posted
The Sweepers: Fighting Centuries Old Isolation
Part 1 of 2
Sweepers or "Akhdam" as they are known used to live the lowest social level of life since the past 900 years in Yemen. In the past they were oppressed. Today also they are oppressed but to a lesser degree. Today's Akhdam are quite different in many ways. In the past their entire conditions were tragic and heartbreaking. Today their conditions are better. In the past the way they were treated contradicted with the teachings of Islam and even the human principles which call for human rights, preservation of freedom and dignity of human beings. Today these contradictions have reduced and their rights are preserved; at least as human beings and as Yemeni citizens enjoying their full civilian and political rights. Have we preserved the rights of today's rebel youth sweeper who wants to affect changes in his life. We always allege and keep calling for rights . But have we given any attention to the revolution of youth sweepers? We keep calling for peace, affection and unity in between us. Do these include sweepers? What made the society in the past deny their rights? Do we still deny their rights today? In the 21 provinces of present day Yemen, the conditions of akhdam differ from one province to another. If countrymen have moved to the capitals of each province in search of livelihood, this included the akhdam. Then we saw that Sana'a, Taiz, Hodeidah, Aden and Mukalla (Hadhramaut) became overpopulated due to the exodus. In other words, out of the 21 provinces only four to five provinces today bear the burden of overpopulation, including the akhdam. For instance now in Sana'a they have five main and permanent 'settlements', (one in Bab-al-Yemen, another in Bab-al-Sabah, third in 45km Road, fourth in Sha'oub and fifth at Al-Mahareq in Asser area). In Taiz they have five (One in Oosaifra, another in Al-Shammasi suburb, third in Mafraq Maweeya, fourth in Al-Haseb and the fifth in Al-Janad). In Aden they have six: (one in Tawahi, two in Maalla, one in Crater, one in Mimdara and one in Little Aden). They also have their permanent settlements in Hodeidah at Al-Barhameiya, Labor City (Madinat Al-Ommal), Al-Baida, Al-Salkhana and other places. In Hadhramaut they could be seen at 14th October Zone of Al-Mukalla. In Shabwa their main settlement is in Al-Gol area. Do all provinces with their capitals, districts, remote areas and 'uzlas' (hinterlands) need the akhdam to carry out for them the essential services connected with sanitation? In some areas people have their own way of life. Their latrines are open-air but 'hidden'. Farmers use their fields. In coastal areas too citizens have their own way of disposing off their waste. Such being the case, we do not find any trace of akhdam in such areas. However, akhdam have two genuine reasons for their exodus. First is that they detest the old professions of their forefathers, grand fathers and fathers who were engaged in very low ranking jobs. (Cleaning of latrines, removing blockages from drainages etc.) The second is that development has almost obliterated old system of sanitary. Sewerage system here and there has subsequently forced the new generation to find another source of living. However, a third reason for exodus could be attributed to the 'swollen' population of sweepers with difficulties of accommodation and livelihood. Even the European and Arab as well as other states, cannot dispense with the services of sweepers, no matter their historical background and no matter how people there look at their sweepers. Our topic concerns sweepers of Yemen only.
Akhdam In Arabic language, "Akhdam" is the plural of sweepers. The singular is "khadem". The verb is "khadama" (serve). In the past Akhdam usually served their "Asyad" - masters. (The singular is "Syeid"). "Asyad" considered themselves higher in social rank. Today, hardly 5-10% of akhdam come under the mercy of their "asyad" but normally, today, they are independent. The importance of their presence and their cleansing works could be judged by putting a question to ourselves: "What would happen if akhdam go on strike?" In some cases we have reasons to believe that akhdams were able to dictate their conditions of service; their jobs being of different nature.
Jabarti Until recently this off shoot of lowest class of sweepers have become extinct. Living in one area, the regime through the ruling machinery which included the municipalities, would divide them into groups. In the past they used to appear late hours at night going from house to house cleaning the "zawali" (latrines). They used to be seen carrying their tin canisters on their head with a bent iron strip used for collecting wastes from unpopulated areas where 'homeless' used to go for toilet. These jabartis are not seen in many areas as most of them are believed to have immigrated.
