10/04/2021
"Indeed, there was a sign for the tribe of Saba in their homeland: two orchards—one to the right and the other to the left. They were told: “Eat from the provision of your Lord, and be grateful to Him. Yours is a good land and a forgiving Lord.” But they turned away. So, We sent against them a devastating flood, and replaced their orchards with two others producing bitter fruit, fruitless bushes, and a few sparse thorny trees." Q 34:15-16
Thusly the Quran records the fate of the people of Sheba. For over 1500 years from 1200 BCE to 300 CE the Kingdom of Saba thrived from its rich agriculture, art, industry, and trade of incense. This they owed to their astounding creation the Great Dam of Ma’rib. When this dam collapsed their land was destroyed and their people scattered to the far corners of Arabia.
Today the people of Saba are thought to be the same as those of biblical Sheba for which their famous Queen is named. In her visit to the wise King Solomon, she brought with her great riches of gold, spices and incense. This story mirrors the wealth of the Sabaeans and other south Arabian people, as well as the trade the conducted all the way to Gaza and Judea. Frankincense and Myrr were especially prized in the pagan temple rituals of the Mediterranean world. Along with these trade connections the Sabaeans made themselves a center of culture and religion in Arabia through their unique Sabaic script and their holy temples to the gods.
But the Sabaeans true source of power was in agriculture. Nearly four millennia ago, to feed their people the Sabaeans built an extensive irrigation network consisting of wells and canals, all centered on the Great Dam. Made of mortar and quarried stone, the dam spanned across a large ravine that cut through the Balaq Hills by the Wadi Adhanah. According to modern estimate, the dam stood 15 meters high and was more than a half a kilometer long. Although this dam was built in the 7th century BCE its earliest predecessor was likely built over a thousand years earlier, contemporaneous with great King Hammurabi in Mesopotamia.
The capital of the Sabaean Kingdom was the city of Ma’rib lying just east of the Sarawat Mountains along a large wadi (river flood plain). The expression in the Qur'an, "two gardens to the right and to the left," points to the gardens and vineyards in the two valleys of Ma’rib. Thanks to the dam and its irrigation systems, the region became famous as the best irrigated and most fruitful area of Yemen. Growing wheat, figs, dates, barley, grapes, millet and many varieties of fruits. Both date and grape wine were expensive products exported to neighbouring kingdoms and tribes.
The Kingdom of Saba was ruled by the powerful Mukarrib, the head of the federation of tribes and the high priests of the temples. These men commanded great respect and prestige, being both military and religious leaders. Their tombs were richly decorated and their likenesses entombed by bronze statues. They were tasked with building great temples to honour the Gods of South Arabia and to maintain the irrigation systems, chief among them that of Ma’rib. The dam, considered one of the greatest engineering feats of the ancient world, was built under the reign of mukarrib Yatha' Amar Watta I (c.760-740 BCE). As high priest of the temple it was the mukarrib’s duty to encourage and protect the pilgrimage of travelers. The greatest pilgrimage site being the Mahram Bilqis outside the capital of Ma’rib. This temple was dedicated to the moon god Al-Maqah who’s worship continued long after the end of the Sabaean mukarribs.
The final phase of construction and maintenance of the Great Dam were completed by the Sabaeans successors the Himyarites in the 4th century. Their kings raised the Dam to its current height, building spillways, a settling pond and an aqueduct to a large distribution tank, further increasing the productive capacity of the Ma’rib oasis. However, with dynastic conflict and the decline of the incense trade it became increasingly difficult to conduct maintenance. During the 6th century a series of breaches culminated in a final great breach of the dam in 570CE, famously the year of the Prophet Muhammad’s birth (PBUH). Speculation on the cause of the final breach range from heavy rains to earthquakes, and according to legend, the breach was caused by rats gnawing and scratching the foundations from the inside. In the Quran, the collapse of the dam was a punishment from God for the Sabaeans’ ingratitude and rejection of God.
Today the site of the Ma’rib lies on the front lines of the ongoing Yemeni Civil War. Frequent clashes between the rival factions of the war threaten not only these priceless ruins but also the modern dam at Ma’rib and the people of the region caught between the two sides.
