Yemen

YEMEN. - I. GEOGRAPHY. - A state of southwestern Arabia, between the Sa'ūdite province of 'Aṣīr and the British protectorate of Ḥaḍramūt. It embraces a short stretch of coast on the Red Sea, opposite Eritrea, ending at the strait of Bāb el-Mandeb with the zone of Šejh Sa'id (1622 sq km and 1000 inhabitants).

The Y. consists of a narrow (40-50 km) coastal strip, from which one ascends with rapid differences in elevation onto the plateau, which represents the most extensive and best inhabited part of the country. The plateau, like that of Eritrea, results from masses of volcanic origin, deeply cut by valleys and surmounted by reliefs rising to 3760 m in the Gebel Ḥadur. Toward the interior there are no well-defined limits; therefore the area of the Y. is variously calculated: the opinion that assigns it a total of 80 thousand sq km may be accepted as close to the truth.

The climate, very hot in the desolate coastal fringe, becomes less extreme in the interior, with altitude, but has a character of strong continentality, with marked thermal contrasts between day and night. The rains fall in spring and in summer, with an average as a rule below 500 mm annually on the plateau.

Here, where cultivation is possible, cereals (wheat, barley, dura), vegetables and fruit (bananas, grapes, apricots, mango) are harvested; the Y. owes greater renown to its production of coffee, which feeds a considerable export flow and excels in quality (Mocha). Little is known of the subsoil's reserves; the existence of iron and rock salt has nevertheless been ascertained.

The population, very variously estimated, is in all probability around 3.5 million inhabitants, almost all sedentary and Muslims of the Zaydi rite. The Sunnis number little more than half a million, the Jews 70 thousand. The inhabited centers appear relatively numerous, but small: the largest correspond to the capital Ṣan'ā', which rises on the plateau at an altitude of 2200 m, and to its outlet on the Red Sea, Hodejdah (30 thousand inhabitants). Other ports are Loḥajjah and Mocha (al-Maḥā), the latter much decayed.

The Y. constitutes a principality that made itself independent from Turkey in 1915; power is concentrated entirely in the hands of the imām, or sovereign, who exercises it through ministers chosen by him.

Giuseppe Caraci

II. POLITICAL HISTORY

The mildness of the climate and the fertility of the soil, by making possible the establishment of a sedentary culture, give the south-western coast of Arabia historical characteristics notably autonomous with respect to the rest, predominantly desert, of the peninsula. Already and at least from the beginning of the 1st millennium B.C. solid States were formed there, in which commerce and agriculture developed. These States, unified into a single one around the 3rd century A.D., then succumbed to the Ethiopian, Persian, and finally, in the 7th century, to the Islamic occupation, which reduced Yemen to a province of the great Empire of the caliphs. The decline and dismemberment of this empire, two centuries later, renewed the autonomous history of the region, under local dynasties. Among these, that of the Zaydi imāms progressively prevailed, which, having overcome various phases of temporary foreign domination (chiefly that of the Ayyubids of Egypt and the two of the Ottoman Turks), unified Yemen in the present century under their control. From the religious point of view, Yemen thus presents the phenomenon, unique in the Islamic world, of the prevalence of the moderate Shī'ite branch (v. ISLĀM, le sète); on the other hand, Ismā'īlī and Qarmatian extremism, although attacking the region repeatedly, did not succeed in establishing itself.

1. Pre-Islamic Yemen

a) The sources. - The most ancient history of Yemen is known through a body of approximately 4000 inscriptions, discovered from the second half of the nineteenth century onward (journeys of Halevy and Glaser) down to very recent times (explorations of the University of Louvain, under the guidance of G. Ryckmans, in 1951-52; and of the American Foundation for the Study of Man, under the guidance of W. F. and F. P. Albright and A. Jamme, from 1930 onward). It cannot be said, however, that the region has been subjected to systematic archaeological exploration, and therefore the material is very partial. The aforementioned inscriptions are written in a script and language of the South Semitic type; they contain information relating to historical, administrative (edicts), economic (public works) and religious matters (votive and funerary dedications).

