion-geber and Eloth to Ophir, whence large stores of gold were brought to King Solomon (1 Kings 9:26; 2 Ch 8:17 f)." www.bible-history.com/isbe/H/HIRAM/ (According to Brittanica.com, Samuel belongs "along with Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, and 1 and 2 Kings ... to the tradition of Deuteronomic history first committed to writing about 550 BC, during the Babylonian Exile". How well does that entry reflect a consensus for biblical scholars? I've also read that "most biblical scholars (today) are coming to believe that the "Deuteronomistic History" (the whole core narrative from Joshua to 2 Kings) was written during Josiah's reign in the late 7th cent., and composed with the use of other earlier sources, including a brief chronicle of king's names, their age at the beginning of their reign, and their mother's names. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josiah )

- No physical evidence has been found of the glorious early 1st mill. kingdom of the briefly united lands of Israel and Judah under David, Solomon, and Rehoboam described in the Bible. There is proof however that David existed and had founded a dynasty; the Tell Dan stele refers to a king of the 'House of David'. (I saw the stele when it was brought to Montreal [!] in '03. pacmusee.qc.ca/en/exhibitions/detail/archaeology-and-the-... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tel_Dan_Stele ). Many modern historians now believe that after Israel had been devastated by the Assyrians in the 720s BC, when Sargon II carried 27,000 Israelites away into captivity, the population of Jerusalem swelled 10-fold with the arrival of refugees from the Israeli north, and that it was then that Judah became a state (in a fashion; it became a vassal- or client-state of the Assyrians) with all the trappings of a state, standardization of weights and measures, diversification of trades, etc. But in the late 7th cent., Assyria retreated from the region in its conflict with the Babylonians and the Medes to the east, and upon gaining a new (but all too brief) independence, the Judaean leadership became ambitious to gain control over the land and peoples of Israel to the north. King Josiah, 630-609 BC, a descendant of the Davidic line, laid plans for a pan-Israelite, unified kingdom. At the time of his renovation of the temple, 'a book of the law' was discovered within it (which some scholars believe was the book of Deuteronomy), and Josiah made several 'reforms', including the destruction and prohibition of all other Judaean places of worship and all other forms of religion other than the cult of Yahweh, centralizing religious authority and political administration in Jerusalem. In fact, the centralization of the cult is one of the ideas set out in Deuteronomy (which might raise questions as to whether or not the book was really 'found' in the temple, again if the book allegedly found was Deuteronomy). And a common history was to be elaborated in the early books of the bible with the combination of traditions in the north with those in the south. It's fair to say that the Bible became something of an ancient library and cultural repository for the Judaean people. To further validate the rule of Josiah, he of the Davidic line, in Israel proper, the authors of the early books of the bible expanded on the early history of Judah, Jerusalem, David, Solomon, et al (something not uncommon in any record of a history of early rulers first passed down through oral tradition over centuries, or even decades), presenting David and Solomon, Judaean kings or chieftains based in Jerusalem when it was "a small village" atop and along part of a ridge covering only 3 to 4 ha.s (according to archaeologists Israel Finkelstein and Ronny Reich), as rulers of a great empire of vast wealth incl. the much richer and stronger northern kingdom of Israel following its conquest by Joshua in the 11th or 12th cent.s BC (with which the archaeological record is entirely inconsistent at that time), and romancing Sabaean queens and hanging with Hiram, the Phoenician king of Tyre, a city which truly was a big, awe-inspiring deal then. Josiah and the authors of this early history had a political agenda. Finkelstein holds that "the conquests of Joshua delineates the territories that Josiah wished to take over, and the great empire of David and Solomon is the model for the great Israelite empire to come."

(I should add that the early books of the Bible written in the time of Josiah and following were revolutionary as they were amongst the first authoritative, sacred texts to be written anywhere. [The Vedas might have been recorded earlier.] This development was a huge incentive to the spread of literacy throughout Judaean society.)

- In the Book of Ezekiel (28: 1-4), Yahweh conveys a warning to Hiram not to let success go to his head and claim that he is a god, "in the seat of gods, in the midst of the sea". To give (much) credit to Hiram, he continues: "Behold, you are wiser than Daniel! ... By your great wisdom in trade you have increased your riches. ..." (28:12-13) You were "the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. ..." But wealth leads to pride, and the proud are doomed. (28: 6-9): "I will bring ... the most terrible of the nations [the Assyrians]; and they shall ... defile your splendour. They shall throw you down into the pit ... (etc.)."

