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History
The Sabaean kingdom was located in what is now the Aseer region in southwestern Yemen. The Sabaean kings made their capital at Marib, and built great irrigation works such as the Marib dams, whose ruins are still visible. They also built castles and temples in the area, and were known for producing the valuable francincense[1] and myrrh.[2] They were a seafaring people and known to have influence and a population in the East African kingdom of Dʿmt, across the Red Sea in Eritrea and perhaps Ethiopia, the only other source of both francincense and myrrh.
In 25 B.C., Aelius Gallus led "an expedition to Marib (Yemen)."[3]
The site of Ancient Marib was largely abandoned during the 20th century. Although a small village remains, the multi-story mud-brick buildings of the historic city are largely in ruins. The modern city of Marib is located about 3.5 kilometers north of the center of the ancient city.
2007 attack
A suicide bomber crashed a car packed with explosives into a tourists' convoy as they were ending a tour of a temple, killing 7 Spanish tourists and their two Yemeni guides in an attack on July 2, 2007. Yemeni officials have blamed al-Qaeda for the attack.[4]
Notes
- ^ a b "Saba / Sa'abia / Sheba". © 1999-2008 Kessler Associates. Retrieved on 2008-06-27. "
The kingdom of Saba is known to have existed in the region of Yemen. By 1000 BC caravan trains of camels journeyed from Oman in south-east Arabia to the Mediterranean. As the camel drivers passed through the deserts of Yemen, experts believe that many of them would have called in at Marib.
Dating from at least 1050 BC, and now barren and dry, Marib was then a lush oasis teeming with palm trees and exotic plants. Ideally placed, it was situated on the trade routes and with a unique dam of vast proportions. It was also one of only two main sources of frankincense (the other being East Africa), so Saba had a virtual monopoly. Marib's wealth accumulated to such an extent that the city became a byword for riches beyond belief throughout the Arab world.
Its people, the Sabeans - a group whose name bears the same etymological root as Saba - lived in South Arabia between the tenth and sixth centuries BC. Their main temple - Mahram Bilqis, or temple of the moon god (situated about three miles from the capital city of Marib) - was so famous that it remained sacred even after the collapse of the Sabean civilisation in the sixth century BC - caused by the rerouting of the spice trail. By the that point the dam, now in a poor state of repair, was finally breached. The irrigation system was lost, the people abandoned the site within a year or so, and the temple fell into disrepair and was eventually covered by sand. Saba was known by the Hebrews as Sheba, and it survives today (Saba = Sa'abia = Saudi Arabia)." - ^ Age of Faith, p. 156
- ^ Chris Scarre, The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome (London: Penguin Books, 1995), 9.
- ^ Al Jazeera English - News - Al-Qaeda Blamed For Yemen Attack
References
- Durant, Will (1950). The Age of Faith: A History of Medieval Civilization -- Christian, Islamic, and Judaic -- from Constantine to Dante: A.D. 325-1300, The Story of Civilization, volume IV. Simon and Schuster.
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