Alongside these direct sources, indirect information is provided by the annals of the kings of Assyria (two mentions of Sabaean kings in the 8th century), by a few biblical passages (v. SABA), by the classical historians and geographers and by the Arab ones, the latter however scarcely reliable.

b) Chronology. - There exist two theories on the chronology of the pre-Islamic Arab states. The first, called the "long" one, was upheld by Glaser, Hommel and recently by Philby (cf. H. St. J. B. Philby, South arabian chronology, in Le Muséon, 62 [1949], pp. 229-49), who traces the history of the Minaean state back to the 12th century B.C., that of the Hadramût to the 11th, and that of the Sabaean state to the 9th century. The other theory, called the "short" one, supported by Mordtmann, Rhodokanakis, and more recently by F. V. Winnett (The place of the Minaeans in the history of pre-islamic Arabia, in Bulletin of the American schools of oriental research, 73 [1939], pp. 3-9), K. Mlaker (Die Hierodulenlisten von Ma'in, nebst Untersuchungen zur altidarabischen Rechtsgeschichte und Chronologie, Leipzig n.d.) and J. Ryckmans (L'institution monarchique en Arabie méridionale, Louvain 1951), holds instead that the history of the aforementioned states is contemporary, and its beginning to the 9th or 8th century. This second theory is the more accepted: in its extreme formulation (cf. W. F. Albright, in Bulletin of the American schools of oriental research, 119 [1950], pp. 5-15 and the additions made subsequently by the same author, ibid., 129 [1953], pp. 20-24), the history of Saba begins before 750 B.C.; that of the Minaeans ca. 400, to end ca. 50 B.C.; that of Qatâbân unfolds between ca. 400 and 50 B.C.; that of the Hadramût between ca. 450 B.C. and the 2nd century A.D.

c) The states. - The principal states are the following: Minaean, in the north, with capital Qarnâw (later Ma'in); Sabaean, in the central region, with several successive capitals; Qatâbân, east of Saba, with capital Timna'; Hadramût, east of Qatâbân, with capital Sabwah.

Of these states the most important is that of Saba, which successively absorbed the others. It was governed in an initial period (until ca. 450) by priest-kings, the mkrb (habitually vocalized muharrib) and had as its capital Şirwâh (later Marjab, Mārib), where a famous dam was built for the damming of the river Aḍanat. There followed a period of secular government, headed by kings and an oligarchy of military chiefs and landowners. The power of the state increased progressively: around 115 the capital was moved to Zafâr, and the kings added to the title of Saba that of Dû Rajdân. Meanwhile the tribe of the Himyarites (Homerites in the classical writers) was asserting itself, whose name ended by prevailing in the designation of the state. Probably shortly before the beginning of the Christian era occurred the absorption of the Minaean kingdom, which had previously reached notable prosperity, extending with commercial colonies (Dedân, today al-'Ulâ) along the northern route. Shortly afterward, the same fate befell Qatâbân, and toward the 2nd century the Hadramût. In the inscriptions of both these states the mkrb appear, which suggests a historical development analogous to that of Saba.

Thus, ca. the 3rd century A.D., Yemen was unified under a national dynasty. This situation, however, did not last long. The introduction of Judaism and Christianity brought about internal religious struggles, with the consequent weakening of the state. Already for a good part of the 4th century the region had undergone an Ethiopian occupation: when, at the beginning of the 6th century, the king Dû Nuwâs began to persecute the Christians, Ethiopia intervened again in their aid, occupying the country (525; v. below).

From 525 to 575 Yemen remained under Ethiopia: and despite some expansionist ambitions of its governors (such as the famous expedition of Abraha toward the north, of which a trace has remained in the Koran), it progressively declined, with the decline of its commercial activity, to which the breaking, which occurred in 542, of the famous dam of Mārib was not extraneous. In 575 the region was occupied by the Persians and ca. 630 passed under the Islamic state.

2. Islamic Yemen

a) Until the occupation of the Ayyubids (630-1173). - For ca. two centuries Yemen was governed by governors of the caliphs. Then, at the beginning of the 9th century A.D., with a phenomenon parallel to that of the other peripheral regions of the Islamic Empire, the governors made themselves progressively autonomous, constituting local dynasties, which divided the region until its reunification under the Ayyubids. Four zones are distinguished in the history of this period. In that of Zabîd there reigned successively: Ziyadids (819-1018); Najahids (1021-1158); Mahdids (1159-73). In that of Şan'â': Ga'furids (861-997), under whom the Qarmatians (v.) asserted themselves for a brief period; Şulâhids (1037-1101), Ismâ'îlites, who from 1062 to 1080 also seized Zabîd; Hamdânids (1098-1173). In the zone of Şa'dah: Zaydi imâms (called Rassids), the future national dynasty (1st series: 893 - ca. 1300). In the zone of Aden: Zuraj'ids (1083-1173), Ismâ'îlites.

b) From the occupation of the Ayyubids to the end of that of the Ottomans (1173-1918). - Yemen was reunified under the occupation of the Ayyubids of Egypt (1173-1228; v. EGITTO). They were succeeded by the national dynasties of the Rasûlids (1229-1454) and of the Tâhirids (1446-1517); then Yemen was annexed to the Ottoman Empire.

