Maḥram Bilqīs [ancient Awām]

Extra muros Sabaean federal temple dedicated to the deity Almaqah, located two kilometres south of ancient Maʾrib and connected to it by a 3-km-long processional road. The chronological span of temple use ranges from the 8th cent. BCE at the latest to the end of the 4th cent. CE.

Maḥram Bilqīs is one of the extra muros temples of ancient Maʾrib, capital of the kingdom of Sabaʾ. Its current name, Maḥram Bilqīs, refers to a local tradition linking it to the legendary Queen of Sheba, Bilqīs (see Queen [Arabian]). Hundreds of Sabaic inscriptions discovered at the site attest to its ancient name, Awam (ʾwm), as well as its ancient status: maḥram (mḥrm, sanctuary). It was dedicated to the main Sabaean deity, Almaqah (ʾlmqh) and was the main Sabaean sanctuary, where many rituals were accomplished, including an important annual pilgrimage. It fulfilled many roles, such as an oracle place and a healing site. The epigraphical corpus also provides clear evidence of its legal function.

Almaqah, master of Awām

The deity honoured in this sanctuary is the main Sabaean deity, Almaqah, from the early phases (i.e., the 8th cent. BCE) to the last period of occupation (4th cent. CE). The name and epithet of the god Almaqah, master of Awam (ʾlmqh bʿl ʾwm) is completed in the 1st cent. CE with the epithet Thahwān/Thawn (Ṯhwn/Ṯwn). All dedicatory inscriptions (offerings, confessions, commemorations) are primarily addressed to Almaqah, sometimes in association with other Sabaean deities, such as Hawbas, dhāt-Ḥimyam, dhat-Baʿdān. According to the inscriptions, Almaqah did not seem to hold a specific function; the content of the dedicatory texts is extremely varied: protection against sickness, gratitude following a birth or return from a military campaign, etc. It has been argued that Almaqah was a moon god symbolized by a bull. Although this remains speculative, it is worth noting that 21 texts dated from the 1st to 3rd cent. CE and found in Awām refer to offerings of bronze bull(s). Another argument regarding the association with the bull is the existence of an epithet of Almaqah explicitly referring to a bull: Almaqah Thawr Baʿal^um (ʾlmqh Ṯwr Bʿl^m). However, his canonical symbol found at the beginning of inscriptions dedicated to him is the Totschläger, a club (Grohmann 1914).

Religious rites and roles of Awām

The texts and archaeological excavations have shown that a number of rituals were performed in the sanctuary. The most common is the offering of a statue or a ritual object (such as an incense burner).

The Awām temple was also a place of communication with Almaqah, who manifested through oracles expressed in specific locations within the sanctuary. Worshippers requested responses regarding various matters and invoked his healing powers for health and fertility. Legal texts issued by the deity were kept in the temple.

The main pilgrimage to Almaqah was performed in Awām annually in the Sabaic month of ḏ-ʾbhy. It involved a procession from the Harūnum [Ḥrwn] temple in Maʾrib to Awām along a processional road. Among the rituals performed on this occasion, inscriptions indicate that sacrifices were made on the seventh day. Sacrifices were also performed throughout the year by individuals.

Discovery and exploration

The Awām temple was first excavated by an American team led by Wendell Phillips in 1951–1952, then between 1997 and 2008 under the auspices of the American Foundation for the Study of Man (Albright 1952: 215–239, fig. 38; Bowen & Albright 1958: 216–237). During the 1951–1952 expeditions, a first epigraphical inventory was drawn up and archaeological excavations were conducted in the “peristyle hall”, the mausoleum and some tombs of the cemetery. Between 1998 and 2004, several teams of archaeologists working under the direction of M. Phillips Hodgson for the AFSM pursued the study of Awām (Glanzman 1998; Moorman et al. 2001; Glanzman 2003; Ibrahim 2006). The main objective was to clarify the relationship between the sacred precinct and the “peristyle hall”. The Deutsches Archäologische Institut resumed the study of the surrounding cemetery (Hitgen 1998 a; Hitgen 1998 b; Gerlach 2000; Gerlach 2002).

Archaeological remains of the sacred area

The sacred complex consists of a rectangular pillared building (“peristyle hall”) opening onto a large oval-shaped area delimited by a large limestone wall. An additional building is located north of the “peristyle hall” (Area A). A cemetery, including several mausoleums, stretches to the south and southeast of the oval wall.

The “peristyle hall” and the annex

The rectangular-shaped building precedes the oval enclosure and is oriented northwest - southeast. It is organized around a central court surrounded by 32 pillars. The north-eastern part of the building (the annex) is preceded by eight pillars marking the entrance, a widely attested trend in 6th–5th-century-BCE Sabaean religious architecture. The finely dressed limestone blocks were laid in header-and-stretcher fashion. Excavations have revealed that the building was built by cutting through the oval wall, thus indicating that it was planned during a reconstruction phase of the wall at the end of the 6th cent. BCE or in the early 5th cent. BCE. Prior to the building of the hall, the floors were plastered and associated with basalt walls characteristic of earlier phases.

