Yemen: Land of the legendary Queen of Sheba, who met King Solomon in Jerusalem

Thirty centuries ago, a queen set out from the distant land of Saba at the head of her caravans to pay a visit to King Solomon in far-off Jerusalem. Intrigued by his legendary fame, she wanted to put him to the test by asking him riddles. According to the Bible, no question was too obscure for the king. Dazzled by his wisdom and power, the queen of Saba, the biblical land of Sheba, plied him with gifts of gold and spices, which had made her kingdom wealthy. She is a legend in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Over the centuries, painters and writers from East and West have depicted her in countless ways. But did the queen of Sheba really exist? Certainly, in becoming a myth, she prevented the name of Saba, the land of perfumes and frankincense, from falling into oblivion. The queen of Sheba remains a mystery. Archaeologists have yet to find conclusive proof that she existed. However, the Yemeni have no doubt that she did live. Dr Yusuf Abdullah, Yemen's Director of Antiquities, explains. In Yemen here, we have two main things. And this is why we claim that the queen of Saba is from Yemen. We have two main evidence, indirect evidence. Number one, that there is no country in the whole world where you have the continuity of the legend, of the story, for the last 3,000 years like Yemen. You have it before Christ, you have it before Islam, and you have it after Islam, and you have it right now. Very, very vivid, very living in Yemen. Number two, you will find the ruins of the kingdom of Saba in Marib. You will find the temples, you will find the palaces, you will find the dams, and you will find also the inscriptions in which the name Saba is written a hundred times. So, if there was a queen of Sheba, and I believe that there was, it must be somewhere in Yemen, but not somewhere else. Yemen's geography has been instrumental in forging human history. 3,000 years ago, this history was created to the rhythm of camel trains bearing resins, essences, much more precious than gold, to distant lands. Situated at the southernmost tip of the Arabic peninsula, Yemen experienced several periods of prosperity during its history, but its golden age goes back to antiquity. At this time, there was a vast and highly lucrative trade in frankincense gathered in the southeast of the peninsula. The aromatic resin was collected and then transported by caravan to the major markets of Egypt and the Levant, and even as far as Rome. In the ancient land of Yemen, tribes settled in towns on the fringes of the desert, making a living from this caravan trade over which they held a monopoly. They made considerable profits and developed into full-scale commercial states. From the 8th century BC, Saba, Qataban, and Hadhramaut rose to prominence as the first major caravan kingdoms. For nearly 1,000 years, they shared or disputed control of the spice route. Hadhramaut, with its capital Shabwa, was the home of frankincense production. It is the most oriental of kingdoms and the starting point of this journey. Hadhramaut had been a source of fascination for centuries, but it was not until 1886 that the first map was made of the country, and it was only in 1975 that archaeological excavations unearthed some of its history. In spite of the obstacles they had to overcome, the first travellers told of the magnificent scenery, the unusual architecture, and the authenticity of the people, which had remained intact over the centuries. Each ritual reflects Yemen's rich cultural and religious heritage. A wedding brings together the entire village for four days, a long celebration with singing, shooting, and prayer. Hadhramaut is a vast, arid plateau crisscrossed with deep valleys. Long ago, there was a profusion of Boswellia sacra, the frankincense tree. Its resin gave off the fragrance so highly prized by Western and Eastern divinities. The harvesting of the frankincense, which remained a closely guarded secret, gave rise to many fables and legends. The historian Herodotus tells how tiny, multicoloured winged serpents swarmed around each tree to protect it. Nowadays, the frankincense tree has almost died out completely in Hadhramaut. A handful can still be found growing on the high desert plateau. The last harvesters comb the mountains for days, making incisions in the trees and collecting the drops of whitish resin that ooze out and dry in the sun. A scraper is the only tool they need. In the past, the frankincense harvests were all taken to Shabwa, the capital of Hadhramaut, before being transported to distant lands. Standing on the edge of the kingdom, the Shabwa region was a vast, well-irrigated oasis. Drought has transformed it into a desert again, inhabited by Bedouin families who, like their ancestors, convey commodities across the sands. In ancient times, another resource was exploited, salt, which was as necessary for humans as frankincense was for the gods. God, have mercy! Salt, frankincense and many other commodities finally reached the gates of the capital. Shabwa is one of the most extensive archaeological sites in Yemen. Ravaged by attackers and looting, it was excavated in the 1970s by a French team. The archaeologists investigating Shabwa probably had the words of Pliny the Elder ringing in their ears. The frankincense is