Ṣirwāḥ (Khawlān)

Ancient fortified Sabaean city located in modern Yemen, west of Maʾrib. In the central courtyard of its main temple, dedicated to Almaqah, two Sabaean royal accounts of the late 8th – early 7th cent. BCE were displayed, illustrating the highly symbolic nature of this monument.

Location

Ṣirwāḥ is located 90 km east of Sana’a and 34 km west of Maʾrib, in a cultivated plain watered by the Wādī al-Malaḥ, a tributary of the Wādī Dhana, and by run-off from the surrounding reliefs. The plain is bounded by basaltic flows to the south and the west, and by the limestone reliefs of the Jabal al-Makhdara and the Jabal Marthad to the northeast. The ancient site of Ṣirwāḥ was built on an 8-to-18-m-high rocky outcrop. The intra muros area is 3 ha wide (Figs 1-2).

Ṣirwāḥ, also known as Ṣirwāḥ-Khawlān, after the tribal territory of Khawlān al-ʿĀliya on which the site is located, should not be confused with the homonymous archaeological site of Ṣirwāḥ, known as Ṣirwāḥ-Arḥab, situated some thirty kilometres north of Sana’a.

Discovery and exploration

The site was discovered by the Frenchman Thomas Arnaud in 1843. It was visited and surveyed by J. Halévy in 1870, and by the envoys of E. Glaser in the 1880s.

In 1947, the Egyptian A. Fakhry carried out the first archaeological observations (Fakhry 1951: 195). In 1975, a French epigraphic survey was conducted by Ch. Robin (Robin 1976).

A German archaeological mission investigated the site from 1977 onwards: survey and documentation of the site; archaeological excavation of the temple of Almaqah (1991-94) (Schmidt 2007). The German Archaeological Institute carried out annual campaigns between 2001 and 2009, focusing on several temples, an administrative building and the rampart (Gerlach & Heckes 2003; Gerlach 2004; 2005).

Ancient name

The toponymic permanence regularly observed in Yemen applies to the site of Ṣirwāḥ, whose modern name is inherited from its ancient name. Sabaic inscriptions from the 5th cent. BCE to the 3rd cent. CE often mention the ‘city of Ṣirwāḥ’ (hgrn Ṣrwḥ, e.g., CIH 601). It was also the name of the tribe of its inhabitants (s²ʿbn Ṣrwḥ, e.g., RÉS 3951, see Ṣirwāḥ (tribe)).

Archaeological remains

The intra muros area covers 3 ha and comprises the main monuments (Fig. 2). At least three of these are temples. Dwellings are visible outside the walls. A necropolis is located to the south of the site.

A rampart

A 730-m-long, 8-m-high rampart encloses the monumental area. In some places, it includes the foundations and curtain walls of civil buildings (Temple of Almaqah, administrative building). Gates were identified near the temple of Almaqah, in the southeast of the site, and at the northern corner of the site. The earliest mention of a fortification dates from the end of the 8th cent. BCE (MAFRAY-Ṣirwāḥ 1). Then, works were carried out in the 7th–6th cent. BCE (e.g., RÉS 3386; Ja 2853) and in the 1st cent. BCE (Ṣirwāḥ-Müller 4). All these works were initiated by Sabaean kings.

The temples

Three temples have been identified:

The temple of Almaqah Lord of ʾwʿl of Ṣirwāḥ (ʾlmqh bʿl ʾwʿl Ṣrwḥ — ʾwʿl could stand for the name of the temple or could mean ibexes) is the largest. Its unique shape consists of a courtyard surrounded by an 8-m-high oval wall (Figs 3-4), accessible via two propylons (Fig. 5). The oldest texts of the temple are dated to the end of the 8th cent. BCE. The royal inscriptions DAI-Ṣirwāḥ 2005-50 (ca. 715 BCE) and RÉS 3945 (ca. 680 BCE) are displayed at the centre of the courtyard (fig. 4). The oval wall was built by Yadaʿʾīl Dhariḥ son of Sumhūʿalī, mukarrib of Sabaʾ, in the mid-7th cent. BCE (CIH 366). The temple remained in use until the early 4th cent. CE (CIH 397).

A second temple, “Temple C” (Fakhry 1951: 31–32) is a thick mound from which the pillars of a propylon emerge. An inscription from this temple dates to the 8th–7th cent. BCE (Fa 27).

A third temple, “Temple D” (Fakhry 1951: 31–32) is characterized by pillars outcropping on the surface. It is located north of the Almaqah temple.

The administrative building (Verwaltungsbau)

A large building was successively called “Temple B”, “Dār Bilqeis” (Fakhry 1951: 31–32), and “temple dhū-Ḥabib” (Doe 1983: 165). It was excavated by the German Archaeological Institute, and considered as an administrative building and/or a palace (Japp 2012) due to the presence of inscriptions with secular content and the architectural form of the building. It is a large building on a high podium preceded by a courtyard with a portico. This plan is similar to that of the royal palace of Shabwa and the TT1 building at Tamnaʿ. It was occupied from the 2nd cent. BCE to the 4th cent. AD (Japp 2012).

The hydraulic works

In the surrounding agricultural plain, dykes, dams and sluices are the remains of an ancient irrigated area. Inscriptions mention palm groves and vineyards in the neighbourhood (e.g., Fa 32, RÉS 4626).

An alabaster quarry

An ancient alabaster quarry was discovered 15 km northwest of the site, on the Jabal al-Makhdara. A paved road laid out between Ṣirwāḥ and Jabal al-Makhdara connected the quarry to the ancient city.

