Khamir () is a small city in the

'Amran Governorate ʽAmran () is one of the governorates of Yemen. Located in the northwestern side of the country, it is controlled by the Houthi movement in the Yemeni civil war (2014–present). Geography Neighboring governorates * Saada Governorate (north) ...

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

. It is the seat of

Khamir District Khamir () is a district of the 'Amran Governorate, Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman t ...

. It is now closely associated with the tribal confederation of

Hashid The Hashid (; Musnad: 𐩢𐩦𐩵𐩣) is a tribal confederation in Yemen. It is the second or third largest – after Bakil and, depending on sources, Madh'hij

, although it is named after a member of the

Bakil The Bakil (, Musnad: 𐩨𐩫𐩺𐩡) federation is the largest tribal federation in Yemen. The tribe consists of more than 10 million men and women they are the sister tribe of Hashid(4 million) whose leader was Abdullah Bin Hussein Alahmar. The ...

tribe and was historically mainly a Bakil town.

Name and history

According to the 10th-century writer al-Hamdani, Khamir was named after one Khamir ibn Dawman ibn Bakil, of the

tribe, who Hamdani described as "a king who built palaces in the Zahir of

Hamdan Hamdan ( ') is a name of Arab origin of aristocratic descent and many political ties within the middle east and the Arab World, controlling import/export mandates over port authorities. Among people named Hamdan include: Given name * Hamdan Mo ...

." Hamdani specified that the city's name referred to the fact that it was inhabited by "the sons of Khamir"; he wrote that, during his lifetime, the town was mostly inhabited by members of Bakil. He described its pre-Islamic ruins and wrote that the king As'ad al-Kamil was born here. During the Middle Ages, the main north–south highway in the area bypassed Khamir to the east, so the city is absent from most historical accounts of the period. Its first mention in the '' Ghayat al-amani'' of

Yahya ibn al-Husayn Yahya may refer to: * Yahya (name), a common Arabic male given name * Yahya (Zaragoza), 11th-century ruler of Zaragoza * Yahya of Antioch / Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Antaki / Yaḥya ibn Saʿīd al-Anṭākī, 11th century Christian Arabic historian. * ...

is in the year 1398 (800 AH); the text mentions that some of its houses had

Himyar Himyar was a polity in the southern highlands of Yemen, as well as the name of the region which it claimed. Until 110 BCE, it was integrated into the Qatabanian kingdom, afterwards being recognized as an independent kingdom. According to class ...

ite foundations that could not be destroyed. Khamir is mentioned more frequently from the late 16th century onward, when it was frequently used as a base by armies in the region.

References

Populated places in 'Amran Governorate Khamir District {{Yemen-geo-stub