Between May 16h and May 23rd, I took over the Twitter account “Tweeting Historians”. In this blog post I’ve added some of the literature I used to write my tweets.
Introduction/general reading
Hoyland, Robert. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs – From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. New York, NY: Routledge.
Robin, Christian Julien. 1991. “Quelques épisodes marquants de l’histoire sudarabique.” Revue du monde musulman et de la Méditerranée 61(1):55–70. doi: 10/frnq3q.
Stein, Peter. 2011. “Ancient South Arabian.” Pp. 1042–73 in The Semitic Languages – An International Handbook, edited by Weniger, S. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter.
Day 1: The problem and pre-historic South Arabia
Charbonnier, Julien. 2012. “L’irrigation et Les Débuts de l’agriculture Sur Les Marges Arides Du Rub‘ al-Khâlî : 4e – 2e Millénaires Avant J.-C.” January 1, 241–52.
Edens, Christopher, and T. J. Wilkinson. 1998. “Southwest Arabia During the Holocene: Recent Archaeological Developments.” Journal of World Prehistory 12(1):55–119.
Harrower, Michael J. 2009. “Is the Hydraulic Hypothesis Dead Yet? Irrigation and Social Change in Ancient Yemen.” World Archaeology 41(1):58–72.
Korotayev, Andrey. 1993. “SABAEAN CULTURAL-POLITICAL AREA: SOME GENERAL TRENDS OF EVOLUTION.” Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 23:49–62.
Mouton, Michel. 2013. “Sharing of Water Resources and Political Unification in the Lowland Valleys of and in the Hadramawt in Antiquity.” ISIMU 16:123–38.
Parker, A. G., and J. I. Rose. 2008. “Climate Change and Human Origins in Southern Arabia.” Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 38:25–42.
Serjeant, R. B. 1988. “Observations on Irrigation in South-West Arabia.” Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 18:145–53.
Stein, Peter. 2010. “Irrigation Management in Pre-Islamic South Arabia According to the Epigraphic Evidence.” Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 40:337–44.
Smith, G. R. 1997. “The Political History of the Islamic Yemen down to the First Turkish Invasion (1-945/622-1538).” Pp. 129–39 in Studies in the medieval history of the Yemen and South Arabia, Variorum collected studies series. Aldershot: Variorum.
Varisco, Daniel Martin. 1983. “Sayl and Ghayl: The Ecology of Water Allocation in Yemen.” Human Ecology 11(4):365–83.
Day 2: Writing culture and early South Arabian statehood
Avanzini, Alessandra. 2014. “From Inscriptions to Grammar: Notes on the Grammar of Non-Sabaic Languages.” Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 44:1–8.
Avanzini, Alessandra. 2015. Ancient South Arabian within Semitic and Sabaic within Ancient South Arabian. Roma: L’Erma Di Bretschneider.
Drewes, A. J., T. F. G. Higham, M. C. A. Macdonald, and C. Bronk Ramsey. 2013. “Some Absolute Dates for the Development of the Ancient South Arabian Minuscule Script.” Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 24(2):196–207. doi: 10.1111/aae.12027.
Hoyland, Robert. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs – From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. New York, NY: Routledge.
Maraqten, M. 1998. “Writing Materials in Pre-Islamic Arabia.” Journal of Semitic Studies XLIII(2):287–310. doi: 10.1093/jss/XLIII.2.287.
Multhoff, Anne. 2019. “Ancient South Arabian.” in The Semitic Languages. Routledge.
Rossi, Irene. 2014. “The Minaeans beyond Maʿīn.” Pp. 111–24 in Languages of Southern Arabia: papers from the special session of the Seminar for Arabian Studies held on 27 July 2013 ; supplement to the proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, volume 44, Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, edited by O. Elmaz, Institute of Archaeology, and Seminar for Arabian Studies. Oxford: Archaeopress. Sass, Benjamin. 2005. The Alphabet at the Turn of the Millennium: The West Semitic Alphabet ca. 1150-850 BCE: The Antiquity of the Arabian, Greek and Phrygian Alphabets. Tel-Aviv: Tel Aviv University, The Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology
Stein, Peter, Tobias J. Jocham, and Michael J. Marx. 2016. “Ancient South Arabian Correspondence on Wooden Sticks: New Radiocarbon Data.” Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 46:263–75.
Day 3: Linguistic diversity in early pre-Islamic South Arabia.
Al-Saqqaf, Abdullah. 2020. A Descriptive Linguistic Study of the Spoken Arabic of Wadi Hadramawt, Yemen.