(If it was believed in the 6th or 7th cent. BC when the Book of Ezekiel was written that Hiram had assisted in the construction of the 1st temple > 300 years earlier, that could be sufficient basis for all the attention paid to him by Ezekiel and biblical authors. Any Lebanese cedar used would have been purchased in Tyre, the southernmost Phoenician city-state, so there could have been a connection /b/ Jerusalem and Tyre if not with Hiram directly.) It's ironic if Hiram is best known today for what the authors of the Old testament wrote about him to give heft to David and Solomon in the 7th or 6th cent. BC. David and Solomon have long since returned the favour.

- Update Nov. 2017: These past 2 weeks I've been reading some in vol. II of Amélie Kuhrt's encyclopedic 'The Ancient Near East,' from '95, which predates the article that was a basis for much of what I'd written above re the aggrandizement of David and Solomon. She confirms (although, again, 22 years back) that there's nothing in the archaeological record which supports the accounts in the books of Kings and Samuel of the brief but glorious 10th cent. united kingdom of Israel and Judah, although the Tel Dan stele confirms the existence of a dynasty or 'house' in the late 800s sired by David. But she notes that this shouldn't be surprising as so little in the way of written evidence of anything from that period has been found in the region, and as Jerusalem itself had been built over and rebuilt over as much as it has in the millenia since then. And so absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence. ("It must be stressed that it is above all due to the accounts in the Old Testament that a reconstruction of the history of Israel and Judah is possible - if we did not have it, Israel and Judah would be little more than names in the Assyrian annals, and Hamath, Sam'al, Bit Agusi, even Moab would be much better known. The reason is that no lengthy monumental inscriptions have been recovered from either Israel or Judah for this period. ... Apart from reference to Israel in an inscription from Moab, and the possible mention of Judah in a stele fragment from Tel Dan, the only certain extra-biblical references to Israel and Judah occur in the Assyrian records." There's also a telling reference in passing to the destruction of Israel in an Egyptian stele in the Cairo museum dating to 1207 BC and the reign of pharoah Merneptah.)

But then Prof. V. J. Stenger had this to say in 2007.: "Some have argued that the remains of Solomon's temple and other signs of a [10th cent. BC] golden age in Jerusalem have been wiped out by later building projects. However, the extensive excavations carried on in Jerusalem in modern times have yielded impressive finds from much earlier periods such as the Middle Bronze Age and Iron Age." www.humanreligions.info/did_king_solomon_exist.html

Then again, "excavations directed by the late Prof. Y. Shiloh, uncovered a monumental 20 m. stepped structure, and dated it to the 12th-10th cent. BC," and which some claim to be a basis of the Jebusite town that David conquered. (Archaeologist Ronny Reich maintains that the structure is a revetment to prevent erosion of that part of the hill or ridge and to stabilize it and the structures built above and @ it.) And there are details in the books of Samuel re David's conquest of Jerusalem which are consistent with features in the 'city of David', the oldest part of town. www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/myth-and-reality-of-king-dav... And more in that vein. www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/palace-king-david.html The truth is out there.

- Tyre was the original home of Queen Jezebel, wife of the Israelite king Ahab, condemned by Elijah to be eaten by dogs "by the wall of Jezreel" (as she had falsely accused Naboth of blasphemy and ordered his execution and that of his sons [allegedly so that Ahab could claim Naboth's vineyard]), and who was defenestrated following a coup.

- Europa, a princess and the namesake of a continent, hailed from Tyre as well. She was abducted by Zeus who had taken the form of a white bull and carried her to Crete where she gave birth to Minos, who became king of the Minoan civilization, the first in Europe (which may be why Europe was named after her). Tyre was also ruled by king Pygmalion, whose legendary sister Dido fled from her home in the city to Berber territory in North Africa where she founded Carthage.

