page_title: Lihyan
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Lihyan / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Pergamon Museum ( Berlin ). Exhibition "Roads of Arabia": Head of a statue ( 4th/3rd century BC ), red sandstone with traces of tar, 55x30x28 cm, from Al-'Ula ( Department of Archaeology Museum, King Saud University, Riyadh ). Deutsch: Pergamon Museum ( Berlin ). Ausstellung "Roads of Arabia": Kopf einer Statue ( 4/3.Jhdt. v.Chr.), roter Sandstein mit Spuren von Teer, 55x30x28 cm, aus Al-'Ula ( Department of Archaeology Museum, King Saud University, Riyadh ).
context_page_description: Lihyan, also called Dadān or Dedan, was a powerful and highly organized ancient Arab kingdom that played a vital cultural and economic role in the
  north-western region of the Arabian Peninsula and used Dadanitic language. The Lihyanites ruled over large domain from Yathrib in the south and parts of the Levant in the north. In antiquity, the Gulf of Aqaba used to be called Gulf of Lihyan. A testimony to the extensive influence that Lihyan acquired. The term "Dedanite" usually describes the earlier phase of the history of this kingdom since their capital name was Dedan, which is now called AlUla oasis located in northwestern Arabia, some 110 km southwest of Teima, both cities located in modern day Saudi Arabia, while the term "Lihyanite" describes the later phase. Dadan in its early phase was "one of the most important caravan centers in northern Arabia". It is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. The Lihyanites later became the enemies of the Nabataeans. The Romans invaded the Nabataeans and acquired their kingdom in 106 AD. This encouraged the Lihyanites to establish an independent kingdom to manage their country.
context_section_description: The primary evidence for the kingdom comes from the corpus of inscriptions in the capital Dedan and surrounding area. The dating of the rulers and dynasty is a matter of dispute and controversy in the academic sphere. No absolute chronology or even relative chronology of rulers has been established.Based on the regnal years that appear in some inscriptions of Lihyanite kings, the kingdom had minimum lifespan of 199 years. The mention of a king of Dedan in the Nabonidus Chronicle suggests that the kingdom of Lihyan cannot have come into existence before Nabonidus' arrival in northwest Arabia in 552 BC. This provides the kingdom with a floruit of 552–353 BC.
caption: Statue of a man from Lihyan kingdom
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