of Hadramut had kings from the time of the
Minaeans to about A.D. 300, when it was conquered by Ethiopia. The
limits of the kingdom of Katabania are not known, but it has its own
inscriptions.

As to the Sabaean kingdom there is fair agreement among scholars. The
inscriptions go back to 800 B.C. or earlier, and the same applies to the
kingdom. A queen of this people (the "Queen of Sheba") is said (1 Kings
x.) to have visited Solomon about 950 B.C. There is, however, no mention
of such a queen in the inscriptions. An Assyrian inscription mentions
Ith'amara the Sabaean who paid tribute to Sargon in 715 B.C. At this
time the Sabaeans must have been in north Arabia unless the inscription
refers to a northern colony of the southern Sabaeans. The former opinion
is held by E. Glaser, who thinks that in the 9th and 8th centuries they
moved down along the west coast to the south, where they conquered the
Minaeans (see below). The Sabaean rule is generally divided into periods
indicated by the titles given to their rulers. In the first of these
ruled the Makarib, who seem to have been priest-kings. Their first
capital was at Sirwah. Ten such rulers are mentioned in the
inscriptions. Their rule extended from the 9th to the 6th century. The
second period begins about 550 B.C. The rulers are known as "kings of
Saba." Their capital was Ma'rib. The names of seventeen of these kings
are known from the inscriptions. Their sway lasted until about 115 B.C.,
when they were succeeded by the Himyarites. During this period they were
engaged in constant strife with the neighbouring kingdoms of Hadramut
and Katabania. The great prosperity of south-west Arabia at this time
was due in large measure to the fact that the trade from India with
Egypt came there by sea and then went by land up the west coast. This
trade, however, was lost during this period, as the Ptolemies
established an overland route from India to Alexandria. The connexion of
Saba with the north, where the Nabataeans (q.v.) had existed from about
200 B.C., was now broken. The decay that followed caused a number of
Sabaeans to migrate to other parts of Arabia.

The Minaean kingdom extended over the south Arabian Jauf, its chief
cities being Karnau, Ma'in and Yathil. Some twenty-five kings are known
from the inscriptions; of these twenty are known to be related to one
another. Their history must thus cover several centuries. As
inscriptions in the Minaean language are found in al-'