taken by camel to Shabwa, where a single gate is open to let it through. Taking any other route is a crime which the kings have punished by death. There, the priests levy a tithe in the name of the god called Sabian, not according to weight, but according to volume. None may be sold beforehand. This tithe is used to cover public expenditure, for the god feeds his guests generously for a certain number of days. Pliny the Elder described Shabwa as the city of 60 temples. Recent finds have proved that these many temples were in fact tower houses, similar to those that can be found at Shibam. With its 500 skyscrapers concentrated into a small area, Shibam is like a bastion rising up in the centre of the Hadramout Wadi. These huge tower houses, five to seven storeys high, generally accommodate a single family. Built entirely of clay, the houses need continual maintenance, for unfired brick is fragile. On the outskirts of the town at first light, the workers mix water, earth and straw. They are making the rammed clay bricks that will dry slowly in the sun. Not far from Shibam, Tarim is the last big town of the Hadramout Wadi. In the early 19th century, merchants set out for Southeast Asia, to make their fortunes in Indonesia or Singapore. On their return home, they built magnificent palaces, inspired by the style of Indonesian architecture. Often abandoned, these clay palaces fell into ruins. They should have been protected by rendering the bricks, with the whitewash that is made on the borders of Hadramout. There on the shores of the Indian Ocean, the lime kilns burn day and night, to produce the necessary protection for the vulnerable Pisay buildings. In the 1st century, the kingdom of Hadramout, benefited from the development of sea routes between the Red Sea and India. On the southern coast of Arabia, near the fishing village of Bir Ali, a volcanic peak dominates the remains of Kani. Sand covered what was, 2,000 years ago, Hadramout's biggest port. The port had no docks. Ships would anchor in the middle of the bay, and were unloaded by light craft that were hauled up onto the beach. Frankincense and many other precious commodities, were stored in huge warehouses. Then vessels were loaded with goods, destined for the Mediterranean or India. In 1985, a joint Russian-Yemeni archaeological expedition, undertook a systematic excavation of the buried city of Kani. The remains were barely visible in the sand, but around a hundred houses were uncovered, a temple dedicated to Sayin, Hadramout's supreme god, and a customs house. During an invasion by the kings of Saba, around the middle of the 3rd century, 47 ships were destroyed in the port, which gives an idea of the intensity of the maritime traffic at the time. Kani was linked to Shabwa by a caravan route, and a frankincense route which bordered the desert. The caravans went past Al-Ukla, a small rock on top of which was a construction, whose purpose remains a mystery. The last kings of Hadramout came here, accompanied by their retinues, to perform an enthronement ritual. They inscribed their name and title on the rock. Al-Ukla perhaps marks the symbolic frontier of the kingdom. On leaving Hadramout, the caravans headed towards Tamna, the capital of the kingdom of Kataban. Unlike Hadramout, Kataban did not produce frankincense. The kingdom profited from the passing traffic by levying transit taxes on the precious commodities in return for providing hospitality and protection for the merchants. In 1950, for the first time in Yemen, a foreign archaeological expedition obtained permission from the local authorities to excavate the region. A young American archaeologist, Wendell Phillips, led this massive enterprise. After weeks of searching, he began excavating Tamna. From the 7th century BC, Tamna was a major trade centre. The city was strategically positioned at the mouth of the Bayan Wadi, on the edge of the desert. Today, the remains of Tamna are buried under the sand. In the centre of the city, a stone pillar that is absolutely unique is inscribed with the rules for the operation of the market, the taxes and the division of stalls between Katabanians and foreigners. It stipulates that anybody who traded there had to have a shop and pay taxes. With the permission of the market supervisor, they could trade alone or with a partner. It was up to the king to set the tariffs. Wendell Phillips' expedition began by excavating the south gate of Tamna, which is covered in inscriptions. They mention royal decrees whose contents have continued to baffle experts. Not far away, behind the surrounding wall, the archaeologists unearthed a complex of affluent residences. In the Yafash house, the American team found two huge bronze lions, a cupid astride each one. Of Greek inspiration, these figures were cast in Tamna using the lost-wax technique. Probably attached to the outer wall of the house, the lions were engraved with the names of the owners, a father and his son. The motif of the smiling cupid, often said to be Dionysus as a child, must have reached the gates of Tamna via the frankincense route, the bridge between the Mediterranean world and Arabia Felix, happy Arabia. In another mansion, the Hadath house, the archaeologists discovered two outstanding bronzes, an oil lamp held by a hand attached to a votive plaque, as well as the famous Lady Barat. Lady