DASI

digital archive for the study of pre-islamic arabian inscriptions

Editor: Jérémie Schiettecatte


General view
Catalogue 2000: 224

SITE INFORMATION

Ancient nameẒfr
CountryYemen
Geographical areaẒafār
GovernorateIbb
KingdomSaba
Himyar
CoordinatesLatitude: 14° 12' 39"    Longitude: 44° 24' 15"    
Coordinates accuracycertain
Type of siteSettlement
TribeTribe: ḏ-Rydn
Lineage: ʾbs²rn
Lineage: ʾflṯ
Lineage: ʾḥym
Lineage: Ḏʾln
Lineage: Ḏrḥ
Lineage: Gʾnn
Lineage: Ḥryn
Lineage: Hywtm
Lineage: Khnl
Lineage: Mbryn
Lineage: Mfzm
Lineage: Ms²ṭyn
Lineage: Mẓrn
Lineage: Nḥs¹n
Lineage: Rʿyn
Lineage: Rydn
Lineage: S²ddyn
Lineage: Ṣrf
Lineage: Yfʿm
Deitiesʿṯtr
ʿṯtr S²rqn
ʾlh-hmw rb-Yhd
ʾln bʿl s¹myn w-ʾrḍn
Mrʾ s¹myn
Rḥmnn
Rḥmnn bʿl s¹myn
Rḥmnn bʿl s¹myn w-ʾrḍn
S¹mydʿ
S²ms¹
Tʾlb bʿl Brrn
Wgl
StructuresDwelling (indeterminate)
Dwelling (concentrated)
Workshop
Storehouse
Light hydraulic structure (ex. canal, well)
Large hydraulic structure (ex. dam)
Wells, cisterns
Terrace cultivation
Building with political function
Rampart
Small temple
Large temple
Church
Synagogue
Graveyard
Paved road
Rock inscriptions
LanguageSabaic
General descriptionExtension: 110 ha. The site lies on the Highland at 2800 m and is situated at 130 km from Ṣanʿāʾ. The whole settlement extended in a large area comprising four rock hills: al-Ḥuṣn at the Northern edge, Raydān in the centre, Ẓafār at S and al-ʿAṣabī at SE. Few ruins are visible on the surface, since the ancient stones have been pillaged from the site for centuries. The surrounding areas show deep traces of ancient human interventions which, thanks to dams and water reservoirs, have made possible an extensive agricultural exploitation. The strategic position on the Highland permitted a control over the major commercial routes in the interior and towards the coast.
ChronologyThe most ancient period of the site is obscure but, according to historical reconstruction, it is possible to surmise that the site was inhabited at least since 2nd century BC. During the 3rd century AD an Abyssinian assault is documented, followed by an intense reconstruction during the 4th and 5th centuries AD. This epoch was the peak of the Himyaritic Empire and of its capital. For Ẓafār this phase lasted until the political seat was transferred by Abraha to Ṣanʿāʾ at the middle of the 6th century AD (A. Agostini).
Classical sourcesPliny the Elder, Nat. Hist. vi, 26, 104 (1st cent. AD): Sapphar
Periplus Maris Erythraei § 23 (1st cent. AD): Σαφάρ
Claudius Ptolemy, Geogr. 6.7.41 (2nd cent. AD): Σάπφαρα
Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae 23, 6, 47 (4th cent. AD): Taphra
Philostorgius, Hist. Eccl. iii, 4 (5th cent. AD): Tapharum
Identification[1810: U.J. Seetzen]
Archaeological missions1970: Deutsches Jemen Expedition
1970: P. Costa and G. Garbini
1980s: National Geographic Society (R. Tindel)
since 1994: Dhamār Archaeological Project (Oriental Institute Chicago)
1999 / 2000: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (M. Barcelò)
since 1998: Yemen Expedition (University of Heidelberg)

MAP

Your browser doesn't support Google Maps or Javascript is turned off.