In The Service of The Imam In Sana'a, before the 1962 Revolution, sweepers were housed in a place still known as "Samsra", situated at Bab-ul-Sabah Gate. They are still there. The Imam could not deny their services; but would not tolerate their being homeless as they used to defy that time's dusk-to-dawn "Sukat" (daily curfew); thus they were housed at "Samsra" which was a one-time shopping mall. The mall's glamour was gradually drained into a permanent resident for 5-10 sweepers families.
Oosaifra & Shammasi In Greater Taiz, sweepers lived in Upper and Lower Oosaifra. Sweepers of these two areas took active part in the arsons and riots which took place in December 1992 violent demonstrations in protest of the first price hike after Unification. After the conditions came to normal, the affected 'capitalists' avenged by arranging torching sweepers areas. As a result Upper Oosaifra was immediately vacated and sweepers moved to a new 'colony' in Al-Shammasi suburb. Lower Oosaifra still has few of these sweepers while Upper Oosaifra witnessed construction works in favor of the 'capitalists'.
45km Road Situated in between Al-Sab'een Hospital area and Taiz Road, this area is famous for its "Saeela" - water passage -, where rain waters block traffic always. The area is hardly ten years old with a population of 3014. It shelters sweepers and citizens who have built hollow-bricked small houses. The land on which these houses have been built have two different stories. Some people say that the owners are Yemeni immigrants who are out of Yemen at present. Others say that during the 1997 parliamentary elections the General People's Congress, as a part of election campaign, 'presented' the land, said to be State estate, to the residents and allowed them build their residences. Therefore most residents here are sweeper GPC members. We do not know the real story but should the real owners reappear, problems will crop up. Of course, this will result in the demolition of sweepers' temporary abode. When the area 'aakel' was asked what would he do in case real owners of this land appear, he said: "We shall either buy these lands from them or pay them rental." Peaceful Sweepers They do not possess weapons and they do not carry "gambias". Whenever humiliated, they succumb to their oppressors.
ORIGIN
Studies differ in defining their origin. Some relate them as Ethiopians who arrived into Yemen during the sixth century following the Ethiopian invasion of Yemen. One unconfirmed account claims that after the end of the Ethiopian rule, the remnants who could not flee Yemen remained trapped. They were turned into slaves and were forced to perform low-rank jobs which included cleaning of latrines and doing all works connected with sanitation. The account claims Yemenis avenged a one-time ruler. This makes us inquire: was not there any sweeper in Yemen before the Ethiopian invasion? Were Yemeni sweepers relieved of their job? Where did they go? Did they mingle in the Yemeni society? Did they migrate? Perhaps their complexions assist in this assessment as they have, in most, African characteristics in as far as the color of their skin, snub nose and tough, short curly hairs are concerned.
Tribal Affiliation Akhdam do not belong to any tribe of Yemen. Within their own society they have their own 'grades'. In each of their settlements they have their own 'aakel' (aged learned man) who settles their disputes. The fact is that one by one they start gathering in certain area. Then they marry inbetween them to form families. If one family comes from Aden, the second could be from Shabwah and the third from Hodeidah. It is the joint and common need - employment - which makes them assemble in one area. Actually they never belong to the area where they establish their settlement. As the number of families increase, they have their 'aakel' to look after their affairs. In Wisab Al-Aali (Dhamar) sweepers' settlement area stretched from one end to the other of this considerably large district. The number of 'uqqals (plural of 'aakel') is around 12-15. In between them, these 'uqqals' have elected a Shaikh. His name is Qaed Muhammed Al-Kaboudi who does spend 2-3 months in Sana'a settling all pending issues of his fellow-clan-men. We do not know to which extent the official circles recognize his 'sheikhdom' but he is really a strong man with authority. His services are always needed during elections. All police stations throughout the Republic have their own special ways and means to solve sweepers' 'special natured' disputes such as bad language, daily scuffles and adultery etc.
Language Until recently sweepers used to be distinguished through their Tihama accent and phonation. Those who left Tihama area long ago, those who got merged in the society of different provinces and those at schools could not be distinguished easily now as their accent and phonation have changed. Illiteracy The bane of our society This year the number of the illiterate people has increased to 56% of the overall population. That is about approximately 6,095,228 among males and females. This will terribly affect any attempt to quickly step forward or change for the better. That is because enlightened people are considered to be the king-pins for any real growth or improvement. Some families in the countryside do not send their children to schools due to utter poverty and ignorance. In addition to this, women education is not quite persuasive. Most Yemeni girls usually study primary education and then they are obliged to stop for several reasons: ignorance, coeducation, limited females' schools, early marriage, and some other reasons related to the social framework. It is 30 years since Sana'a University was established. Yet the genuine number of educated people are not satisfactory and the illiteracy is moving in full stream. I wonder how we can share in the construction of a livable modern life and follow up scientific and technological revolution being made round the world today?! We must all believe that knowledge is the basis for any real improvement and when we neglect it, we will be cast into the vortex of backwardness for ever! .