Two periods are distinguished in the Ottoman domination. The first (1517-1633) was interrupted by the reawakening of the Zaydi imâms who, suppressed by the Rasûlids ca. 1300, resumed around 1591 and in 1633 succeeded in expelling the Ottomans, seizing Şan'â' (2nd series, called that of the imâms of Şan'â' which lasts to the present day). The second period runs from 1871, when the Ottomans succeeded in regaining control over the region, until 1918, when, with the defeat in the First World War, they lost it definitively.

c) From the end of the Ottoman occupation to the present day. - Already in the last years of the Ottoman domination, the Zaydi imâm Yahâ had struggled bitterly for the independence of Yemen. Having obtained it, he established a domestic policy of tolerance toward the Sunni minority, so as not to undermine the unity of the country; he persecuted instead the remnants of the Ismâ'îlites, who had brought so many agitations there. As for foreign policy, he maintained himself in relative isolation, neither sending nor accepting embassies from European countries and hindering the entry into Yemen of their subjects. Nevertheless, it concluded treaties of friendship with various states, first of all with Italy (1926) and then with Russia, Holland, England and France. It waged military actions on its borders with the aim of increasing its dominion, but with negative results: in 1928 the English halted its attack against Aden; in 1930 and 1934 Ibn Sa'ūd repelled the actions against 'Asir and Nağrān, himself annexing these regions.

A step forward in the Y.'s international relations was, in 1945, its entry into the Arab League, in 1946 the establishment of diplomatic relations with the United States, and in 1947 its entry into the U.N.

In 1948 the imām Jābja died assassinated; the author of the coup d'état, 'Abdallāh al-Wazīr, ascended the throne, but was shortly afterwards defeated and hanged by the imām's firstborn son, Ahmed.

Pre-Islamic Y. Periodical bibliography: S. Moscati, Bibliographie sémitique, in Orientalia, 16 (1947), pp. 103-29; 17 (1948), pp. 91-102; 19 (1950), pp. 446-78 (continues). General works: D. Nielsen, Handbuch der altarabischen Altertumskunde, I. Die altarabische Kultur, Copenhagen 1927; H. St. J. B. Philby, The background of islam, being a sketch of arabian history in pre-islamic times, Alexandria 1947; 'Alī Gawwād, Ta'rīh al-'Arab qabla 'l-Islām, I, Baghdad 1951.

Islamic Y.: H. C. Kay, Yaman, its early medieval history, 1892; S. Lane Poole, The mohammadan dynasties, London 1894, pp. 87-103 (chronology and brief historical outline); E. de Zambaur, Manuel de généalogie et de chronologie pour l'histoire de l'islam, Hannover 1927, pp. 113-24 (chronology and bibl.). On the more recent period: M. V. Seton-Williams, Britain and the arab states, London 1948, pp. 195-204, 322 (with bibl.). Chronicles, documentation and periodic bibliographical surveys in the journals: Oriente moderno, Cahiers de l'Orient contemporain, The Middle East journal. Cf. furthermore the works cited in the geographical part of this entry and the parts relating to the Y. in the general histories of islām (v.).

Sabatino Moscati

II. EVANGELIZATION

The history of Christianity in Arabia (v.) and in Yemen in particular is quite vague. Given such obscurity and uncertainty, what will be said is reported by others with some variation, though not substantial.

It seems that in the pre-Islamic period there existed in southern Arabia three principal centers of Christian influence: at Ghassan, at Hira, and in Yemen (v. below). According to a tradition, Yemen was evangelized by the apostle St. Bartholomew, when he went to India which borders on Ethiopia

(Socrates, Hist., I, 19: PG 67, 125; cf. also Rufinus, Hist. eccl., I, 9: PL 21, 478). Among the other missionaries, the Alexandrian catechist Pantenus is said to have preached there as well, evangelizing the Jewish communities of the Y. On his return (according to what St. Jerome reports on the authority of Rufinus) he is said to have brought with him the Hebrew Gospel of St. Matthew, left in the Y. by St. Bartholomew (PL 33, 651).

During the 4th-6th centuries Christianity counted many adherents. Theophilus the Indian in the 4th century is said to have preached the Arian heresy there. The expansion of Christianity clashed with the susceptibilities of the rich and influential Yemenite Jewish communities. Around 530 the Jew Dū Nuwās, governor (according to others king) of Himyar (Y.), subject to the king of Abyssinia (according to others independent), having revolted, treacherously seized the city or village of Nağrān, a stronghold of the Christians in the north of the Y. and where in 563 a church dedicated to St. Elias would be built. There Dū Nuwās had the Christians who refused to convert to Judaism massacred. The bones of Bishop Paul were disinterred and burned; Aretas (v.), along with other notables of the city, was imprisoned and beheaded; the number of those massacred is estimated at between 4,400 and 20,000. Although it is difficult to determine even a plausible number, the fact of the persecution is nonetheless indubitable: it is recorded by Arab Nestorian and Jacobite chroniclers; according to some exegetes a trace of it would also remain in the Koran. The news of the massacre spread at once throughout the Roman and Eastern world. Ella Aṣbeha, king of Abyssinia, took the opportunity to invade the Y. and avenge his coreligionists with the killing of thousands of Jews and of Dū Nuwās himself, and restored the clergy. A few years later an Abyssinian Christian by the name of Abraha (whom others place in the stead of Ella Aṣbeha) seized power and was recognized by the king of Abyssinia. Under him Christianity was able to develop peacefully. At Ṣan'ā', which had become the seat of a viceroy, a magnificent cathedral was built (547), which, attracting to itself a great number of pilgrims, diminished the importance and the revenues of the pagan sanctuary of the ka'bah at Mecca.

