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[German version] (Arabic Ḥaḍramaut, Ḥaḍramōt, Ḥaḍramūt; Ἁδραμύτα; Hadramýta, Theophr. Hist. pl. 9,4). Ancient southern Arabian kingdom with capital Sabota, i.e. Šabwa(t) in the west; its residents are the easternmost people of Arabia Felix, the so-called Chadramōtítai (Str. 16,4) or Atramitae (Plin. HN 6,155). In ancient times H. was not only the valley of that name with its catchment areas but comprised the entire region up to the Arabian Sea. The kingdom of H. is attested from the 7th cent. BC in Ancient Southern Arabic inscription…

[German version] (Μιναῖοι; Minaîoi). Eratosthenes mentions the M., who lived beside the Erythraean Sea, as the first of the four nations of South Arabia (Strabo 16,768). According to Plin. HN 6,157 the Minaei were descendants of Minos, king of Crete. Ptol. 6,7,23 still presents the M. as an important nation. In Ancient South Arabian inscriptions the people and the kingdom of M. were called mn or mnm, Maīn or Maīnum. The heartland of the M. was the large oasis of the River Maḏāb, which extended north-west of Mārib ( Mariaba) and since the Islamic period has been called al-Ǧauf. The kingdom…

[German version] (Μαρσύαβα/ Marsýaba, var. Μαρσίαβα/ Marsíaba, Μαρσυαβαί/ Marsyabaí Str. 16,782). A town of the tribe of the Rhammanitae (Ῥαμμανῖται; Rhammanîtai) in Arabia Felix, subject to Ilasarus (Ἰλασάρος; Ilasáros). In 24 BC, M. was unsuccessfully besieged for six days by the Roman army ( Aelius [II 11] Gallus); cf. the contemporary Sabaean inscription Répertoire d'Épigraphie Sémitique 4085, according to which the leader of the tribe of the Rhammanitae built an irrigation system for his master Ilšaraḥ. In other campa…

[German version] [1] Biblical figure The biblical A. figure is subject to various interpretations during the early Jewish and rabbinical periods. To traditionally devout circles, A. represents the law-abiding patriarch, who, owing to the timeless nature of Jewish law, was able to observe the Halachic commandments previous to their revelation on Sinai (cf. i.a. Sir 44,19; Jub 15,1; 16,21; 21,5; syrBar 57,2; mQid 4,14; bYom 28b). As A. destroyed his father's graven images, he is regarded as the first r…

[German version] (Μαισαιμανεῖς/ Maisaimaneîs, var. Μναισαιμανεῖς/ Mnaisaimaneîs, Ptol. 6,7,21). A people settling in north-western Arabia directly west of the Zamēs mountain range in the neighbouring area of the Thamydenians; definitely identifiable with the Batmizomaneis (var. Banizomeneis, Diod. Sic. 3,44,2) mentioned in Agatharchides (De mari Erythraeo 92) in the same region and with the Marsimani - named in the annals of Sargon II of Assyria from 715 BC after the Tamudi - who lived in the desert, owed tribute to no king and b…

[German version] A. Spread and popularity Cockfighting is attested from the 5th cent. BC to the Roman Imperial period (earliest evidence in Pind. Ol. 12,14, latest in Hdn. 3,10,3). It was especially popular with the Greeks [1. 117; 2. 82-92]: fighting cocks were considered an ideal example of the will to win (Ael. VH 2,28); it is in that light that they are depicted on the Panathenaean prize amphorae [3. 34] ( Panathenaean amphorae); in Aesch. Eum. 861 they symbolize martial anger (the cock as ‘the bi…

[German version] (Ptol. 6,7,6: Κασσανῖται; Plin. HN 6,150: Casani; Agatharchidas in Diod. Sic. 3,45,6: Γασάνδαι/ Gasándai). People on the south-west coast of Arabia adjoining the Kinaidokolpites in the north and the Elisaroi in the south. In the area of the C. were the residence of the king Badeṓ (Βάδεως πόλις Steph. Byz.; probably al-Badī in Asīr), the town of Ambḗ, the village of Mámala (probably Mamala in Asīr) and Adḗdu (probably al-Ḥudaida). The C. should be identified with the Ghassān who originally were at home in Yemenite Tihāma before they settled in …