Barat was a priestess of Am, the chief god of the kingdom of Cataban. The plinth is inscribed with her name, together with a dedication to Dat Himyam, a goddess who was worshipped in several southern Arabian kingdoms. After excavating the houses, Wendell Phillips started uncovering a huge monument. At the foot of a wall, the symbol attributed to a moon god led people to believe for a long time that it was a temple. Modern archaeologists think it more likely to be the royal palace. But it was outside the city, in the necropolis of Tamna, that Phillips made his most spectacular finds. The tombs contained a huge number of alabaster funereal carvings. Alabaster was a rare material that was imported into Cataban at vast expense. The Tamna sculptors were highly skilled, elevating the art of statuary to perfection. The transparency of the subtle colours of these materials emphasises the beauty and luminosity of this face, with its huge eyes. The tombstones of Tamna often have the name of the deceased engraved on the plinth. The carvings are extremely lifelike. On other tombs, the face of the deceased is depicted in a highly stylised manner, as if a symbolic representation were enough to evoke their memory. This gold necklace displays the face of the deceased with the skill of Yemeni goldsmiths. It was probably worn by a funereal statue, as the three holes in the lovely Miriam's neck suggest. Baptised thus by the archaeologist who discovered her, Miriam is without question the most beautiful face in Yemen. Her fine features are emphasised by her curly hair, once coloured black. But we still have her lapis lazuli eyes and her enigmatic smile. From Tamna, the frankincense route leads to Matrib, the capital of the Kingdom of Saba, the cradle of South Arabian civilisation. Around 680 BC, the Sabaean king, Karib al-Watara, conquered a large part of Yemen after eight campaigns. He adopted the title of Mukarib, which means unifier, and imposed his rule on other kingdoms. At the end of the rule of Karib al-Watara, the little kingdom of Ma'in freed itself from Sabaean control. It specialised in caravan transportation, establishing trading posts along the frankincense route for the Sabaeans. Matrib, the capital of the Kingdom of Saba, was the biggest city in Southern Arabia at that time. The memory of Saba's glory is preserved on the walls of the cafes in the new town of Matrib. The kingdom's prosperity depended on the spice trade and agriculture. The fertility of the Matrib oasis is still legendary. It is mentioned in the Koran, in a surat describing Saba as an excellent country with two wonderful gardens. For centuries, the Sabaeans channelled the water from the seasonal rains that ran down from the mountains towards the Dana Wadi. According to Arab tradition, the Matrib oasis was a vast palm grove that took more than 40 days to cross on horseback, without the rider ever being exposed to the sun. These extraordinary walls of upright stones, built more than 3,000 years ago, are evidence of the oasis' first hydraulic systems. Placed in the wadi bed, these little dikes diverted some of the water towards two sluice gates. Canals then irrigated the surrounding plots of arable land. With time, the accumulation of alluvium caused the land level to rise. The little dikes became unusable and a large dam was needed. This construction, of which only two sluice gates remain, is an outstanding example of the ancient Yemeni's sophisticated irrigation techniques. Two sluice gates were built into the rocky sides of the Dana Wadi. A dike more than 600 metres long blocked off the valley. In the rainy season, the water that filled the wadi came up against the dike and ran off along two canals towards the fields below. A complex arterial system redistributed the water over the plots of arable land. At one time, the Mahrib oasis extended over nearly 10,000 hectares. Mahrib was the largest town, the economic and cultural hub of happy Arabia. The ruins of the former capital are one kilometre from the modern city, around the old village of Mahrib, abandoned since the civil war of 1962. In its heyday, the royal city was protected by a thick wall. It occupied an area of 110 hectares and had a population of more than 40,000. Archaeologists are now certain that the remains of the royal palace of Sabah are still slumbering under the ruins of the old village. But this has yet to be confirmed by excavations. At the end of the village is the ancient Suleyman ibn Dawud mosque, the mosque of Solomon, son of David, which was built on the site of one of the city's temples. Monolithic columns, ancient capitals, sometimes mounted upside down. All these architectural features were borrowed by the Muslim architects of the 10th century from the ruins of ancient shrines. The two chief centres of Sabahian worship were outside the city, in the middle of the oasis. Pilgrims from all over the kingdom could thus pay tribute to the gods without jeopardising the peace and order of the city. The Ba'an temple is dedicated to Al-Makkah, the Sabahian's chief god. German archaeologists have been excavating the sanctuary since 1988. The temple is made up of several parts. A forecourt surrounded on three sides by porticoes, a sacred well in the centre of the courtyard, and the sanctuary, built on a large platform. Ritual ceremonies probably began around