Hillocks, hills, volcanoes and mountains

[BorneanTiger]

Located about 75 miles (121 km) east of the capital San‘a’ (صَنْعَاء), the Yemeni city of Ma’rib (مَأْرِب) is not only the capital of the governorate of the same name, but it also used to be the capital of the ancient kingdom of Sheba (Ge'ez: ሳባ (Saba), Arabic: سَبَأ‎ (Sabaʾ), South Arabian: ??? (S-b-ʾ), Hebrew: שבא‎ (Šəḇā), treating Yemen as the location of the Biblical kingdom, rather than Ethiopia or Africa), which is mentioned in the Bible as well as the Qur’an (27: 15–44, 34: 15–17). It is known for its ancient dam, which was reportedly built in the 8th century B.C., and collapsed sometime before the birth of Muhammad in the 7th century CE: https://books.google.com/books?id=oMceAg...ib&f=false

Ruins of the Old Town of Ma’rib, by Bernard Gagnon (18th of August, 1986):
   

The ruins of multi-story mud-brick buildings can be seen on the top of a mound, or tell, formed from the accumulated man-made deposits of the central part of the ancient city. While the city has been inhabited since at least the first millennium B.C.E., the standing buildings are of relatively recent date, some still inhabited (circa 2006). The exposed stone walls in the foreground were part of an outlying area of the ancient city. The modern city of Ma’rib is located about 3.5 km (2.17 miles) to the north. Credit: Tapatio (27th of February, 2008)
   

The ancient dam set amidst the Sarat Mountains (or Sarawat), by Ljuba Brank (20th of August, 2012):
   

By Grobe (1988)
   

An artist's impression of the ancient dam, by the University of Calgary and the American Foundation for Anthropology (7th of February, 2017):
   

The Saba’eans had engaged in solar worship, before ceasing under the influence of the Israelite King Solomon (who was a Monotheist), during the reign of the legendary Queen, locally referred to as "Balqees" or "Bilqees" (بلقيس). Ruins of a temple, referred to as Ma‘bid Barraan (معبد برّان, Barran Temple), ‘Arsh Bilqees (عرش بلقيس, Throne of Bilqis) or Maḥram Bilqees (محرم بلقيس, Sanctuary of Bilqis), can be seen today:

View of the temple by Brank (20th of August, 2012):
   

Another view by Brank (27th of April, 2008):
   

It is worth noting that Ma’rib has a newer dam at the mouth of Wadi Adhanah (وادي أذنة), which was constructed in the 1980's at the expense of Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding President of the U.A.E. who was reportedly descended from Saba’eans, who had migrated to places like what is now the U.A.E., after the collapse of the historical dam: https://books.google.com/books?id=tjXRfq...ib&f=false

Credit: Gagnon (18th of August, 1986) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marib_dam.jpg
    Reply