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49-531: In pre-Islamic times, numerous pilgrims gathered in Ma'rib city and headed to Almaqah temple of Harunum to perform their religious rituals, and continued to the sanctuary of Awwam using processional road. In 2023, along with other landmarks of the ancient Kingdom of Saba , Awam Temple was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List . The oldest inscription found in the complex was in reference to

98-518: A Relativiser like ḏ- , ʾl , mn- ; in free relative clauses this marking is obligatory. Unlike other Semitic languages in Sabaic resumptive pronouns are only rarely found. Although the Sabaic vocabulary is found in relatively diverse types of inscriptions (an example being that the south Semitic tribes derive their word wtb meaning "to sit" from the northwest tribe's word yashab/wtb meaning "to jump"), nevertheless it stands relatively isolated in

147-419: A copper basin placed under and then into the stone itself. The enclosure is defined by massive oval shaped wall that flank the peristyle hall from its western and eastern wings, the wall measures approximately 757 m long and 13 m high, however the original height can't be determined for certainty, and it's difficult to assess its full extent. Many inscriptions, hundreds in quantity, were discovered in

196-469: A moon god, but Garbini and Pirenne have shown that the bull's head and the vine motif associated with him may have solar and dionysiac attributes. He was therefore a priest of Ra, the male counterpart of the sun goddess Shamash / Ishtar / Isis , who was also venerated in Saba, but as a tutelary goddess of the royal Egyptian dynasty. The ruling dynasty of Saba' regarded themselves as his seed. Almaqah

245-550: A sacred number, since it is used at the entrance, interior pillars (8 × 4), and false windows (8 × 8). Ancient South Arabian buildings, including Awwam peristyle hall, appears to be pre-planned according to a system of prescribed measurements instead of full use of space. AFSM excavation in the paved courtyard revealed multiple South Arabian inscriptions , a group of broken column capitals, bronze plaques, altars, and numerous pottery statues, along with potsherds that date back roughly to 1500–1200 BCE. Visitors of

294-401: A wellspring inside the sanctuary. The oval sanctuary is accessible from two gates, either through the northwestern gate, or from the peristyle hall one, the latter of which was the main entrance, while the former was exclusively built for priests. A third gate was discovered by AFSM, but this was restricted to funerary rites usage as it was the cemetery entrance, and could only be accessed from

343-484: Is attested in some 1,040 dedicatory inscriptions, 850 building inscriptions, 200 legal texts, and 1300 short graffiti (containing only personal names). No literary texts of any length have yet been brought to light. This paucity of source material and the limited forms of the inscriptions has made it difficult to get a complete picture of Sabaic grammar. Thousands of inscriptions written in a cursive script (called Zabur ) incised into wooden sticks have been found and date to

392-530: Is distinguished from the other members of the Old South Arabian group by its use of h to mark the third person and as a causative prefix; all of the other languages use s 1 in those cases. Therefore, Sabaic is called an h -language and the others s -languages. Numerous other Sabaic inscriptions have also been found dating back to the Sabean colonization of Africa . Sabaic was written in

441-416: Is heavily influenced by North Arabic, are also generally considered a form of Sabaic. The Himyarites , whose spoken language was Semitic but not South Arabic, used Sabaic as a written language. Since Sabaic is written in an abjad script leaving vowels unmarked, little can be said for certain about the vocalic system. However, based on other Semitic languages, it is generally presumed that it had at least

490-659: Is mentioned in Sabaean inscriptions. The 7th century BCE cemetery is attached to the Oval Sanctuary, and apparently accessed only from it. The cemetery hosts around 20,000 estimated burials during its long period of usage. That lengthy period created a large settlement of the dead, where passages and streets divide the tombs. The cemetery tombs were multi-storey structures (up to four) built using excellently polished and dressed limestone blocks. External walls were sometimes decorated with friezes and low relief of

