Part 3 (1/2)

Book I. _Compendium of the beginning and origins of genealogy._

Book II. _Genealogy of the descendants of al-Hamaysa' b. ?imyar._

Book III. _Concerning the pre-eminent qualities of Qa??an._

Book IV. _Concerning the first period of history down to the reign of Tubba' Abu Karib._

Book V. _Concerning the middle period from the accession of As'ad Tubba' to the reign of Dhu Nuwas._

Book VI. _Concerning the last period down to the rise of Islam._

Book VII. _Criticism of false traditions and absurd legends._

Book VIII. _Concerning the castles, cities, and tombs of the ?imyarites; the extant poetry of 'Alqama,_[40]

_the elegies, the inscriptions, and other matters._

Book IX. _Concerning the proverbs and wisdom of the ?imyarites in the ?imyarite language, and concerning the alphabet of the inscriptions._

Book X. _Concerning the genealogy of ?as.h.i.+d and Bakil_ (the two princ.i.p.al tribes of Hamdan).

[Sidenote: Nashwan b. Sa'id al-?imyari ( 1177 A.D.).]

[Sidenote: 'Abid b. Sharya.]

[Sidenote: ?amza of I?fahan.]

The same intense patriotism which caused Hamdani to devote himself to scientific research inspired Nashwan b. Sa'id, who descended on the father's side from one of the ancient princely families of Yemen, to recall the legendary past and become the laureate of a long vanished and well-nigh forgotten empire. In 'The ?imyarite Ode' (_al-Qa?datu 'l-?imyariyya_) he sings the might and grandeur of the monarchs who ruled over his people, and moralises in true Mu?ammadan spirit upon the fleetingness of life and the futility of human ambition.[41]

Accompanying the Ode, which has little value except as a comparatively unfalsified record of royal names,[42] is a copious historical commentary either by Nashwan himself, as Von Kremer thinks highly probable, or by some one who lived about the same time. Those for whom history represents an aggregate of naked facts would find nothing to the purpose in this commentary, where threads of truth are almost inextricably interwoven with fantastic and fabulous embroideries. A literary form was first given to such legends by the professional story-tellers of early Islam. One of these, the South Arabian 'Abid b.

Sharya, visited Damascus by command of the Caliph Mu'awiya I, who questioned him ”concerning the ancient traditions, the kings of the Arabs and other races, the cause of the confusion of tongues, and the history of the dispersion of mankind in the various countries of the world,”[43] and gave orders that his answers should be put together in writing and published under his name. This work, of which unfortunately no copy has come down to us, was ent.i.tled 'The Book of the Kings and the History of the Ancients' (_Kitabu 'l-Muluk wa-akhbaru 'l-Ma?in_).

Mas'udi ( 956 A.D.) speaks of it as a well-known book, enjoying a wide circulation.[44] It was used by the commentator of the ?imyarite Ode, either at first hand or through the medium of Hamdani's _Iklil_. We may regard it, like the commentary itself, as a historical romance in which most of the characters and some of the events are real, adorned with fairy-tales, fict.i.tious verses, and such entertaining matter as a man of learning and story-teller by trade might naturally be expected to introduce. Among the few remaining Mu?ammadan authors who bestowed special attention on the Pre-islamic period of South Arabian history, I shall mention here only ?amza of I?fahan, the eighth book of whose Annals (finished in 961 A.D.) provides a useful sketch, with brief chronological details, of the Tubba's or ?imyarite kings of Yemen.

[Sidenote: Ya'rub.]

[Sidenote: ?imyar and Kahlan.]

Qa??an, the ancestor of the Southern Arabs, was succeeded by his son Ya'rub, who is said to have been the first to use the Arabic language, and the first to receive the salutations with which the Arabs were accustomed to address their kings, viz., ”_In'im ?aba?an_” (”Good morning!”) and ”_Abayta 'l-la'na_” (”Mayst thou avoid malediction!”).