Posts: 107 | From: USA | Registered: Jun 2006
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posted
^ Are these Akhdaams the same as as the Mehra?
Does anybody know or have come accross their Genetics studies profile, if there has been any done.
I wonder if they are aboriginal yemenis.
Phenotype wise they look more like Amhara or Tigre. Infact I was reviewing their pictures, and the resemblence of one Akhdami to Meles Zenawi is striking.
No offence intended.
Regards
Posts: 107 | From: USA | Registered: Jun 2006
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Don't the Mehri live in somalia the Bari region? I believe the somali poster Sala's mother is a Mehri, so he might answer your question about them in somalia. From the pictures i've seen of them they look like those veddoid types you find in Oman and Yemen rather than looking like Tigre or Amhara, they have a very distinct look.
Btw those contemporary lowcast akhdami in Yemen are just remnants of slaves from the southwest ethiopia, they are not descendants of habesha as the article above claims, you can see from their phenotype that they are from hamar, mursi and these other omotic tribes close to Sudan and ended up in Yemen quite recently.
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Hello, The Authors of "Security in the Persian gulf. origins,Obstacles, and the Search for Consensus" thinks that the black people around the Gulf including Iran as well as the Mehra and the Akhdaam are Ethiopic and Somalis who are the left overs of the Ethiopian invasion.
Apperently, this book was part of a presentation to "a number of leading experts on the Persian Gulf" by experts on the field.
I am amazed really. Although I am fully aware that even by publishing trash, you are still an "author", but offcourse in your own right. However, presenting such work before "distinguished expertz" is a different matter, I suppose.
Regards.
Posts: 107 | From: USA | Registered: Jun 2006
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I have never heard of Mehris in Bari region of Somalia, although my knowledge of the region is very limited.
Regards.
The Mehri in bari should not be confused with these akhdam of Sana in Yemen who are descendants of Ethiopian southwestern omotic and nilo-saharan tribes. Those in somalia are veddoid types who are assimilated into somali culture, they look like south indians, they are mostly found in Oman and some in southern yemen.
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quote:Burhan: The Authors of "Security in the Persian gulf. origins,Obstacles, and the Search for Consensus" thinks that the black people around the Gulf including Iran as well as the Mehra and the Akhdaam are Ethiopic and Somalis who are the left overs of the Ethiopian invasion.
Those africans in Iran are no where close to be from the horn, they are south eastern africans, basically bantu origin. The author of that book is delusional and ignorant.
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So, are this Southwest Ethiopian Mehra of Sana only limited to around Sana?
So then the Mehri and NOT the Mehra are closely related to the Qara and Shahara.??
I wonder if the Hojeri are the Southwestern Ethiopians, which the rest of them including the Mehri regard them as negroid. Infact the interest thing was how they distinguish among themselves, "around Hadhramaut, and in the Mahra and Dhofar regions, the Veddoid groups distinguish carefully between themselves and negroids, and use as their primary basis of judgment, when genealogies are not known, hair form and facial features rather than skin color"
Regards
Posts: 107 | From: USA | Registered: Jun 2006
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posted
Most Akhdam (Black from Yemen) pretty much look like your average Habash: Oromo or Amhara with more Arab blood. Posts: 919 | From: AFRICA | Registered: Apr 2007
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quote:Originally posted by AFRICA I: Most Akhdam (Black from Yemen) pretty much look like your average Habash: Oromo or Amhara with more Arab blood.
That is what I have observed too. Are there any genetic studies done on them. I wonder if they are E3 or J
Posts: 107 | From: USA | Registered: Jun 2006
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quote:Africa I wrote: Most Akhdam (Black from Yemen) pretty much look like your average Habash: Oromo or Amhara with more Arab blood.
Even those selected mixed ones you posted don't look remotly Amhara or Oromo.
It's very unlikely that these people retained their distinct features after more than 1600 years, if they know are supposedly the remnants of Axumites in Yemen.