NOTES

[By A. Agostini]
The ancient settlement comprises a large area extending both inside and outside the ancient city defences, which have been estimated to be 4000 m in length. This was the larger ring which was embracing the whole site, while shorter fortifications have been also erected around the internal agglomerates.
City walls are better preserved on the southern edge of the site. They belong to the last phases of its history, even if some portion have reused some of the most ancient portions. Several restorations or enlargements have been probably carried out, during the 3rd century AD, following an assault from Abyssins.

The most central hill of the site, Ḥuṣn Raydān, is the area where the homonymous Royal Palace is expected to have been built. Investigations have unearthed some of the several structures that formed it on the SW flank of the hill, like an ashlar construction surrounding a stone-paved courtyard with fragmentary pillars ('Stone Building'). It should be dated to the beginning of our era and was in use for at least 400 years. Ancient texts recall several royal residences, and in fact another important administrative centre was probably located on al-Jāḥ according to the massive foundation structures and to some storage rooms.

Temples dating back to the polytheistic phase are not so far archaeologically recorded. Even if the main federative temple was still the Awwām of Mārib, it is very likely that sacral structures were standing both in the extra or intra muros of the site (probably one was standing on the hill al-ʿAṣabī). Moreover, from the 4th century AD, inscriptions are clearly referring to religious structures erected by the Christian and Judean communities.

Tombs have been cut on the hillsides of the surroundings (e.g. al-ʿUwār, al-Jāḥ) and the access to the burial chambers was through a narrow entrance. On the whole, they can reach the 12 m in length. They belonged to the earliest populace of a high social standard, still following a polytheistic religion, and this datum is confirmed by the grave goods which can be dated around the 2nd century AD.

Amongst the most outstanding findings is the architectonic relief. Many pieces in stone are in fact a clear example of the artistic taste which has spread since the first centuries AD. They show geometric and architectonic motives together with plant and figurative subjects, such as grapevines. Taken in a broader sense they denounce a mixture of influences, both from the Mediterranean and Partho-Sassanid culture.

RELATED SITES

near Ḥadda Ghulays (unknown)
near Bayt al-Ashwāl (Unknown)
near al-ʿIrāfa (Unknown)
north of al-ʿUwār (Unknown)
south-west of dhī-aṣ-Ṣawlaʿ al-ʿUlyà (Unknown)
north of Jabal al-ʿAwd (ʿwdm)