Name of a patrician gens which had already died out in the 5th cent. BC. Later bearers of the name owe it to the provenance from the eponymous tribus. [German version] [1] Horatii Member of the Horatius gens (Royal period). According to legend (Liv. 1,24-26; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 3,13,4-22,10), under King Tullus  Hostilius [I 4], the conflict between Rome and  Alba Longa was decided by a fight between the Horatii triplets and the Curiatii triplets rather than a battle. After two brothers had fallen, the last H. overcame his opponent…

[German version] (Plin. HN 6,175 after Juba). Island off the west coast of Arabia Felix in the southern Red Sea. It served as the next point of orientation for seafarers after passing Exusta ( Catacecaumene [2]). M. can probably be identified with the island of Ḥạnīš al-kubrā (13° 43' N, 42° 45' E); it rises to a height of 407 m. When Ptol. 6,7,44 mentions Malichou (Μαλίχου / Malíchou, Var. Μαλιάχου δύο / Maliáchou dýo, i.e. the two islands of Malichus), this may refer to the two Ḥanīš Islands, i.e. the main island and its smaller, northern neighbour, Ḥanīš aṣṣ̄ụġrā. Müller, Walter W. (Marburg…

[German version] (Adan, Aden), an important commercial town on the Indian Ocean in the southwestern Arabian peninsula, whose harbour lies on a bay protected by two volcanic peninsulas. The Eudaimones nēsoi mentioned in Agatharchides, De mari Erythraeo, 105a, at which trade ships called, probably referred to the islands of Adane. In the Periplous maris Erythraei § 26 the settlement of Eudaimōn Arabia is A., which is called after Arabia felix, whose most important port it was; it offered favourable anchorage and watering sites, which probably meant the ci…

[German version] I. Names and concept, sources The name and concept of the Phoínikes (Φοίνικες)/Phoenicians (= P.) were formed in the Greek world [1]. Those designated by it understood themselves primarily as citizens or members of a union of cities, e.g. as Tyrians, Sidonians or - after the shared cultural region - as Canaanites [2]. In this they were referring to a political or ethnic identity derived from the Ancient Near Eastern Bronze Age. The various designations can only be reconciled from case to cas…

[German version] (Λάβαι; Lábai: Pol. 13,9.; Steph. Byz.). City on the north-east coast of Arabia in the Gerrhaean coastal area of Chattēnía (Arabic al-Ḫaṭṭ), south of al-Qaṭīf and opposite Bahrein. Their ethnicon is Labaíoi, and probably with a conjecture of g to l the Gabaíoi (Str. 16,4,4) are indicated here, who as merchants travelled from their capital Gerrha to Hadramaut in 40 days. Arab geographers of the Middle Ages also mention Laʿbā as the name of salt pans along the coast of that region. Müller, Walter W. (Marburg/Lahn) Bibliography H. v. Wissmann, Zur Kenntnis von Ostarabien…

[German version] (Masala, Plin. HN 6,158). City of the Homeritae (Ḥimyars) in Arabia Felix, certainly identical with the port of Mesalum (Plin. HN. 12,69), from which white myrrh was exported. It may be equated with the ruined town of al-Aṣala, dialect am-Aṣala (13° 13′ N, 45° 28′ E), in the delta of the Wadi Banā on the Arabian Sea northeast of Aden. Müller, Walter W. (Marburg/Lahn) Bibliography H. von Wissmann, s.v. Zamareni, RE Suppl. 11, 1325-1329.

[German version] (Λαικηνοί/ Laikēnoí, Λαιηνοί/ Laiēnoí, Λεηνοί/ Leēnoí, Ptol. 6,7,22). Tribe who settled to the east of the central Arabian mountain range of Zámēs. Their name is not mentioned in any other ancient source and has to date not been satisfactorily interpreted. Perhaps the L. should be identified with the aṣḥāb al-Aika, the ‘people of the thicket’ or, rather, the ‘people of al-Aika’ mentioned in the Koran (15,78 et passim), a prehistoric people allegedly annihilated by the wrath of God. Müller, Walter W. (Marburg/Lahn)