Editor: Jérémie Schiettecatte
| Ancient name | Ns²qm |
| Country | Yemen |
| Geographical area | Jawf - Wādī al-Buhayra |
| Governorate | al-Jawf |
| Kingdom | Sabaʾ |
| Coordinates | Latitude: 16° 10' 05" Longitude: 44° 35' 55" |
| Coordinates accuracy | approximate |
| Type of site | Settlement |
| Tribe | Tribe: ʾns²qn (nisba for Ns²q) Tribe: ʾs²qn (nisba for Ns²q) Tribe: ʾs²s²n (nisba for Ns²n) Tribe: Dʿmyn (nisba) Tribe: Fys²n Tribe: Kmnhw Tribe: Mʾḏnyn (nisba for Mʾḏn) Tribe: Ns²qyn (nisba for Ns²q) Tribe: S¹bʾ Tribe: Tnʿmm w-Tnʿmtm Tribe: Wḍʿm Tribe: Wnb Tribe: Ys¹hr Lineage: ʾrs³ Lineage: ʿblm Lineage: ʿfm ʾmrn Lineage: ʿqbm Lineage: ʿṯkln Lineage: ʿzzʾl Lineage: ʾl Ḥmym Lineage: Dws¹m Lineage: Gdnm Lineage: Glwm Lineage: Grfm Lineage: Ḥḍrn Lineage: Ḥlḥlm Lineage: Kbr-Ḫll Lineage: Mḏb Lineage: Mrfdm Lineage: Mrn Lineage: Rs²wn Lineage: Rymn Lineage: S¹ḥr w-Kbs¹yn Lineage: S²llm Lineage: Wḍʿm Lineage: Wqr |
| Deities | ʾlmqh ʾlmqh bʿl bkln Ns²qm ʾlmqh bʿl Myfʿm ʾlmqh bʿl S²bʿn ʾlmqh S²ym ʾlmqhw ʾlmqhw bʿl S²bʿn ʾrnydʿ S²ymn ʿṯtr ʿṯtr S²rqn ḏ-S¹mwy ḏt-Bʿdn ḏt-Bʿdnm ḏt-Ns²q ḏt-Ns²qm ḏt-Ḥmym Hbs¹ S²bʿn S²ms¹ mlkn Tnf Wdm ḏ-Myfʿ |
| Structures | Dwelling (indeterminate) Dwelling (concentrated) Light hydraulic structure (ex. canal, well) Building with political function Rampart Small temple Rock inscriptions |
| Language | Sabaic |
| Location and toponomy | The site of al-Bayḍāʾ is located in the middle valley of the Jawf, 115 km north-west of Maʾrib, 18 km west of al-Ḥazm. It is on the left bank of the wādī al-Buhayra, an affluent of wādī Madhāb, 4 km upstream from the nearby site of as-Sawdāʾ, the ancient Ns²n. Ancient toponymy: Ns²q Al-Hamdānī (10th cent. AD) mentions the site with its modern name, al-Baydāʾ, but at that time, the inhabitants of the area still bear the name of an-Nashqayyūn, bearing witness to the ancient toponym. |
| History of research | Discovery 1869-70: J. Halévy - it is probably the result of research by the guide H. Ḥabshūsh. Site description; copy of 74 inscriptions. Visits and surveys 1947: A. Fakhry 1980-81: MAFRAY: survey, mapping of the rampart layout (Robin 1981: 152; Breton 1994: 95-97). |
| General description | Al-Bayḍāʾ is one of the largest archaeological sites in South Arabia. Its intra muros extension covers 15 ha. Numerous small mounds bear witness to the existence of residential structures formed by a stone basement surmounted by a super-structure in mud-bricks. A rampart 1500 m long encloses the site. It is interrupted by a single gate. The fortification works have been attested on the site since the end of the 8th century BC; they were carried out under the king of Nashshān, Lbʾn Ydʿ bn Ydʿʾb. A generation later, other fortification works have been attested under the reign of the mukarrib of Sabaʾ Krbʾl Wtr bn Ḏmrʿly, together with the settlement of Sabaean peoples in the city. Complementary works and restoration works are carried out shortly after. A gate is built under the reign of the mukarrib Smhʿly bn Ydʿʾl Ḏrḥ (mid-7th cent. BC). Around the 6th cent. BC, some towers are built by the king of Kmnhw, ʾlsmʿ Nbṭ bn Nbṭʿly, as tribute to the Sabaean king Ydʿʾl Byn bn Yṯʿʾmr Wtr. Only one temple is known by its remains: it is the intra muros sanctuary belonging to the temples known as “Banāt ʿĀd”. There is nothing suggesting for which divinity this sanctuary was dedicated to. The texts mention three main deities in the city: - The goddess ʿṯtr ḏt-Ns²qm / ḏt-Ns²qm seems closely linked to the city