the well, the most ancient part of the temple. The priests drew holy water which ran from the well into pools via pipes, decorated with bull's heads. The bull, whose horns evoke the crescent moon, is a holy animal, often depicted in South Arabian temples. Steps, flanked by two bronze statues, then led to two great columns with capitals, typical of Sabahian temples. Only the priests and high officials in charge of ritual offerings were authorised to go beyond the great columns and gain access to the Saint of Saints. The marks left in the stone suggest there was a life-size bronze idol, probably representing a bull. The god Al-Makkah was worshipped in a second temple, the Temple of Awam, one kilometre from the Temple of Ba'an. The Sabahians went there on a pilgrimage each July at the beginning of the rainy season. The Temple of Awam was the biggest shrine in Southern Arabia. Anybody taking refuge there received protection in this sacred place. In the 1950s, Wendell Phillips' American expedition began excavating the shrine. They discovered numerous inscriptions dedicated to Al-Makkah, painstakingly carved on huge blocks of stone. The South Arabian kingdom spoke different languages, but used the same script, devised by the Sabahians at the beginning of the 7th century BC. It was based on an alphabet of 29 characters, and only the consonants were written. Generally, it reads from right to left, and the words are separated with vertical lines. The Ethiopians still use a script that is similar to that of ancient South Arabia. This kinship enabled the 19th-century epigraphists to decipher many of the inscriptions. The excavations of the peristyle revealed more than 24 statues, often in fragments. The most beautiful, but also the most puzzling, is known as the Maa Dikarib. It is thought to date back to the 6th century BC, and to have been offered up to the god Al-Makkah by the father of Maa Dikarib. Maa Dikarib is wearing a lion skin and carrying a dagger, evoking the traditional Jambia, the emblem of Yemeni pride for centuries. After nine months on the Maa Dikarib site, the hostility of the Bedouins and of the soldiers who were supposed to protect them forced Wendell Phillips' American team to halt their excavations abruptly and leave everything as it was. Once again, the Temple of Awam vanished beneath the sand. 45 years later, an American expedition, this time led by Marilyn Hodgson Phillips, Wendell Phillips' sister, made preparations to carry on excavating the shrine. Near the temple, German archaeologists have recently discovered a group of tombs, which were part of a vast necropolis reserved for senior officials of the kingdom. After a day's journey north by camel, the merchants reached Jidfir, the last Sabaean town on the Frankincense route. After stopping for refreshment, the caravans entered the kingdom of Ma'in. The ruins of Ma'in are in a territory now controlled by the Hamdan tribe. Relations between neighbouring tribes are often strained, and it is essential to secure the protection of the Bedouins before entering the site. Surrounded by Sabaean land, the little kingdom of Ma'in specialised in the caravan trade. The Minayans organised a huge network of trading posts in Arabia, the Near East and Egypt, extending as far as Greece. For centuries, the ruins of Ma'in served as a stone quarry for the local people. Two towers, linked to the surrounding walls by a corridor, are still standing. They controlled the main gate to the city. The ancient city is nothing but a heap of ruins, lashed by sandstorms. Only one building has remained virtually intact. We have no idea what it was used for, as no archaeological expedition has been granted access. The Hamdan believe that the site belongs to them. A few kilometres to the south of Ma'in, Barakish was a major Minayan city. We have learned from inscriptions that the ancient city was called Yatil. The Barakish complex is impressive. Rising in isolation in the middle of the desert, this architectural complex is the best preserved in Yemen. The walls bear witness to the city's history. The epigraphists have deciphered nearly 300 inscriptions, the most famous tells the story of two traders, who, having travelled to Egypt, tell of the dangers that beset them and which they survived. Inside the walls, the visible buildings are from the Islamic era, between the 12th and the 13th century. But ancient Barakish is still there. It has been slumbering for 2,000 years beneath a thick layer of archaeological remains that have protected it. In 1990, an Italian team began excavating near the southern part of the city. After two years, one of the most beautiful temples of Yemen finally emerged from the sand. It was exceptionally well-preserved. The shrine was reached via a monumental staircase. After going through the portico made up of four great columns, the faithful entered the great hall of the temple. Here, animals were sacrificed to the god Nakra, the protector and healer in the Minayan pantheon. Ritual banquets were held with tables laden with offerings and decorated with the heads of ibexes. The temple had an annex where numerous objects were discovered, including a series of plaster faces. There is a visible Greek influence which the Minayans spread throughout Yemen. Around 100 BC, the little kingdom of Ma'in was devastated following attacks from the