539-546: Is not consistent in Sabaic. The first clause in an inscription always has the order (particle - ) subject – predicate (SV), the other main clauses of an inscription are introduced by w - "and" and always have – like subordinate clauses – the order predicate – subject (VS). At the same time the Predicate may be introduced by f . Examples: Sabaic is equipped with a number of means to form subordinate clauses using various conjunctions: In Sabaic, relative clauses are marked by

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588-746: Is represented on monuments by a cluster of lightning bolts surrounding a curved, sickle -like weapon. Bulls were sacred to him. Both the Barran Temple and the Awwam temple were dedicated to Almaqah. The Temple of Meqaber Gaʿewa near the Ethiopian city of Wuqro , is dedicated to Almaqah and contains an altar which represents a miniature model of the Great Temple in Yeha . Sabaean language Sabaic , sometimes referred to as Sabaean ,

637-523: Is the norm. The minuscule Zabūr script does not seem to have a letter that represents the sound ẓ , and replaces it with ḍ instead; for example: mfḍr ("a measure of capacity"), written in the Musnad script as: mfẓr . As in other Semitic languages Sabaic had both independent pronouns and pronominal suffixes. The attested pronouns, along with suffixes from Qatabanian and Hadramautic are as follows: No independent pronouns have been identified in any of

686-481: Is usually indicated in the singular by the ending – t  : bʿl "husband" (m.), bʿlt "wife" (f.), hgr "city" (m.), fnwt "canal" (f.). Sabaic nouns have forms for singular, dual and plural. The singular is formed without changing the stem, the plural can however be formed in a number of ways even in the very same word: The dual is already beginning to disappear in Old Sabaic; its endings vary according to

735-463: The South Arabian alphabet , and like Hebrew and Arabic marked only consonants, the only indication of vowels being with matres lectionis . For many years the only texts discovered were inscriptions in the formal Masnad script (Sabaic ms 3 nd ), but in 1973 documents in another minuscule and cursive script were discovered, dating back to the second half of the 1st century BC; only a few of

784-426: The peristyle hall is approximately 42 m × 19 m and is flanked by the end of the oval-shaped enclosure in its western and eastern exterior walls. The interior of the structure contains a large library of inscribed stone blocks and 64 vertically double false windows motif with 32 pillars made from single monolith except two that once supported stone beams. The number 8 seems to reflect

833-584: The American Foundation for the Study of Man that was led by Wendell Philips , cleared the entrance court almost completely and made numerous discoveries. Such as elaborate bronze statues, and the usage of the southern entrance in the elliptic wall for ablution rituals before entering the cella. The temple is situated in isolated site functioning mainly as religious sacred area. The place-name, 'wm (place of refuge), signify that sacredness attached to

882-601: The Middle Sabaic period; these represent letters and legal documents and as such includes a much wider variety of grammatical forms. In the Late Sabaic period the ancient names of the gods are no longer mentioned and only one deity Raḥmānān is referred to. The last known inscription in Sabaic dates from 554 or 559 AD. The language's eventual extinction was brought about by the later rapid expansion of Islam, bringing with it Northern Arabic or Muḍarī , which became

931-557: The Old Sabaic inscriptions the Proto-Semitic diphthongs aw and ay seemed to have been retained, being written with the letters w and y ; in the later stages the same words are increasingly found without these letters, which leads some scholars (such as Stein) to the conclusion that they had by then contracted to ō and ē (though aw → ū and ay → ī would also be possible) Sabaic, like Proto-Semitic , contains three sibilant phonemes, represented by distinct letters;

980-554: The Radmanite dialect the letter h is sometimes infixed in plurals where it is not etymologically expected: thus bnhy (sons of; Constructive State) instead of the usual bny ; it is suspected that this h represents the vowel ā . Long vowels ū and ī certainly seem to be indicated in forms such as the personal pronouns hmw (them), the verbal form ykwn (also written without the glide ykn ; he will be), and in enclitic particles - mw , and - my probably used for emphasis. In