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You do know that the so called Amharas and Oromos have the same features as the people above, most Ethiopians ethnic groups are very mixed phenotypically especially the farming ethnic groups like Amharas and Oromo farmers unlike the Afars, Somalis or Boranas who are cattle herders. What do you think about this guy, he doesn't look any different from the people you posted: Posts: 919 | From: AFRICA | Registered: Apr 2007
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Take this picture you posted above for instance, look at the woman to the right and the one in the center, do they seriously strike you as being descendant of either oromo or Amhara? And the kids look just like your average southern Yemeni kids with some very slight admixture.
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posted
Amhara and Oromo Ethiopian are too mixed to be boxed in a phenotype, some look like your average Congolese like Meles Zenawi, some look like Elongated African...so it's almost 100% certain that the Akhdaam from Yemen are orignally Amhara or Tigre since Oromo moved in Ehtiopia's highlands much latter...Even many Yemeni and other Arabs look like broad faced Africans( so called Bantus), the difference is that they have white skins...there is no way this people are omotic or nilo-saharan speaking Ethiopians...it's impossible, since many think that they are the descendants of Ethiopian colonizers in Yemen...
Posts: 919 | From: AFRICA | Registered: Apr 2007
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Could these above illustrations be mixed. There are certainly some that look like your typical Tigre or Amhara such as short stature, Facial features, snub nose etc. But also there are some of those pictures that resemble the so called "bantu".
however, some of these pictures, particularly the ladies, have more of a Pygmies facial features.
At any rate, they could be a mixed stock of Ethiopic left overs from the Abraha invasion with your typical African, or Yemenis mixed with these Africans although, the latter is unlikely since Yemenis would not touch them for they think of them below dirt.
Meles certainly does qualifies for a "congoid" categorization.:-) Regards.
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You know it's like many Arab girls, they look pretty much ugly, some look like men.
Posts: 919 | From: AFRICA | Registered: Apr 2007
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Mahra are from Socotra i have lived in Yemen i still have family there. I would have to say that most of the Yemenis in Southern Yemen have alot of african blood in them for instance if i was to take u around Southern Yemen there are different Tribes who have intergrated with different tribes from the Horn of Africa and the Swahili coast first u must understand in Arabic culture the most desired slaves for Arabs were the Red Ethiopians as they call them the second most desired is a White Women from the Balkans it matters what part of Yemen u are in Hadramut its basically Habshi. There are also in Yemen Farsi they are Yemenis who claim a Persian Iranian lineage they speak Farsi and wear different turbans and clothing than traditional Yemenis. The closer u get to Bab Al Mandeb the more the people of Yemen look like Somalis Afars Saho dont get Tigre & Tigrinia mixed up. Mahra and Akhadamm are not the same but they are both Yemeni Mahra actually speak a ancient language that was used to decipher Ancient Babylonian
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English American girls are even worse...that's why Arabs preferred Ehtiopian women more than their women or white women from Europe.
Posts: 919 | From: AFRICA | Registered: Apr 2007
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Burhan, just to let you know that 'AFRICA I' is the last person you should ask a professional question.
quote:Originally posted by Yonis2:
^ ROTF especially at the premature baby laughing!
I still have questions about native peoples of southern Arabia like the Mehra. Are they related to the Sabaeans? What do these people look like today?
Posts: 26236 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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So Djehuti how was your Thanksgiving? Did you have some fun? Don't try to help Yonis who doesn't understand that Akhdam people are descendants of Habash people. Otherwise you would sound as ridiculous as him. P.S.: Free speech is a good thing about America don't spoil it, enjoy it. Fortunately in my country we are getting there. It's shameful that an American sometime forget about that.
Posts: 919 | From: AFRICA | Registered: Apr 2007
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Of Course Beja is Hikuptah We Run Egypt Sudan & Eritrea We are the Hardest Warriors and We Beja have our Photograph Etched inside of Pyramids
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quote:Originally posted by Beja-Tiffa: Of Course Beja is Hikuptah We Run Egypt Sudan & Eritrea We are the Hardest Warriors and We Beja have our Photograph Etched inside of Pyramids
There are no inscriptions or paintings inside the pyramids, i think you meant the temples.