of Nashq. If it is not certain that there was a temple consecrated to dhāt-Nashq in situ, the hypothesis is nonetheless highly probable. - The cult of ʾlmqh, the tutelary deity of the Sabaean pantheon, is introduced to the city in the 7th century BC. We know of two temples dedicated to him: the temple Myfʿm and the temple S²bʿn consecrated to ʾlmqh bʿl S²bʿn. In the 1st-3rd cent. AD, this cult was the most important in the city, and it survived up to the beginning of the 4th century. - A cult existed also for ʾrnydʿ in the 8th-7th cent. BC, and in the 1st cent. AD. The site of al-Bayḍāʾ is encircled by a large irrigated perimeter marked by a sedimentary accumulation about 10 m thick. The numerous inscriptions recall irrigated territories (CIH 610), palm trees (Ja 555), vineyards (YM 23206), orchards and fields (RÉS 4188, DhM 208). |
| Chronology | The most ancient mention of Nashq dates back to the end of the 8th century BC (AO 31930). It was then a fortified site under the authority of Nashshān. After its integration in the kingdom of Sabaʾ, the city was colonised by a Sabaean population. In the 1st century BC, Strabo reports that the expedition of the Roman army under Aelius Gallus seized the city. Pliny recalls the destruction of the city of Nesca (Nashq). Nashq resurrects itself and becomes a strategic Sabaean garrison against the incursions of Arabian tribes and against Ḥaḍramawt. In the 2nd century, the city grew; Claudius Ptolemy (Geogr. vi, 7, 35) qualifies it as μητρόπολις. The city becomes one of the prestigious centres of the kingdom of Sabaʾ, mentioned in the triad of the prominent Sabaean cities (Marib, Nashq et Ruḥābatān dans Ja 645 ; Marib, Ṣanʿā and Nashq in Ja 577 and Marib, Nashq and Nashshān in Fa 76). After the annexation of the kingdom of Sabaʾ by Ḥimyar, the city becomes a military centre for a short time span (Ja 664, Ja 665, Ir 32). It is mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus (Res Gestae XXIII, 6, 47) at the end of the 4th century as one of the seven most important cities of Arabia Felix. The word hajarayn («the two cities»), mentioned in the Book of Ḥimyarites and in the inscription RIÉth 195-II with reference to the events linked to the fall of king Yūsuf Asʾar Yathʾar (522-525), seems to define Nashq (al-Bayḍāʾ) and Nashshān (as-Sawdāʾ) (Robin 2004: 119-120). This may indicate that Nashq is still prosperous at the end of the South Arabian period. In the 10th cent. AD, al-Hamdānī qualified the site as maḥfad (citadel). |
| Classical sources | Strabo, Geogr. 16, 4, 24 (1st cent. BC): Άσκα Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, VI, 32, 155/160 (1st cent. AD) : Nascus/Nesca Claudius Ptolemy, Geogr. 6.7.35 (2nd cent. AD): Νάσκος Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae 23, 6, 47 (4th cent. AD): Nascos |
| east of al-Mabniyya (Unknown) |
| east of Ḥizmat aṣ-Ṣanaf (Unknown) |
| near Jār al-Labbā (Unknown) |
| Epigraphs
in CSAI Objects in CSAI |
| Arbach and Audouin 2007: 33-38 | Arbach, Mounir and Audouin, Rémy 2007. Collection of Epigraphic and Archaeological Artifacts from al-Jawf Sites. Ṣanʿâʾ National Museum. 2. Ṣanʿāʾ: UNESCO-SFD / Ṣanʿāʾ: National Museum. [Text in English and Arabic] |
| Arnold and Nebes 1998: 11-12 | Arnold, Werner and Nebes, Norbert 1998. Eine altsabäische Widmungsinschrift auf einer Bronzetafel. Zeitschrift für Arabische Linguistik, 35: 7-14. |