1029-481: The Semitic realm, something that makes it more difficult to analyze. Even given the existence of closely related languages such as Ge'ez and Classical Arabic, only part of the Sabaic vocabulary has proved able to be interpreted; a not inconsiderable part must be deduced from the context and some words remain incomprehensible. On the other hand, many words from agriculture and irrigation technology have been retrieved from

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1078-454: The building of the temple's massive enclosure known as The great wall of Awwam by Mukarrib Yada`'il Dharih I in the middle of the 7th century BCE. Indicating a much earlier period for the temple's construction. Yada`'il inscription was carved outside the wall, and contains the following: Yadaʿʾil Dharih, son of Sumhuʾalay, mukarrib of Saba', walled ʾAwwam, the temple of Almaqah, when he sacrificed to Athtar and [when] he established

1127-542: The change s 3 > s 1 , for example: ˀks 1 wt ("clothes"), normal Sabaic ks 3 wy . The exact nature of the emphatic consonants q , ṣ , ṭ , ẓ and ḍ also remains a matter for debate: were they pharyngealized as in Modern Arabic, or were they glottalized as in Ethiopic (and reconstructed Proto-Semitic)? There are arguments to support both possibilities. In any case, beginning with Middle Sabaic

1176-551: The dead was preserved by placing sculptural representations of them on their tombs, frequently inscribing their names. Almaqah Almaqah or Almuqh ( Sabaean : 𐩱𐩡𐩣𐩤𐩠 ; Arabic : المقه ) was the Moon or Sun god of the ancient Yemeni kingdom of Saba' . He was also worshipped in Dʿmt and Aksum in Ethiopia and Eritrea . Jacques Ryckmans states, Almaqah is considered

1225-496: The dead's face. According to South Arabian inscriptions the cemetery was known as " Mhrm Gnztn " (cemetery sacred enclave). Despite the sacredness of the cemetery, no surplus of epigraphic remains for the ritual ceremonies were found in the complex. Apparently the rituals were conducted in the Oval Sanctuary Precinct, then they enter the cemetery where further ceremonies took place before burial. The memory of

1274-451: The decoration, geometrical and figural paintings, sculptures, large and precisely dressed stones, finely carved inscriptions painted red, and beautiful ornamental friezes on the wall's exterior, were meant to impress visitors and fill them with awe in the presence of god. The hall has a semi-rectangular form, with a pillared 8 monolith propylaeum entrance, topped by square tenons designed to accommodate an architrave . The perimeter of

1323-580: The exact phonetic nature of these sounds is still uncertain. In the early days of Sabaic studies, Old South Arabian was transcribed using Hebrew letters. The transcriptions of the alveolars or postvelar fricatives remained controversial; after a great deal of uncertainty in the initial period the lead was taken by the transcription chosen by Nikolaus Rhodokanakis and others for the Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum ( s , š , and ś ), until A. F. L. Beeston proposed replacing this with

1372-564: The gender and the number. At the same time external plurals and duals have their own endings for grammatical state, while inner plurals are treated like singulars. Apart from the construct state known in other Semitic languages, there is also an indeterminate state and a determinate state, the functions of which are explained below. The following are the detailed state endings: The three grammatical states have distinct syntactical and semantic functions: As in other West Semitic languages Sabaic distinguishes between two types of finite verb forms:

1421-463: The grammatical state: ḫrf-n "two years" (indeterminate state) from ḫrf "year". Sabaic almost certainly had a case system formed by vocalic endings, but since vowels were involved they are not recognizable in the writings; nevertheless a few traces have been retained in the written texts, above all in the construct state . As in other Semitic languages Sabaic has a few grammatical states, which are indicated by various different endings according to