- The island withstood sieges by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar and co., and by the Achaemenid Persians (Phoenician sailing prowess became instrumental to the Persian conquest of Egypt early in the history of the Persian empire), until the incredible 7 month siege by Alexander the Great, who built a 1/2 km.-long causeway to the island under cover of his innovative new catapults youtube.com/shorts/sBB3y1xWeTc?si=DbAHf_uPOMpsIzP9 , laid waste to Tyre, crucified 2,000 locals on the shore, and sold 30,000 into slavery. But as you can see here, although Tyre's most glorious period ended with Hellenism, Tyre continued as a great centre. The Roman ruins are impressive, and the Hippodrome here was the largest in the ancient world (in area, but not in seating). Tyre continued to be a wealthy, influential place throughout the Byzantine period. In the era of the crusades, it took several sieges before the city was taken by Christian forces. It was the only city to hold out against Baldwin I of Jerusalem, and it held out against Saladin as well. (Some more re Tyre under the Crusaders here: www.flickr.com/photos/97924400@N00/7339147316/in/photostr... )

الصومال / Soomaaliya / Somalia / Somália by Hugo Carriço

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Somalia (pronounced /soʊˈmɑːliə/ soh-MAH-lee-ə; Somali: Soomaaliya; Arabic: الصومال‎ aṣ-Ṣūmāl), officially the Republic of Somalia (Somali: Jamhuuriyadda Soomaaliya, Arabic: جمهورية الصومال‎ Jumhūriyyat aṣ-Ṣūmāl) and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under communist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, the Gulf of Aden with Yemen to the north, the Indian Ocean to the east, and Ethiopia to the west.

In antiquity, Somalia was an important center for commerce with the rest of the ancient world. Its sailors and merchants were the main suppliers of frankincense, myrrh and spices, items which were considered valuable luxuries by the Ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians, Mycenaeans and Babylonians with whom the Somali people traded. According to most scholars, Somalia is also where the ancient Kingdom of Punt was situated. The ancient Puntites were a nation of people that had close relations with Pharaonic Egypt during the times of Pharaoh Sahure and Queen Hatshepsut. The pyramidal structures, temples and ancient houses of dressed stone littered around Somalia are said to date from this period. In the classical era, several ancient city-states such as Opone, Mosyllon and Malao[disambiguation needed] that competed with the Sabaeans, Parthians and Axumites for the wealthy Indo-Greco-Roman trade also flourished in Somalia.

The birth of Islam on the opposite side of Somalia's Red Sea coast meant that Somali merchants, sailors and expatriates living in the Arabian Peninsula gradually came under the influence of the new religion through their converted Arab Muslim trading partners. With the migration of fleeing Muslim families from the Islamic world to Somalia in the early centuries of Islam and the peaceful conversion of the Somali population by Somali Muslim scholars in the following centuries, the ancient city-states eventually transformed into Islamic Mogadishu, Berbera, Zeila, Barawa and Merca, which were part of the Berberi civilization. The city of Mogadishu came to be known as the City of Islam, and controlled the East African gold trade for several centuries.

In the Middle Ages, several powerful Somali empires dominated the regional trade including the Ajuuraan State, which excelled in hydraulic engineering and fortress building, the Sultanate of Adal, whose general Ahmed Gurey was the first African commander in history to use cannon warfare on the continent during Adal's conquest of the Ethiopian Empire, and the Gobroon Dynasty, whose military dominance forced governors of the Omani empire north of the city of Lamu to pay tribute to the Somali Sultan Ahmed Yusuf. In the late 19th century after the Berlin conference had ended, European empires sailed with their armies to the Horn of Africa. The imperial clouds wavering over Somalia alarmed the Dervish leader Muhammad Abdullah Hassan, who gathered Somali soldiers from across the Horn of Africa and began one of the longest colonial resistance wars ever.

Somalia was never formally colonized. The Dervish State successfully repulsed the British empire four times and forced it to retreat to the coastal region. As a result of its fame in the Middle East and Europe, the Dervish state was recognized as an ally by the Ottoman Empire and the German empire, and remained throughout World War I the only independent Muslim power on the continent. After a quarter of a century holding the British at bay, the Dervishes were finally defeated in 1920 when Britain for the first time in Africa used aeroplanes when it bombed the Dervish capital of Taleex. As a result of this bombardment, former Dervish territories were turned into a protectorate of Britain. Italy similarly faced the same opposition from Somali Sultans and armies and did not acquire full control of parts of modern Somalia until the Fascist era in late 1927. This occupation lasted till 1941 and was replaced by a British military administration. Northern Somalia would remain a protectorate while southern Somalia became a trusteeship. The Union of the two regions in 1960 formed the Somali Democratic Republic.

