Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/332

 SABAISM

286

SABBAS

and they can certainly not be placed later than 500 B. c, since at least seventeen of them reigned before 115 B. c. At that date a new era begins. The Himyarites (Homeritie of classical^geography) over- threw in that year the Kingdom of Saba, and founded the "Kingdom of Saba and Raidan". In 25 b. c. the army of .Elius Gallus failed miserably before the walls of Marib, the Sabean capital. About a. d. 300 the ever-increasing Abyssinian immigrants over- threw the Hinayarite d\-nasty, and inaugurated the "Kingdom of Saba, Raidan, Hadhramot, and Yemen", which, after yielding place for an interval to a Judaeo-Sabean kingdom and violent religious persecution (cf. Peretra, "Historia dos MartjTcs de Nagran", Lisbon, 1899), was re-established by Byzantine intervention in 525. After the rout of the Vicero}- Abraha at Mecca in 570, the Persians seized their opportunity, and Southern Arabia be- came a Persian province till its incorporation in Islam.

Modern discoveries confirm the classical and Biblical accounts of Sabean prosperity. Ruins of fortresses and walled towns, of temples and irri- gation-works, cover the land. Of the immense dams the most famous is that of the capital, Marib, which did service, after repeated restoration, down to the sixth century of our era. Thanks to irrigation, agriculture flourished. Gold, too, abounded, with silver and precious spices. Brigandage reinforced the natural products. But the chief source of wealth was the trade route from India to EgjTDt and Northern S\Tia, which passed through the Sabean capital (cf. !NIiiller, "Der Islam im Morgen- und Abend- land", I, 24 sqq.). Accordingly', when, in the first century after Christ, the Ptolemies exchanged the Southern Arabian route for a direct road from Alexandria to Egj^pt, the decline of Sabean pros- perity began. Thus the bursting of the dam of Alarib was the consequence, not, as Arabic legend pre- tended, the cause, of the disintegration of the Sabean tribes. The Sabean polity seems to have been based on the feudal system. Two kings appear to have shared the supreme power, but the monarchy was not hereditary, and passed on the king's death to the first male born during the reign to one of the leading families. The heads of these families shared with the king the exclusive right to sanction the building of castles, and are even called kings of their own tribes. Of other magistrates — e. g. the eponymous magis- trates — we know little more than the names. A wide principle of individual equality seems to have pre- vailed; strangers were admitted as clients; slaves abo^inded. ^^'omen appear to have enjoyed equal rights with their con.sorts and are sometimes called "mi.stress of the castle". Concubinage prevailed, but not y)olygamy. Sabean art has in some respects merit (•(! liigh praise, but it lacks originality, and be- trays at different periods the influence of the sur- rounding civilizations. The coins, the king's head with an owl on th(' reverse, are sometimes of fine workmanship (cf . Schlumberger, " Le trdsor de San'a Darifi", 1880). The earliest date from the fifth century B. c. Many recent writers attribute to the Sabeans the invention of the Semitic alphabet.

The supreme god of Saba was Il-Mukah, to whom was joined in the inferior capacity of spoase or daugh- ter, the sun-goddess Shamsh. Other deities were Athtar, the morning or evening star, Ta'lab, "Patron of Ptiyam", Haubas, Rammam, and others — names which may be merely epithets of the moon-god. Submission towards and intimate affinity to the deity is the characteristic of the Sabean n^ligion. The inscriptions commr-morate gratitude for success in arms, "man-slaying", health, preservation, safe re- turn, booty, and rich crops. Worshippers offer to the gods themselves and their children, register vows, and attest their fulfilment. Votive offerings consisted

in gilt images of the object, and one king dedicated as many as thirty golden (gilt?) statues on one oc- casion. We can only make a passing allusion to the predominant influence attributed by some savants to Southern Arabia on the formation of the Mosaic institutions. Especial stress is laid on the Arabian origin of the Divine name and of manj^ religious terms, on the scruple of the Arabians about using the Divine name, their designation of priests as Levites, their laws of ceremonial purity, their imageless wor- ship, their sin-offerings etc., especially when viewed in the light of Abraham's ancestry, and of the inti- mate connexion of Moses with Midian. Apart, how- ever, from the fact that the question belongs to the Minsean rather than to the Sabean problem, the materials at present at our disposal do not warrant any probable solution of the question.