His grandson, 'Abd Shams Saba, is named as the founder of Ma'rib and the builder of the famous d.y.k.e, which, according to others, was constructed by Luqman b. 'ad. Saba had two sons, ?imyar and Kahlan. Before his death he deputed the sovereign authority to ?imyar, and the task of protecting the frontiers and making war upon the enemy to Kahlan. Thus ?imyar obtained the lords.h.i.+p, a.s.sumed the t.i.tle Abu Ayman, and abode in the capital city of the realm, while Kahlan took over the defence of the borders and the conduct of war.[45] Omitting the long series of mythical Sabaean kings, of whom the legend has little or nothing to relate, we now come to an event which fixed itself ineffaceably in the memory of the Arabs, and which is known in their traditions as _Saylu 'l-'Arim_, or the Flood of the d.y.k.e.

[Sidenote: The Dam of Ma'rib.]

Some few miles south-west of Ma'rib the mountains draw together leaving a gap, through which flows the River Adana. During the summer its bed is often dry, but in the rainy season the water rushes down with such violence that it becomes impa.s.sable. In order to protect the city from floods, and partly also for purposes of irrigation, the inhabitants built a dam of solid masonry, which, long after it had fallen into ruin, struck the imagination of Mu?ammad, and was reckoned by Moslems among the wonders of the world.[46] That their historians have clothed the bare fact of its destruction in ample robes of legendary circ.u.mstance is not surprising, but renders abridgment necessary.[47]

[Sidenote: Its destruction announced by portents.]

Towards the end of the third century of our era, or possibly at an earlier epoch,[48] the throne of Ma'rib was temporarily occupied by 'Amr b. 'amir Ma' al-Sama, surnamed Muzayqiya.[49] His wife, ?arifa, was skilled in the art of divination. She dreamed dreams and saw visions which announced the impending calamity. ”Go to the d.y.k.e,” she said to her husband, who doubted her clairvoyance, ”and if thou see a rat digging holes in the d.y.k.e with its paws and moving huge boulders with its hind-legs, be a.s.sured that the woe hath come upon us.” So 'Amr went to the d.y.k.e and looked carefully, and lo, there was a rat moving an enormous rock which fifty men could not have rolled from its place.

Convinced by this and other prodigies that the d.y.k.e would soon burst and the land be laid waste, he resolved to sell his possessions and depart with his family; and, lest conduct so extraordinary should arouse suspicion, he had recourse to the following stratagem. He invited the chief men of the city to a splendid feast, which, in accordance with a preconcerted plan, was interrupted by a violent altercation between himself and his son (or, as others relate, an orphan who had been brought up in his house). Blows were exchanged, and 'Amr cried out, ”O shame! on the day of my glory a stripling has insulted me and struck my face.” He swore that he would put his son to death, but the guests entreated him to show mercy, until at last he gave way. ”But by G.o.d,” he exclaimed, ”I will no longer remain in a city where I have suffered this indignity. I will sell my lands and my stock.” Having successfully got rid of his enc.u.mbrances--for there was no lack of buyers eager to take him at his word--'Amr informed the people of the danger with which they were threatened, and set out from Ma'rib at the head of a great mult.i.tude. Gradually the waters made a breach in the d.y.k.e and swept over the country, spreading devastation far and wide. Hence the proverb _Dhahabu_ (or _tafarraqu_) _aydi Saba_, ”They departed” (or ”dispersed”) ”like the people of Saba.”[50]

[Sidenote: Fall of the Sabaean Empire.]

This deluge marks an epoch in the history of South Arabia. The waters subside, the land returns to cultivation and prosperity, but Ma'rib lies desolate, and the Sabaeans have disappeared for ever, except ”to point a moral or adorn a tale.” Al-A'sha sang:--

?| ?| ?| Metre _Mutaqarib_: (? - -|? - -|? - -|? -).

”Let this warn whoever a warning will take-- And Ma'rib withal, which the Dam fortified.