Editing Sheba (section)

== Conquests ==
=== Conquests of Karib'il Watar ===
The major conquests in Saba were driven by the exploits of [[Karib'il Watar]]. Karib'il conquered all surrounding neighbours, including the [[Awsan]], [[Qataban]], and [[Hadhramaut]]. Karib'il's exploits largely unified Yemen.{{Sfn|Robin|2002|p=58}}[[File:Karib'il Watar map1.svg|thumb|[[Karib'il Watar]]'s campaign against [[Awsan]]]]The conquests of Karib'il are documented in two lengthy inscriptions (RES 3945–3946) discovered at the Temple of Almaqah at Sirwah. These inscriptions describe a series of eight campaigns to show how Karib'il ultimately brought South Arabia under the control of Saba. The first campaign took place in the highlands west of Marib, where Karib'il declares that he had captured 8,000 and killed 3,000 enemies.{{Sfn|Magee|2014|pp=242–243}} The second campaign concerned the [[Kingdom of Awsan]], which flourished in the 8th and 7th centuries BCE. Up until the reign of Karib'il, it was a significant regional competitor with the Kingdom of Saba. However, Karib'il's campaign brought about the obliteration of the Kingdom of Awsan. The tribal elite leading Awsan were slaughtered, and the palace of Murattaʿ was destroyed, as well as their temples and inscriptions. The wadi was depopulated, which is reflected in the abandonment of the wadi. Sabaean inscriptions claim that 16,000 were killed and 40,000 prisoners were taken. This may not have been a significant exaggeration, as the Awsan kingdom disappeared as a political entity from the historical record for five or six centuries.{{Sfn|Nebes|2023|pp=342–343}} The third and fourth campaigns involve attacks against tribes living in low-lying hills that geographically face the [[Gulf of Aden]]. The fifth and sixth campaigns were against [[Nashshan]]. Nashshan was, like Awsan, one of Saba's most powerful competitors. However, against Karib'il, combined with the destruction of several towns and buildings and the imposition of a tribute on its people. Any dissidents were killed and the cult of [[Almaqah]] was imposed onto Nashshan, with Nashshan's leaders being required to build a temple for him. The final two campaigns were against the [[Tihamah]] coastal region and the [[Najran]] region.{{Sfn|Magee|2014|pp=242–243}}

=== African conquests ===
Around 800 BCE, the Sabaeans conquered parts of [[Eritrea]] and the [[Tigray Region]] of Ethiopia in the [[Horn of Africa]], triggering a [[Sabean colonization of Africa|Sabaean colonization]] event that created the Eri-Ethio-Sabaean [[Dʿmt|Kingdom of Di'amat]]. Sabaean populations migrated to maintain the new polity, and link it with the mother country, including through managing trade between the two (ivory might have especially been a driver of the expansion). The capital of the new kingdom was [[Yeha]], where a great temple was built for [[Almaqah]], the national god of Saba. Four other Almaqah temples are also known from Di'amat (including the [[Temple of Meqaber Gaʿewa]]), and other inscriptions mention the complete remainder of the known Sabaean deities. The great Yeha temple was modelled by Sabaean masons off of the Almaqah Temple at [[Sirwah]] (a major urban center of Saba). Besides religion, Sabaean culture also diffused into Di'amat through the use of objects, architectural techniques, artistic styles, institutions, paleographical styles for writings inscriptions, and the use of abstract symbols. Leaders in Di'amat used the classical South Arabian title, the ''[[mukarrib]]'', and one particular title that is seen is the "Mukarrib of Diʿamat and Saba" (''mkrb Dʿmt s-S<sup>1</sup>bʾ''). The exact timing of the collapse of Di'amat is not known: it happened around the mid-1st millennium BCE and involved a destruction of Yeha along with a number of adjacent sites. This also happened when Saba was beginning to lose its grip on power over South Arabia. Nevertheless, Sabaeans continued migrating to Ethiopia after this collapse and Ethiopia only established a position of power for itself when the [[Kingdom of Aksum]] arose in the 1st century CE.{{Sfn|Schulz|2024|p=131}}{{Sfn|Avanzini|2016|pp=127–130}}{{Sfn|Nebes|2023|pp=348–355}}

Military warfare continued between Saba, Ethiopia, and Himyar during the second Sabaean period, with a dynamic and shifting array of alliances. Recently discovered evidence shows that these encounters took place, not only on the peninsula, but also on Ethiopian territory during expeditions launched by the Sabaeans.{{Sfn|Potts|2025}}