Due to its longstanding ties with the Arab world, Somalia was accepted in 1974 as a member of the Arab League. To strengthen its relationship with the rest of the African continent, Somalia joined other African nations when it founded the African Union, and began to support the ANC in South Africa against the apartheid regime and the Eritrean secessionists in Ethiopia during the Eritrean War of Independence. A Muslim country, Somalia is one of the founding members of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and is also a member of the UN and NAM. Despite suffering from civil strife and instability, Somalia has also managed to sustain a free market economy which, according to the UN, outperforms those of many other countries in Africa.

History

Please go to

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Somalia

Geography

Please go to

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Somalia

Other info

Oficial Name:

الصومال

Soomaaliya

República Somali

Independence:

July 1, 1960

Area:

637.657 km2

Inhabitants:

9.500.000

Languages:

Arabic, Standard [arb] Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, South, Arabic

More information.

Boni [bob] Few if any speakers in Somalia (1991). Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic, East, Rendille-Boni

More information.

Boon [bnl] 59 (2000 WCD). Jilib District, Middle Jubba Region, scattered in the bush and live in settlements of 2 or 3 houses with their closest relatives. Alternate names: Af-Boon. Dialects: There are similarities to Somali. Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic, East Nearly extinct.

More information.

Dabarre [dbr] 26,753 (2000 WCD). Spoken by the Dabarre clan around Dhiinsoor District, May Region, and the Iroole Clan in nearby Baraawe District, Lower Shabeelle Region, and in Qansax Dheere. Alternate names: Af-Dabarre. Dialects: Dabarre, Iroole (Af-Iroole). A very distinctive language in the Digil clan family. Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic, East, Somali

More information.

English [eng] Classification: Indo-European, Germanic, West, English

More information.

Garre [gex] 50,000 (1992). Ethnic population: Possibly several hundred thousand in the ethnic group (1992). Dominate areas of southern Somalia, especially in the Wanle Weyn-Buur Hakaba area; Baydhaba, Dhiinsoor, Buurhakaba, and Qoryooley districts; Middle and Lower Shabeelle and Bay regions. Alternate names: Af-Garre. Dialects: Reported to be linguistically close to Boni. Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic, East, Somali

More information.

Jiiddu [jii] 29,726 (2000 WCD). Lower Shabeelle Bay and Middle Jubba regions, Qoryooley, Dhiinsoor, Jilib, and Buurhakaba districts. Alternate names: Jiddu, Af-Jiiddu. Dialects: A distinct language from Somali and Tunni, usually grouped under the Digil dialects or languages. Different sentence structure and phonology from Somali. Closer to Somali than to Baiso. Some similarities to Konsoid languages and to Gedeo, Alaba, Hadiyya, and Kambaata. Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic, East, Somali

More information.

Maay [ymm] 594,520 (2000 WCD). 700,000 to 1,500,000 including the Digil dialects or languages. Southern Somalia, Gedo Region, Middle and Lower Shabeelle, Middle and Lower Jubba, Baay, and Bakool regions. Alternate names: Af-Maay Tiri, Af-Maay, Af-May, Af-Maymay, Rahanween, Rahanweyn. Dialects: Af-Helledi. It may be more than one language; the dialects form a continuum. Standard Somali is difficult or unintelligible to Maay speakers, except for those who have learned it through mass communications, urbanization, and internal movement. Different sentence structure and phonology from Somali. The Rahanwiin (Rahanweyn) clan confederacy speak various Maay dialects or languages. Af-Helledi is a Maay secret language used by hunters. Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic, East, Somali

More information.

Mushungulu [xma] 20,000 to 50,000 (1992). Southern Somalia, Jamaame District of Lower Jubba Region, centered in Jamaame District, and some in urban areas in nearby Kismaayo and in Muqdisho. Alternate names: Kimushungulu, Mushunguli. Dialects: May be the same as, or intelligible with, Zigula or Shambaa. Classification: Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo, Benue-Congo, Bantoid, Southern, Narrow Bantu, Central, G, Zigula-Zaramo (G.30)

More information.

