Tribus: Tribus, 54.2005

Anthropos, 104.2009

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Strukturtyp:: Zeitschrift

Werks-URN (URL):: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-714817

URN:: urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-714817

Persistenter Identifier:: BV044415258

Titel:: Tribus

Untertitel:: Jahrbuch des Linden-Museums

ISSN:: 0082-6413

Erscheinungsort:: Stuttgart

Verlag:: Linden-Museum

Erscheinungsjahr:: 1953

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

Wissensgebiet:: Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie > Allgemeines

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Strukturtyp:: Zeitschriftenband

Werks-URN (URL):: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-711799

URN:: urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-711799

Persistenter Identifier:: 1511770803238

Titel:: Tribus, 54.2005

Erscheinungsjahr:: 2005

Signatur:: LA 6621

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

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Strukturtyp:: Farbkeil

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

4 Dierk Lange Anthropos 104.2009 cal reconstruction. They insist on the Yemenite ori gins of the Magumi clans, formerly united in a dis tinct ruling class, and they are undoubtedly deeply influenced by Arab historical writings (see Palmer 1928/11: 83-95; 1928/III: 15-21). It is, however, also shortsighted to discard them entirely as being irrelevant, since Arab notions of Yemenite history may contain pertinent, although not yet properly understood, references to the history of the ancient Near East. In fact, Arab historians themselves situate the early Yemenite kings at the beginning of Arab his tory and even attribute to them a preeminent role in world history. They are fascinated by the military exploits of the early Yemenite rulers leading to the conquest of Syria and Iraq, and extending as far as Azerbaijan, Samarqand, and India (Lange 2009b). Further, they echo Berber traditions trac ing the origin of the Sanhaja and the Kutama likewise to Yemen. 3 Even more so, besides the Kanembu-Kanuri of Kanem-Borno, other Sahelian people cherish similar claims of Yemenite origins (Masonen 2000: 159, 202, 490 f.; Lange 2009c). Instead of dismissing these assertions, deeply root ed in Arab, Berber, and sub-Saharan traditions, as Islamic feedback without any foundation in histo ry, 4 it may be useful to consider them in connec tion with other historical, onomastic, and linguistic evidence pointing to ancient Near Eastern connec tions. The partly dependent and partly independent traditions of origin from different West African people appear to echo vast migrations set in motion by the collapse of the Assyrian empire at the end of the seventh century B.C. (Lange 2008a: 82 f., 89-92). As a result of the defeat of the Assyrian army by the advancing Babylonian and Median troops, the members of the numerous communities of Assyrian deportees in Syria-Palestine far to the west were at the mercy of their liberated local neighbours (Oded 1979:75-135). In this anar chic situation, the deportee communities, who had largely preserved their languages and cultures, ap peared to the local people as the representatives of their former Assyrian oppressors, and as such they were threatened to be exterminated. Flight away from this situation of turmoil and insecurity, was for them the only hope of preserving their lives. 3 For a convenient summary of the information provided by al-Ya'qûbî, al-Tabarî, al-Mas c ûdî, und Ibn Khaldûn see Radtke (1992: 11-108). With respect to the origin of the Berbers see Norris (1982: 33-46). 4 On the important issue of feedback for the historical method see the debate between Lange (2008b) and Henige (2008). Many of them seem to have reached sub-Saharan Africa, leaving particularly pertinent traces in the traditions, the languages, and in the material arte facts in the region of Lake Chad (Lange 2008a, 2009a, 2009b). 1 The Duguwa as Pre-Dynastic Magistrates of Kanem (600 B.C. to A.D. 1068) The most important information concerning the history of Kanem is transmitted by the DTwdn, the brief chronicle of the kings of Kanem-Bomo. In its present form the DTwdn might date from the fifteenth century, but there could have been earlier versions. 5 Its orally preserved name girgam, which is also known as a designation for written dynastic records in some neighbouring kingdoms, seems to be derived from Sumero-Akkadian girginakku (box of tablets, library). 6 * Together with the form of the chronicle, it suggests that there were earlier versions, possibly in a language of the ancient Near East (Lange 2004a: 245; CAD/V: 86 f.). According to the oldest layer of information in the DTwdn, the kings of Kanem descend from Sef, the “king of the four regions of the world,” not from the minor Yemenite hero of the sixth century A.D., Sayf b. DhT Yazan. Apparently, the resemblance between the two names made Muslim scholars suggest, that the two figures were the same (Lange 2004a: 243). Moreover, the DTwdn claims that the mother of the eponymous founder of the Sefuwa was a daughter of the king of Baghdad, a town of which the regional predecessor might have been highly significant for a mighty king remembered in Kanem-Bomo. In fact, there are good reasons to suppose that the mother of the dynastic founder was identical with Aisha from Baghdad, the ancestress of the two successive ruling groups of Kanem, the Duguwa and the Sefuwa, and the legendary equivalent of the powerful queen mother of the state, the Magira (Palmer 1928/11:51, 83; Lange 2004a: 243). As Magira is derived from gdbird, the name of the Israelite queen mother (Lange 2004: 181), it would not be surprising, if Baghdad was not the actualiza 5 The earlier suggested thirteenth-century date (Lange 1977: 156-160) seems to be too optimistic in view of the incon sistencies noted below. 6 The term designates in particular the two libraries of Ashur- banipal (664-627) in Niniveh (Unger, Bibliothek, RLA/II: 24). The Arabic term dTwan (register, collection; Lane 1863-93/111:939) is a rather exact equivalent, while the more common ta’nkh (history) - used in one manuscript in the rare plural form tawankh (Lange 1977: 22) - is not.

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