1470-431: The interior of the oval sanctuary. The oval sanctuary precinct was the main and holy part of Awwam temple. It was an open space that contains several structures, courtyards, and wellspring. Most rituals were performed in the oval sanctuary, and according to Sabaean inscriptions, was the house of Almaqah. This holiness is demonstrated by the existence of three places for purification and to perform ablutions before entering

1519-494: The language of culture and writing, totally supplanting Sabaic. The dialect used in the western Yemeni highlands, known as Central Sabaic, is very homogeneous and generally used as the language of the inscriptions. Divergent dialects are usually found in the area surrounding the Central Highlands, such as the important dialect of the city of Ḥaram in the eastern al- Jawf . Inscriptions in the Ḥaramic dialect, which

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1568-599: The latter have so far been published. The South Arabic alphabet used in Yemen , Eritrea , Djibouti , and Ethiopia beginning in the 8th century BC, in all three locations, later evolved into the still in use Ge'ez alphabet . The Ge'ez language however is no longer considered to be a descendant of Sabaic or of Old South Arabian ; and there is linguistic evidence that Semitic languages were concurrently in use, being spoken in Eritrea and Ethiopia as early as 2000 BC. Sabaic

1617-432: The letters representing ṣ and ẓ are increasingly interchanged, which seems to indicate that they have fallen together as one phoneme. The existence of bilabial fricative f as a reflex of the Proto-Semitic *p is partly proved by Latin transcriptions of names. In late Sabaic ḏ and z also merge.In Old Sabaic the sound n only occasionally assimilates to a following consonant, but in the later periods this assimilation

1666-426: The most widespread architectural feature used in ancient South Arabian religious structures. The peristyle hall might have reflected the numbers of the 8 pillared propylaeum; There are 32 pillars (4 × 8) inside the peristyle hall, and 64 recessed false windows (8 × 8). Statues of bronze bulls, horses, and humans used to be attached to the entrance gates of the temple. Many aspects of

1715-491: The object; thus: qtl-hmw "he killed them"; ḫmr-hmy t'lb "Ta'lab poured for them both"; when the suffixes are added to nouns they indicate possession: ' bd-hw "his slave").The independent pronouns serve as the subject of nominal and verbal sentences: mr' 't "you are the Lord" (a nominal sentence); hmw f-ḥmdw "they thanked" (a verbal sentence). Old South Arabian nouns fall into two genders: masculine and feminine. The feminine

1764-538: The other South Arabian languages. First- and second-person independent pronouns are rarely attested in the monumental inscription, but possibly for cultural reasons; the likelihood was that these texts were neither composed nor written by the one who commissioned them: hence they use third-person pronouns to refer to the one who is paying for the building and dedication or whatever. The use of the pronouns in Sabaic corresponds to that in other Semitic languages. The pronominal suffixes are added to verbs and prepositions to denote

1813-641: The perfect and imperfect may be summarized as follows (the active and the passive are not distinguished in their consonantal written form; the verbal example is fʿl "to do"): The perfect is mainly used to describe something that took place in the past, only before conditional phrases and in relative phrases with a conditional connotation does it describe an action in the present, as in Classical Arabic. For example: w-s 3 ḫly Hlkʾmr w-ḥmʿṯt "And Hlkʾmr and ḥmʿṯt have pleaded guilty (dual)". The imperfect usually expresses that something has occurred at

1862-463: The perfect which is conjugated with suffixes and the imperfect which is conjugated with both prefixes and suffixes. In the imperfect two forms can be distinguished: a short form and a form constructed using the n (long form esp. the n-imperfect ), which in any case is missing in Qatabānian and Ḥaḍramite. In actual use it is hard to distinguish the two imperfect forms from each other. The conjugation of

1911-575: The representation with s followed by the subscripts 1–3. This latest version has largely taken over the English-speaking world, while in the German-speaking area, for example, the older transcription signs, which are also given in the table below, are more widespread. They were transcribed by Beeston as s 1 , s 2 , and s 3 . Bearing in mind the latest reconstructions of the Proto-Semitic sibilants, we can postulate that s 1