Avanzini, Alessandra. 2015. Ancient South Arabian within Semitic and Sabaic within Ancient South Arabian. Roma: L’Erma Di Bretschneider.
Behnstedt, P. 1987. Die Dialekte Der Gegend von Ṣaʻdah (Nord-Jemen). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Mazzini, Giovanni. 2006. “Notes on Qatabanic Lexicography.” Egitto e Vicino Oriente 29:239–47.
Multhoff, Anne. 2019. “Ancient South Arabian.” in The Semitic Languages. Routledge.
Rossi, Irene. 2014. “The Minaeans beyond Maʿīn.” Pp. 111–24 in Languages of Southern Arabia: papers from the special session of the Seminar for Arabian Studies held on 27 July 2013 ; supplement to the proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, volume 44, Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, edited by O. Elmaz, Institute of Archaeology, and Seminar for Arabian Studies. Oxford: Archaeopress.
Stein, Peter. 2011. “Ancient South Arabian.” Pp. 1042–73 in The Semitic Languages – An International Handbook, edited by Weniger, S. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter.
Day 4: The first evidence of Arabic (the Amiritic inscriptions) and the rise of the Himyarites
Al-Jallad, Ahmad. 2018. “Al-Jallad. 2018. What Is Ancient North Arabian?” Re-engaging Comparative Semitic and Arabic Studies Edited by Daniel Birnstiel and Na‘ama Pat-El; Harrassowitz Verlag . Wiesbaden:1–44.
Arbach, Mounir, and Irene Rossi. 2014. “Kamna, une cité prospère du Jawf du Yémen du viii au vi siècle avant J.-C.” Semitica et Classica 7:45–61. doi: 10.1484/J.SEC.5.103517.
Arbach, Mounir, and Irene Rossi. 2020. “Haram, cité antique du Jawf (Yémen) : quelques bribes de dix siècles d’histoire et nouveaux textes amīrites.” Semitica et Classica 13:19–47. doi: 10.1484/J.SEC.5.122979.
Gajda, Iwona. 2009. Le royaume de Himyar à l’époque monothéiste: l’histoire de l’Arabie du Sud ancienne de la fin du IVe siècle de l’ère chrétienne jusqu’à l’avénement de l’islam. Paris: De Boccard [u.a.].
al-Hamdānī, Abū Muḥammad b. Ḥasan b. ʾAḥmad b. Yaʿqūb. 1979. Kitāb Al-ʾIklīl. Vol. VIII. edited by M. b. ʿAlī al-ʾAkwaʿ. Ṣanʿā.
Sjörs, Ambjörn. 2018. Historical Aspects of Standard Negation in Semitic. Brill.
Stein, Peter. 2007. “Materialien Zur Sabäischen Dialektologie: Das Problem Des Amiritischen (‘haramischen’) Dialektes.” Zeitschrift Der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 157:13–47.
Day 5: The language of the Himyaritic inscriptions
Al-Jallad, Ahmad. 2021. “The History of the Am- Definite Article – South Arabian or Arabic?” Zeitschrift Für Arabische Linguistik (73):53–70. doi: 10.13173/zeitarabling.73.0053.
Gajda, Iwona. 2009. Le royaume de Himyar à l’époque monothéiste: l’histoire de l’Arabie du Sud ancienne de la fin du IVe siècle de l’ère chrétienne jusqu’à l’avénement de l’islam. Paris: De Boccard [u.a.].
Overlaet, Bruno. 2009. “A Himyarite Diplomatic Mission to the Sasanian Court of Bahram II Depicted at Bishapur.” Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 20(2):218–21. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0471.2009.00313.x.
Petrulevich, Alexandra. 2014. “Place-Name Loan and Place-Name Adaptation: Two Sides of the Same Coin? Some Terminological Considerations from an Ongoing Thesis Project.” Els Noms En La Vida Quotidiana. Actes Del XXIV Congrés Internacional d’ICOS Sobre Ciències Onomàstiques 74–80. doi: 10/gf279q.
Rabin, C. 1951. Ancient West Arabian. London: Taylor’s Foreign Press.
Sandnes, Berit. 2016. Names and Language Contact. edited by C. Hough. Oxford University Press.
Day 6: Socio-political developments during the late pre-Islamic period (c. 200 – 550 AD)
Gajda, Iwona. 2005. “The Earliest Monotheistic South Arabian Inscription.” Archäologische Berichte Aus Dem Yemen 10:21–29.
