DASI: Digital Archive for the Study of pre-islamic arabian Inscriptions: Site details

Editor: Jérémie Schiettecatte

Site View
Robin 1992 a: pl. 5/a
Image free from copyright

Site View
Robin 1992 a: pl. 5/a
Image free from copyright
Recipient in miniature
Catalogue 2000: no. 144

SITE INFORMATION

Ancient name	Hrm
Country	Yemen
Geographical area	Jawf - Wādī Madhab
Governorate	al-Jawf
Kingdom	Sabaʾ
Coordinates	Latitude: 16° 09' 36.9" Longitude: 44° 45' 50.5"
Coordinates accuracy	certain
Type of site	Settlement
Tribe	Tribe: ʾmrm; ʾmryn (nisba) Tribe: ʾhl ʿṯtr Tribe: Hrm Tribe: Hrmm Tribe: Kmnhw Tribe: Mʿn Lineage: ʾbmʿṯtr Lineage: ʾkwy Lineage: ʾls¹ʿd Lineage: ʿbys¹m Lineage: ʿgzn Lineage: ʿs²rn Lineage: Dd Lineage: Gnd Lineage: Grfm Lineage: Ḫlʿṯt Lineage: Ḫs²s² Lineage: Ḫs²s²m Lineage: Ḥḏmr Lineage: Ḥrṯ Lineage: Ḥyr Lineage: Nʿmn Lineage: Nḍf Lineage: Qwbn Lineage: Rymn Lineage: S¹ktn Lineage: S¹lymm Lineage: S²bʿt Lineage: Ṣdq Lineage: Ṣrfn Lineage: Tṭnt Lineage: Ṯbrn Lineage: Zlmn Nisba: ʾḥnkn Nisba: Ḥnkytn Nisba: Tws¹ʾyn
Deities	ʾḫḫtn ʾl ʾlh S¹ʿydm ʾlʾlt Hrmm ʾlmqh ḏ-Qbḍ ḏ-S¹mwy ḏ-S¹mwy bʿl Mwqṭn ḏ-S¹mwy bʿl Byn ḏt-Ḥmym ḏt-Ns²q ḏt-Ns²qm Hlʾly Ḥlfn Mtbnṭyn Mtbnṭyn ʾbḥmy Mtbnṭyn ʾbrḍw Mtbnṭyn ʾbs²fq Mtbnṭyn ʾbs²wr Mtbnṭyn ʾl Ḫs²s² Mtbnṭyn ʾl Ṯbrn Mtbnṭyn ʾlhl Mtbnṭyn ʾlḥẓr Mtbnṭyn ʿṯt Mtbnṭyn Hʿdn Mtbnṭyn Ṯbrn Mtbnṭyn Ẓwrʿdn ʿtr Bʾs¹n ʿṯtr ʿṯtr Bʾs¹n ʿṯtr ḏ-Ḏbn ʿṯtr ḏ-Qbḍ ʿṯtr ḏ-Rgmt ʿṯtr ḏ-Rḥbh ʿṯtr S²rqn Wd Wdm Ydʿ Ydʿs¹mh Ydʿs¹mhw
Structures	Dwelling (indeterminate) Dwelling (concentrated) Light hydraulic structure (ex. canal, well) Wells, cisterns Building with political function Rampart Small temple Large temple Pilgrimage temple Graveyard Rock inscriptions
Language	Sabaic, Minaic
Location and toponomy	Kharibat Hamdān is located in the middle valley of the Jawf, 100 km north-west of Maʾrib and 6 km west of Maʿīn. It is on the left bank of wādī Madhāb. Toponymy The site of Kharibat Hamdān or Kharibat ʾl ʿAlī is the current name of the ancient Haram. Haram in antiquity indicated the name of the site as well as the name of the tribe who resided there, together with the surrounding territory. The site still bore the name of Madīnat Haram in the 1940s.
History of research	Discovery J. Halévy, 1870: description of a mound where almost all the remains had disappeared; description of the top of the pillars of an extra muros temple (Halévy 1872: 29-31, 72-74; 1873: 585); copy of 27 inscriptions. Visits and surveys 1944: M. Tawfiq 1947: A. Fakhry (1952: 143-146) 1978, 1980: French archaeological mission in the Yemen Arab Republic (MAFRAY): plan of the doors of the extra muros temple and of two inscriptions (Robin 1981: 151).
General description	This site is an oval tell about 10 m high called al-Firʿ. It measures around 300 x 400 m with a 10-ha-wide enclosed area. The modern dwellings on top of the tell does not allow the ancient structures to be seen anymore except for the rampart. The thickness of the tell, of maximum 10 m, suggests a relatively long occupation sequence of the site. Of the ancient rampart, only the western gate is still visible. The rest of the wall has disappeared under the rubble and the modern buildings. Many temples are known thanks to the inscriptions, but only the remains of one of them are still visible, those of the extra muros temple. These temples are: - The extra muros temple Hdnn consecrated to the cult of Mtbnṭyn. It was built around the 8th century BC. In the 2nd century BC the temple was re-named ʾrṯt. It was visited up to the end of the 1st century AD. - The temple Ṯbrn was equally consecrated to the cult of Mtbnṭyn. - The temple Byn was consecrated to ḏ-S¹mwy, at the turn of the Christian era. - The temple Mwqṭn was consecrated to ḏ-S¹mwy, at the turn of the Christian era. - The temple of ʿṯtr ḏ-Ḏbn was built around the end of the 1st century BC. Mtbnṭyn, ʿṯtr Bʾs¹n and Ydʿs¹mh received a cult during the ancient occupation phase of the site (8th-3rd cent. BC); during a recent phase (2nd cent. BC-1st cent. AD), the divinities worshipped on site were mainly ḏ-S¹mwy, ʿṯtr ḏ-Ḏbn, ʿṯtr S²rqn and Ḥlfn. This site is the political and institutional seat of an autonomous city-State. Its ruler bore the title of king (mlk). Even though no plan of the surrounding areas has been traced, the accumulation of alluvial sediments and the epigraphic findings revealed the existence of an irrigated perimeter around the site since the most ancient phase of its occupation.
Chronology	[By A. Agostini] The absence of archaeological excavations greatly limits the chronological and monumental analysis of the site, but according to the tell thickness and the epigraphic data, it is possible to hypothesise an occupation going back to the first half of the 1st millennium BC. The site seems to have been an independent political entity during 8th and 7th centuries BC, when the title of king was used, but the territory under control was however very limited. During the campaigns of Krbʾl Wtr, Haram was a Sabaean ally. At some moment in the following centuries BC it is probable that the town was under Minaean control. From the 2nd century BC, the political and social situation changed and the site was inhabited by the tribe of Amīr showing Sabaic linguistic traits mingled with Arabic influences ('pseudo-Sabaic'). Onomastics and pantheon have sensibly changed as well. The latest inscription found on the site, Haram 28, could be dated c. 1st cent. AD. There is no evidence for an occupation until the Islamic period. The site is now partly occupied by a modern settlement.
Classical sources	Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, VI, 32, 157 (Carmei ?)