RELATED MATERIAL

Epigraphs in CSAI
Objects in CSAI

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barceló, Kirchner and Torró 2000Barceló, Miquel, Kirchner, Helena and Torró, Josep 2000. Going around Ẓafār (Yemen), the Banū Ruʿayn field survey: hydraulic archaeology and peasant work. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 30: 27-39.
Barceló et. al. 2003Barceló, Miquel, Ortega, Julián, Piera, Arcadi and Torró, Josep 2003. The search for the Hararah asdād in the area of Ẓafār, Governorate of Ibb, Yemen. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 33: 133-142.
Buchmann, Schröder and Yule 2009Buchmann, Ingo, Schröder, Tobias and Yule, Paul 2009. Documentation and visualisation of archaeological sites in Yemen: an antique relief wall in Zafar. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 39: 69-72. 2016/12/02; http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/volltexte/2011/994.
Casson 1989 a: 149-151Casson, Lionel 1989. The Periplus Maris Erythraei. Text with introduction, translation, and commentary. Princeton: University Press.
Costa 1973: 185-206Costa, Paolo M. 1973. Antiquities from Ẓafar (Yemen). Annali dell'Istituto Orientale di Napoli, 33: 185-206.
Costa 1974Costa, Paolo M. 1974. Note su alcuni pezzi del Museo Nazionale dello Yemen a Sanʿa. Annali dell'Istituto Orientale di Napoli, 34: 283-290.
Costa 1976: 445-456Costa, Paolo M. 1976. Antiquities from Ẓafar (Yemen) - II. Annali dell'Istituto Orientale di Napoli, 36: 445-456.
Dihle 1989Dihle, Albrecht 1989. L'ambassade de Théophile l'Indien ré-examinée. Pages 461-468 in Toufic Fahd (ed.). L'Arabie préislamique et son environnement historique et culturel. Actes du Colloque de Strasbourg, 24-27 juin 1987. (Travaux du Centre de recherche sur le Proche-Orient et la Grèce antiques; Université des sciences humaines de Strasbourg, 10). Leiden: Brill.
Doe 1971Doe, D. Brian 1971. Southern Arabia. London: Thames and Hudson.
Doe 1983Doe, D. Brian 1983. Monuments of South Arabia. (Arabia past and present, 12). Naples: The Falcon Press / Cambridge: The Oleander press.
Gajda 1997Gajda, Iwona 1997. Ḥimyar gagné par le monothéisme (IVe-VIe siècle de l'ère chrétienne). Ambitions et ruine d'un royaume de l'Arabie méridionale antique. (Université d'Aix-en-Provence).
Gajda 2002Gajda, Iwona 2002. Les débuts du monothéisme en Arabie du Sud. Journal Asiatique, 2: 611-630.
Gajda 2004 aGajda, Iwona 2004. Une nouvelle inscription juive de Ẓafār. Pages 197-202 in Alexander V. Sedov (ed.). Scripta Yemenica. Issledovanija po Južnoj Aravii. Sbornik naučnyh statej v čest' 60-letija M.B. Piotrovskogo. Moscow: Vostochna.
Gajda 2009: 196-200Gajda, Iwona 2009. Le royaume de Ḥimyar à l'epoque monothéiste. L’histoire de l’Arabie du Sud ancienne de la fin du IV° siècle de l’ère chrétienne jusqu’à l’avénement de l’islam. (Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres, Tome 40). Paris: Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres.
Garbini 1970 aGarbini, Giovanni 1970. Una bilingue sabeo-ebraica da Ẓafar. Annali dell'Istituto Orientale di Napoli, 30/2: 153-165.
Garbini 1970 b: 544Garbini, Giovanni 1970. Antichità yemenite II. Annali dell'Istituto Orientale di Napoli, 30/4: 537-548.
al-Garoo 1986: 327-330al-Garoo, Asmahan 1986. Les antiquités du Yémen dans l'œuvre de al-Hamdânī. (PhD, Université Paris I).
Gibson and Wilkinson 1995: 176-177Gibson, McGuire and Wilkinson, Tony J. 1995. The Dhamar Plain, Yemen. A preliminary study of the archaeological landscape. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 25: 159-184.
al-Ḥiwālī 1967 a: 193, 390al-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-ṯānī. Cairo.
al-Ḥiwālī 1967 b: 65, 66, 74, 80, 187al-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.