Anyways here are some pics of Mehri of southern arabia, the indigenous people of the region and probably the original semetic speakers. Their kin also inhabit the islands of Socotra and northern somalia.
posted
These are Mehri of Oman, they also speak an ancient south semetic language. They look like indians (Veddoid)with some pseudo horn african look. I read somwhere that the Sumerian and Elamite languages were dravidian type, and that in the middle-east during ancient times there was a "veddoid belt" that stretched the whole way from india crossing southern iran and southern iraq down to southern arabia. Maybe these people are the remnants from that era. Their skin colour fits well into the hot climate of arabia, thus making them the most likely aboriginal group of that region.
Btw the Mehri should not be confused with the zanzibari/swahili slaves in Yemen or Oman, Culturally, physically and linguistically they are completly different. The former Zanzibaris/swahilis speak arabic while Mehri speak ancient languages of southern arabia.
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quote:Their kin also inhabit the islands of Socotra and northern somalia.
Although the majority of Somalis look African, some have that Indian look: the skin even very wavy hair like Indians, I always thought that it was due to mixing with traders from India...I was wrong.
Posts: 919 | From: AFRICA | Registered: Apr 2007
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quote:Their kin also inhabit the islands of Socotra and northern somalia.
Although the majority of Somalis look African, some have that Indian look: the skin even very wavy hair like Indians, I always thought that it was due to mixing with traders from India...I was wrong.
That type of hair is indigenous to the horn, has nothing to do with traders from India or Mehri. you'll actually find more of that type of hair among afar than somalis, also southern somalis have more softer hair than northern somalis, many have kinky hair. But this is the most common hair type in the whole place.
Ok, but what stops the more 'non-mixed' ones from being percieved as 'mixed', and is the basis for the said people(in the pictures) being proclaimed "mixed", to you\
in your opinion Yonis?
Mixed? Does this even genetically make sense in most cases it's applied?
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I had that guy in mind who was born near Puntland(Northern Somalia), Southern Somali have more curly hair compare to him even though they are softer than the Northern Somali, it's rare to see those straight hair: Posts: 919 | From: AFRICA | Registered: Apr 2007
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The aboriginal Yemenis and Somalis look like the Beja.
All this bullsh*t about who is mixed and who isn't is dumb. Beja are as much African as Ethiopians, Oromo and any other African. There is NO ONE African look and the aboriginal people of Arabia did not HAVE to look like modern Somalis in order to be considered "authentic" looking. The fact that there are SO MANY different types of features in Ethiopia and Somalia (among ALL BLACK PEOPLE) proves that trying to ISOLATE one look as "uniquely" Ethiopian or Somalian is NONSENSE. ALL of those looks are EQUALLY indigenous and distinct.
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This just in: One group of forgers will get their just deserts.
A British judge sentenced Shaun Greenhalgh, 47, to four years and eight months in prison last month. His mother, Olive, 83, received a suspended term of 12 months, and his father, George, 84, was to be sentenced later.
Shaun Greenhalgh created the fakes, while his parents handled most of the sales. All three pleaded guilty earlier this year to defrauding art institutions and other buyers over 17 years. They had also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to laundering the proceeds from the sale of a fake Egyptian statuette .
The creations by the Greenhalghs also included Assyrian stone reliefs , and several copies of paintings by American artist Henry Moran.
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Revisiting the "Turk" verses "Arab" debate, and the fallacy of an Arab invasion. If anyone remembers seeing people like those above, in charge of Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Arabia, I would like to see a picture.
Posts: 22721 | Registered: Oct 2005
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^ Mike, yes that picture of Elamites Yonis showed were Persian soldiers in the sense that they were soldiers employed by Persians but ethnically they are Elamites who were the indigenous people of Iran.
To Yonis, it is well known fact (at least well known to folks here) that southern Arabia's populations were once predominantly black with those in the western corner (Yemen) looking more Horn African while those in the eastern side (Oman) appearing more Indian and with variations in between the regions. It is these peoples who I want to know more about. I know that the Indian or 'Veddoid' looking ones are those who are aboriginal to the region while 'Horn African' looking types are probably of recent African origin from the Horn. My questions pertain mainly to the identity and history of the south Arabian ethnic groups in general. All I know is that south Arabians like the Mahra and Sabe were groups strikingly different from other Arabian groups further north. For example, the Mahra and Sabe were sedentary agriculturalists who built the first kingdoms of Arabia while the other Arabs were nomads. I even heard that these southern Arabians like the Mahra were matriarchal people who consisted of clans that were matrilineal (tracing descent from the mother) and even practiced polyandry (a woman having more than one husband at a time)! What exactly is the relation of these peoples to Horn Africans, and what is it with other peoples in Arabia ethnically as well as historically??
