Yemen was known as one of the homelands of the Semitic peoples and a cradle of several civilizations, excelling in the triad of agriculture, trade, and architecture. Their architectural achievements flourished as they built temples, constructed dams, and transformed deserts and mountains into green lands and terraces.
However, when examining the intellectual and philosophical dimension of Yemeni civilization in literature, philosophy, religion, and general thought, one finds it relatively modest, leading to the common assertion that Yemeni civilization did not prioritize intellectual pursuits, instead focusing on trade, agriculture, and architecture. This is highlighted by the historian and poet Abdullah Al-Baradouni in his book "Republican Yemen": "Yemen was distinguished by an architectural and agricultural civilization that was not driven by intellectual underpinnings and contemplation. There is no evidence in the history of the Ma'in, Sabaean, and Himyarite eras of intellectual achievements comparable to those of Greek, Pharaonic, Babylonian, and Canaanite civilizations. Instead, it was characterized by agricultural prosperity and architectural art ."
Legal Systems and Advanced Governance
Aref Al-Mekhlafi, Professor of Philosophy of History at the University of Sana'a, tells "Khuyut": "It is true that the Yemeni civilization lagged behind the civilizations of Greece and the ancient East, such as Egypt, Iraq, and Syria, in literature and mythology. However, when we look at the late emergence of writing in ancient Yemen, we find that people were concerned with public, military, and religious life; because they memorized and transmitted stories, legends and poetry orally during their gatherings and festivals, and did not care to write them down."
Al-Mekhlafi adds, "Intellectual thought is not limited to stories, myths, and literature, as seen in Greek, Pharaonic, and ancient Eastern civilizations. Rather, it encompasses all that mankind has left behind in general. The Yemeni people left behind a wealth of creativity in various fields, such as their knowledge related to astronomy, mummification, and medicinal herbs, along with their knowledge related to governance systems and laws."
This view is supported by Abdullah Abu Al-Ghaith, a professor of ancient history at Sana'a University, who stated to "Khuyut": "The Yemeni civilization had a rich intellectual production, as it knew sophisticated religious thought that can be observed in the temples erected by the ancient Yemenis, which were distinguished by their luxury and symbols with intellectual connotations such as Awam Temple in Marib. The main temples were constructed outside the city walls to accommodate pilgrims and visitors during the pilgrimage seasons, which—as indicated by inscriptions—was one of the ancient Yemeni religious rituals. Additionally, Yemeni civilization had advanced legal systems and governance structures compared to other civilizations."
In a statement to "Khuyut," the researcher Mohammed Al-Muqbili believes that this civilizational legacy and imperial extension could only have been achieved with an intellectual and theoretical foundation. Al-Muqbili points out that Al-Bardouni, during the time of his writing the "The Republican Yemen," overlooked and missed the reference to Yemen's lack of research into the intangible heritage.
This Indicates a Diverse Contribution
The discovery of the poem "Hymn to the Sun" in the 1970s in the Wadi Qaniya area, in the district of Al-Sawadiya, Al-Bayda Governorate (central Yemen), by the scholar Yusuf Mohammed Abdullah, revealed the existence of an ancient Yemeni literature. This Himyaritic poem, carved into rock, highlights a diverse contribution to Yemen's literary heritage. Al- Muqbeli adds, " The country's manuscripts, heritage, and important books, such as “The Secrets of Wisdom” by Abu Al-Hassan Al-Hamdani and parts of “Al-Iklil,” have been hidden. Despite this, inscriptions have been gradually found, all indicating the existence of an intellectual foundation for Yemeni civilization." He also notes a Qatabanian inscription that states “if a Qatabanian woman marries a non-Qatabanian man, her children and husband are entitled to the same rights as Qatabanians”, marking the first gender equality law on earth, according to Al-Muqbeli."
“Yemeni civilization has not received an ample share of research and excavation efforts, according to the consensus of history specialists, to highlight its intellectual and perhaps philosophical legacy that may be found in manuscripts and inscriptions buried under the desert sands.”
In a related context, Al-Mekhlafi pointed out that the ancient Yemenis documented laws to regulate their lives. While we know of only one law from the Kingdom of Qataban, the excavations by the American Mission for the Study of Human at the Temple of Awam in Marib revealed sophisticated laws, religious hymns in the form of poems (other than the Hymn of the Sun), as well as letters in Musnad script at Ribbon in Hadramaut and Yakla in Marib, indicating knowledge of writing as early as the 13th century B.C. This history predates what is known by about five centuries; thus, Yemen's history is still buried underground, according to Al-Mekhlafi.
Al-Mekhlafi further adds: "The ancient Yemenis established the largest natural laboratory to conduct a series of experiments aimed at achieving precise engineering and constructing a great dam like the Marib Dam. The excavations of the German archaeological mission revealed seven small dams preceding the construction of the Marib Dam. The mission affirmed that these endeavors were not futile but rather real experiments to measure the resilience of barriers and water barriers against the flow of torrential floods."
Scientific Precedence and Buried Heritage
It is worth mentioning that activists on social media had circulated, months ago, a video recording by the Islamic history researcher, Abdulrahman Al-Khalidi, stating: "Me and Professor Mohammed Al-Ghouli—The curator of the museum's Islamic section at the National Assembly—came across a manuscript dated 465 Hijri year, written in Sana'a, Yemen, which contained a passage that reads: "If smallpox struck our land, the elderly would bring a horse, tie it up, then administer a substance extracted from smallpox seeds into its vein, They would then allow it to rest for forty days, then bleed it and leave the blood until it coagulates. Subsequently, they would use this clot to inoculate the children, thereby preventing them from contracting smallpox." This indicates that Yemeni civilization was also pioneering in vaccination.
The scarcity of exploratory research, and sometimes the inaccuracy of its results, prompted the writer Zaid bin Anan in his book "The History of Ancient Yemen" to track the expeditions and reach their mostly unfruitful findings. Anan says in his book: "The monuments and inscriptions found by orientalists in Yemen are not enough to be reassured and to rely on, because they were not conducted under the supervision of technical bodies, but rather individual efforts scattered here and there, unlike in Egypt and other places."
As for the researcher in the history of religions and civilizations, Khaz’al Al-Majidi, he describes Yemeni civilization in his interview on France 24 as having suffered from severe neglect by historians of civilizations, who lump it together in what is known as pre-Islamic times. He states: "The truth is not like this at all. It is a very distinctive civilization, with all the elements of civilization richly supported by archaeological evidence and Musnad and Zabur writings. In reality, it is a great civilization, but unfortunately, it has been overlooked in the sequence of civilizations by civilization scholars, especially Western ones."
Thus, it seems clear that Yemeni civilization has not received an ample share of research and excavation efforts, according to the consensus of history specialists, to highlight its intellectual and perhaps philosophical legacy that may be found in manuscripts and inscriptions buried under the desert sands.
