The '''Sabaeans''' (سبأيين) were an ancient people speaking a South Semitic language who lived in what is today Yemen and in northern Ethiopia and Eritrea. Their Ancient '''Sabaean Kingdom''' lasted from the early 1st millennium to the 1st century BC. In the 1st century BC it was conquered by the Himyarites, but after the disintegration of the 1st Himyarite empire of the Kings of Saba' and dhu-Raydan the Middle Sabaean Kingdom reappeared in the early 2nd century CE. It was finally conquered by the Himyarites in the late 3rd century CE as mentioned in the Quran 34:15. Its capital was Marib and was along the strip of desert that was called Sayhad by medieval Arab geographers and that is called now Ramlat al-Sab`atayn.
The [['''Sabaean]] ''' people were one of four ancient Yemeni groups (Greek ''ethnos'') classified by Eratosthenes. The others were the Minaean, Himyarite, Habesha people and Qatabanian people. Each of these had regional kingdoms in ancient Yemen, though the Minaean Kingdom held dominance from approximately 1200 BC until 650 BC, and the Sabaeans after them.
The Sabaeans, as were the other Arabian and Yemenite kingdoms of the same period, were involved in the extremely lucrative spice trade, especially frankincense and myrrh.[http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108153.html]