Can anyone answer this?
Posts: 26236 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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Lol Mike111 Dude it’s the same relief, you just blurred it and by the way the relief is from the north Palace of Ninive and it is not showing Peninsula Arabs but in fact nomadic people from the Syrian desert.
posted
Sleepy: you took the right name. British Museum - Palace of Ashurbanipal. It's available on the web, While you are at it, please find the quote that definitively identifies them as non-Peninsula Arabs.
Djehuti - you seem to be implying that Persians looked different. If that's the case, I think that I may be able to help you. In any case, they ARE Persian.
Posts: 22721 | Registered: Oct 2005
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Oh geez, Mike why are you cluttering this thread with images of assyrians and Persiens? This thread is about southern arabians, veddoids and mehri not levantines, assyrians, hebrews, turks etc. take that shlt somewhere else we have enough of those threads.
quote:Djehuti wrote: What exactly is the relation of these peoples to Horn Africans, and what is it with other peoples in Arabia ethnically as well as historically??
I don't know what the exact relationship is, but many of them have crossed the gulf of aden/red sea and settled in different places in the northern horn and assimilated into these communities. They speak south semetic languages, maybe Yom knows if their languages (and those spoken in socotra) are related more to Ethiopic or to other semitic languages spoken in the levant. there have been back and forth migration across the red sea and gulf of aden through centuries and millenia. They are also known as himyarati and are supposedly the ones who expelled the axumites with the aid of persians during the occupation in Yemen. Another interesting aspekt is that the name "socotra" has been traced back to the sanskrit, meaning "island abode of bliss," and is mentioned in different ancient indian legends, another compelling evidence of veddoid occupation of middle east before groups from central asia, syria, armenia etc migrated southwards some three or four millenia ago.
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I would like to state something regarding the ‘khodam’ of Yemen. They are no longer simply relegated to performing menial labor. They are now very much part of the Yemen’s military even if they are not allocated high ranking positions. The Military uses them in conflicts with tribal communities e.g. rebellion is sa3ada or renegade tribes that harbor fugitives.
The thinking here is that many Yemeni soldiers have allegiances to such tribes hence they don’t fulfill the mandated orders – whereas the ‘khodam’ are impartial and would care less if they shot a sheik's son for example.
Furthermore the troops that secure the streets for President Ali Abdullah Salah also comprise of many khodam and I personally witnessed this while I was in Sanaa (downtown).
My personal observations were that the khodam that are in the military are taller and darker than tribal Yemenis. The khodam soldiers were also taller and darker than most other khodam in communities mentioned by the OP.
Call them whatever you want, they are however Yemenis and are addicted to Qat like most Yemenis. The major problem that khodam face is they are not affiliated with any tribe and in yemen such is necessary to be a somebody. This is however changing as also mentioned by the OP – I studied Yemen as well as traveled throughout it for a few months and it is without a doubt one of the most magnificent and fascinating destinations in the world.
I would also like to point out that there are very dark Yemenis(tribal) and there are blond hair and blue eye Yemenis as well (some of Jewish origin as in the Kokaban). Racism does not exist in the sense of color – it is more or less bias in tribal inferiority/superiority. True lighter skinned brides are more in demand but this is true with all of Arabia who are obsessed with fair skin. This is not the case with grooms – color simply does not matter.
Just my 2 cents on modern day Khodam
Posts: 2418 | Registered: Nov 2007
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quote:Originally posted by Mike111: Sleepy: you took the right name. British Museum - Palace of Ashurbanipal. It's available on the web, While you are at it, please find the quote that definitively identifies them as non-Peninsula Arabs.
Djehuti - you seem to be implying that Persians looked different. If that's the case, I think that I may be able to help you. In any case, they ARE Persian.
Sleepy is correct that those nomads were not peninsular Arabs but groups native to the Levant-Assyria region.
