Lihyan

Lihyanite Colossal statue from Dadān, possibly of a king, it followed the standardized artistic sculpting of the Lihyanite kingdom, the original statue was painted white

Scholars have long grappled to establish a reliable timeline for the kingdoms of Lihyan and Dadan; numerous attempts were made to construct a secure chronology, but none of them so far came to fruition.[11] Werner Cascal and Farès-Drappeau sought to create a relative chronology based on palaeography, but their methodology was questioned.[11] They also tried, like others, to establish an absolute chronology by relating references discovered in Lihyanite and Dadanite inscriptions to known dated events.[11] One of the earliest attempts was done by W. Tarn who theorised, based on the Lihyanite royal name tlmy which he interpreted as a local transcription of Ptolemy, that Lihyan was a Ptolemaic client state.[11] He concluded that the pinnacle of the Lihyanite kingdom coincided with that of Ptolemaic Egypt in the 3rd-2nd c. BC.[12] However, this theory doesn’t withstand scrutiny, since tlmy is a well-documented Semitic name with no confirmed connection to Ptolemy.[12] Others tied Geshem the Arab (generally believed to be the father of Qainū, king of Qedar),[13] who opposed Nehemiah's reconstruction of Jerusalem (second half of 5th century BC), with Gšm son of Šhr who was mentioned in a Lihyanite text to the north of ancient city of Dadān that reads: bʾym gšm bn šhr wʿbd fḥt ddn (lit. ' in the time of Gšm b. Šhr and ʿbd the governor of Dadān').[14][15] Notably, the inscription likely concluded with the name of a king, under whom Gšm ben Šhr and ʿAbd held their positions.[15] Significantly, the text reference a governor (fḥt) of Dadān, without any mention to Lihyan, suggesting that the Lihyanite kingdom did not exist at that time, given that Dadān is widely considered the capital of their realm.[16][17] Moreover, based on the appearance of the word fḥt (from Aramaic pḥt; lit. ' governor'), which is understood as a title known only from the time of the Achaemenid empire,[18] the inscription was interpreted to be an allusion for a Qedarite rule over Dadān and elsewhere in northern Arabia as agents of the Achaemenid administration in the region.[19] If we accept these two main assumptions — the interpretation and tentative dating of the text to the Achaemenid period and the equation of Gšm ben Šhr with Geshem the Arab and Gšm father of Qainū — then we have a likely limit after which Lihyan must have emerged as an independent kingdom in the second half of the fifth century BC after the fragmentation of the Qedarite realm.[20][16] Such assumptions, however, are tenuous; for Achaemenid presence in northern Arabia is more difficult to ascertain since pḥt is shown to be used in Aramaic well before the Achaemenid period and was customary for regional governors in the Assyrian empire centuries prior.[20] This fḥt could very well be a Qedarite governor of Dadan on behalf of the Neo-Babylonian ruler Nabonidus after the kings of both Taymāʾ and Dadān were slain in his enigmatic Arabian campaign (c. 552 BC).[21] Indeed, only during Nabonidus' brief tenure in Tayma was the Hijaz explicitly under foreign control. It is in this time when the Aramaic term pḥt was likely introduced for officials in the region.[20] As for the latter assumption, it has been criticised by several scholars, pointing out the frequent use of the name gšm in northern Arabia does not warrant this identification.[16]

Dadanite gargoyle in the form of a lion’s head, an Arabian adaptation of Syro-Hittite motifs

Overall, what we can discern is that the Lihanite kingdom most likely came into being after the arrival of Nabonidus in north-west Arabia in 552 BC, as he mention 'king of Dadān' during his Arabian campaign.[16] Although no more precise terminus post quem can be provided to us by the Dadanitic inscriptions, they do grant us, however, the means to estimate the minimum duration of the Lihyanite kingdom.[16] This estimation can be arrived at by simply summing the regnal years of all the 'kings of Lihyan' mentioned in the Dadanitic corpus. At present, our knowledge encompasses at least twelve such kings with a combined reign spanning 199 years.[16] Consequently, this calculation establishes a terminus post quem for the kingdom's end. If we establish that the kingdom could not have come into existence before 552 BC, it logically follows that its downfall could not have transpired before 353 BC. Therefore, the most conceivable timeframe for the kingdom of Lihyan falls between the mid-sixth and the mid-fourth centuries BC.[22]