al-Ḥiwālī 1974: 33-34, 54, 365al-Ḥiwālī, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Akwaʿ 1974. Ṣifa ǧazirat al-ʿArab, taʾlīf Lisān al-Yaman al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad al-Hamdānī. Riyāḍ: Manšūrāt Dār al-Yamāma li-l-baḥṯ wa-l-taraǧama wa-l-našr.
al-Ḥiwālī 1977: 162al-Ḥiwālī, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Akwaʿ 1977. Kitāb al-Iklīl li-lisān al-Yaman abī Muḥammad al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad ibn Yaʿqūb al-Hamdānī, al-ǧuzʾ al-awwal. Cairo.
Japp 2014Japp, Sarah 2014. Rosette-decorated stone blocks from Zafār - some ideas of their origins. Pages 266–281 in Alexander V. Sedov (ed.). Arabian and Islamic studies. A collection of papers in honour of Mikhail Borishovich Piotrovskij on the occasion of his 70th birthday. Moskow.
Loreto 2011: 217-218Loreto, Romolo 2011. L’architettura domestica e i Palazzi Reali di epoca sud arabica nello Yemen pre-islamico (VII sec. a.C. – VI sec. d.C.). With foreword by Alessandro de Maigret. (Collana di Ateneo Dissertationes, 7). Naples: Università degli studi di Napoli “L’Orientale”.
Müller, Walter W. 2002 aMüller, Walter W. 2002. Ẓafār. Pages 379-380 in W.P. Heinrichs. Encyclopaedia of Islam/Encyclopédie de l'Islam. Volume XI (V-Z). (2nd edition). Ed. by P.J. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth and E. van Donzel. Leiden: Brill.
Müller, Walter W. 2009Müller, Walter W. 2009. Eine sabäische Inschrift aus Ẓafār aus Jahre 542 der himjarischen Ära. Pages 247-255 in Werner Arnold, Michael Jursa, Walter W. Müller and Stephan Procházka (eds). Philologisches und Historisches zwischen Anatolien und Sokotra. Analecta Semitica In memoriam Alexander Sima. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Müller, Walter W. 2014Müller, Walter W. 2014. Umbau und Ausschmückung eines königlichen Schlosses in der himjarischen Hauptstadt Ẓafār. Pages 75-95 in Magdalena Długosz (ed.). Vom 'Troglodytenland' ins reich der Scheherazade. Archäologie, Kunst und Religion zwischen Okzident und Orient. Festschrift für Piotr O. Scholz zum 70. Geburstag. Berlin: Frank und Timme.
Radt 1971: 268-271Radt, Wolfgang 1971. Bericht über eine Forschungsreise in die Arabische Republik Jemen. Archäologischer Anzeiger: 253-293.
Raith et al. 2013Raith, Michael M., Hoffbauer, Radegund, Euler, Harald, Yule, Paul and Damgaard, Kristoffer 2013. The view from Zafâr: An archaeometric study of the ’Aqaba pottery complex and its distribution in the 1st Millennium CE. Zeitschrift für Orient-Archäologie, 6: 320–350.
Robin 1976 a: 178Robin, Christian J. 1976. Résultats épigraphiques et archéologiques de deux brefs séjours en République Arabe du Yémen. Semitica, 26: 167-188.
Schiettecatte 2011: 274-284Schiettecatte, Jérémie 2011. D'Aden à Zafar. Villes d'Arabie du Sud préislamique. (Orient et Méditerranée, 6). Paris: de Boccard.
Shahid 1979: 43-47Shahid, Irfan 1979. Byzantium in South Arabia. Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 33: 23-94.
al-Sheiba 1987: 41-42al-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.
Sprenger 1875: par. 85-86, 297Sprenger, Aloys 1875. Die Alte Geographie Arabiens als Grundlage der Entwicklungsgeschichte des Semitismus. Bern: Commissionsverlag von Huber & Comp.
Stupperich and Yule 2016Stupperich, Reinhard and Yule, Paul 2016. The Crowned Man from Ẓafār – a Perspective from Classical Archaeology. Pages 377‒86 in Holger Schwarzer and Helge H. Nieswandt (eds). "Man kann es sich nicht prächtig genug vorstellen!": Festschrift für Dieter Salzmann zum 65. Geburtstag. (2 vols), 1. Marsberg/Padberg: Scriptorium.
Tindel 1980 aTindel, Raymond D. 1980. A preliminary survey of the Zafar Museum collection. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 10: 111-114.
