The art of ancient Yemen: Arabia Felix to the Romans

Ancient Yemen was composed of a number of regional kingdoms including the Minaeans in the north in Wādī al-Jawf, the Sabeans on the southwestern tip, stretching from the highlands to the sea, the Qatabānians to the east of them, and the Ḥaḑramites east of them.  They were all engaged in the spice trade, especially frankincense and myrrh. They left behind many inscriptions in the monumental ancient South Arabian script or Musnad, as well as numerous documents in the related cursive Zabūr script.  Scholars disagree about their origins with some claiming these kingdoms arose about 1200 BCE.  Others say they did not begin to flourish until the 8th century BCE and lasted until they were conquered by the Himyarites.  The Himyarite Kingdom conquered neighbouring Saba' for the first time in c. 25 BCE, Qataban in c. 200 CE, and Haḍramaut c. 300 CE. The Middle Saba' kingdom rose in the early 2nd century CE with its capital established at Ma'rib. Himyar's fortunes relative to Saba' changed frequently until it finally conquered the Sabaean Kingdom again around 280 CE. Himyar then endured until it finally fell to invaders from the Kingdom of Aksum in 525 CE.

Arabia Felix was one of three regions into which the Romans divided the Arabian peninsula: Arabia Deserta, Arabia Felix, and Arabia Petraea with Arabia Felix representing the southwest corner of the peninsula.  In 26 BCE, Aelius Gallus under Augustus's order led a military expedition to Arabia Felix, but after some beginning successes he was obliged by the unhealthy climate and epidemic to desist in the conquest of the area.  The ancient city of Eudaemon (modern Aden) was a  transshipping port in the Red Sea trade but by the first century CE it was by-passed to eliminate the costs associated with these middlemen.

The early archaeologist most associated with excavations in ancient Yemen was an American, Wendell Phillips.  Phillips was born in Oakland, California in 1921. His mother, Sunshine, was a gold prospector in California. His family was poor, and Phillips worked various jobs as a youth, including serving as a guide on Treasure Island during the San Francisco World's Fair. He suffered from polio as a young man and recovered in his early 20s.

Phillips graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1943 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in paleontology. His studies had been interrupted by World War II, in which Phillips served in the Merchant Marine before returning to college. Also during his college years, Phillips participated in fossil-hunting expeditions to Arizona, Oregon, and Utah, and corresponded with archaeologist William F. Albright, who later accompanied Phillips on his first archaeology expedition.

In the late 1940s, Phillips acquired funding from the University of California to organize a broad archaeological exploration of Africa. Though Phillips was inexperienced as an archaeologist, his used his charisma and persuasion skills to lead a team of approximately 50 scholars and technicians, equipped with trucks and an airplane. The expedition lasted 26 months and covered the entire length of the continent between Egypt and South Africa, receiving significant publicity in the United States. A highlight of the expedition's findings were jaws and teeth of a hominid from the Swartkrans site in South Africa.

Phillips's next expedition was in 1951 to the Arabian peninsula to explore the ancient city of Timna, a center for the incense trade in the ancient world. At Timna, Phillips's team excavated through layers of strata, allowing them to develop a timeline of the city dating to the 8th century BCE. An excavation at the House Yafash uncovered twin bronze lions and an alabaster figurine referred to by the team as "Miriam". The excavation also uncovered many utilitarian objects from daily life and funerary objects from a cemetery at Timna. Excavations included the Marib Dam, which was the largest of ancient times, and the Awwam Temple, which was one of the most important temples of the Sabaean people. Phillip's work was eventually brought to a halt by hostility from local Bedouin tribes.  At one point Phillips was even taken prisoner.

During his time in the Middle East Phillips became acquainted with the Sultan of Oman, who granted him the mineral rights to a modest oil producing region of his country, two offshore oil concessions, copper mining rights, and offshore fishing rights, the foundation for Phillips Middle east American Oil Company in 1954. Phillips traded some of his original concessions for more profitable mineral rights in Venezuela, Indonesia, and Libya.  By 1975, Phillips was the largest individual holder of oil concessions in the world, with a net worth in 1975 United States dollars of $120 million.