Oromo, Borana-Arsi-Guji [gax] 41,616 in Somalia (2000 WCD). Gedo Region. Alternate names: Southern Oromo. Dialects: Borana (Booran, Boran). Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic, East, Oromo

More information.

Somali [som] 7,784,434 in Somalia (2000 WCD). Population total all countries: 12,653,480. Throughout the country. Also spoken in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Finland, Italy, Kenya, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Yemen. Alternate names: Af-Soomaali, Af-Maxaad Tiri, Common Somali, Standard Somali. Dialects: Northern Somali, Benaadir, Af-Ashraaf (Ashraaf). Northern Somali is the basis for Standard Somali. It is readily intelligible to speakers of Benaadir Somali, but difficult or unintelligible to most Maay and Digil speakers. Those in Merka and Muqdisho speak Af-Ashraaf, a distinct variety which may have limited inherent intelligibility to speakers of Standard Somali. Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic, East, Somali

More information.

Swahili [swh] 40,000 in Somalia (1992). The Mwini live in Baraawe (Brava), Lower Shabeelle, and were scattered in cities and towns of southern Somalia. Most have fled to Kenya because of the civil war. The Bajun live in Kismaayo District and the neighboring coast. Dialects: Mwini (Mwiini, Chimwiini, Af-Chimwiini, Barwaani, Bravanese), Bajuni (Kibajuni, Bajun, Af-Bajuun, Mbalazi, Chimbalazi). Classification: Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo, Benue-Congo, Bantoid, Southern, Narrow Bantu, Central, G, Swahili (G.40)

More information.

Tunni [tqq] 29,726 (2000 WCD). Lower Shabeelle and Middle Jubba regions, Dhiinsoor, Baraawe, and Jilib districts. Alternate names: Af-Tunni. Dialects: Distinct from Somali or Jiiddu, usually grouped under the Digil dialects or languages. Different sentence structure and phonology from Somali. Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic, East, Somali

Capital city:

Mogadiscio

Meaning country name:

Takes its name from the Somalis, its indigenous people. The eytmology of their name remains uncertain, but various sources have proposed the following:

From a Cushitic word meaning "dark," or "black," a reference to the color of their own skin.

From a local phrase soo maal which means "go and milk," implying a friendly people who offered milk to their guests.

From the name of an ancient and mythical figure-patriarch, who almost all Somalis directly link to, known Samaale.

Description Flag:

The flag of Somalia was adopted on October 12, 1954. It was designed by Mohammed Awale Liban, intended to be used for pan-Somali. Upon reunification of Italian and British Somaliland, the flag was used for the Somali Democratic Republic.

According to Liban, the flag is intended to look like the flag of the United Nations. The United Nations helped Somalia gain independence from Italy, and the flag design was adopted in its honour.

The five edges of star symbolize the five areas where Somalis were divided by the then European colonials. These five places are British Somaliland (Somaliland), Italian Somaliland (Somalia), French Somaliland (Djibouti), Ogaden (Ethiopia), and Northern Frontier District (Kenya).

The blazon, or heraldic description, of this flag is: Azure, a mullet Argent.

Coat of arms:

The coat of arms of Somalia was adopted on October 10, 1956. The leopards which support the shield and the white star were also found on the arms used during the Italian administration. Formerly, the arms of Somalia from June 8, 1919 featured a shield divided horizontally by a wavy white line (Smith, 1980). The top half of the shield was blue with a leopard in natural color surmonted by a white five-pointed star.

