Great Dam of Marib Damaged in Airstrike

November 27, 2018 10:33 PM

One of the grandest engineering marvels of the ancient world victimof Yemeni war. Ancient Marib was the capital of the wealthy caravan kingdom of Saba (biblical Sheba, home of the legendary queen), which thrived during the first millennium B.C. Along with remains of the Great Dam, considered the most important ancient site in Yemen, excavations of the Sabaean capital have revealed two elaborate pre-Islamic temple precincts dedicated to Almaqah, the chief deity of the kingdom.
posted by MovableBookLady (8 comments total)

What an inexcusable tragedy. Makes my blood boil.

I visited the Marib Great Dam ruins back in 1992, when a friend was in the Peace Corps in Sana'a. The feeling of connection to the history of humanity, when walking on those stones, is indescribable.

(Also memorable was when a local boy taught me how to shimmy up between the columns of a ruined temple -- maybe it was Awwam -- and halfway up I became convinced that I would die. Made it to the top though, eventually.)
posted by brambleboy at 2:17 AM on November 28, 2018 [9 favorites]

This is a horrible loss to archeology and science. The war has ground down Yemen for years and it is disgusting what has been done to the people there.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 5:06 AM on November 28, 2018

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