Tindel 1980 bTindel, Raymond D. 1980. Archaeological Survey of the Yemen: the first season. Current Anthropology, 21/1: 101-102.
Tindel 1984Tindel, Raymond D. 1984. Zafar: Archaeology in the Land of Frankincense and Myrrh. Archaeology, 37/2: 40-45.
Tindel 1989Tindel, Raymond D. 1989. The history and culture of Zafar. (PhD, University of Chicago).
Tindel 1997Tindel, Raymond D. 1997. Zafār. Pages 386-387 in Eric M. Meyers (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East. (5 vols), 10. New York / Oxford.
Wissmann 1964 a: 43, 46Wissmann, Hermann von 1964. Zur Geschichte und Landeskunde von Alt-Südarabien. Sammlung Eduard Glaser. 3. (Sitzungsberichte der Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-historische Klasse, 246). Vienna: Böhlaus.
Wissmann and Höfner 1952: 33-40Wissmann, 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.
Yule 2002Yule, Paul 2002. Mapping Ḥimyarite Ẓafār. Pages 313-323 in Erica Ehrenberg. Leaving no stones unturned. Essays on the ancient Near East and Egypt in honor of Donald P. Hansen. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.
Yule 2003Yule, Paul 2003. Ẓafār: eine Stadt und ihre Geheimnisse. Heidelberger Forschungsmagazin "Ruperto Carola", 3: 4-10.
Yule 2005Yule, Paul 2005. Ẓafār, the Capital of the Ancient Ḥimyarite Empire Rediscovered. Jemen-Report, 36/1: 22-29.
Yule 2007Yule, Paul 2007. Himyar: Spästantike im Jemen (= Himyar, Late antique Yemen). Aichwald: Linden Soft.
Yule 2007 aYule, Paul 2007. The Gates of Ḥimyarite Ẓafār. Chroniques Yéménites, 14: 1-13.
Yule 2007 bYule, Paul 2007 [2008]. Ẓafār, Capital of Ḥimyar. Fifth Preliminary report, February-March 2005. Beiträge zur Archäologie außereuropäischen Kulturen: 105-120.
Yule 2008Yule, Paul 2008. Ẓafar, capital of Ḥimyar. Sixth Preliminary report, February-March 2006. Zeitschrift für Orient-Archäologie, 1: 208-245.
Yule 2009 cYule, Paul 2009. Ẓafar, Capital of Ḥimyar. Seventh Preliminary Report, 2007 and 2008. 1-24. 2016/12/05; http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/volltexte/2009/303.
Yule 2009 dYule, Paul 2009. Ẓafar, Capital of Ḥimyar. Eighth Preliminary Report, February-March 2009. 1-9. 2016/12/05; http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/volltexte/2009/302.
Yule 2010Yule, Paul 2010. Ẓafar, Capital of Ḥimyar, Ninth Preliminary Report, September–October 2010. 1-6. 2016/12/05; http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/volltexte/2012/1318.
Yule 2013Yule, Paul (ed.). Late antique Arabia, Ẓafār capital of Ḥimyar. Rehabilitation of a 'decadent' society. Excavations of the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg 1998-2010 in the highland of the Yemen. (Abhandlungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, 29). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Yule 2013 aYule, Paul 2013. A Late Antique Christian king from Ẓafār, southern Arabia. Antiquity. A quarterly review of archaeology, 87: 1124-1135.
Yule and Galor 2008Yule, Paul and Galor, Katharina 2008. Watershed of Late Pre-Islamic Culture. 1-24. 2016/12/05; http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/volltexte/2008/134.
Yule, Rösch and Fischer 2010Yule, Paul, Rösch, Manfred and Fischer, Elske 2010. The Highland Environment of Himyarite Zafār (Yemen): Neo-Geographic Determinism?. 1-13. 2016/12/05; http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/volltexte/2010/478.
Yule et al. 2007: 479-547Yule, Paul, Franke, Kristina, Meyer, Cornelius, Nebe, G. Wilhelm, Robin, Christian J. and Witzel, Carsten 2007. Ẓafār Capital of Ḥimyar, Ibb Province, Yemen. Preliminary Reports 1—4, Summer 1998 until Spring 2004. Archäologische Berichte aus dem Yemen, 11: 479-547.