Sanaa
| Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R) |
- For the ancient city in Gujrat see Sana
Sanaa is the capital and largest city in Yemen and the centre of Sanaa Governorate.
Contents
Variants
- Arabic: صَنْعَاء, Ṣanʿāʾ [sˤɑnʕaːʔ],
- Yemeni Arabic: [ˈsˤɑnʕɑ];
- Old South Arabian: 𐩮𐩬𐩲𐩥 Ṣnʿw)
- Sana'a
- Sana
- Azāl
- Azal
- Uzal
Jat clans
Location
History
The city is not part of the Governorate, but forms the separate administrative district of "ʾAmānat al-ʿĀṣima" (أمانة العاصمة). Under the Yemeni constitution, Sanaa is the capital of the country, although the seat of the Yemeni government moved to Aden, the former capital of South Yemen in the aftermath of the Houthi occupation. Aden was declared as the temporary capital by President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi in March 2015.[1]
At an elevation of 2,300 metres,[2] Sanaa is one of the highest capital cities in the world and is next to the Sarawat Mountains of Jabal An-Nabi Shu'ayb and Jabal Tiyal, considered to be the highest mountains in the country and amongst the highest in the region.
The Old City of Sanaa, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has a distinctive architectural character, most notably expressed in its multi-storey buildings decorated with geometric patterns. In the conflict that raged in 2015, bombs hit UNESCO sites in the old city.[3]The Al Saleh Mosque, the largest in Sanaa, is located in the Old City.
Ancient History
According to popular Abrahamic religions, Sanaa was founded at the base of the mountains of Jabal Nuqum[4] by Shem, the son of Noah,[5] after the latter's death.
The name Sanaa is probably derived from the Sabaic root ṣnʿ, meaning "well-fortified".[6]The name is attested in old Sabaean inscriptions, mostly from the 3rd century CE, as ṣnʿw. In the present day, a popular folk etymology says that the name Sanaa refers to "the excellence of its trades and crafts (perhaps the feminine form of the Arabic adjective aṣnaʿ)".[7]
The 10th-century Arab historian al-Hamdani wrote that Sanaa's ancient name was Azāl, which is not recorded in any contemporary Sabaean inscriptions.[8] The name "Azal" has been connected to Uzal, a son of Qahtan, a great-grandson of Shem, in the biblical accounts of the Book of Genesis.[9]
Al-Hamdani wrote that Sanaa was walled by the Sabaeans under their ruler Sha'r Awtar, who also arguably built the Ghumdan Palace in the city. Because of its location, Sanaa has served as an urban hub for the surrounding tribes of the region and as a nucleus of regional trade in southern Arabia. It was positioned at the crossroad of two major ancient trade routes linking Ma'rib in the east to the Red Sea in the west.
Appropriately enough for a town whose name means "well-fortified", Sanaa appears to have been an important military center under the Sabaeans. They used it as a base for their expeditions against the kingdom of Himyar further south, and several inscriptions "announce a triumphant return to Sanaa from the wars". Sanaa is referred to in these inscriptions both as a town (hgr) and as a maḥram (mḥrm), which according to A. F. L. Beeston indicated "a place to which access is prohibited or restricted, no matter whether for religious or for other reasons". The Sabaean inscriptions also mention the Ghumdan Palace by name.[10]
When King Yousef Athar (or Dhu Nuwas), the last of the Himyarite kings, was in power, Sanaʽa was also the capital of the Axumite viceroys.Later tradition also holds that the Abyssinian conqueror Abrahah built a Christian church in Sanaa.[11]
References
- ↑ "Yemen's President Hadi declares new 'temporary capital'". Deutsche Welle.
- ↑ McLaughlin, Daniel (2008). "3: Sanaʽa". Yemen. Bradt Travel Guides. p. 67. ISBN 978-1-8416-2212-5.
- ↑ Young, T. Luke. "Conservation of the Old Walled City of Sanaʽa Republic of Yemen". MIT.
- ↑ McLaughlin, Daniel (2008). "3: Sanaʽa". Yemen. Bradt Travel Guides. p. 67. ISBN 978-1-8416-2212-5.
- ↑ Al-Hamdāni, al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad, The Antiquities of South Arabia - The Eighth Book of Al-Iklīl, Oxford University Press 1938, pp. 8-9
- ↑ Bosworth, C. Edmund (2007). Historic Cities of the Islamic World. BRILL. p. 462. ISBN 9789047423836.
- ↑ Smith, G.R. (1997). "ṢANʿĀʾ". In Bosworth, C.E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W.P.; Lecomte, G. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol. IX (SAN-SZE) (PDF). Leiden: Brill. pp. 1–3. ISBN 90-04-10422-4.
- ↑ Smith, G.R. (1997). "ṢANʿĀʾ". In Bosworth, C.E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W.P.; Lecomte, G. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol. IX (SAN-SZE) (PDF). Leiden: Brill. pp. 1–3. ISBN 90-04-10422-4.
- ↑ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Sana" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 125–126.
- ↑ Smith, G.R. (1997). "ṢANʿĀʾ". In Bosworth, C.E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W.P.; Lecomte, G. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol. IX (SAN-SZE) (PDF). Leiden: Brill. pp. 1–3. ISBN 90-04-10422-4.
- ↑ Smith, G.R. (1997). "ṢANʿĀʾ". In Bosworth, C.E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W.P.; Lecomte, G. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol. IX (SAN-SZE) (PDF). Leiden: Brill. pp. 1–3. ISBN 90-04-10422-4.