| Breton 1994 c: 95-97 | Breton, Jean-François 1994. Les fortifications d'Arabie méridionale du 7e au 1er siècle avant notre ère. (Archäologische Berichte aus dem Yemen, 8). Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern. |
| Bron 2000 a | Bron, François 2000 [2001]. Deux inscriptions sabéennes sur bronze provenant d'al-Bayḍāʾ. Semitica, 50: 228-229. |
| Doe 1983: 105-106, 112-113 | Doe, D. Brian 1983. Monuments of South Arabia. (Arabia past and present, 12). Naples: The Falcon Press / Cambridge: The Oleander press. |
| al-Garoo 1986: 233 | al-Garoo, Asmahan 1986. Les antiquités du Yémen dans l'œuvre de al-Hamdânī. (PhD, Université Paris I). |
| Grjaznevič 1978 a: 215-218 | Grjaznevič, Petr A. 1978. V poiskakh zateriannykh gorodov. (1st edition). Moscow: Nauka. |
| Halévy 1872: 80-82, 189-200, 502-503 | Halévy, Joseph 1872. Rapport sur une mission archéologique dans le Yémen. Journal Asiatique 6e série, 19: 5-98; 129-266; 489-547. |
| al-Ḥiwālī 1967 b: 175-178 | al-Ḥiwālī, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Akwaʿ 1967. Kitāb al-Iklīl li-lisān al-Yaman abī Muḥammad al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad ibn Yaʿqūb al-Hamdānī, al-ǧuzʾ al-ṯāmin. Cairo. |
| Kitchen 1995 | Kitchen, Kenneth A. 1995. A royal administrator in Nashqum and Najrān under the Ḥimyarite king Shammar Yuharʿish. c. AD 290, and a squire from Sanaa. With a note by Alfred F.L. Beeston. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 25: 75-81. |
| Robin 1993 b | Robin, Christian J. 1993. Trois inscriptions sudarabiques trouvées aux environs d'al-Bayḍāʾ du Jawf (Yémen). Egitto e Vicino Oriente, 16: 173-181. |
| Robin 1995 a | Robin, Christian J. 1995. Des villes dans le Jawf du Yémen ?. Semitica, 43-44: 141-161. |
| Robin 2004 b | Robin, Christian J. 2004. ‘Les deux villes’ (Hagarəynê/Hgrnhn) sont-elles Nashshān et Nashqum ?. Arabia. Revue de Sabéologie, 2: 119-121. |
| Ryckmans, Jacques 1981 b: 256-257 | Ryckmans, Jacques 1981. Villes fortifiées du Yémen antique. Bulletin de la classe des lettres et des sciences morales et politiques de l'Académie Royale de Belgique, 67/5: 253-266. |
| Schiettecatte 2011: 81-85 | Schiettecatte, Jérémie 2011. D'Aden à Zafar. Villes d'Arabie du Sud préislamique. (Orient et Méditerranée, 6). Paris: de Boccard. |
| al-Sheiba 1987: 57 | al-Sheiba, Abdullah Hassan 1987. Die Ortsnamen in den altsüdarabischen Inschriften (mit dem Versuch ihrer Identifizierung und lokalisierung). Archäologische Berichte aus dem Yemen, 4: 1-62. |
| Wissmann 1962: 193-194 | Wissmann, Hermann von 1962. Al-Barīra in Ǧirdān im Vergleich mit anderen Stadtfestungen Alt-Südarabiens. Le Muséon, 75: 177-209. |
| Wissmann 1976 a: 8, 10, 31, 46, 49, 73, 89, 92-98, 102, 110, 124, 164, 168 | Wissmann, Hermann von 1976. Die Geschichte des Sabäerreichs und der Feldzug des Aelius Gallus. Pages 308–544 in Hildegard Temporini (ed.). Politische Geschichte. (Provinzen und Randvölker: Mesopotamien, Armenien, Iran, Südarabien, Rom und der Ferne Osten). Hildegard Temporini and Wolfgang Haase (eds), Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt. Geschichte und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren Forschung. II. 9/1. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter / New York: Walter de Gruyter. |
| Wissmann and Höfner 1952: 31 ff. | Wissmann, Hermann von and Höfner, Maria 1952. Beiträge zur historischen Geographie des vorislamischen Südarabien. (Abhandlungen der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Klasse, 4). Mainz: Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur / Wiesbaden: Steiner. |