MONUMENTS

City Walls

[By A. Agostini] The vast majority of the walls has now completely disappeared, while only on the eastern side a trace of a gate is partly visible, which is formed by limestone regular blocks. The construction inscriptions so far detected are scarce and limited to the last centuries BC, for this reason any historical hypothesis about the evolution of this structure is not attainable.

Hdnn Temple of Mtbnṭyn (extra-muros)

[By A. Agostini] This temple is known mainly thanks to the travel reports of Halévy (Ḥabshūsh) and Fakhry. Accordingly, it has been hypothesized (Breton) that the original layout should have been very close to that of the temple extra muros of as-Sawdāʾ (ʿAthtar dhū-Riṣaf): it should be reconstructed as a court temple with two rows of pillars inside the main hall supporting the lateral porticos. The entrance probably was through a covered passage delimited by four door jambs at each corner. The visible parts only consist of two portal jambs and a monolithic lintel (4 x 1.4 m). All of them have been fully decorated with the incised repertoire traditionally named of the 'Banāt ʿAd' (ibexes, intertwined snakes, lances, ostriches, and human figures on face positioned on a small podium and holding on the right hand a bent stick). Such decorations suggest to date a first phase of the temple at an ancient epoch (i.e. around 8th century BC). The temple was in use also after the social changes that Haram underwent from the 2nd century BC onward, at that time in fact the shrine was dedicated to Ḥalfān and, as a pilgrimage sanctuary, it became the sacred destination for the tribes of Amīr, ʿAthtar and Ḥanakī.