Qualla: Temple of Awwam

Temple of Awwam: Introduction

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0. Locals call it Mahram Bilqis -- the sanctuary of the Queen of Sheba. Seven kilometers southeast of the ancient Sabaean capital of Ma'rib, on a raised natural platform that made it visible and imposing from a distance, stands the largest known temple complex in South Arabia. The Temple of Awwam was dedicated to Almaqah, the national god of the Kingdom of Saba, and for more than a thousand years -- from the beginning of the first millennium BCE to the fourth century CE -- it served as the most important pilgrimage site in pre-Islamic Yemen. Nearly a thousand inscriptions have been recovered from its walls and ruins, forming the single most important collection of pre-Islamic Arabian texts in existence.

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Image: Bernard Gagnon | CC BY-SA 3.0

Temple of Awwam: Eight Pillars at the Threshold

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dan from Brussels, Europe, CC BY-SA 2.0. The temple was oriented toward the rising sun and designed to overwhelm. Eight monolithic pillars formed the propylaeum -- the formal entrance -- topped by square tenons that once supported a stone architrave. Beyond this threshold lay the peristyle hall, a rectangular chamber me...

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Image: Dan from Brussels, Europe | CC BY-SA 2.0

Temple of Awwam: The Oval Sanctuary

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dar_al_hajar.jpg: Antti Salonen derivative work: MrPanyGoff, CC BY-SA 3.0. Behind the peristyle hall stretched the temple's most sacred space: a massive oval enclosure defined by a wall approximately 757 meters long and 13 meters high. This was the dwelling house of Almaqah, the space where most rituals were performed. Inscriptions called it gwbn -- the...

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Image: Dar_al_hajar.jpg: Antti Salonen derivative work: MrPanyGoff | CC BY-SA 3.0

Temple of Awwam: A City of the Dead

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Carport, CC BY-SA 3.0. Attached to the oval sanctuary and accessible only from its interior lay a cemetery dating to the seventh century BCE, estimated to contain some 20,000 burials accumulated over its centuries of use. The tombs were multi-story structures -- some rising four levels high -- built fr...

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Image: Carport | CC BY-SA 3.0

Temple of Awwam: The Pilgrimage Road

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit H. Grobe, CC BY-SA 3.0. Pilgrimage to the Temple of Awwam was obligatory in the Kingdom of Saba. The communal pilgrimage lasted between eight and ten days and occurred in the month of Dhu-Abhay, corresponding to February or March -- the same month in which Muhammad's Farewell Pilgrimage later took place...

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Image: H. Grobe | CC BY-SA 3.0

Temple of Awwam: Dreams and Oracles

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ljuba brank at Slovenian Wikipedia, Public domain. The Temple of Awwam was not only a place of worship but an oracle site. Several dozen inscriptions describe its role as a place where the faithful could communicate with the divine. Within the sacred sanctuary precinct, a shrine contained rooms where pilgrims could sleep and rece...

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Image: Ljuba brank at Slovenian Wikipedia | Public domain