Arabic is different, shamal -- which can also mean north (we don't get the sinister associations with this root). Indeed, if one faces east, the south is on one's right and the north on the left. And Arabic is not the only language in which right (dexter) is lucky and left (sinister) threatening.The only proper history book in print that I have found for South Arabia is Robert G. Hoyland's Arabia and the Arabs, From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam [Routledge, 2001]. For the historiography of South Arabia, he says:....we are equipped with some ten thousand inscriptions. Unfortunately, however, these are not dated according to an absolute era until the first century AD and they almost never allude to events outside south Arabia. Scholars have tried to arrange them in chronological order according to the style of their script, but with hardly any firmly dated examples to provide a fixed point this method can offer no more than a rough indication. [p.36]Kingdom of Saba'/ShebaSamahu 'Alic.750 BCYada'-il DharihYathi'-amar Watar IYada'-il Bayin IYathi'-amar Watar IIKariba-il BayinDhamar 'Ali WatarSamahu 'Ali Yanif IYathi'-amar Bayin IKariba-il Watar Ic.450 BCSamahu 'Ali DarihKariba-il Watar IIIl-Sharah IYadaYakribYathi'Karib-ilSamahIl-Sharah IIDhamarYada'DhamarKarib-il Watar IVIl-Karib Yuhan'imKarib-il Watar VWahb-ilAnmar Yuhan'imDhamar 'Ali DarihNash'a-Karib YuhaminNasir Yuhan'imWahb-il YahuzKarib-il Watar Yuhan'imYarim Ayman Ic.80-c.60 BC'Alhan Nahfanc60-?Far'um YanhabYarim Ayman IIc.35-c.25Sha'irum Awtarc.25 BC-?Yazil Bayinc.25 BC-?Ilasharah Yahdubc.25 BC-?To HimyarKingdom of Saba'/ShebaYada'il Yanif ben Kariba-ilc.755-c.740Samahu 'Ali Darih I ben Yada'il Yanufc.740-715Yathi'-amar Bayin IDhamar 'Ali IKariba-il Watar Ic.685-c.675tribute paid to Assyria, 685Samahu'Ali IYada'il Darih ISamahu 'Ali Yanuf IDarihYathi'-amar WatarYada'il Bayin IKarib-il Bayin IDhamar 'Ali WatarSamahu'Ali Yanuf IIc.545-c.525Yathi'-amar Bayin IIc.525-c.495Kariba-il IYada'il IYathi'-amar IKariba-il IISamahu'Ali IIYada'il IIYathi'amar IIYada'il Bayin IISamahu'Ali Yanuf IIIc.410-c.380Yathi'-amar Watar IYaqrub Malik DarihSamahu'Ali Yanuf IVYada'il Bayin IIIYaqrub Malik Watar IYathi'-amar Bayin IIIKarib-il Watar IIc.320-c.270Yada'il Bayin IVYaqrub Malik Watar IIDhamar'Ali YanufYathi'-amar Bayin IVSamahu'Ali Darih IIc.200-c.175Karib-il Bayin IIYathi'-amar IIIunknown, c.140-c.116; to Himyar, 116-55Samahu'Ali Yanuf Vc.55Yada'il Watar Ic.30Dhamar'Ali Bayin Ic.25Yadail Darih IIc.10 BC-c.10 ADYathi'-amar Watar IIc.10-20Yada'il Watar IIc.20-30Dhamar 'Ali Bayin IIc.30-60Karib-il Watar Yuhan'imc.60-75Dhamar'Ali Darihc.75-85Ilasharah Yahdubc.85-100to Himyar, Gurat, & MaribWith the neglect and uncertainties of Yemeni history, I have found little to go on for displaying the chronology. Hoyland refers to "lists of Sabaean rulers," but then doesn't mention if these are provided by the Sabaeans (like the Egyptian king lists), assembled by modern scholars, or found in Arab legend. He certainly doesn't provide any such list. The only lists of kings I have found are in Bruce R. Gordon's Regnal Chronologies. Where Bruce gets this stuff, I would like to know. He does say that the earliest material is "culled entirely from traditional sources," apparently meaning that it is legendary in nature and of doubtful historical value. Indeed, the earliest list he gives includes "a son of the eponymous ancestor of the Habiru (Hebrew) nomadic peoples." This is part of legendary genealogy, not history. I have skipped that list. But what I do give first, the list of kings of Tababi'a above, begins with reigns that are more than a century long. When it comes to the kings of Saba', the classic kingdom of Yemen, Gordon says, "sources I have for early Yemeni states disagree