According to Arab geographer and historian, Al-Hamdani (c. 893-945), the foundation stones of Ghumdan Palace were laid by Shem, the son of Noah, and finished by the Sabaean monarch Ilī-Sharḥa Yaḥḍib (ca.

[8] Though the former palace is now in ruins, its style, a towered, multi-floor structure, has provided the prototype for the tower-type houses built in Sana’a.

The ruins of the palace tower are now in the form of a mound that extends from the east of the Great Mosque to the north of Bab Al-Yemen.

Historians such as Al-Hamdani, Mohammed Al-Qazwani and Dr. Adnan Tarsis dispute the height of the original palace.

Its roof was a slab of pellucid marble, so that when the lord of Ghumdán lay on his couch he saw the birds fly overhead, and could distinguish a raven from a kite.

At each corner stood a brazen lion, and when the wind blew it entered the hollow interior of the effigies and made a sound like roaring lions.Built over a square layout, [5] the top floor of the tower contained the Bilqis Hall, also described by al-Hamdani (two volumes, preserved in the British Museum), featured a ceiling affixed with eight-piece transparent marble fanlights.

Openings at the four corners of the hall provided a clear view of the moon, worshipped by kings in ancient Yemen.

[7] Bronze lion figures at each corner of the alabaster ceilings were said to make a roaring sound when the wind passed through them.