Nashan
  Shown within Yemen | |
| Alternative name | Nashshān |
|---|---|
| Location | Yemen |
| Region | Al Jawf Governorate |
| Coordinates | 16°10′N44°45′E/ 16.167°N 44.750°E |
Nashan(Minaean:𐩬𐩦𐩬romanized:NŠN,Našān;modern dayKharbat Al-Sawda',[1]Arabic:خربة السوداء,romanized:Ḵirba al-Sawdāʾ) is the name of an ancientSouth Arabiancity in the northernal-Jawfregion of present dayYemen,in the territory of the ancientKingdom of Ma'in.The city was calledNestumin theNatural Historybook that was written byPliny the Elder.
History
[edit]Nashan, located near "Al-Khārid river" along with the neighboringKaminahu,HaramandNashaqin the region ofal-Jawf,was a separate city state.
Around 715 BC, it was initially annexed by Yitha'amar Watar I ofSaba.Subsequently,Karib'il Watar(around 685 BC) launched a campaign to capture Nashan and Nashaq which lasted for three years. Eventually, he managed to subdue both cities, and to dedicate his triumph to his godAlmaqah.[2]
A stela ofYatha' Amar Watardated to about 715BC,tells that he invaded the area and took the town. It reads:
Yatha amar Watarson of Yakrubmalik mukarrib of Saba dedicated to Aranyada' the patron when Aranyada came back from the territories of Aranyada' and of Nashshan and avenged Nashshan at the expense of Kaminahu because Nashahn had maintained the alliance of Almaqah and of Aranyada', of Yatha amar and of Malikwaqah, of Saba of nashshan, because of... of god and parton of pact and alliance.[3]
In 25 BC, Nashan was mentioned as "Annestum"[note 1]duringAelius Gallus's expedition toArabia Felixunder orders ofAugustusagainst Saba'. However, the expedition ended in critical failure and the Romans accused aNabataeanguide called "Syllaeus" of misleading them. This expedition was mentioned byGreekgeographerStraboin which he namedIlasarosas the ruler ofHadhramautat that time.
Culture
[edit]Nashshān, was inWādī Madhāb,[4]to the north-east ofMa'riband was a trading center and town inPre-Islamic Arabia.Nashshān, and its neighbours,Haram (Yemen),KaminahuandInabba'were similar in that they were civil temple settlements and city states, and inscriptions in all four towns are in theMinaean language.
External links
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^Mentioned byPliny the Elderin his bookNatural History.p. 151.
References
[edit]- ^Steven C. Caton (2013).Yemen.ABC-CLIO. p. 43.ISBN9781598849288.
- ^Magee, Peter (2014).The Archaeology of Prehistoric Arabia: Adaptation and Social Formation from the Neolithic to the Iron Age.Cambridge University Press. p. 243.ISBN978-1139991636.
- ^Greg Fisher, Arabs and Empires Before Islam (Oxford University Press,2015 ) p 102.
- ^Leonid Kogan andAndrey Korotayev:Sayhadic Languages (Epigraphic South Arabian). Semitic Languages. London: Routledge, 1997. Pg. 221.
