Baynūn

Ancient settlement and political centre of the tribal federation of Shaddād.

The site is located ca. 30 km northeast of the city of Dhamār and was already called Baynūn (Bynn) in pre-Islamic times. It is mentioned by Cl. Ptol. (Geogr. 6.7.41: Βαινούν).

It is a settlement perched on a rocky outcrop, in the shape of a horseshoe, near a large cultivable plain. The remains of a fortification wall, a gate and a large cistern are visible, and stone mounds indicate clusters of tower houses in places. The concentration of white limestone, alabaster fragments and columns around a ruin seem to indicate the presence of a temple.

Hydraulic structures are still visible, including a 150m-long water tunnel dug into the mountain at the turn of the Common era, diverting water from neighbouring valleys (Kh-Baynūn 3]).

Sabaic inscriptions confirm settlement at the site at least from the 7th cent. BCE to the 5th cent. CE. The princes of the Ḥimyarite tribe Shaddād made Baynūn their place of residence, from at least the 1st to the 3rd cent. (BynM 6, BynM 200, Ja 644).

Jérémie Schiettecatte

References and suggested reading

• al-Sheiba, A.H. 1987. Die Ortsnamen in den Altsüdarabischen Inschriften. ABADY IV: 1–62. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern.
• Pirenne, J. 1987. Documents inédits de Baynūn, in C.J. Robin & M. Bafaqih (eds) Sayhadica, Recherches sur les inscriptions de l'Arabie préislamique offertes par ses collègues au Pr. A.F.L. Beeston (L'Arabie Préislamique, 1): 93–103. Sana'a: CFEY.
• Prioletta, A. 2013. Inscriptions from the southern highlands of Yemen. The epigraphic collections of the museums of Baynūn and Dhamār (Arabia Antica, 8). Rome: L'«Erma» di Bretschneider.
• Radt, W. 1971. Bericht über eine Forschungsreise in die Arabische Republik Jemen. AA 1971(2): 253–293.
• Vogt, B. 2004. Grundzüge der antiken südarabischen Bewässerungslandwirtschaft. BAVA 24: 68–104.
• Wendrich, W.Z., H. Barnard & R.M. Bridgmen 1999. Report of the Baynun Mapping Project, Yemen, 1998. Leiden: Research School of Asian, African and Amerindian Studies, University of Leiden.

_{Alternate spellings: Baynûn, Baynun, Beinun}