The oval precinct

The large oval precinct measures 300 m in circumference and covers a surface of 5100 m². It is oriented east-southeast and west-northwest, its short axis is 75 m and its long axis is 112 m long. The dressed limestone wall exhibits the same header-and-stretcher masonry as the “peristyle hall” and measures up to 9.5 m in height; its recorded width at its base is 4.12 m and 3.6 m at the top. The visible remains are dated by inscriptions ranging from the 8th cent. BCE to the 1st cent. CE. At least three different phases of construction have been identified and excavations inside the precinct have revealed five phases of occupation. The upper architectural blocks have mostly disappeared, but gutters were discovered at regular intervals, as well as thin water channels built in the same course of masonry.

Courtyard and Area A

North of the “peristyle hall”, an area delimited by several walls exhibits a paved floor, as well as a staircase and two massive rectangular pylons (4.5 m x 3.06 m) framing a 1.64-m-wide entrance linking the peristyle hall to the oval precinct. Two steps showed traces of copper oxide, possibly indicating that they were covered by copper plaques (Ibrahim 2006:  205). The lower step shows signs of erosion due to water dripping on it. Lastly, a rectangular basin occupies a space in between the two pylons (Bowen & Albright 1958: 225–226).

Cultic paraphernalia

Over 1000 inscriptions have been discovered in the temple, part of which were published by A. Jamme in 1962. Some were engraved on the outer wall as commemorations of donations, others were engraved on bases of bronze statues, a few examples of which have survived. As for the décor, fallen blocks indicate that the upper courses were adorned with ibex friezes as well as dentil friezes. Alabaster slabs were used to cover the internal limestone wall facings and benches of the peristyle hall. Elsewhere, the false window and dentil motifs were also frequently used.

Neighbouring remains

High-ranking members of Sabaean society were buried in the mausoleums of the cemetery surrounding the oval enclosure to the south and the east. Moreover, living quarters, possibly linked to the agricultural activities of the area and workshops were located in the immediate surroundings.

Solène Marion de Procé

References and suggested reading

• Albright, F.P. 1952. The Excavation of the Temple of the Moon at Mârib (Yemen), BASOR 128: 25–38. DOI: 10.2307/3218929.
• Bowen Jr, R.L. & F.B. Albright 1958. Archaeological Discoveries in South-Arabia (Publications of the AFSM II). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins.
• Gerlach, I. 2000. Die Grabungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Sana`a im sabäischen Friedhof des Awâm-Tempels in Marib, in Im Land der Königin von Saba. Kunstschätze aus dem antiken Jemen: 113–123. München: IP.
• Gerlach, I. 2002. Der Friedhof des Awâm-Tempels in Mârib. Bericht der Ausgrabungen von 1997 bis 2000, in ABADY IX: 41–58. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern.
• Glanzman, W.D. 1998. Digging deeper: the results of the first season of activities of the AFSM on the Mahram Bilqis, Marib. PSAS 28: 89–104. www.jstor.org/stable/41223616.
• Glanzman, W.D. 2003. An examination of the building campaign of Yadaʿʾil Dhariḥ bin Sumhuʿalay, mukarrib of Sabaʾ, in light of recent archaeology. PSAS 33: 183–98. www.jstor.org/stable/41223762.
• Grohmann, A. 1914. Göttersymbole und Symboltiere auf südarabischen Denkmälern (Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien,  philosophisch-historische Klasse, 58. Bd). Vienna.
• Hitgen, H. 1998a. The 1997 excavations of the German Institute of Archaeology at the cemetery of Awām in Marib. PSAS 28: 117–24. www.jstor.org/stable/41223618.
• Hitgen, H. 1998b. Die sabäische Totenstadt am Almaqah-Tempel von Awâm in Maʾrib, in Jemen, Kunst und Archäologie im Land der Königin von Saba’, Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien: 247–249. Wilfried Seipel.
• Ibrahim, M. 2006. Report on the 2005 AFSM excavations in the Ovoid Precinct at Maḥram Bilqīs/Mārib: preliminary report. PSAS 36: 199–216. www.jstor.org/stable/41223892.
• Jamme, A. 1962. Sabaean Inscriptions from Mahram Bilqis (Marib) (Publications of the AFSMan III). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins.
• Maraqten, M. 2015. Sacred spaces in ancient Yemen - The Awām temple - Maʾrib: A case study, in M. Arbach & J. Schiettecatte (eds) Pre-Islamic South Arabia and its Neighbours: New Developments of Research. Proceedings of the 17th Rencontres Sabéennes held in Paris, 6–8 June 2013: 107–133. Oxford: Archaeopress.
• Moorman, B.J., W.D. Glanzman., J.-M. Maillol. & A.L. Lyttle. 2001. Imaging beneath the surface at Maḥram Bilqīs. PSAS 31: 179–87. www.jstor.org/stable/41223679.
• Zaid, Z. 2014. Awām Temple Annex: History of Construction, in Z. Kafafi & M. Maraqten (eds) A Pioneer of Arabia. Studies in the Archaeology and Epigraphy of the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula in Honor of Moawiyah Ibrahim (ROSAPAT 10): 382–393. Rome: ‘Sapienza’ Università di Roma.

_{Alternate spellings: ʾwm, Awwâm, Awwam, Awam, Mahram Bilqis, Maḥram Bilqîs, Mahram Bilqîs}