Yadaʿʾab Dhubyān Yuhanʿim (r. 1st cent. BCE)

Founder of a dynasty of kings of Qatabān who reigned in the first half of the 1st cent. BCE.

The reign

King Yadaʿʾab Dhubyān son of Shahr Ghaylān almost always appears in co-regency with his son Shahr Hilāl Yuhanʿīm (MQ-HK 6, MQ-HK 7, RES 311, RES 4094, Arbach-Sayʾūn 1 + ATM 877, FB-Ḥawkam 2). The only exception is VL 1 (PalAv B2 script, see Avanzini 2004), where he seems to rule alone.

His reign was marked by the territorial contraction of the kingdom of Qatabān with the secession of the highland tribes, that of the future kingdom of Ḥimyar, and that of the tribe of Awsān. The reign was also marked by conflict with the kingdom of Ḥaḍramawt (Arbach-Sayʾūn 1 + ATM 877; RAY/79/Te/6), which seems to have ended in a peace agreement during the reign of his son Shahr Hilāl Yuhanʿīm (al-ʿĀdī 22).

The date of Yadaʿʾab Dhubyān Yuhanʿīm’s reign around ca. 80–50 BCE is based on the coinage of his reign and synchronicity with the ruler of the Ḥaḍramawt Yadaʿʾab Ghaylān and his two sons Abīyathaʿ and ʿIrqum (Arbach 2006; Robin 2016: 72–73, 91).

His son Shahr Hilāl Yuhanʿim succeeded him around 50 BC. A strategic alliance was then established between Qatabān and the Ḥaḍramawt in the face of the rising power of the kingdom of Ḥimyar.

Disambiguation

Yadaʿʾab Dhubyān Yuhanʿīm is to be distinguished from a homonymous ruler who reigned around the 4th c. BCE, who bears the long and double title of “king and mukarrib of Qatabān, of the descendants of ʿAmm, of Awsān, Kaḥad, Dahs, Tubnā” (e.g., ʿAqabat Buraʿ 1, RES 3550, RES 4328 - PalAv B1 script, see Avanzini 2004).

Mounir Arbach

References and suggested reading

• Arbach, M. 2006. Tamnaʿ : histoire et chronologie d’après les inscriptions. Arabia 3 (2005-2006): 115–133.
• Avanzini, A. 2004. Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions I-III. Qatabanic, Marginal Qatabanic, Awsanite Inscriptions (Arabia Antica, 2). Pise: Edizioni Plus.
• Robin, C.J. 2016. Tamnaʿ et Qatabān. L’état des lieux, in A. de Maigret & C.J. Robin (eds) Tamnaʿ (Yémen). Les fouilles italo-françaises. Rapport final (O&M, 20): 17–105. Paris: De Boccard.