History

Ṣirwāḥ became a full-fledged city no later than the reign of Yadaʿʾīl Dhariḥ son of Sumhūʿalī, mukarrib of Sabaʾ, in the mid-7th cent. BCE: fortification of the site, enlargement and enclosure of the temple of Almaqah (CIH 366). Prior to this period, only two sanctuaries and monumental inscriptions of Yathaʿʾamar Watār son of Yakrubmalik and Karibʾīl Watār son of Dhamārʿalī are currently known. The hypothesis that Ṣirwāḥ was the earliest Sabaean capital, before Maʾrib replaced it in the 7th cent. BCE (Fakhry 1951: 29; Von Wissmann & Höfner 1953: 22) is not based on any tangible data from excavations or epigraphy (Gerlach & Heckes 2003: 174–75).

Local tribal institutions are attested from the 7th-6th cent. BCE onwards (RÉS 3951, Gl 1533, DAI Ṣirwāḥ 2002-103): a chief of Ṣirwāh (kbr Ṣrwḥ), the six ministers of Ṣirwāh (s¹t ʾqyn Ṣrwḥ) and a tribal council (ms³wd Ṣrwḥ). The Sabaean kings retained direct authority over this administration. They were the main builders of the major monuments.

At the turn of the Christian Era, the tribe merged into the confederation of Ṣirwāḥ, Khawlān Khāḍil and Haynān. It was ruled by a prince (qyl) of the lineage of the banū dhu-Ḥbb, with authority over a vast territory (Fa 3, CIH 398), but still subordinate to the kings of Sabaʾ and dhu-Raydān. The so-called administrative building may have been the abode of these princes (Japp 2012).

The reasons for the abandonment of the site are unknown. In the first half of the 4th cent. CE, the princes of Ṣirwāḥ are still attested (Ir 28), the administrative building was reorganized and dedications were still performed in the temple of Almaqah (CIH 397). In 547 CE, the inscription mentioning the achievements of king Abrahā at Maʾrib (CIH 541) refers to an expedition passing north of Ṣirwāḥ. The toponym is no longer referred to as a city (hgr), but as a simple landmark. The site was reoccupied in the Islamic period, at least in the 10th century. Al-Hamdānī repeatedly refers to it as the best of the Yemeni fortresses (Hamdānī, Ṣifa 102, 25; 110, 25; 203, 4).

Jérémie Schiettecatte

References and suggested reading

Sources

• Hamdānī, Ṣifa: al-Hamdānī / ed. Müller, D.H. 1884. Al-Hamdānī’s Geographie der arabischen Halbinsel, nach den Handschriften von Berlin, Constantinopel, London, Paris und Strassburg zum ersten Male herausgegeben von David Heinrich Müller. Ed. by D.H. von Müller. 2 vols. Leiden: E.J. Brill.

Studies

• Doe, D.B. 1983. Monuments of South Arabia. Naples: Falcon-Oleander Press.
• Fakhry, A. 1951. An archaeological Journey to Yemen (March-May 1947). 3 vols. vols. Cairo: Government Press.
• Gerlach, I. 2004. Die archäologisch-bauhistorischen Untersuchungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts in der sabäischen Stadtanlage und Oase von Sirwâh (Jemen/Provinz Ma’rib) Nürnberger Blätter zur Archäologie 20 (2003/04): 37–56.
• Gerlach, I. 2005. Sirwah. New research at the Sabaean city and oasis, in A.C. Gunter (ed.) Caravan kingdoms: Yemen and the ancient incense trade: 34–41. Washington: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery - Smithsonian Institution.
• Gerlach, I. & J. Heckes 2003. Die Stadtanlage von Sirwâh: Regierungssitz, Kultzentrum oder Handelsstation?, in T. Stöllner, G. Körlin, G. Steffens, & J. Cierny (eds) Man and Mining - Mensch und Bergbau. Studies in Honour of Gerd Weisgerber on occasion of his 65th birthday: 163–178. Der Anschnitt, Beiheft 16. Bochum.
• Gerlach, I. & H. Hitgen 2004. The Sabaean town of Ṣirwāḥ: an introduction into the latest research project of the DAI, Orient-Department, in A.V. Sedov (ed.) Scripta Yemenica. Issledovaniâ po Ûznoj Arabii: Sbornik naucnyh statej v cest’ 60-petiâ M. B. Piotrovskogo: 210–20. Moscow: Vostocnaâ literatura RAN.
• Japp, S. 2012. Der sogenannte Verwaltungsbau in Sirwâh. Vertreter eines besonderen Bautypus in Südarabien Zeitschrift für Orient-Archäologie 5: 296–319.
• Nebes, N. 2016. Der Tatenbericht des Yiṯaʿʾamar Watar bin Yakrubmalik aus Ṣirwāḥ (Jemen). Zur Geschichte Südarabiens im frühen 1. Jahrtausend vor Christus (Epigraphische Forschungen auf der Arabischen Halbinsel, 7). Tübingen: E. Wasmuth.
• Robin, C.J. 1976. Résultats épigraphiques et archéologiques de deux brefs séjours en République Arabe du Yémen Semitica 26: 167–193.
• Röring, N. 2008. Bauhistorische Untersuchungen am Almaqah-Heiligtum von Sirwah. Im Land der Königin von Saba. Vom Kultplatz zum Heiligtum. Saarbrücken: Südwestdeutscher Verlag für Hochschulschriften.
• Schmidt, J. 2007. Das Heiligtum des Almaqah in Ṣirwāḥ. Vorläufiger Bericht über die ersten beiden Grabungskampagnen 1992-93, in I. Gerlach (ed.) Archäologische Berichte aus dem Yemen XI: 201–303. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern.
• Von Wissmann, H. & M. Höfner 1953. Beiträge zur historischen Geographie des vorislamischen Südarabien. Wiesbaden.

_{Alternative spellings: Sirwah; Sirwâh; Ṣirwâḥ}