The Lihyanite kingdom went through three different stages, the early phase of Lihyan Kingdom was around the end of the 7th century BC, started as a Sheikdom of Dedan then developed into the Kingdom of Lihyan tribe.[23] The earliest attestation of state regality, King of Lihyan, was in the mid-sixth century BC.[24] Based on current chronological scheme and the lion tombs of Dedan, it is in the early stage of Lihyan (i.e., Dedanite period) that the Lihyanite writing system (similar to the Thamudic script, and consisting of 28 letters) emerged. initially simple in form, then evolved during later stage.

Colossal statue of a Lihyanite king from Dadan, 236 cm, 6th-4th century BC

The second stage of the kingdom saw the transformation of Dedan from a mere city-state of which only influence they exerted was inside their city walls, to a kingdom that encompass much wider domain that marked the pinnacle of Lihyan civilization.[23]

The third stage occurred during the early 3rd century BC with bursting economic activity between the south and north that made Lihyan acquire large influence suitable to its strategic position on the Caravan Road.

It appears, from recent epigraphic publications, that Lihyan controlled their trade rival Tayma (a fertile and rich oasis in North Arabia) for several generations.[25] The hostility between the two oases is reflected by an inscription from Tayma that mention a war between them. After the Lihyanite annexation of Tayma, the Lihyanite kings may have visited the city to commemorate their rule on regular basis. Indeed, standing statues larger than human stature with legs aligned and hands hanging down, supposedly of Lihyanite kings, were found in the temple of Tayma, probably as a reminder to the population of subordination to the king of Dedan. The statues correspond with similar royal statues from Dedan, which display a standardized artistic model of dignitary sculpting. Thus suggesting the role of Dedan as a regional power.[25] Dedan is mentioned in Harran Stele, and in Biblical accounts as an important centre of trade. Which is considered by some authors as an indicator of the existence of well organized state in the region before the mid 1st millennium BC. In the Biblical records, Dedan is mentioned alongside Tayma and Saba, but more often connected with Qedar. The kings of Lihyan were possibly the descendants of the Qedarites,[26] and had close contacts with the Ptolemaic dynasty.

The oldest reference to Lihyan (lḥyn) comes from early Sabaean inscription dated to the first half of the sixth century BC that records the journey of a Sabaean merchant. He intended to go to Cyprus for trade, and on his way he passed through Dedan, the "cities of Judah", and Gaza.[27]

Coin of Aretas IV, the annexation of Dadan was probably in his reign

Some authors assert that the Lihyanites fell into the hands of the Nabataeans around 65 BC upon their seizure of Hegra then marching to Tayma, and finally to their capital Dedan in 9 BC. Werner Cascel consider the Nabataean annexation of Lihyan was around 24 BC, he inferred his opinion from two factors; The first, Cascel relied on Strabo accounts of the disastrous Roman expedition on Yemen that was led by Aelius Gallus from 26 to 24 BC. Strabo made no mention of any independent polity called Lihyan. The second, is an inscription which mention the Nabataean king Aretas IV found on a tomb in Hegra (dated around 9 BC) substantiate that the territories of Lihyan was already conquered by the Nabataeans under the reign of Aretas IV. Nearly half a century later based on an inscription from certain Nabataean general who used Hegra as his HQ, mentioned the installation of Nabataean soldiers in Dedan the capital of Lihyan.

The Nabataean rule over Lihyan ended with the annexation of Nabatea by the Romans in 106 AD. Although the Romans annexed most of the Nabataean Kingdom, they did not however reach the territories of Dedan. The Roman legionaries that escorted the caravans end 10 km before Dedan, the former boundary between Lihyan and Nabatea. The Lihyanites restored their independence under the rule of Han'as ibn Tilmi, who was from the former royal family before the Nabataean invasion. His name is recorded by a craftsman who dated his tomb carving to the fifth year of Han'as ibn Tilmi reign.