Here's a video on YouTube about his exploits:

https://youtu.be/bgxDzUUtuzY

Phillips' estate eventually donated the artifacts he recovered from Timna and Ma'rib to the Smithsonian's Sackler Gallery of Asian Art.  I thoroughly enjoyed "Unearthing Arabia,"a fascinating exhibit at the Sackler Gallery in Washington D.C. in 2015 although at the time they did not allow photography of the objects. I have included the museum's image of the famous bronze erotes riding striding lions, though.

Arabia Bronze head of a youth in the Classical style with corkscrew hairstyle popular in ancient Saba 2nd century CE Ghayman, Yemen photographed by Mary Harrsch at the British Museum

Arabia Female Sculpture from ancient south Arabia 900 BCE - 600 CE photographed by Mary Harrsch at the British Museum

Arabia Fragment of a pediment depicting a nude fertility goddess and mythological creature South Arabia (Marib) 2nd century CE alabaster photographed by Mary Harrsch at the Walters Art Museum

Arabia Funerary Head-Stela of a Bearded Man South Arabia 5th-2nd century BCE Calcite-alabaster photographed by Mary Harrsch at the Walters Art Museum

Arabia Head of a man Qataban (Arabia Felix) 3rd-1st century BCE Alabaster photographed by Mary Harrsch at the Seattle Art Museum

Arabia Stela with bust of a priestess South Arabia 1st century BCE - 1st century CE calcite alabaster photographed by Mary Harrsch at the Walters Art Museum

Bronze Man of the Kingdom of Saba' (800 BCE - 275 CE) at The Louvre courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor PHGCOM

Bronze erotes mounted on striding lions 1st century BCE - 1st century CE courtesy of the Smithsonian's Sackler Gallery

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Elaborately Painted Shroud of Neferhotep, Son of Herrotiou, 100-225 CE, Romano-Egyptian

  

Neferhotep’s shroud bears a Roman-style portrait. Neferhotep  avoided the cost of the typical wooden panel often used for Roman period mummy masks by instructing the artists to paint directly on the shroud. In addition, Neferhotep’s artists used less-expensive tempera rather than encaustic paint. When Neferhotep’s shroud was excavated by the French archaeologist Bernard Bruyère in 1948, parts of it were missing and were replaced by painted patches in a restoration done about 1970. The shroud entered the Brooklyn Museum’s collection in 1975.

Image: Elaborately Painted Shroud of Neferhotep, Son of Herrotiou, 100-225 CE, Romano-Egyptian at the Brooklyn Museum courtesy of the museum.

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Cultural mingling in the Roman provinces of the 3rd century CE

This funerary stela shows a boy who died when he was three. His father, a Roman soldier, was stationed near Alexandria. His Egyptian mother is not mentioned. The child’s costume and pose are Roman, but his long sidelock of hair is traditionally Egyptian, as are the jackal god Anubis and the falcon god Horus above his head. The griffin in the lower right corner represents the classical goddess Nemesis, who controlled life and death and appears to show Greek influence. In his left hand is a bucket perhaps a type of situla used as a libation vessel.  With his right hand he grasps a circular object, perhaps an offering he is about to place on the small altar. He is probably intended to represent Horus.  The Latin inscription provides the boy's name and age at death.  Extensive but faint traces of bright red paint remain on the hatched background. It is thought this monument was recovered at Terenouthis, Egypt, located in the western Nile Delta, about 70 km northwest of Cairo.  Terenouthis flourished thanks to the trade of wine and salt. The northeastern sector of the site contains a very large necropolis dating to the Graeco-Roman and Coptic periods.

