Mukarrib

Mukarrib (Old South Arabian: 𐩣𐩫𐩧𐩨, romanized: mkrb) is a title used by rulers in ancient South Arabia. It is attested as soon as continuous epigraphic evidence is available and it was used by the kingdoms of Saba, Hadhramaut, Qataban, and Awsan. The title is also found on Sabaic inscriptions from Ethiopia. The title mukarrib has no equivalent in other Near Eastern societies and it was not used in the Christian era. The mukarrib is only cited when he is the author of the document, but not on legal documents, where the issuer is called the "king of Saba" or the "king of Qataban" instead.^[1]

The title occurs very early both in Saba and Awsan, and it is not clear which one borrowed it from the other.^[2] In Qataban, the mukarrib title only occurs in territories on the southern plateau. Qatabanian mukarribs carried out many functions: they performed holy hunting in the valleys of the kingdom, the guided the army during war, they built the walls and gates of the capital, conquered and walled neighbouring cities, and cut mountains to create passes between important wadis.^[3]

In Ethiopia, the use of the mukarrib title reflects a cultural diffusion from the Kingdom of Saba that came about from the Sabaean colonization of the area from which the Ethio-Sabaean kingdom known as Di'amat was set up. At the capital of Di'amat, Yeha, the title "Mukarrib of Diʿamat and Saba" (mkrb Dʿmt s-S¹bʾ) has been attested, to signify rulership over the Ethiopians in addition to the local Sabaeans that had migrated into the area.^[4]