Shibam Kawkaban

Shibam Kawkaban شبام كَوْكَبَان
Town
Shibam Kawkaban Location in Yemen
Coordinates: 15°30′N 43°54′E / 15.500°N 43.900°E / 15.500; 43.900
Country	Yemen
Governorate	Al Mahwit Governorate
Time zone	UTC+3 (Yemen Standard Time)

Shibam Kawkaban (Arabic: شبام كَوْكَبَان, romanized: Shibām Kawkabān)^{[note 1]} is a double town^[3] in Shibam Kawkaban District, Al Mahwit Governorate, Yemen,^[5] located 38 km^[1] west-northwest^[3] of Sanaa, the national capital.^[1] It consists of two distinct adjoining towns, Shibam (Arabic: شبام, romanized: Shibām) and Kawkaban (Arabic: كَوْكَبَان, romanized: Kawkabān).^[5] Shibam is sometimes also called "Shibam Kawkaban" in order to distinguish it from other towns called Shibam.^[1] Shibam is a market town at the edge of a large agricultural plain;^[3] above it is the fortress-town of Kawkaban, at the summit of the cliffs to the southwest.^[5] Kawkaban is a sizeable town in its own right,^[5] and is known for its lavish tower-houses.^[3]

It contains a fortified citadel about 2,931 m (9,616 ft) above sea level.^[6] It is built upon a precipitous hilltop, walled from the north and fortified naturally from the other directions. It was the capital of the Yuʿfirids Muslim dynasty (847-997) and it was a capital of Bani Sharafaddin in the 9th 15th century. It was also home to a Jewish community, until its demise in the mid-20th century. The city affords a good prospect of the surrounding countryside. The word kawkabān in Arabic means "two planets".

The city features several old mosques: al Madrasa, al Mansoor, al Sharefa and Harabat. The old market is in the middle of the city. Old rainwater reservoirs can also be seen in the fortified town, named Meseda, Alasdad, and Sedalhamam.

Names[]

According to the 10th-century writer Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdani, there were four towns in Yemen named Shibam.^[1] To distinguish this Shibam from the others, it is sometimes suffixed as Shibam Kawkaban.^[1] Other historically used epithets include Shibam Aqyan,^[5][1] Shibam Ḥimyar,^[5] Shibam Yaḥbus,^[1] and Shibam Yuʿfir.^[1] According to al-Hamdani, the town had originally been called Yuḥbis, and had taken the name "Shibam" after a man of the Banu Hamdan tribe who had settled there.^{[5][note 2][note 3]}

As for Kawkaban, al-Hamdani says it is named after a man named Kawkaban b. Dhi Sabal b. Aqyan, of the tribe of Himyar, but says this eponym is "probably contrived".^[5] Wilson notes that al-Hamdani did mention another place called Kawkaban, which he said got its name "because it was adorned with silver bands."^[5]

History[]

Kawkaban Gate

The town is known as Shibam Kawkaban because it is on a mountain called Kawkaban. It was also known as Shibam Yaḥbis, Shibam Ḥimyar and Shibam Aqyan. The Yuʿfirids Muslim dynasty (847-997) that emerged in the Yemen is originally from Shibam Kawkaban. Shibam Kawkaban became their capital.^[7][8]

According to al-Hamdani, Shibam was the center of the historical mikhlaf of .^[5] He wrote that the town had 30 mosques in his day and was inhabited by members of the branch of the tribe of Himyar.^[5]

In the early 20th century, the mountain village was visited by German explorer and photographer, Hermann Burchardt, who wrote in May 1902: "Kawkaban, a now completely deserted town that still 40 years ago counted 30,000 inhabitants, but now hardly holds a few hundred; [it] also has its Jewish quarter, where still some families live."^[9] Of the city's more popular citizens was the renowned Jewish poet, Zechariah Dhahiri.

In February 2016 as part of the Yemeni Civil War fighter jets from U.S.-backed, Saudi-led coalition struck the town citadel killing seven residents and destroying the historic gateway as well as the 700-year-old houses.^[10]

Climate[]

The highest mountain in the Arabian Peninsula, Jabal An-Nabi Shu'ayb of the Haraz-Sarat Mountains,^[11][12] as viewed from Kawkaban

Kawkaban has a distinct moderate semi-arid climate under the Köppen climate classification (BSh). Due to its outstanding elevation that nears 3,000 m (9,800 ft), the town receives larger diurnal ranges and more precipitation compared to the capital nearby Sanaa. The plentiful rainfall is a direct result to its exposed location (not shielded by any natural barriers) being on top of a mountain and its rugged terrain; both factors leading to occasional orographic lifts rising from nearby slopes.

See also[]

• Shibam Hadramawt

Notes[]

References[]

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