Matériaux pour une prosopographie de l'Arabie antique
Résumé
One of the unique aspects of Yemen is the stability of toponyms during the last 3000 years. Four times out of five, the name of a town, of a valley or of a mountain, recorded in ancient inscriptions, has survived to this day. Some twenty names of tribes also show a very exceptional longevity; this sometimes happens in the same territory; in other cases on can observe a displacement from the desert to the mountains. This contribution propose to draw up an inventory of the great families of ancient yemen, whose name has crossed the centuries. The study is based on ancient inscriptions and on the works of al-Hamdani and of Nashwan al-Himyari. Whilst illustrating the longevity of some families, it attempts to show that most of the latter exist in relation to a tribe.