Zafar or Dhafar (Ar ظفار) Ðafār (14°12'N, 44°24'E) is an ancient Himyarite site situated in the Yemen, some 130 km south-south-west of the capital Sana'a. It lies in the Yemenite highlands at some 2800 m. The next large town is Yarim, which is 10 km directly to the north-north-west. Zafar was the capital of the Himyarite confederation (110 BC— 525 AD), which at its peak ruled most of Arabia. 250 years long the Himyarite confederacy including its allies reached north of Riyadh to the north and the Euphrates to the north-east. Zafar was one of the most prosperous and celebrated cities in southern Arabia prior to the Axumite conquest.
Its beginnings are obscure. It is mentioned by Pliny in his Natural History, in the anonymous Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (both 1st century AD), as well as in the Geographia of Claudius Ptolemaeus (original 2nd century AD). Presumably in medieval times the coordinates were incorrectly copied or emended so that subsequent maps place the site Sepphar metropolis in Oman, not in the Yemen. Sana'a, replaced it as capital between 537 and 548.
Anciently walled Zafar is one of the largest archaeological sites in Arabia. A surface area is calculated to 110 hectares. But the settlement is uneven and smaller than this. Ancient settlement occurs inside and outside the ancient city defences. Today, these ruins have been estimated at 4500m length. The main fortress is the Husn Raydan. It and al-Gusr (standard Arabic: al-Qasar) were once a fortification inside the city walls.
The city was home to polytheist, Jewish and Christian communities. Possibly Monophysite Christians dominated in the early 6th century. The main architectural ruins at this archaeological site includes tombs and on the south-western flank of the Husn Raydan a square stone court which appears to be a temple. The ring-stone of Yishak bar Hanina is the early possible evidence for Jews in South Arabia. Little evidence exists for the actual character of these religions, far distant from their centres.
Walter W. Müller, Himyar, Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum, v. 15 (Stuttgart 1991) 303-331
Walter W. Müller, Encyclopedia of Islam 11 fasc. 185-186 (2001) 379-380 s.v. Zafar
Paul Yule et al., Zafār, Capital of Himyar, Ibb Province, Yemen First Preliminary Report: 1998 and 2000, Second Preliminary Report: 2002, Third Preliminary Report: 2003, Fourth Preliminary Report: 2004, Archäologische Berichte aus dem Yemen 11 (Mainz 2007 [2008]) 479–547, pls. 1–47 + CD-ROM, ISSN 0722-9844, ISBN 978-3-8053-3777-9
