Editing Sheba (section)

== Society ==

=== The gods ===
[[File:CIH 393.jpg|thumb|The inscription CIH 393 with the symbol of Almaqah in the top<ref>{{Cite web |title=DASI: Digital Archive for the Study of pre-islamic arabian Inscriptions: Object details |url=https://dasi.cnr.it/index.php?id=80&prjId=1&corId=27&colId=0&navId=837242924&recId=3961 |access-date=2025-01-17 |website=dasi.cnr.it}}</ref>]]
Limitations in the available evidence prevent a full reconstruction of the full religious world in Ancient South Arabian kingdoms. While many of the known inscriptions speak about gods, most only hand down the name of the divinity without describing its nature, function, or cult. It is not known, for example, if these kingdoms had a god of war or a god of the underworld. Familial relationships between the gods are frequently mentioned, however.{{Sfn|Avanzini|2016|pp=51–52}}
[[File:Awwam Temple.jpg|thumb|The [[Temple of Awwam]] where [[Almaqah]] was worshipped|left]]
Saba had five gods of its pantheon: [[Almaqah]], [[Athtar]], [[Haubas]], [[Dhat-Himyam]], and [[Dhat-Badan]].{{Sfn|Robin|2002|pp=51–52}} The first three are male, and the last two are female.{{Sfn|Robin|2020|p=24}} The high god of the pantheon, and the national god of Saba, was [[Almaqah]], whose worship was centered at the [[Temple of Awwam]].{{Sfn|Maraqten|2021|p=109}} Military victory helped spread this cult, such as when a temple to Almaqah was built in [[Nashshan]] after being conquered by Saba. The mention of Almaqah in the [[Jawf valley|Jawf]] also indicates the political role played by Saba in that valley. The nature of the god is not entirely clear, but Almaqah has been hypothesized to be a [[moon god]] by some researchers.{{Sfn|Avanzini|2016|pp=50–51, 96}}

Athtar was not limited to Saba, but was instead the common god of the South Arabian pantheon during its polytheistic era.{{Sfn|Avanzini|2016|p=49}} Athtar was also once the great god of the Sabaean pantheon, before being supplanted by Almaqah.{{Sfn|Robin|2020|p=24}} Generally however, South Arabian deities are region-specific and lack parallel elsewhere in the Near East.{{Sfn|Nebes|2023|p=334}}

Anthropomorphic representations of the gods are lacking entirely from the Old Sabaean period, and only begin to appear with the onset of Hellenistic and Roman influences at the turn of the Christian era.{{Sfn|Nebes|2023|p=336}}{{Sfn|Avanzini|2016|p=96}}

=== The king ===
Ancient South Arabian kings built great public works, had special ties with the gods legitimated through rites only they could perform, and led their armies during battle. They are represented as brave warriors, pious worshippers, and active builders. The fathers of the king is rarely attested independently. The function of the king was distinct from the role of the ''sheikh''. The ''[[Geographica]]'' by [[Strabo]] claims that in the region, the succession of kings was not familial, a claim that is partly confirmed by inscriptions. South Arabian kings did not appeal to their genealogy or the accomplishments of their fathers to legitimate their own rule.{{Sfn|Avanzini|2016|pp=53–57}} Only late in Sabaean history, from the second half of the 2nd century CE, did a real dynastic succession from father to son appear, and it only lasted for two generations.{{Sfn|Arbach|Schiettecatte|Al-Ḥajj|2021}}

The Sabaean king was called the ''[[mukarrib]]'' ("federator") more often than the ''malik'' ("king") between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE, to indicate their hegemony over their neighbours. When Saba declined after the 6th centuries BCE and Sabaean territory contracted to what it was prior to the conquests of [[Karib'il Watar]], the title ''mukarrib'' is replaced by that of ''malik''.{{Sfn|Schiettecatte|2024}}

In the early centuries of Saba, the title of the king was a combination of a name and an epithet. All titles were chosen from a combination of six possible names (Dhamar'ali, Karib'il, Sumhu'alay, Yada"il, Yakrubmalik and Yitha'amar) and four possible epithets (Bayan, Dharih, Watar and Yanu). The repetitiveness of names has caused difficulties for historians trying to determine the relative succession of kings (even when they are attested) and raises questions about what the personal names were of each king.{{Sfn|Robin|2002|p=52}} A similar practice took place in the neighbouring [[Kingdom of Hadhramaut]].{{Sfn|Avanzini|2016|p=56}} In the centuries leading up to the Christian era, this changed, kings began identifying with their real name, and reconstructions of Sabaean chronology become simpler.{{Sfn|Avanzini|2016|p=57}}

Accession to the Sabaean throne required the consent of "the Sabaeans, the ''qayls'' and the army" in one inscription. The legislative body extended beyond the king, including other functionaries. The Sabaean monarchs did not implement taxes but derived their wealth from royal lands, war boody, and rent from clients. Military service could be compelled and financial requests could be made for the purpose of funding construction work. Any tithes on temple lands went to the temples themselves, not the monarch.{{Sfn|Hoyland|2002|p=120}}

The king of Saba was not deified. The only known case of deification from ancient South Arabian cultures is from the [[Awsan|Kingdom of Awsan]] during its resurgent phase.{{Sfn|Avanzini|2016|pp=57, 201}}

=== The tribe ===
In the South Arabian tribal system, a fictitious shared ancestor was created and members of the tribe are referred to as the sons of the national god (in the case of Saba, they are "sons of Almaqah"). Allied states and tribes are called "brothers". Tribes were divided into lineages and sub-lineages, reflected by the names of members. The individual proper name appears along with the patronymic, the lineage name, and the name of the tribe, with the exception of funerary inscriptions, where the individual name is attested alone. In areas closer to the desert, the family name was more privileged and commonly mentioned, with the tribal name becoming less mentioned. Personal identity only went back to the name of the father, unlike in North Arabia in the same time period or the later Islamic period where a long sequence of ancestors is used to identify a figure. Identity was also in reference to the kingdom that one belonged to (Sabaeans, Qatabanians), not to a broader geographical construct (like "South Arabian").{{Sfn|Avanzini|2016|pp=57–60}}