The political map of Arabia and the Middle East in the third century AD revealed by a Sabaean inscription

Abstract

An inscription in Sabaic, recently discovered on the site of Jabal Riyām (Yemen), gives an account of a journey—probably a diplomatic mission—carried out by a Sabaean dignitary on behalf of the rulers of the tribe of Ḥumlān. He listed the territories he passed through in western and northern Arabia and in the Middle East, up to Palmyra and Mesopotamia. This text, assumed to date back to the third century AD (probably c.260–280), provides a unique picture of the political forces in the area and throws new light on the regional map of the time.