Image: Funerary Stela of C. Julius Valerius, Roman, 3rd century C.E. Limestone at the Brooklyn Museum, courtesy of the Museum (CC BY)

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The emperor Hadrian and the Castel Sant'Angelo

The emperor Hadrian's tomb was erected on the right bank of the Tiber, between AD 134 and 139. Now known as the Castel Sant'Angelo, originally the mausoleum was a decorated cylinder, with a garden top and golden quadriga. Hadrian's ashes were placed here a year after his death in Baiae in 138, together with those of his wife Sabina, and his first adopted son, Lucius Aelius, who died in 138. Following this, the remains of succeeding emperors were also placed here, the last recorded deposition being Caracalla in 217 CE. But much of the tomb  contents and decorations were lost when the building was converted to a military fortress in 401 CE then subsequently included in the Aurelian Walls by Flavius Honorius Augustus. The urns and ashes were scattered by Visigoth looters during Alaric's sack of Rome in 410, and the original decorative bronze and stone statuary were thrown down upon the attacking Goths when they besieged Rome in 537, as recounted by Procopius.  In the 14th century the popes converted the tomb into a castle and connected it to St. Peter's Basilica by a covered fortified corridor called the Passetto di Borgo. It was also used as a prison and executions were performed in the inner courtyard.

I first visited the castle in 2005 when  a friend and I walked there after spending the morning at St. Peter's and the Vatican Museums.  At that time, however, photography was disappointingly not allowed inside the structure.  But yesterday when I was researching the origins of a Roman relief I thought might be in the Castel Sant'Angelo, I was searching the images of the castle on Wikimedia Commons and discovered quite a number of excellent interior images, including this one of a fresco of Hadrian. Rome must have changed their policy on photography at this site!  I encourage you to browse the images of this impressive monument on Wikimedia Commons.  

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Interior_of_Castel_Sant%27Angelo_(Rome)

They certainly refreshed my memory of my experience there!  You can find the fresco of Hadrian in the room known as the Sala Paolina.  This image is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor, Vassil. 

Fresco of the Emperor Hadrian in the Sala Paolina of Castel Sant'Angelo courtesy of
Wikimedia Commons contributor, Vassil.

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The Fate of Crispus

Anytime I read about a Roman imperial execution and the rationale given is a sexual tryst I become suspicious because sexual indiscretions have historically been used to justify Roman assassinations since the beginning of Roman history.  So, after writing that post about Constantine's wife, Fausta, yesterday, I did a little more research on Constantine's son, Crispus.

Crispus was leader in victorious military operations against the Franks and the Alamanni in 318, 320 and 323. Thus he secured the continued Roman presence in the areas of Gaul and Germania. The soldiers adored him thanks to his strategic abilities and the victories to which he had led the Roman legions.

Crispus spent the following years assisting Constantine in the war against by then hostile Licinius. In 324, Constantine appointed Crispus as the commander of his fleet which left the port of Piraeus to confront Licinius' fleet. The subsequent Battle of the Hellespont was fought at the straits of Bosporus. The 200 ships under the command of Crispus managed to decisively defeat the enemy forces, which were at least double in number. Thus Crispus achieved his most important and difficult victory which further established his reputation as a brilliant general.

Following his navy activities, Crispus was assigned part of the legions loyal to his father. The other part was commanded by Constantine himself. Crispus led the legions assigned to him in another victorious battle outside Chrysopolis against the armies of Licinius.

The two victories were his contribution to the final triumph of his father over Licinius. Constantine was the only Augustus left in the Empire. He honored his son for his support and success by depicting his face in imperial coins, statues, mosaics, cameos, etc. Eusebius of Caesaria wrote for Crispus that he is "an Imperator most dear to God and in all regards comparable to his father."

"...Comparable to his father." There are the damning words (in my opinion).  After reading this summary of Crispus' career, I can't help but suspect that the son's military genius actually outshone Constantine and like other successful generals before him, including  Germanicus, Corbulo, and Agricola, and those who followed him, including Aetius and Belisarius, was perceived as a threat to Constantine's power.

I also suspect both Constantine's mother, Helena, and his wife, Fausta, fiercely defended young Crispus, infuriating Constantine, so the fiction of adultery was concocted to provide a socially acceptable pretext that unfortunately required the murder of Fausta as well. Some scholars think Fausta's execution was subsequently delayed because of a final pregnancy since the dates of birth of the last two daughters of Constantine are not known. 

Image: Tapestry showing Constantine's triumphal entry into Rome by Peter Paul Rubens Flemish 1623-1625 CE wool and silk that I photographed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

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