100 ANCIENT KINGS OF ARABIA. 



possessed the whole or the greater part of Yemen ; 

 the several petty princes who reigned in other dis- 

 tricts being mostly, if not altogether, dependent on 

 this sovereign, whom they called the Great King. 



II. The kingdom of Hira, or the Arabian Irak, 

 whose capital stood on the Euphrates. 



III. The kingdom of Gassan on the borders of 

 Syria. Its sovereigns were a kind of viceroys to the 

 Roman emperors, as those of Hira were to the 

 monarchs of Persia. 



Kahtan, the founder of their race, is honoured by 

 the Arabs as the first that wore the crown of Yemen. 



Yarab, his son, they regard as the first that spoke 

 their language. Saba built the capital called after 

 himself; and hence the inhabitants got the name of 

 Sabseans. Tables of these kings have been drawn 

 up by various historians ; but they differ so much 

 in their calculations as to satisfy us that they 

 are not to be trusted as infallible guides. Those 

 given by Pococke have been generally followed, as 

 being more complete, and at the same time more 

 consonant with probability, than any to be found m 

 a single Mohammedan author : — 



I. Table.— Kings of Yemen,— Reigned 2020 years. 



1. Kahtan. 



2. Yarah. 



3. Yashab. 



4. Saba (or Abd-Shems). 



5. Hamyar. 



6. Wathel (or Wayel). 



7. Secsac. 



8. Yaafar. 



9. Duryash. 



10. Nooman. 



11. Asmah. 



12. Sheddad. 



13. Lokman. 



14. Dusadad. 



15. Hareth,— Alrayish. 



16. Dulkarnain. 



17. Dulmenaar. 



18. Afreikus. 



19. Duladsaar. 



20. Shaerhabil. 



21. Hodhad. 



22. Belkis. 



23. Nashirelnaim. 



24. Shamar— Yaraash. 



25. Abimalec. 

 Descendants of Cahlan. 



26. Amran. 



27. Amru— Mazikia. 



28. Akran. 



29. Duhabshan 