Gajda, Iwona. 2009. Le royaume de Himyar à l’époque monothéiste: l’histoire de l’Arabie du Sud ancienne de la fin du IVe siècle de l’ère chrétienne jusqu’à l’avénement de l’islam. Paris: De Boccard [u.a.].
Hatke, George. 2013. Aksum and Nubia: Warfare, Commerce, and Political Fictions in Ancient Northeast Africa. New York: New York University Press ; Institute for the Study of the Ancient World.
Nebes, N. 2008. “Die Märtyrer von Nagrān Und Das Ende Der Ḥimyar. Zur Politischen Geschichte Südarabiens Im Frühen Sechsten Jahrhundert.” Aethiopica 11:7–40.
Robin, Christian. 1991. “Du paganisme au monothéisme.” Revue du monde musulman et de la Méditerranée 61(1):139–55. doi: 10.3406/remmm.1991.1512.
Robin, Christian. 2015. Quel Judaïsme En Arabie. Turnhout: Brepols.
RYCKMANS, JACQUES. 1989. “Le Panthéon de l’arabie Du Sud Préislamique: Etat Des Problèmes et Brève Synthèse.” Revue de l’histoire Des Religions 206(2):151–69.
Silverstein, Adam. 2019. “‘Who Are the Aṣḥāb al-Ukhdūd? Q 85:4‒10 in Near Eastern Context.’” Der Islam 96(2):281–323. doi: 10/gf9rrz.
Stupperich, Reinhard, and Paul Yule. 2014. “Himyarite Period Bronze Sculptural Groups from the Yemenite Highlands.” Pp. 338–67 in Исследования по аравий и исламу: Сборник статей в честь 70-летия Михаила Борисовича Пиотровского (Issledovaniya po aravii i islamu sbornik statei v čest 70-letiya Mixaila Borisoviča Piotrovskogo), edited by A. V. Sedov. Moscow: Государственный музей Востока (Gosudarsvtvenniy Muzei Vostoka).
al-Ṭabarī, Abū Ǧaʿfar Muḥammad. 1999. The Sāsānids, the Byzantines, the Lakhmids, and Yemen. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Day 7: Social and linguistic change in South Arabia in the late pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods
Al-Jallad, Ahmad. fc. “The Pre-Islamic Basmala: Reflections on Its First Epigraphic Attestation and Its Original Significance.” Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 19.
Al‐Said, Said. 2004. “Early South Arabian-Islamic Bilingual Inscription from Najran.” Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 15(1):84–88. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0471.2004.00027.x.
Al-Selwi, Ibrahim. 1987. Jemenitische Wörter in Den Werken von Al-Hamdānī Und Našwān Und Ihre Parallelen in Den Semitischen Sprachen. Berlin: D. Reimer.
Behnstedt, Peter. 2016. Dialect Atlas of North Yemen. Vol. 114. Leiden: Brill.
al-Hamdānī, Abū Muḥammad b. Ḥasan b. ʾAḥmad b. Yaʿqūb. 1979. Kitāb Al-ʾIklīl. Vol. VIII. edited by M. b. ʿAlī al-ʾAkwaʿ. Ṣanʿā.
Ibn al-Nadīm, I. 1961. Kitāb Al-Fihrist. edited by Tajaddod, R. Tehran.
Ibn Isḥāq, Muḥammad. 2001. The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Isḥāq’s Sīrat Rasūl Allāh. edited by M. ʿAbd al-Malik Ibn Hišām. Karachi ; New York: Oxford University Press.
Kaplan, Steven. 1982. “Ezana’s Conversion Reconsidered.” Journal of Religion in Africa 13(2):101–9. doi: 10.2307/1581205.
Müller, Walter W. 2014. “Sabaic Lexical Survivals in the Arabic Language and Dialects of Yemen.” Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 44:89–99.
Rabin, C. 1951. Ancient West Arabian. London: Taylor’s Foreign Press.
Robin, Christian Julien. 2001. “Les Inscriptions de l’arabie Antique et Les Études Arabes.” Arabica 48(4):509–77.
Sima, Alexander. 2002. “Epigraphische Notizen Zu Abraha’s Damminschrift (CIH 541).” Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 13(1):126–32. doi: 10.1034/j.1600-0471.2002.130103.x.
Sima, Alexander. 2003. “Die „sabäische“ Version von König ʿĒzānās Trilingue RIE 185 Und RIE 185bis.” Archiv Für Orientforschung 50:269–84.
al-Ṭabarī, Abū Ǧaʿfar Muḥammad. 1999. The Sāsānids, the Byzantines, the Lakhmids, and Yemen. Albany: State University of New York Press.
al-Sarxāsī 