The History, Poetry, and Genealogy of the Yemen

Akhbār al-Yaman wa-Ash'a-rūhā wa-Ansābūhā [The history, poetry, and genealogy of the Yemen] is the earliest known history of pre-Islamic Yemen. Attributed to the South Arabian historian 'Abid b. Sharya al-Jurhumi, a court historian to the caliph Mu'awiya (d. 680 CE), it recounts in prose and poetry six saga cycles of ancient personages and events of the Yemen. Here, two sagas, the dispersion of Sam’s descendants from Babel to the Yemen, and the destruction of the tribes of 'Ad and Thamud, are translated in their entirety with complete philological and historical annotation. The tales of Luqman b. 'Ad and his seven vultures, Sulayman and Bilqis, the Himyarite kings, and Tasm and Jadis are given in full synopses.

Neither the attribution of the work to its purported author, 'Abid b. Sharya, nor its contents can be definitively authenticated. Moreover, its dating and transmission cannot be positively determined. Nonetheless, it is argued that 'Abid b. Sharya was, in fact, the author, and that his Akhbar reflects the history of the pre-Islamic Arabs as he reported it, even if its preserved form contains some later additions that cannot be considered originals. In a paean to the superiority of South Arabian civilization, 'Abid glorifies the accomplishments of Qahtan’s descendants during the Jahiliyya. This translation, annotation, and synopsis will be useful to scholars of early Islamic historiography and literature.

Elise W. Crosby received her Ph.D. from the Yale University Department of Near Eastern Languages and Literatures.