National Anthem: Somalia, wake up

Soomaaliyeey toosoo

Toosoo isku tiirsada oo

Hadba kiina taagdaran oo

Taageera waligiinee

Idinkaa isu tooqaayoo

Idinkaa isu taamaayee

Aadamuhu tacliin barayoo

Waddankiisa taamyeeloo

Sharcigaa isku kiin tolayoo

Luuqadaa tuwaaxid ahoo

Arligiina taaka ahoo

Kuma kala tegeysaan oo

Tiro ari ah oo dhaxalaa

Sideed laydin soo tubayoo

Ninba toban la meel marayoo

Cadowgiin idiin talin oo

Tuldo geel ah oo dhacan baad

Toogasho u badheedhanee

Ma dhulkaas dhanee tegeybaan

Ninna dhagax u tuurayn

Qaran aan hubkuu tumayo

Tooreyda dhaafayn

Oo aan taar samayn karin

Uur kutaallo weynaa

Hadba waxaan la taahaayoo

Togagga uga qayshaa

Nin dalkiisii cadow taaboo

U tol waayey baan ahayee

Marba waxaan laa ooyaayoo

Oo ilmadu iiga qubataa

Iqtiyaar nin loo diidoo

La addoon sadaan ahayee

English translation

Chorus:

Somalia wake up,

wake up and lean on each other

And whoever is most in need of support

Support them forever.

Internet Page: www.somali-gov.info

Somalia in diferent languages

eng | arg | ast | bre | cym | dan | eus | fao | fin | glg | ina | ita | jav | lat | lin | lld | nor | oci | pol | roh | ron | rup | scn | smo | sot | spa | sqi | swe: Somalia

cor | hat | swa | tgl | tur | wol: Somali

fra | frp | fur | jnf | nrm: Somalie

aze | kaa | tuk | uzb: Somali / Сомали

dsb | hrv | hsb | slv: Somalija

deu | ltz | nds: Somalia / Somalia

hau | kin | run: Somaliya

por | sme | tet: Somália

afr | nld: Somalië

cat | srd: Somàlia

ces | slk: Somálsko

est | vor: Somaalia

ind | msa: Somalia / سوماليا

bam: Sɔmali

bos: Somalija / Сомалија

crh: Somaliya / Сомалия

epo: Somalujo; Somalio

fry: Somaalje

gla: Somàilia

gle: An tSomáil / An tSomáil

glv: Yn Tomaal

hun: Szomália

ibo: Sọmalia

isl: Sómalía

kmr: Somalî / Сомали / سۆمالی

kur: Somalya / سۆمالیا; Somalî / سۆمالی

lav: Somālija

lit: Somalis

mlg: Sômalia

mlt: Somalja

mol: Somalia / Сомалия

que: Sumalya

rmy: Somaliya / सोमालिया

slo: Somalia / Сомалиа

smg: Suomalis

som: Soomaaliya

szl: Sůmalijo

vie: Xô-ma-li

vol: Somalän

wln: Somaleye

zul: iSomali

zza: Somalya

alt | che | chm | chv | kbd | kir | kjh | kom | krc | kum | mon | oss | rus | tyv | udm: Сомали (Somali)

bak | tat: Сомали / Somali

abq: Сомали (Somałi)

bel: Самалі / Samali; Самалія / Samalija

bul: Сомалия (Somalija)

kaz: Сомали / Somalï / سومالي

mkd: Сомалија (Somalija)

srp: Сомалија / Somalija

tgk: Сомалӣ / ساملی / Somalī

ukr: Сомалі (Somali)

ara: الصومال (aṣ-Ṣūmāl)

fas: سومالی / Somâli

prs: سومالیا (Sōmāliyā)

pus: سوماليا (Somāliyā); سومالي (Somālī)

uig: سومالى / Somali / Сомали

urd: سمالیا (Samāliyā); سومالیا (Somāliyā); صومالیہ (Ṣomāliyâ)

div: ސޮމާލިއާ (Somāli'ā)

heb: סומליה (Sômalyah); סומאליה (Sômâlyah)

lad: סומאליה / Somalia

yid: סאָמאַליע (Somalye)

amh: ሶማሊያ (Somaliya); ሱማልያ (Sumalya)

ell: Σομαλία (Somalía)

hye: Սոմալի (Somali); Սոմալիա (Somalia)

kat: სომალი (Somali)

hin: सोमालिया (Somāliyā)

ben: সোমালিয়া (Somāliyā)

pan: ਸੋਮਾਲੀਆ (Somālīā)

kan: ಸೊಮಾಲಿಯ (Somāliya)

mal: സോമാലിയ (Sōmāliya); സൊമാലിയ (Somāliya)

tam: சோமாலி (Čōmāli); சோமாலியா (Čōmāliyā)

tel: సొమాలియా (Somāliyā)

zho: 索馬里/索马里 (Suǒmǎlǐ)

jpn: ソマリア (Somaria)

kor: 소말리아 (Somallia)

bod: སོ་མ་ལི་ (So.ma.li.)