And yes the Persians did look different from the Elamites. The Elamites were black and were the indigenous people of Iran while the Persians were, well... NOT- to both aspects.
quote:Originally posted by Yonis2: I don't know what the exact relationship is, but many of them have crossed the gulf of aden/red sea and settled in different places in the northern horn and assimilated into these communities. They speak south semetic languages, maybe Yom knows if their languages (and those spoken in socotra) are related more to Ethiopic or to other semitic languages spoken in the levant. there have been back and forth migration across the red sea and gulf of aden through centuries and millenia. They are also known as himyarati and are supposedly the ones who expelled the axumites with the aid of persians during the occupation in Yemen. Another interesting aspekt is that the name "socotra" has been traced back to the sanskrit, meaning "island abode of bliss," and is mentioned in different ancient indian legends, another compelling evidence of veddoid occupation of middle east before groups from central asia, syria, armenia etc migrated southwards some three or four millenia ago.
Of course you're correct about migrations across Aden for millennia as evident by the presence of K and L lineages in the Horn.
But the Sanskrit name of the island is not really evidence of 'Veddoids', since Sanskrit is an Indo-European langauge and the so-called Veddoid type peoples have existed in India and Arabia long before any Indo-European languages existed.
quote:Originally posted by Exiled: I would like to state something regarding the ‘khodam’ of Yemen. They are no longer simply relegated to performing menial labor. They are now very much part of the Yemen’s military even if they are not allocated high ranking positions. The Military uses them in conflicts with tribal communities e.g. rebellion is sa3ada or renegade tribes that harbor fugitives.
The thinking here is that many Yemeni soldiers have allegiances to such tribes hence they don’t fulfill the mandated orders – whereas the ‘khodam’ are impartial and would care less if they shot a sheik's son for example.
Furthermore the troops that secure the streets for President Ali Abdullah Salah also comprise of many khodam and I personally witnessed this while I was in Sanaa (downtown).
My personal observations were that the khodam that are in the military are taller and darker than tribal Yemenis. The khodam soldiers were also taller and darker than most other khodam in communities mentioned by the OP.
Call them whatever you want, they are however Yemenis and are addicted to Qat like most Yemenis. The major problem that khodam face is they are not affiliated with any tribe and in yemen such is necessary to be a somebody. This is however changing as also mentioned by the OP – I studied Yemen as well as traveled throughout it for a few months and it is without a doubt one of the most magnificent and fascinating destinations in the world.
I would also like to point out that there are very dark Yemenis(tribal) and there are blond hair and blue eye Yemenis as well (some of Jewish origin as in the Kokaban). Racism does not exist in the sense of color – it is more or less bias in tribal inferiority/superiority. True lighter skinned brides are more in demand but this is true with all of Arabia who are obsessed with fair skin. This is not the case with grooms – color simply does not matter.
Just my 2 cents on modern day Khodam
We appreciate your 2 cents of info. Posts: 26236 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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Djehuti - If it's true just because you said it, you should have told me, then I would have known not to bother.
Anyway here are some Persians for you. If they don't look right to you, you will have to take that up with them. {OR you could find a new set of books, just a thought).
quote:Djehuti wrote: But the Sanskrit name of the island is not really evidence of 'Veddoids', since Sanskrit is an Indo-European langauge and the so-called Veddoid type peoples have existed in India and Arabia long before any Indo-European languages existed.
I know sanskrit is indo-european, still this doesn't change much, the dravidians have been integrating with the northern indians for thousands of years, because they speak different type of languages doesn't mean that they didn't communicate and exchanged ideas. The name "socotra" is in sanskrit legends, all languages in close proximity influence and borrow from each other even if they belong to different families. Hindi, punjabi, bengali etc are strongly influnced by dravidian languages such as telugu and vice versa. I don't think it's a coincidence that socotra in ancient legends of sanskrit means "island abode of bliss" and then we have an island named exactly the same in the indian ocean.
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^ Yes, but mind you 'Veddoid' is just another loose term that is the same as 'Australoid' in that it describes a certain phenotype. 'Veddoid' type people are not only found in Arabia and India but in Southeast Asia as well.
quote:Originally posted by Mike111: Djehuti - If it's true just because you said it, you should have told me, then I would have known not to bother.
Anyway here are some Persians for you. If they don't look right to you, you will have to take that up with them. {OR you could find a new set of books, just a thought).
^ I don't deny that those depict Persians; however, the 'Persians' (which is actually what Greeks called them and whose actual name was Parsi) were the ancestors of the modern day Farsi.
The actual indigenous people of the area we know today as Iran were the Elamites who created the first civilization in the region which the later Iranian peoples took over.
These soldiers here that Yonis posted earlier were Elamites:
Posts: 26236 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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