The mukarrib and his beads: karib'il watar's assyrian diplomacy in the early 7th century B.C.

Abstract

The University of Sydney 7Es artrCIe dixusses some of the Iess weLI-knom evidence a@&g to the em'steoce of dpIomatic I ü h between South Arabia andAssyna in tbe 7th centrqy B.C. Xanb ' i l Watar's relationsh& witó -a is analysed. The ewdence of giff exchange betweeo the two states is examined. The ÜnpIiations of . &S pattem of ties is also studiedio lig6t of evidnce for caravan lZaffc between tbe two reg~ons.Around 683 B.C. Sennacherib deposited an alabaster tablet (VA 8248 = KAH 2, no. 122) as a foundation inscription beneath the bit aHtiat Assur. In it, he reported (11. 48-5 1) that he had included in the deposit pappardilu [onyx? banded agate? Galter 1987: 16; white-banded black agate or onyx, Frahm 1997: 147-1481, valuable stones and aromatic resins fiom the nihzurtrígift of Karibili, king of Saba' (Frahm 1999: 85). The text, written in the first person as if spoken by Sennacherib, refers to the gift which Karibili 'had ordered to be brought to me'. In Frahm's translation we read, 'Als ich das Fundament des Akitu-Festhauses legte, habe ich, das námurtii.-Geschenk (betreffend), das Karibili, der Konig von Saba, mir ni bringen befohlen hatte, (und das) aus pappardiI4 wertvollen Steinen und wohlriechenden Essenzen (bestand), Steine und Essenzen aus diesem n Z m ~G e s c h e n k in sein Fundament gelegt' (Frahm 1999: 85).The identification of Karibili in the South Arabian sources has exercised numerous scholars for over a century. The name Krb 'l, which means 'god has blessed' (Gratzl 1906: 6, 'es segnete Gott'; 'Gott hat gesegnet', Tairan 1992: 185), is not uncommon in the roya1 onomasticon of South Arabia (Tairan 1992: 184-185). Far and away the most illustrious leader to have borne this name, however, was Krb'l Wtr bn Dmr'lymkrb s'b: or Karib'il Watar b. Dhamar'ali mzzkm'b of Saba' and the centurylong controversy which has raged over the short and long chronologies in South Arabian history tums on whether or not Karib'il Watar = Karibili (Garbini 1996, Avanzini 1996, for useful summaries of the debate). While some scholars harbour lingering doubts about the identification of Karib'il Water with Karibili (e.g. de Maigret and Robin 1989: 263; Robin 1996: 1120 notes, 'Malgré cette incertitude persistante, nous retenons l'identification c o m e hypothese de travail'), many are now quite vepared to accept the identity of the two as virtually assured (e.g. Galter 1993: 36; Nebes 1997: 95).The family of Karib'il Watar has been reconstructed by Robin (Robin 1997: 157). h Saba' he bore the title mukm'b, a t -, the vocalization of which is uncertain (Robin 1996: col. 1048) but which the Sabaic Dictionq translates as 'head of federation in archaic period' (