1960-405: The sacred spaces, primarily the oval sanctuary (dwelling house of Almaqah). Cleanness is emphasized by the discovered inscriptions that deals with physical and spiritual purity of worshipers. Several inscriptions attest that an individual who enter the sanctuary without performing purification rituals, will suffer severe consequences. Although no detailed information concerning the act of purification

2009-542: The same time as an event previously mentioned, or it may simply express the present or future. Four moods can be distinguished: The imperative is found in texts written in the zabūr script on wooden sticks, and has the form fˁl(-n) . For example: w-'nt f-s 3 ḫln ("and you (sg.) look after"). By changing the consonantal roots of verbs they can produce various derivational forms, which change their meaning. In Sabaic (and other Old South Arabian languages) six such stems are attested. Examples: The arrangement of clauses

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2058-407: The sanctuary and nearby, only few that deals directly with the temple's construction. One of the terms used for the sanctuary was "gwbn"; the oracle sanctuary. The sanctuary includes a raised platform within the temple's sacred area representing primordial mound, which makes it more impressive when looked from a distance. It appears, from archeological investigation, that a cultic place was built around

2107-434: The sanctuary are obliged to go through the annex, then via a gate of three entrances into the peristyle hall. The gate could be closed if needed. A visible water conduit made from alabaster used to run through the hall and into a bronze basin (69 × 200 cm) placed in a room for purification purposes. The water fell on the floor like a fountain, and it fell so long and with such force that it eventually cut through

2156-461: The sanctuary. There is a possibility that the temple developed from a small shrine into an enormous complex encompassing multiple structures associated with the temple i.e. houses for priests, auxiliary rooms, workshops for metalworkers, cemetery connected to the sanctuary, and a residential area which form the so-called protected enclave. Geomorphological investigations have shown that the Awwam temple

2205-525: The vowels a , i , and u , which would have occurred both short and long ā , ī , and ū . In Old Sabaic, the long vowels ū and ī are sometimes indicated using the letters for w and y as matres lectionis . In the Old period this is used mainly in word-final position, but in Middle and Late Sabaic it also commonly occurs medially. Sabaic has no way of writing the long vowel ā , but in later inscriptions, in

2254-440: The whole community [united] by a god and a patron and a pact and a [secret] trea[ty. By Athtar and by Hawbas and by] Almaqah. The largest part of the temple is occupied by an unguarded yard that is enclosed by a stone wall with an irregular oval ground plan. On the inner wall of the hall were several dozen highly important inscriptions from the late period of the Sabaean kingdom. Partial excavation of Awwam peristyle in 1951–1952 by

2303-595: Was an Old South Arabian language that was spoken between c. 1000 BC and the 6th century AD by the Sabaeans . It was used as a written language by some other peoples of the ancient civilization of South Arabia , including the Ḥimyarites , Ḥashidites, Ṣirwāḥites, Humlanites, Ghaymānites, and Radmānites. Sabaic belongs to the South Arabian Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family. Sabaic

2352-505: Was erected on high natural platform, making it even more impressive for the viewers. Access to the complex was controlled by doors leading to hierarchical series of courtyards and halls that served as transitional areas. The temple itself was oriented towards the rising sun (north-east) and consisted of eight pillars propylaeum marking the entrance, followed by large rectangular peristyle hall, and massive oval shaped enclosure with other exterior linked structures (nearby cemetery). Pillars are

2401-543: Was probably pronounced as a simple [s]or [ʃ], s 2 was probably a lateral fricative [ɬ], and s 3 may have been realized as an affricate [t͡s]. The difference between the three sounds is maintained throughout Old Sabaic and Middle Sabaic, but in the Late period s 1 and s 3 merge. The subscript n did not start appearing until after the Early Sabaic period. The Middle Sabaic Haramitic dialect often shows

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