PS: some additions…

Sabeyska (Sabeian) Arabia, south from Minean, (the capital was Saba) – Serbian tribes (names: Seba, Saba, Sabta, Sabteka mentioned in Old Testament: Job 1:13-15, Isaiah 45:14, and Joel 3:4-8 and the Quran Sura 34) came from Lycia in Asia Minor.

At its height Saba was one of the greatest kingdoms in antiquity and ruled over a land that, to many, was considered blessed by the gods.

(The following text by Joshua J. Mark)
“Saba (also given as Sheba) was a kingdom in southern Arabia (region of modern-day Yemen) which flourished between the 8th century BCE and 275 CE when it was conquered by the neighbouring Himyarites. Although these are the most commonly accepted dates, various scholars have argued for a longer or shorter chronology with the earliest date of c. 1200 BCE; most agree on the terminus of c. 275 CE, however.

In its prime, however, Saba was known as a wealthy kingdom which grew rich through trade along the Incense Routes (also known as the Spice Routes) between southern Arabia and the port of Gaza on the Mediterranean Sea. Most of the biblical and quranic references – including the tale of the famous queen – reference Saba’s wealth and success in trade.

The Sabeans supplanted the Mineans in orchestrating trade and quickly became the wealthiest kingdom in southern Arabia. Goods were sent from Saba to Babylon and Uruk in Mesopotamia, to Memphis in Egypt, and to Byblos, Sidon, and Tyre in the Levant and, from the port at Gaza, even further. By the time of the reign of the Assyrian king Sargon II (722-705 BCE), their trade routes required his permission to operate in his realm and extend through Assyrian lands. The Egyptians had been trading with the land of Punt (modern-day Puntland State of Somalia) since their 5th Dynasty (c. 2498-2345 BCE), as well as their southern neighbour Nubia but had since initiated trade with southern Arabia. Gold from Nubia travelled north to the capital of Egypt at Memphis and then overland east and south down to Saba.

Sabean kings (known as mukarribs) rose to power and commissioned great building projects from their capital at Ma’rib (modern-day Sana’a, Yemen). The most famous of these projects is the Ma’rib Dam, the oldest known dam in the world, blocking the ravine of Dhana (the Wadi Adanah). The mountainous ravine would flood during the rainy season and the dam was built to control and divert the water to the low-lying farms in the valley.

Irrigation of the farmlands was so successful that Saba was consistently remarked upon as a “green country” by ancient historians such as Pliny the Elder (c. 23-79 CE) who called the region Arabia Eudaemon (“Fortunate Arabia”), a term later used by the Romans as “Arabia Felix”. The dam, considered one of the greatest engineering feats of the ancient world, was built under the reign of the Sabean mukarrib Yatha’ Amar Watta I (c. 760-740 BCE).

Prior to the 8th century BCE, trade in the area seems to have been controlled by the Mineans of the kingdom of Ma’in but c. 950 BCE the Sabeans dominated the region and taxed the goods heading north from their southern neighbours of Hadramawt, Qataban, and the port of Qani. Sabean trade suffered during the Ptolemaic Dynasty of Egypt (323-30 BCE) when the Ptolemies encouraged sea routes over land travel, and Saba’s prestige declined until they were conquered by the neighbouring Himyarites.

In c. 575 CE the Ma’rib dam failed and Saba was flooded. The Quran attributes the flood to an act of God (Surah 34:15-17) as punishment for the Sabeans refusing to accept his gifts. If so, said punishment was severe and resulted in the abandonment of towns and cities as the people were forced to leave the area or starve. A more rational explanation for the dam’s failure is simply its age and lack of maintenance, although secular legends claim it was due to rats weakening the dam’s supports by chewing on them.”

Felt they could be more similar to your tastes.

To the contrary, that’s what I feel about this blog. I would find it the most boring thing in the world to hang around in a forum where everyone shares my priors.

In any case, I’m hardly out of the “mainstream” around here. I lose my cool when people misconstrue me or argue in bad faith (or call me a hypocrite, like someone did a few days ago), otherwise I probably end up falling more on the conservative than the leftie side in general.

Was genuinely trying to help. Not to score any points.

Didn’t mean to suggest you were. Sorry if my comments came out that way!

On the contrary i welcome more non-conservative engagement on the blog. Always supported Kbir’s post b4 he was banned. Sbrakkum and other non Pakistani/Indian voices too. Also tried to engage with the other side in real life. Too bad i have lost many liberals friends (cancelled) . Have stopped discussing politics after that in real life, and mostly comment on line.

On Amit Verma, i did not refer to any private club. Mostly referring to the guests who come on his shows repeatedly who are mostly libertarian and non-woke. Felt they could be more similar to your tastes. They have their own blog and post regularly, though Amit doesnt. Most engagement is thru twitter through.

Was genuinely trying to help. Not to score any points. Peace.

P.S On my comment on genetics and Hindu right. I am skeptical that either liberals or Hindu right are actually concerned on genetics as such. They have their pet peeves which is confined 2 OIT , AIT etc. Within that narrow framework i feel Online Hindu right is more concerned about all this, than liberals.

Amit Varma has his own private friends’ circle. It’s not an online weblog like this where people can hang out and comment and argue. I do occasionally listen to his podcasts but I’m just a passive consumer. Ditto for his blog, where he posts once every few months.

@Roy

Change your id to “GaribMarx-ka-SastaPacket”

Amit Verma and his galaxy of friends website, blogpost and podcasts. IVM, Econ central, Seen Unseen etc.

There are many blogs , websites for NRI wokes and liberals.
Just curious, do you see this website (or any website really) as a club for like-minded people? What’s the point of that? Clubs are good in real life because people need community, but hopefully people on the internet can have more frank discussions across ideological boundaries (especially under the cover of anonymity) without being hamstrung by the rules of political correctness (which we all have to abide by in the physical world in some shape or form).

What’s an example of a blog for liberals (or libertarians) of the “brown” variety? Not talking about lefties or wokesters.

Also, I don’t know if you are right about internet Hindus being obsessed with genetics. If you are referring to the OIT advocates, they seem to spend a lot of cycles arguing against recent genetic discoveries, or spinning around them.

Thanks Emi, your text is excellent and is touching very interesting and exotic but not well explored domain. It seems that this area was the richest part of the world. There is a legend about the wealth brought by queen of Sheba when visiting the king Solomon. I have some material which is not available in (English) public domain and I may present some as soon as I get some free time (pretty busy in the following few days). There are interesting connections with Egypt, too. Palmyra – I wrote before about this that all toponyms which contain MIR, including South Asia, are the most likely Serbian. There are also some Serbian toponyms across the water in Ethiopia. Sinai is full of Serbian toponyms including Mt Serbal (still the same name in Arabic – Jebel Serbal) where Moses got 10 commandments from the God. From Mt Nebo (in Serbian – sky) Moses watched the promised land. Ch.

As a self-confessed Serbophile, I cannot confirm or deny those Serbian links but indeed there were regions of Arabia known as Arabia Felix (South Arabia) along with Arabia Deserta (Empty Quarter) and Arabia Petraea (Levantine-ish north Arabia/Sinai).