mya: ဆုိမာလီယာ (Sʰomaliya)

tha: โซมาเลีย (Sōmāliya)

lao: ໂຊມາລີ (Sōmālī)

khm: សូម៉ាលី (Sūmālī)

Remains Of The Dam At Wadi Adhana, Marib, Yemen by Eric Lafforgue

www.ericlafforgue.com

Jan 14 - Dinner with an amateur archaeologist (right) and a new friend (left), Hargeisa by Best of Rob

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That morning I bought a copy of Mr. Ahmed Ibrahim Awale's booklet "The Mystery of the Land of Punt Unravelled", the only English-language publication re Somaliland and its history available for sale in town. www.amazon.ca/The-Mystery-Land-Punt-Unravelled/dp/8799520826 It was easy to obtain his contact info from the people in the bookstore, call him up and invite him to dinner at his choice of restaurant later that evening, my treat. We discussed his book and his theories. In the 2nd millenium BC the ancient Egyptians would send trade missions south via the Red sea to a place they called 'Punt' to trade grain, wheat, beer, and glass (the latter from Alexandria) for gold, ivory, electrum, ebony, live animals, etc., and precious aromatics. (Queen Hatshepsut was so proud of one lucrative trade mission in 1482 B.C. that detailed friezes in her mortuary temple in Deir el-Bahri depict the expedition, with images of the people, houses and goods of Punt. The ROM here at home has a great display of 'the Punt wall' from that mortuary temple, a 1905 plaster cast of it with an hypnotic, atmospheric, six-min. audio presentation. www.youtube.com/shorts/H48a4tnepqc youtu.be/617O5Tf9UuY?si=9EY_rl29Q8_wln8k commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Queen_Hatshepsut's_expedi... ) Punt's location is a popular source of debate with academics. Some claim it's in modern-day Ethiopia or Eritrea on the basis of the remains of Hamadryas baboons found in Egypt from the period, prized as sacred manifestations of Thoth and imported from Punt. But such baboons could be found in ancient Somaliland as well. Awale ably sets out the argument and evidence at the beginning of his book that Punt was in fact at Maydh, near Erigavo on the NE coast of Somaliland. It's uncontroversial that the ancient Egyptians believed they descended from southerners who traveled north to people or conquer Egypt in the distant past. The meat of Awale's book expounds on his claim that he and his friends, a band of 'barefoot archaeologists' (as he put it), found numerous ancient artifacts in the Hargeisa vicinity that he maintains are clearly proto-Egyptian.

- Update.: Amongst the candidates for the location of Punt, or of the 'Emporium of Punt', Prof. Nate Dominy of Dartmouth College favours Adulis in Eritrea, and he makes a good case for it in the interview in the next link. He explains (well into the i/v at 21:42), that evidence is lacking for the longstanding assumption that the ancient Egyptians imported Frankincense. (Another article linked to below contradicts him on this important point.) Myrrh was certainly imported from Punt, as well as another aromatic, sntr (pron. seh-nurture?), recently identified as the resin of a plant in the genus pistacia (which includes pistachio-nut-bearing trees), and that the leaf arrangement of Pistachia Ethiopicus is identical to that of a tree depicted in a relief at Deir el-Bahri. Hatshepsut evidently imported these sntr trees.: www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSSglhr3Is0 www.science.org/content/article/3300-year-old-baboon-skul... It's surprising that ancient Egyptian trade goods haven't been found in some coastal region in Eritrea or Somaliland or elsewhere in Africa in any significant quantity in light of the extent of trade /b/ Egypt and Punt in the period of the New Kingdom. Prof. Dominy explains that current and recent excavations at Adulis have stopped at the Roman level (at 27:20), and that he hopes that current or future excavations will dig deeper. He states that "many Eritreans [local archeologists] are working with Italian archeologists and the Italians are interested in the Roman level and then they stop, and the Eritrean researchers should maybe push them a bit to dig deeper [as] there are many interesting questions to be answered that are older than the Roman record." (He also seems to imply that the trade conducted between Middle and then New Kingdom Egypt and Punt is a primary long distance trade network, a genesis of international maritime trade, and that's just not true. The Sumerians of southern Mesopotamia traded extensively with the Indus river civilization of what is today Pakistan, traveling by sea along the coasts of what is today Iran and Balochistan, for centuries before the advent of the Middle Kingdom in 2040 BC. And "Mesopotamia had been an intermediary in the trade in lapis lazuli between South Asia and Egypt since at least @ 3,200 BCE, in the context of Egypt-Mesopotamia relations." [Wikipedia])

