Ancient South Arabian art

The 5th century BC marked the golden age of Saba, whose main centres were Ma'rib and Sirwah.

In the 5th century BC, a new kind of stoneworking appeared, in which the edges of the stones were polished, while the centre of the exposed faces were pecked.

Little is known about ceiling construction, although vaulting survives in pillbox-graves - simple gabled roofs decorated with images.

3 cm thick translucent marble or alabaster sheets, sometimes with incised decoration, served as window panes.

This sort of column is found in the entrance hall of the Awwam temple and Ḥaram-Bilqīs in Ma'rib, for example.

Archaeological excavations of ancient South Arabian settlements reveal a highly developed civic culture with complex irrigation techniques.

For example, the Marib dam dates back to the 9th century BC and remains of it are still visible today.

The course of the walls, which was either simply structured or included bastions, had to follow the terrain, especially in mountainous regions, and this is what created irregular city plans.

In Timna in Qataban, there was a large open space inside the southern gate, from which streets ran in various directions.

In various places in South Arabia, especially in mountain passes (manqal), paved roads were built, which were sometimes many kilometres long and several metres wide.

In the following, the systems proposed by Jürgen Schmidt [de] and (in more detail) M. Jung are described, which take into account both the floor plans and the actual appearance of the structure.

Some cult buildings at Jabal Balaq al-Ausaṭ southwest of Ma'rib, which consist of a courtyard and a tripartite cella, provide a link to a temple type found only in Saba, which had a rectangular ground plan and a propylon and was divided into two parts - an inner courtyard with pillars on three sides and a tripartite cella.

[1] In the other kingdoms, this type contrasted with the hypostyle 'multi-support temples' which were built with square, rectangular or even asymmetrical ground plans and were surrounded by regularly spaced columns.

[9] All these temples are accessed by a great stairway, which leads up to an enclosed terrace, on top of which stands a cella with a podium.

It is still unclear whether there were images of deities, but the statuettes of humans which were dedicated in the sanctuary of Ma'rib demonstrate that highly developed bronze casts existed by the middle of the 1st century, on which the individual donor was recorded by means of an inscription.

Stone pedestals with dedicatory inscriptions show that votive statuettes made of precious metals and bronze were created in Himyar until late antiquity.

In addition to bronze (and occasionally gold and silver), limestone was a common material for sculptures, especially alabaster and marble.

Typical features of ancient South Arabian sculpture are cubic base forms, a plump overall shape and very strong emphasis on the head.

Much South Arabian art is characterised by minimal attention to realistic proportion, which manifests with large ears and a long, narrow nose.

There are very few examples of large ancient South Arabian sculptures, so the inscription on an over-life-size bronze statue of the son of the Sabaean king Dhamar'ali Yuhabirr [de] is of particular interest.

As elsewhere, ceramics were a major medium, but it has not yet been possible to arrange this material typologically or chronologically, so unlike in the rest of the Near East it does not help to date individual stratigraphic layers.

Jugs and bowls of various sizes are common, mostly decorated with engraved or dotted motives, but painted patterns and attached bumps, prongs, or even animal heads are also found.

Smaller stone artefacts include bottles, oil lamps, vases, and vessels with animal heads as handles.

In addition to these, there are also various friezes attached to various parts of buildings, which include zigzag patterns, tessellations, perpendicular lines, dentils, niches, small false doors, and meanders, as well as floral and figural elements, including series of ibex heads and grape vines.

Artefacts in wood have not survived, but stone images of furniture allow us some insight into ancient South Arabian woodworking.