Dhamar (;

Old South Arabian Ancient South Arabian (ASA; also known as Old South Arabian, Epigraphic South Arabian, Ṣayhadic, or Yemenite) is a group of four closely related extinct languages ( Sabaean/Sabaic, Qatabanic, Hadramitic, Minaic) spoken in the far southern ...

: 𐩹𐩣𐩧 ''Ḏmr'') is a city in south-western

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 located at , at an elevation of around .

Overview

Dhamar is situated to the south of

Sana'a Sanaa, officially the Sanaa Municipality, is the ''de jure'' capital and largest city of Yemen. The city is the capital of the Sanaa Governorate, but is not part of the governorate, as it forms a separate administrative unit. At an elevation ...

, north of

Ibb Ibb () is a city in Yemen, the capital of Ibb Governorate, located about northeast of Mocha and south of Sana'a. A market town and administrative centre developed during the Ottoman Empire, it is one of the most important medium-sized cities i ...

, and west of Al-Bayda', above sea level. Its name goes back to the

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Saba' Sheba, or Saba, was an ancient South Arabian kingdom that existed in Yemen from to . Its inhabitants were the Sabaeans, who, as a people, were indissociable from the kingdom itself for much of the 1st millennium BCE. Modern historians agree th ...

and Dhu-Raydan at 135–175 AD, whose name was

Dhamar Ali Yahbur Dhamarʿalī Yuhabirr bin Yāsir Yuhaṣdiq (Ḏmrʿly Yhbr), was the ''king of Saba' and ḏu-Raydān'' from c. 135 to 175 CE. He ascended the Himyarite throne amidst clashes between Sabaʾ and Ḥimyar. The earliest mention of Dhamarʿalī Yuha ...

, who is renowned for restoring the great dam of Ma’rib, and whose

statue A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or Casting (metalworking), cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to ...

was found at the city of Al-Nakhla Al-Hamra'a ("The Red Palm"). This city is one of the

archeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeology ...

sites that are found near Dhamar. The city of Dhamar is the capital of the

governorate A governorate or governate is an administrative division headed by a governor. As English-speaking nations tend to call regions administered by governors either states or provinces, the term ''governorate'' is typically used to calque divisions ...

, and is situated on the main road, which connects Sana’a with a number of other governorates. This city was one of the prominent Arabian and

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic culture and scientific centers in Yemen. Its Great Mosque was built in the period of the

caliph A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

Abu Bakr Abd Allah ibn Abi Quhafa (23 August 634), better known by his ''Kunya (Arabic), kunya'' Abu Bakr, was a senior Sahaba, companion, the closest friend, and father-in-law of Muhammad. He served as the first caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, ruli ...

. As Dhamar City had a great role in Yemen's political and economic life, it had an important historical role in Yemen before the lifetime of the

Islamic Prophet Prophets in Islam () are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God's message on Earth and serve as models of ideal human behaviour. Some prophets are categorized as messengers (; sing. , ), those who transmit divine revelation, mos ...

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

. The antique Yemeni engravings mentioned Dhamar city as being a very famous center of the Islamic studies and sciences, and many of the great scientists are attributed to this historical town. In past times, the people of Dhamar were known for bringing up

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

s; the city was an early center of horse-breeding in Arabia. The town is still known in Yemen for its numerous historical

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

s and schools, which are distinguished by their characteristic architecture in harmony with the colours of its volcanic land. A

volcanic field A volcanic field is an area of Earth's Earth's crust, crust that is prone to localized volcano, volcanic activity. The type and number of volcanoes required to be called a "field" is not well-defined. Volcanic fields usually consist of clusters ...

Harras of Dhamar The Harras of Dhamar is a volcanic field in Yemen. __NOTOC__ Morphology and eruption The volcanic field extends to the south of Dhamar town. The field contains many stratovolcanoes, lava flows, and youthful cones. Basaltic lava flows overlie ol ...

, extends to the east of the city. The city of Dhamar, in the center of the Dhamar basin, is of ancient origin. It was built by the legendary

Himyarite 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 Qataban, Qatabanian kingdom, afterwards being recognized as an independent kingdom. According ...

King Dhamar Ali Yahbir II. Dhamar is the only town in the former

North Yemen North Yemen () is a term used to describe the Kingdom of Yemen (1918-1962), the Yemen Arab Republic (1962-1990), and the regimes that preceded them and exercised sovereignty over that region of Yemen. Its capital was Sanaa from 1918 to 1948 an ...

that is not surrounded by a wall or natural defensive formations; it is just a settlement on the plains. Centrally situated with connections to the nearby governorates, the town has prospered as a Wednesday market and meeting place for tribes living nearby. It is home to the University of Thamar, the largest university in the country.

Rosicrucians Rosicrucianism () is a spirituality, spiritual and cultural movement that arose in early modern Europe in the early 17th century after the publication of several texts announcing to the world a new Western esotericism, esoteric order. Rosicruc ...

associate Dhamar with the mystical city of Damcar—a city in

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

described in the ''

Fama Fraternitatis ''Fama Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis'' (''Report of the Fraternity of the Rose Cross'') is an anonymous Rosicrucian manifesto published circa 1610 in Kassel, Hesse-Kassel (in present-day Germany). In 1652, Thomas Vaughan translated the work into En ...

,'' inhabited by scholars and alchemists who studied the lost secrets of

Hermes Trismegistus Hermes Trismegistus (from , "Hermes the Thrice-Greatest") is a legendary Hellenistic period figure that originated as a syncretic combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth.A survey of the literary and archaeological eviden ...

and

Solomon Solomon (), also called Jedidiah, was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), Kingdom of Israel and Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible. The successor of his father David, he is described as having been the penultimate ...

, visited by

Christian Rosenkreuz Christian Rosenkreuz (also spelled Rosenkreutz, Rosencreutz, Christiani Rosencreütz and Christian Rose Cross) is the legendary, possibly allegorical, founder of the Rosicrucian Order (Order of the Rose Cross). He is presented in three manife ...

Climate

Dhamar has a

cold semi-arid climate Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute thermodynamic ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

: ''BSk'').

Notable residents

* Nabil Mohammed Al-Garbi - Olympic Yemeni long-distance runner *

Shoshana Damari Shoshana Damari (; 31 March 1923 – 14 February 2006) was an Israeli singer known as the "Queen of Hebrew Music." Biography Shoshana Damari was born as Shodia Damari on the eve of Passover in Dhamar, Yemen as the eldest daughter in a family ...

(1923-2006),

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i singer

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Dhamar Governorate Districts of Dhamar Governorate Cities in Yemen