- What a rabbit-hole this is, the question of the location of the Emporium of Punt. I've tried to confirm what Prof. Dominy has to say re the lack of Frankincense in ancient Egypt, and I've been taken to the Eber papyrus, and elsewhere., incl. to this article which has much to say re ancient Egyptian trade with Punt in the time of the OLD Kingdom in the 3rd mill. BC., and which maintains that the Egyptians imported a 2nd, higher grade aromatic known as ‘ntiyw or nty, and which was exclusively acquired from Punt, unlike sntr which was of a lower grade and could be obtained in the Nile valley as well.: landofpunt.wordpress.com/tag/adulis/ The author claims that ntiyw or nty is Frankincense, but could it have been Myrrh? It was according to Nova.: www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/egypt-punt/

- Adulis = Punt makes sense for another reason. Adulis is considered to have been the emporium for the ancient, early 1st mill. kingdom of D'mt which grew and flourished there and further into the interior at the cult centre (and D'mt capital?) Yeha, and which was succeeded centuries later by Axum. Great stone obelisks or stelae (reminiscent of those erected in ancient Egypt - ?) were erected by the inhabitants of D'mt at Keskese in @ 500 BC, and centuries later in the Axumite empire. In fact, the tallest and largest ever erected anywhere in antiquity lies in pieces today at Axum. Could there be obelisks and stelae many centuries older and contemporary with Punt waiting to be excavated in Eritrea and northern Ethiopia? The exposure through trade to the great complexity and sophistication of ancient Egypt could only have rubbed off on Punt. The genesis of the great Sabaean civilization in latter day Yemen, Eritrea and northern Ethiopia, famous for the legendary, Biblical 'Queen of Sheba', and for such sites as Marib, could have been at 'Punt'. (I've never read or heard this theory anywhere, but I'm sure it's been well argued. Tbh, I'm embarrassed that the possibility of a connection didn't occur to me years ago.)

For another day.

- Update July, '24: Scientific evidence continues to accumulate that Adulis in Eritrea = Punt. (Sorry Mr. Awale.) www.heritagedaily.com/2023/10/genetic-analysis-of-baboons...

It's almost unfair. Again, Mr. Awale's booklet was the ONLY one available in that bookstore in Hargeisa in English re Hargeisa or Somaliland or Somalia (or was it simply the only book available for sale in English?). He and his friends were enthusiastic, to say the least, in their search for Punt and he made an eloquent claim for Erigavo and Maydh with quiet pride. Somalians further east have seen fit to name a large region, the very horn of Africa, 'Puntland'. The population of Puntland was almost 4 1/2 million 10 years ago (per Wikipedia), and it's fair to assume that the locals understand the basis for the name and take pride in the region's alleged connection with the high culture of the Egyptian 'New Kingdom'. I've met many Eritreans in Toronto, and I often bring up this question of the location of Punt at Adulis, and to a man and a woman, not a one has heard of Punt, and none seem to be too interested. Most of the Eritreans I know are just that focused on their Coptic Christianity and Jesus. The Somalilanders and Somalians covet a good claim to Punt while the Eritreans generally don't seem to care (or again so I've found), but Adulis is shaping up to be the site of the fabled emporium. Then again, some claim that 'Punt' refers to a region which could include Djibouti and Zeila, for example. It's still a moving target, but less so.

- www.livescience.com/archaeology/ancient-egyptians/baboon-...

- youtu.be/218htb37SuQ?si=rzD9DWhf183Ty4JW

- www.livescience.com/archaeology/ancient-egypts-sacred-bab...

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