al-Ḥuqqa
Editor: Jérémie Schiettecatte
Temple. Hypothetical Reconstruction.
Rathjens and Wissmann 1932: fig. 31
Image free from copyright
Rathjens and Wissmann 1932: fig. 31
Image free from copyright
- Temple. Hypothetical Reconstruction.
Rathjens and Wissmann 1932: fig. 31
Image free from copyright - Temple. Plan.
Rathjens and Wissmann 1932: fig. 5
Image free from copyright
SITE INFORMATION
| Ancient name | Dmhn |
| Country | Yemen |
| Geographical area | Banī al-Ḥārith |
| Governorate | Ṣanʿāʾ |
| Kingdom | Saba Himyar |
| Coordinates | Latitude: 15° 33' 2" Longitude: 44° 9' 25.3" |
| Coordinates accuracy | certain |
| Type of site | Settlement |
| Tribe | Tribe: Ḥmln Tribe: Mʾḏnm Tribe: Qrʿmtn Tribe: Yrs¹m Lineage: Btʿ Lineage: Rḍwm Lineage: Rms¹m Lineage: S¹ʿr Lineage: S¹myʿm Lineage: S¹qrn Lineage: Tbʿ Lineage: Ys²l |
| Deities | ʿṯtr ḏt Bʿdnm ḏt-Ḥmy ; ḏt-Ḥmym S²ms ; S²msm S²ms-hmw Wynn ; S²ms¹m ḏ-Wynn Tʾlb Rymm Tʾlb Rymm bʿl Qdmn ḏ-Dmhn |
| Structures | Dwelling (indeterminate) Dwelling (concentrated) Light hydraulic structure (ex. canal, well) Wells, cisterns Terrace cultivation Rampart Small temple Rock inscriptions |
| Language | Sabaic |
| Chronology | According to inscriptions, the site has been inhabited in the second half of the 1st millennium BC (e.g. DJE 17). The excavated temple (see below) should be dated around the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD. |
| Archaeological missions | 1928: Mission of the Hamburg University (C. Rathjens and H. von Wissmann) |
MONUMENTS
| [By A. Agostini] It is a court temple with a portico on three sides. It measures 28 x 22 m. The columns which were supporting the portico have an octagonal section, their capitals are cuboid and with dentils’ decoration. The area covered by the portico was at a higher level in respect to the central open court. On the two lateral aisles of the portico two rectangular rooms opened, all along the building length. The entrance was on the eastern side. On the side opposite to the entrance, that free from the portico, a cella was 5 m broad. Access to the cella was through a set of steps leading to a covered platform. A big rectangular cistern has been cut under the level of the court and it span from the centre of the court through the external area at N. Two pits are opening into this cistern, one inside the courtyard and one outside the northern lateral wall of the temple. |
MAP
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NOTES
| The site has not abundant traces of a defensive circuit, even if some walls in the NW of the site could be interpreted as ramparts. In the eastern edge, however, two towers have been identified. |
RELATED SITES
| near al-Jāhīlīya (ḏ-Qʿltm) |
| near al-Jāhīlīya (ḏ-Qʿltm) |
RELATED MATERIAL
| Epigraphs
Objects |
BIBLIOGRAPHY
| Calvet and Robin 1997: 158-159, 200 | Calvet, Yves and Robin, Christian J. 1997. Arabie heureuse. Arabie déserte. Les antiquités arabiques du Musée du Louvre. Avec la collaboration de Françoise Briquel-Chatonnet and Marielle Pic. Paris: Editions de la Réunion des musées nationaux. |
| Darles 2001: 44 | Darles, Christian 2001. Les temples et leurs dieux. Dossiers d'Archéologie, 263/Mai: 44-47. |
| Doe 1970: 82, 107 | Doe, D. Brian 1970. Südarabien. Antike Reich am Indischen Ozean. Bergisch Gladbach: Lübbe. |
| Doe 1983: 166-167 | Doe, D. Brian 1983. Monuments of South Arabia. (Arabia past and present, 12). Naples: The Falcon Press / Cambridge: The Oleander press. |
| Doe 1984 | Doe, D. Brian 1984. Architectural refinements and measure in early South Arabian buildings. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 14: 21-31. |
| Grohmann 1963: 166-168 | Grohmann, Adolf 1963. Kulturgeschichte des alten Orients. Arabien. (Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft, 1.3.3.4). Munich: C.H. Beck. |
| Jung 1988: 117-218 | Jung, Michael 1988. The religious monuments of ancient Southern Arabia. A preliminary typological classification. Annali dell'Istituto Orientale di Napoli, 48: 177-218. |
| de Maigret 2002: 54-57 | de Maigret, Alessandro 2002. Arabia Felix. An exploration of the Archaeological history of Yemen. London: Stacey International. |
| Mordtmann and Mittwoch 1931: 143 ff. | Mordtmann, Johannes H. and Mittwoch, Eugen 1931. Sabäische Inschriften. Rathjens-v. Wissmannsche Südarabischen-Reise. 1. Hamburg: Friederichsen, De Gruyter. |
| Müller, Walter W. 1972 b | Müller, Walter W. 1972. Neuentdeckte Sabäische Inschriften aus al-Ḥuqqa. Neue Ephemeris für semitische Epigraphik, 1: 103-121. |
| Müller, Walter W. and Wissmann 1976 | Müller, Walter W. and Wissmann, Hermann von 1976. Über die von einem Lavastrom bedrohten Tempel der Stadt Damhān, des heutigen al-Ḥuqqa, im antiken Gau Maʾḏin (Jemen). Anzeiger der phil.-hist. Klasse der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 113: 112-146. |
| Radt 1971: 263-268 | Radt, Wolfgang 1971. Bericht über eine Forschungsreise in die Arabische Republik Jemen. Archäologischer Anzeiger: 253-293. |
| Rathjens and Wissmann 1932: 13-97 | Rathjens, Carl and Wissmann, Hermann von 1932. Vorislamische Altertümer. Rathjens-v. Wissmannsche Südarabischen-Reise. 2. (Abhandlungen aus dem Gebiet der Auslandskunde; Völkerkunde, Kulturgeschichte und Sprachen, 38/B; 19). Hamburg: Friederichsen, De Gruyter and Co. |