Arab tribes coming down from the north. Less than a century later, the Roman legions, which had become established in Egypt, coveted the wealth of happy Arabia. Around 25 BC, they captured Barrakesh and installed a garrison there. The Romans then set out for Mahrib, the capital of Sabah. But after a six-day siege, they withdrew, defeated by illness and thirst. Although the campaign apparently ended in failure, it did discover the exact location of the regions that produced frankincense. The recent discovery of the maritime route via the Red Sea enabled Roman merchants to bypass the middleman and trade directly with the kingdom of Hadramaut, which consequently embarked on a period of prosperity. The caravan kingdoms of Sabah and Qataban, which derived their wealth from the trade rather than the production of frankincense, began to decline. At the beginning of the Christian era, the political situation was complicated. The old order was degenerating and a new one was forming, far from the ancient metropolises and the frankincense route. In the north, the caravan kingdom of Ma'in had vanished more than a hundred years earlier. In the west and in the centre, little kingdoms and principalities were gaining their independence. One of these, Himyar, soon rose to prominence. From their capital, Zafar, the Himyarites challenged the former caravan kingdoms to gain supremacy of the country. Qataban, which had grown progressively weaker, was the first victim. Around 275, after a confusing series of wars, Himyar conquered Sabah, and then 20 or so years later, Hadramaut. For the first time in its history, Yemen was unified under one crown. Zafar was now the capital of a vast kingdom. Unlike the former caravan metropolises built on the edge of the desert, Zafar was situated on the highlands, far from the frankincense route, in a region that had natural irrigation. The royal palace dominated the city. For centuries, the population reused the painstakingly cut blocks of stone to build their houses. And now it's difficult to imagine Himyarite architecture. Built into the rock, the Zafar necropolis remains the only vestige of the ancient capital. Look. Look at the... Look at the bones. Look at the bones on the rock. They were buried in the stones. Here. In the neighbouring villages, many statues, inscriptions and other decorative elements have been incorporated into the houses. An inscription recovered from the ruins of Zafar is of particular historical interest. It records the conversion of the Himyarite kings to a monotheistic religion towards the end of the 4th century. It's not clear from the text whether the religion was Christianity or Judaism, or whether a local monotheistic cult had emerged. In any case, the abandonment of the old gods in favour of a single god was a political act, which enabled the sovereign to consolidate the unity of his vast kingdom by imposing a common ideology on the population. At the beginning of the 6th century, a prince called Yusuf As'ar Yat'ar seized power and imposed Judaism as the state religion. The Christians living in the country were massacred in droves and their churches burned down. In retaliation, the Ethiopians, converts to Christianity since the 4th century, invaded Arabia. They wiped out the armies of the Jewish king, who died in the battle, and installed a Christian king on the Himyarite throne. And it was the turn of the Jewish population to be persecuted. This sovereign was soon toppled by an Ethiopian general, Abraha, who declared himself king and chose Sana'a as his new capital. Legend has it that the city was founded by Shem, Noah's son. While he was preparing to build a palace in a neighbouring valley, a bird stole his plumb line and flew off. Shem followed the creature until it dropped the tool at the foot of the Jebel Nogum, on the site of the present-day city. Abraha dreamed of making Sana'a a Christian pilgrimage centre, where all the tribes of Arabia would converge. He built a magnificent, lavishly decorated cathedral. According to the chroniclers of the time, a gigantic alabaster window in the façade let in the sunlight and the moonlight, which was so bright that anyone who looked at it had to shield their eyes. Abraha's plans aroused the hostility of the Arab tribes of Mecca, whose pre-Islamic shrine of the Kaaba attracted all the tribes of Arabia. The Meccans provoked the Christians by going so far as to desecrate the cathedral of Sana'a. Abraha then swore to destroy the Mecca shrine with the help of elephants from Ethiopia. But his army was decimated by the Meccan forces. That year, known as the Year of the Elephant, two events occurred of major significance for the Arab world – the collapse of the Great Dam at Mahrib and the birth of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. After a brief spell under Persian domination, Yemen converted to Islam in the 7th century. While the history of Yemen had begun to emerge, thanks to the work of archaeologists from America and Europe, the Yemeni themselves have now begun recapturing their past. The University Museum at Sana'a houses some of their finest discoveries, like these mummies, which have spent 2,000 years in the shelter of the Shibam al-Jiraz caves. But the dream of the Yemeni archaeologists is doubtless to find evidence of their still-mythical sovereign, the legendary Queen of Sheba.