Uzal (Hastings' Dictionary)

Name of a son of Joktan, Gn lCr-'(A'Ati-)j\), 1 Ch I-' (A Ai^ri", B om., Luc. Ois'dX), but figuring .as a local name in Ezk 27", according to one interpretation [reading V;w? ( ' from Uzal,' so RVm), with Hitzig, Sniend. Cornill, et al. ; B ^{ 'Ka-qk, A ii 'A<ra^\]. With this wo«d Gesenius compared Euzclis of Hindu, mentioaed as a market town in a passage of John of Epi.esua (6tli cent. A.D.) preserved by Dionysias of Tell- Mahre ('ip. Assemani, Bibl. Or.

L 301), who sup- posed it to be situated in the interior of the Indian (i.e. Arab) country, beyond the territory of the Himyar. This may well be identical with Uzal (AI-Bckri, p. 206), Izal or Azal (Yakut after Ham- dani), which the Arab geographers declare was the former name of Sana, now capital of Yemen.

The name was, they think, changed to Sana either in honour of a queen of that name, or of Sana son of Azal ; or it may have been given the place by tlie Abyssinians, in whose language it means ' fortress?.' Tlie name San'au is found in an inscription which Glaser (die Abessinier, etc. p. 117) assigns to the 2nd cent. A.D. An earlier name (according to him) was Tafidh (Skizze, ii. 427); none of these names appear to be known to the classical geo- graphers of Arabia (Pliny, Ptolemy, etc.)

, who go rather fully into the names of places and tribes in Arabia Felix. The Arab tradition, however, re- garded it as the most ancient city in the world, and the seat of the ' kings of Yemen ' ; the former theory being apparently due to the derivation of the name Azal from the Arabic azal, ' eternity,' or to the alternate form Uwal (Harris, loc. citand., p. 319), which might be rendered 'first.'

If, how- ever, tliere be any truth in its great antiquity, and its having been a metropolis in ancient times, it must be identical with one of the capitals men- tioned by Pliny and Ptolemy ; but with which cannot at present be decided. The name of tlie city must tnerefore have changed repeatedly ; and in the use of the name Aziil or Izal in the century before Mohammed we are justified in seeing with Glaser (S/cizze, ii. 427) the influence of the Jews.

Their influence in these regions appears from the statements of the Syriac chronicler to have been considerable ; and early Arabic writers occasion- ally preserve traditions dating from the time of their ascendency. A place was shown at Sana where sixteen prophets had been slaughtered at once (Ibn Kustah) j and Walib Ibn Munabbih (died c. 735 A.D.)

professed to have found in a sacred book the text, 'Azal, Azal, though all b« against thee, yet will I be gracious unto thee,' which seems to come from Is 2'J'"' with Azal sub- stituted for Ariel (Tt) al-'arus).

Whether, then, the place was called Azal by conjectuial identifica- UZZA UZZIAH (AZAEIAH) 843 tion of it witli the son of Jolftan, or Azal was an old name revived by tlie Jews, is not clear ; the latter supposition is rather the more probable, because an Arabian locality, Azalla, is niontioned in the canipai^ of Assurbanipal (KIB ii. '2-21), and Azal rallier than Uzal is tlie form tliat is best attested. The objection to the identitic;ilion raised by Ctlaser (I.e.

430) on the ground that of the ob- jects mentioned by Ezekiel as exported from Uzal only iron is really found in the neighbourhood, whereas spices are not to be found in the whole of Yemen, seems wanting in weight, since Sana may have been a depot for them ; rather more force attaches to his objection that the port of Sana would probably have been Aden (mentioned by Kzekiel in this context) rather than Waddan (VedaN) and Javan.

But, indeed, the difficulties of both text and interjiretation in the pa-ssage of Ezekiel are so great as to render it unsuitable for the ileduction of inferences. Of the beauty and wealth of Sana glowing de- scrijitiona are given by Arabic writers, and modem travellers {e.g. W. B. Harris, A Journey through the Yemen, 1893, pp. 299-322) confirm them. It is at an elevation of 7250 feet above the sea-level, with a mountain (Jebel Nujum) rising abruptly on the east.

In the rainy season a torrent of water runs througli the river-bed, which occupies the middle of the town ; Ibn Rustah (Bibl. Geogr. Aral), vii. 110) says it is not much narrower than the Tigris, and was in his time used for irrigation. The climate varies little during the whole year ; and of n\ost produce there are two crops. The fortress and temple of Ghumdan, destroyed by the Cali|ih Othman, was the most magnihcent building in Arabia.

In the 7th cent, of Islam the Zaidite Imams made it their capital. Of the forms of the name, Izal appears to be the best attested ; the LXX translators clearly connected the second syllable with II (god), and the tirst perhaps with the god At (who appears in some Punic proper names) or some other deity. Other etymologists seem scarcely more successful. D. S. Margoliouth.