Kingdom of Hadhramaut

Hadhramaut (Ḥaḍramawt) was an ancient kingdom of South Arabia, in what is now eastern Yemen and western Oman. It existed from the early first millennium BCE until about 290 CE and was the easternmost of the old South Arabian kingdoms, which also included Saba, Maʿin, Qataban, Awsan and Himyar. It grew rich on frankincense, but it remains less well known than its neighbours.

The heart of the kingdom lay along the Wadi Hadhramaut and the Wadi al-Masila, with the Indian Ocean on its southern and eastern sides. Its capital was Shabwa (Šabwat), on the edge of the Sayhad desert, and Shibam is also listed among its capitals. Long before the kingdom, the region had been inhabited since the Middle Palaeolithic, and it holds megalithic stone circles and dolmen-like structures from early periods.

In the late seventh century BCE Hadhramaut and its neighbour Qataban were allies of the Sabaean ruler Karibʾil Watar, but by the sixth century BCE both had fallen under the control of the Kingdom of Saba. They regained their independence in the fifth century BCE, and together with the Minaeans they broke Sabaean dominance in the region. The names of Hadhramite kings are recorded from this time. In the first century BCE Hadhramaut joined a coalition led by Qataban against Saba. Like Saba, it often claimed overlordship over the Arab tribes to its north.

From the fourth to the second century BCE the kingdom prospered, building fortifications, temples and other buildings. Its wealth came above all from aromatics. Frankincense grown in Dhofar, part of its territory, was taken to the port of Sumhuram, then shipped to Qani, and from there carried overland to Shabwa, where the caravan road known as the Incense Route began its long run north towards Gaza on the Mediterranean. A second route led north-east to Gerrha. Hadhramaut also profited from goods arriving from South Asia. The South Arabian kingdoms began minting coins on Athenian models in the fourth or third century BCE, and in the first century BCE Hadhramaut introduced its own Roman-inspired coinage.

Hadhramaut was a monarchy. Among its officials was the kabir, an elder who could lead a tribe or a professional group or act for the king. Its people spoke Hadramautic, an Old South Arabian language. Religion followed the South Arabian pattern: the god ʿAthtar stood first in the pantheon, but the patron of the Hadhramites was the moon god Sayin, and the people called themselves the "children of Sayin". Priestesses are recorded taking part in community life, including settling marriage disputes. Kings held ritual hunts for the gods; King Yadaʿil Bayan, who rebuilt Shabwa, is recorded hunting oryx, gazelle, cheetah, panther and ibex. Shabwa was notable for tall buildings, including a palace of six storeys framed with massive timber beams.

When Mediterranean merchants began sailing straight to South Asia by way of the Red Sea late in the Hellenistic period, power shifted towards the highland tribes and away from the desert-edge kingdoms. Hadhramaut adapted by founding its ports at Qani and Sumhuram. In the late first or second century CE it and Himyar divided Qataban between them. Around 220 CE King Ilʿazz Yalit II received envoys from Palmyra, Chaldaea and South Asia at a royal hunt. Around 290 CE the Himyarite king Shammar Yuharʿish annexed Hadhramaut; an inscription of 299 calls him king of Saba, Dhu-Raydan, Hadhramaut and Yamanat.

The name survives in the region of Hadhramaut today. The Hebrew Bible lists Hazarmaveth among the sons of Joktan in its Table of Nations, and the Greek geographer Strabo also knew the region. Its hunting tradition outlived the kingdom: local people long believed that a successful hunt brought the rains.

Our maps label this area "Hadramaut" from 323 BCE through 300 CE, during the kingdom's lifetime, beside Saba, Qataban and Himyar.