Arsh
Biliqis” – Der Temple of Almaqah of Bar’an in Marib
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Introduction
Marib,
for many centuries the political, economic and religious center of the
once mighty kingdom of Saba, was the birthplace of ancient South Arabian
civilisation. Local tradition relates Marib to the famous Queen of
Sheba, prominently referred to in the Quran, the Talmud and the Bible.
They
represent the quintessence and thus are used as a national symbol. The
pillars adorn bank notes, flags and stamps; they are a favorite motive
in advertisements and children climbing the pillars are depicted in
almost every tour guide. Since
1888 the Arsh Biliqis has been Known to be a temple. The Austrian
traveller and scholar Eduard Glaser was the first to record and read a
short Middle Sabaic inscription engraved on one of its pillars,
mentioning the God Almaqah of Bar’an and voicing a warning to anybody
trying to loot the temple’s silver treasures. Almaqah was the patron
god of the Sabaeans, whose astral aspcet was associated with the moon.
Bar’an is the ancient Sabaic name of a district in the southern oasis
of Marib. In antiquity – and not unlike today-the Bar’an Temple was
located far from any |
settlement,
i.e. about 3 km south of the walls of the ancient capital and in the midst of
the fields of the southern oasis. In
Eduard Glaser’s day the temple must have been much better preserved than it
is today, but in the 1940 ‘s it was used as a quarry and well dressed
ashlars were robbed from the temple and taken by bullock cart to Marib, where
a new palace for the governor was under construction.
It was exactly 100 years after Eduard Glaser’s visit to the Bar’an Temple that the German Institute of Archaeology, Sana’a in close cooperation with the General Organization of Antiquities, Musesume and Manuscripts started the exploration of the site. In ten campaign seasons (from 1988 to 1997) the temple compound was fully unearthed
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And
after a further four seasons (1997 to 2000) the monument was carefully
consolidated of the authors with funds from the German Institute of
Archaeology, Sana’a and the substantial financial assistance from the
German Government and several German companies. As of November 2000 the
restored site is open to the pubic. The
history of the Almaqah Temple of Bar’an
The
reconstruction of the temple’s history is based on archaeological and
architectural research, the study of environmental change in the Marib
oasis, textual, paleographic and epigraphic evidence as well as a
comprehensive series of radiocarbon dates.
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