The Meccans, ill tolerating such competition, had the Cathedral desecrated. Abraha wished to punish the Meccans and planned the destruction of the ka'bah. The expedition failed and is remembered in sūrah 105 of the Koran. During the government of the sons of Abraha the power of the Abyssinian Christians in the Y. gradually declined until in 568 (?) a military expedition of the Persians annihilated it. The difficulties between Byzantium and Persia, then the appearance of islām absorbed Christianity. Among in 629 and 630 Bāḏān, viceroy of Ṣan'ā', converted to Islam.

Martiniano Roncaglia

III. ANCIENT CHRISTIAN CHURCHES

The first reliable notice of the spread of Christianity in the Y. is given by the Arian historian Philostorgius (d. 430) and refers to an embassy sent by the emperor Constantius II (337-61) to the Homerites, led by a Theophilus called the Indian: he is said to have obtained permission to build three churches, the first in the capital of the Kingdom Yāqāṣoʿ (Zafār), the second in 'Ašāʿoʿ (Aden) and the third in the "famous Persian emporium" (Hormuz?). The mission is datable to 341-46.

Later notices speak of the introduction of Christianity into Naḡrān through the work of Nestorian or Jacobite missionaries coming from Syria or from al-Hīrah in the second half of the 5th century: they are found in Arabic texts written in connection with the passage of the Koran 85, 4-8. The fertile valley of Naḡrān lies on the caravan route that leads from Ṣan'ā' into the Naḡd and from there to al-Hīrah, and this explains the constant relations of the Christianity of Naḡrān with that city: this group of Christians had churches and bishops, some of whose names have been handed down by the texts relating to the persecution they suffered in 525 at the hands of the local ruler of the Jewish religion, especially by the "Book of the Himyarites" published by Axel Moberg, by the letter of the (Monophysite) bishop Simeon of Beth Arām to Simeon abbot of Gabbula and by the Martyrum Arethae, which exists in a Greek text, but of which the first part is probably the translation of a Syriac writing. Other data on this Christian group and other names of bishops are found in the ecclesiastical history of Theodore the Lector (after 575) and in John Diacrinomenos. The greatest development of Christianity in the Y. occurs after the second Abyssinian invasion of 525, which puts an end to the Himyarite Kingdom, through the work of an expedition sent by the king of Ašām and led by Abrahah, who becomes viceroy of the region. It is to Abrahah that we owe a very important dated inscription of 543, relating to the restorations of the famous dam of Mārib, which is also the act of consecration of the church of Mārib, to which a priest was assigned who was to remain in its service: further on, the expenses incurred for the consecration of the church are enumerated. This is designated by the Arabic name bī'ah, while the priests are given the Syriac name qaṭīf. At the time of the Abyssinian domination another sanctuary must have arisen that remained famous in South Arabian history, the church of Ṣan'ā': of it the Arab writers have left extensive descriptions. It was called al-Qullays, a corruption of ḗkāyāʾa; it was built with stones of various colors, with gold ornaments and bronze doors, decorated with marbles, paintings and mosaics which, according to the Arab historian Ibn Hīšām, would have been sent by the Byzantine Emperor. The church lasted a long time even after the triumph of Islam and the conversion of the region: it would not have been destroyed except under the caliph as-Saffāḥ (751-53) according to Yāqūt or under his successor al-Manṣūr, according to al-Azraqi. Another famous Christian sanctuary was the deyr Naḡrān, also called Ka'bat Naḡrān. Its foundation is attributed to the chiefs of the dominant tribe in Naḡrān and it too was adorned with gold and mosaics. It functioned as a place of asylum, made famous, as Nallino rightly interprets, by the verses of al-A'ša (d. c. 629) which perhaps allude to solemnities of the church itself. After the end of the 9th century there are no more traces of Christianity in the Y.

835 and 897; W. Budge, The Book of Governors, I, London 1893, pp. 238, 18; II, ibid. 1893, p. 448 and C. Arendonk, De uphamst van het Zeditische Jnamat, Leiden 1919, pp. 128 and 309.

Ugo Monneret de Villard