Bayt Naʽamah ( ar, بيت نعامة ) is a village in
Bani Matar District
Bani Matar District ( ar, مُدِيْرِيَّة بَنِي مَطَر, Mudīriyyat Banī Maṭar) is a district of the Sanaa Governorate, Yemen. , the district had a population of 100,012 inhabitants.
Environment
In this district is located ...
of
Sanaa Governorate
Sanaa ( ar, صَنْعَاء '), also spelled San'a or Sana, is a governorate of Yemen. Its capital is Sanaa, which is also the national capital. However, the city of Sanaa is not part of the governorate but instead forms the separate governorate ...
,
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
.
It is located on a small western outcrop of
Jabal Ayban, about 10 km west of
Sanaa
Sanaa ( ar, صَنْعَاء, ' , Yemeni Arabic: ; Old South Arabian: 𐩮𐩬𐩲𐩥 ''Ṣnʿw''), also spelled Sana'a or Sana, is the capital and largest city in Yemen and the centre of Sanaa Governorate. The city is not part of the Governo ...
.
Name
According to the 10th-century author
al-Hamdani, the name of Bayt Naʽamah is derived from that of ʽAmr Dhū Naʽāmah b. ʽĀmīr b. ʽAmr, of the tribe of
Himyar
The Himyarite Kingdom ( ar, مملكة حِمْيَر, Mamlakat Ḥimyar, he, ממלכת חִמְיָר), or Himyar ( ar, حِمْيَر, ''Ḥimyar'', / 𐩹𐩧𐩺𐩵𐩬) ( fl. 110 BCE–520s CE), historically referred to as the Homerit ...
.
A number of inscriptions also refer to the name as that of a tribe called the Banū Dhī Naʽāmah, which they associated with the tribe of
Sahman.
History
Robert T.O. Wilson wrote that
M.A. al-Eryani's 1973 work ''
In Yemen History'' seemingly implied that Bayt Naʽamah was originally located just below its present site, but Wilson himself argued that the upper site would have been more preferable as a defensive position.
In his view, the ruins below the present site are "remnants from an earlier expansion".
The only historical reference he found to Bayt Naʽamah was to the town being sacked in 647 AH (1249 CE).
References
{{Reflist
Villages in Sanaa Governorate