The heritage books begin with what is
provided for in them about Sana’a by the Story of Shem the son Noah, who
came from the north of the south looking for a better homeland for
settlement till he finally found the appropriate place and founded the
palace of Ghamdan and thereafter the city was named Sam City “City of
Shem” and that means it is the oldest town.
While other Books mention another name for the city, i.e. Azal as
provided for recurrently in the poems and indications about the
antiquity of the city too, because Azal is one of the sons of Joktan Bin
Amir Bin Shalik Bin Arfakhashed Bin Shem Bin Noah. It is a name that is
provided for the Old Testament. From the name Azal comes the present
verb Yazl meaning fortified , Storing and Manufacture. The same meaning
in Amhric (a Yemenite Dialect spoken in Ethiopia) Manufacture. May be
due to the lapse of time there has been confusion concerning the name
but generally the name of town, as “Azal” has always been ubiquitous in
the poetry. But the name that always accompanied the city and its
history events since 20 centuries age is Sana’a and its root is in the
Sabaeic Encyclopedia and is referred to as Hasna when in adjective mode
meaning (Beauty).
The first ever found inscription mentioning Sana’a dates to 70 AD as one
of the Sabaeaic towns following Marib in importance as per the context
of its reference in the inscription, while Ghamdan Palace was the second
after Salheen in Marib. From the inscriptions also it has been found
that”Dhu Nawas , the last Himyarite King was the first to establish
Sana’a as his capital in 525 AD and remained so during the Abyssinian
occupation for almost half a century. Whilst when Sana’a fell under the
Persian Empire’s Control it remained as the capital of the Persian
Ruler.
As of the dawn of Islam till the beginning of independence of Islamic
sub-state in many parts of Yemen detaching from the Capitals of the
Islamic Caliphate from Madina at the Time of the Disciples Caliphs , to
the Umayyad in Damascus and the Abbasids in Baghdad up till the outset
of the third Hegira Century (9th Century AD) Sana’a persisted begin the
Capital City of the Ruler , who himself is Caliph’s deputy in running
the affairs of one of Yemen’s Three Makhalifs i.e . Mikhlaf Sana’a,
Mikhlaf Al-Janad and Mikhlaf Hadhramawt, The city of Sana’a recurrently
assumed an important status and all Yemenite States competed to control
it of which is the famous competition between the Zaidite and Qarmatite
States or was at times adopted as capital of a Sultanate.
The Sullaihiad Kings (One of the Biggest Yemenite States during the
Islamic Reign) were the first to adopt Sana’a as Capital for the
Sullaiyhid Dynasty before transferring the capital to Jiblah between the
years 1047, and 1083. Then it became a capital of Hatimite State (a
tribe of Hamdan) from 1098 till 1173.They were partisans of the
Sullaiyhids and were in war with the Zaidites Imams in Sadah and were
allies of the Zaidites in Aden during their wars with Al-Mahdi in Zabid
till the Hatimate State demised at the hands of the Ayyubides (1174-1229
AD. Also Sana’a remained important during the Ayyubides and the Zone
named Bostan A-Sultan in Sana’a refers to Sultan Taghtakin Bin Ayub
whose capital was Taiz . The Status of Sana’a didn’t change during the
region of the Rasoulides 1226-1454 and this was the strongest Islamic
Sub-state in Yemen which covered most of Yemen .i.e. Greater Yemen.
Their capital was Taiz. Also during the Tahiride Rule of Yemen Sana’a
remained as an important city.
The Mamelukes arrived in Yemen following the Portuguese Invasion of
Yemenite Coasts in 1517 AD following the collapse of the Mamelukides in
Egypt at the hands of the Ottoman Turks, Yemen fell under the Ottoman
Rule and during the first Ottoman rule of Yemen between 1538-1635 Sana’a
became the capital of the Ottoman Vilayet. Albeit the Zaidite expansion
following the first Ottoman exodus to the extent that it covered Greater
Yemen but Sana’a was not the capital of that State and the condition in
later times deteriorated till the number of Imams in Sana’a and its
surroundings were five at the same times. Then again came the Ottomans
and controlled Yemen with Sana’a as capital as of 1872-1918.After the
Ottomans Sana’a was the capital of Imam Yehya who ruled North Yemen till
1948 and during Imam Ahmed’s rule it was the capital of Sana’a Province
till the break out of Revolution in 1962 where after it become the
capital of the Arab Republic of Yemen till the Reunification declaration
of Yemen was proclaimed on 22 May 1990 and it was dubbed as the
Historical Capital of Yemen.
Source: National Information Center, Sana'a