Minaean

The Minaean people were the inhabitants of the kingdom of Ma'in (Old South Arabian mʿn, vocalized Maʿīn; modern Arabic معين Maʿīn) in modern day Yemen, dating back to the 6th century BCE-150 BCE It was located along the strip of desert called Ṣayhad by medieval Arab geographers, which is now known as Ramlat Dehem.

The Minaean people were one of four ancient Yemeni groups mentioned by Eratosthenes. The others were the Sabaeans, Ḥaḑramites and Qatabānians. Each of these had regional kingdoms in ancient Yemen, with the Minaeans in the north-west (in Wādī al-Jawf), the Sabaeans to the south-east of them, the Qatabānians to the south-east of the Sabaeans, and the Ḥaḑramites east of them.

Nothing is known about the early history of this north Yemeni kingdom. The region later to be known as Ma’īn first enters history at the time of the Sabaean mukarrib Karib’il Watar I, and at that time consisted of a number of small city-states, which were under very strong Sabaean influence. The inscriptions from the city-state of Ḥaram, which date from this time, exhibit Minaean linguistic features, alongside the significant Sabaean impact. The Kingdom of Ma’īn emerged in the 6th century BCE, but then found itself under the rule of Saba’. Only in about 400 BCE were the Minaeans able to ally themselves to Ḥaḑramawt and free themselves from Saba’. In the 4th century both Ma’īn and Ḥaḑramawt were ruled by the same family, a close relationship that broke up again probably in the second half of the same century. The next capital of the kingdom was Yathill (modern Baraqish) and later Qarnāwu (near modern Ma’īn). The kingdom enjoyed its golden age in the 3rd century BCE when it was able to extend its influence all along the incense trail due to the conquest of Najrān, ‘Asīr and Ḥijāz. From the time of Waqah'il Sadiq I. (Hermann von Wissmann: 360 BCE; Kenneth A. Kitchen: ca. 190–175 BCE Minaean rule reached as far as Dedan. The extent of their long distance trade is also shown by the presence of Minaean merchants in the Aegean. With the expansion of Ma’īn as far as the Red Sea they were also able to carry out sea trade. At the end of the 2nd century BCE Ma’īn found itself under the rule of Qatabān, but after the collapse of the Qatabānian Empire a few centuries later, the Minaean Kingdom fell too. The area was under Sabaean rule at the latest by the time the Roman general Aelius Gallus waged a military campaign in the area in 25/24 BCE.

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