Zabibe

Zabibe was a queen of Qedar who reigned for five years between 738 and 733 BC. She was a vassal of Tiglath-Pileser III, king of Assyria, and is mentioned in the Annals of Tiglath-Pileser III among a list of monarchs who paid tribute to the king in 738 BC. The title accorded her is queen of the Aribi (Arabs). Israel Eph'al argues that, until the time of Assurbanipal, the title "king or queen of the Arabs" in Assyrian manuscripts was a general one accorded to leaders of the nomadic Bedouin tribes of the Syrian desert. So, he infers that Zabibe would have been properly titled "queen of the Qidri" (Qedarites). Zabībah is an ancient Arabic name, likely derived from zabīb, meaning "raisin". She was succeeded by another queen, Samsi, who also reigned for five years. She is described in Neo-Assyrian sources as the ruler of an Arab kingdom centred on the oasis city of Adummatu — present-day Dumat al-Jandal in northern Saudi Arabia — which served as the political and religious capital of the Qedarites during the 8th century BC.