Classical Geographers: Gl.vser, Skizze der Geschichte u. Geo- (/rap^te /IrabtCTis (Berlin, 1890). Arabic Geographers: see espe- cially MuLLER, Die Burgen u. Schlosser Sudarabiens nach dem Ikltl des Hamddrti (Vienna, 1879). Sabean Inscriptions: Corpus Inscr. Semit., IV (Paris, 1889 — ) ; Hommel, Siidarabische Chreslomathie (Munich, 1892); Muller and Mordtmann, Sabdische Denk- maler (Vienna, 1883); Muller, Sudarabische AUerthiimer im Kunsthislorische Hofmuseum (Vienna, 1889).

General Reference: Hommel, AufsdUe u. Abhandlungen (Mu- nich, 1892); Weber, Arahien vor dem Islam (Leipzig, 1901)! Idem, Stxidien zur Sudarab. Altertumskunde, I-III (Berlin, 1901-7); Gbimme, Mohammed (Munster, 1895); Konig, Filnf neue Landschaftenamen im a. Test. (Berlin, 1902) ; Hartmann, Der islamische Orient, II (Leipzig, 1909) ; Hastings, Diet, of the Bible.

For Biblical Aspect: Hommel, Ancient Hebrew Tradition (New York and London, 1897); Idem in Hilprecht, Explorations tn Bible Lands (Edinburgh, 1903), 741-52; Landsdorfer, Die Bibel u. die siidnrab. Alterlumsforschung (Munster, 1910) ; Grimme in Zeitschrift der morgenldndischen Geschichte, LXI, 38 sqq.

Sabsean Religion: Nielsen, Die altarab. Mondreligion (Strasburg, 1904); Idem, Der Sabdische Gott Il-Mukah (Leipzig, 1910).

Modern Explorations: Hommel in Hilprecht, op. cit., 697-726; Weber, Forschungsreisen in Sildarabien bis zum Auftreten Glasera (Leipzig, 1906); Idem, E. Glasers Forschungsreisen in Sildarabien (Leipzig, 1908).

J. A. Hartigan. Sabaism. See Nasor^ans.

Sabaoth(niN'2U,plur.of K2:i=hostorarmy).— The word is used almost exclusively in conjunction with the Divine name as a title of majesty: "the Lord of Hosts", or "the Lord God of Hosts". The origin and precise signification of the title are matters of more or less plausible conjecture. According to some scholars the "hosts" represent, at least primitively, the armies of Israel over whom Jehovah exercised a protecting influence. Others opine that the word refers to the hosts of heaven, the angels, and by meta- phor to the stars and entire universe (cf. Gen., ii, 1). In favour of the latter view is the fact that the title does not occur in the Pentateuch or Josue though the armies of Israel are often mentioned, while it is quite common in the prophetic writings where it would naturally have the more exalted and universal mean- ing.

vo.v Hummelauer, Comment, in Genesim, ii, I; Vigouroux, Did. de la Bible, s. v.

James F. Driscoll.

Sabbas (Sabas), Saint, hermit, b. at Mutalaska near Cajsarea in Cappadocia, 439; d. in his laura 5 Dec, 532. He entered a Basilian monastery at the age of eight, came to Jerusalem in 456, lived five years in a cavern as a disciple of St. Euthymius, and, after spending some time in various monasteri(>s, founded (483) th(! Laura Mar Saba (restored in 1840) in the gorges of the Cedron, south-east of Jerusalem. Be- cause some of his monks opposed his rule and demanded a priest as their abbot, Patriarch Salustius of Jerusalem ordained him in 491 and appointed him archimandrite of all tlu; monasteries in Palestine in 494. The opposition cf)ntinued and he withdrew to the new laura which he had built near Thekoa. A strenuous opponent of the Monophysites and the Origenists he tried to influence the emperors against