DASI

digital archive for the study of pre-islamic arabian inscriptions

DASI

Shabwa

Editor: Alessio Agostini; Jean-François Breton; Jérémie Schiettecatte


Site plan
Breton 1998: 270
Image free from copyright

SITE INFORMATION

Ancient nameS²bwt
CountryYemen
Geographical areaShabwa
GovernorateShabwa
KingdomHadramawt
Himyar
CoordinatesLatitude: 15° 22' 8"    Longitude: 47° 1' 30"    
Coordinates accuracycertain
Type of siteSettlement
TribeTribe: Ḥḍrmt
Lineage: Mkrbm
Lineage: S²hrm
Lineage: Ṣdqḏkr
Deitiesʾlmqh
ʿṯtr
ʿṯtr ḏ-Qbḍm
ʿṯtr Yllm S²rqn
bʿl ḏ-Mḥẓy
ḏt-Ḥmym
ḏt-Ḥs³wlm
ḏt-Ṣntm
ḏt Ẓhrn
Hwbs¹
Ḥwl
Rḥmnn
S¹yn
S¹yn ḏ-ʾlm
S²ms¹
Wd
StructuresDwelling (indeterminate)
Dwelling (concentrated)
Dwelling isolated
Quarry
Light hydraulic structure (ex. canal, well)
Large hydraulic structure (ex. dam)
Building with political function
Fortress
Rampart
Small temple
Large temple
Graveyard
Rock inscriptions
LanguageSabaic, Ḥaḍramitic
General descriptionExtension 15 ha ca. The site is located at the conjunction of wādī ʿIrmā and wādī ʾAtf, at the SE limit of Ramlat as-Sabʿatayn, on the Jawl highland. Shabwa has moreover a very decentralized position in respect to the extension of the ancient kingdom of which it was the capital, but it was on the other hand closer to the western heart of ancient South Arabian civilization. It is also encircled at North by schist hills and by limestone and sandstone slopes. The environment was thus very favourable more for its natural resources (e.g. salt mines) than for extensive agricultural exploitation (water courses were poorer in respect to the most western South Arabian sites). Shabwa was furthermore at the centre of several routes, and this determined its essential role in commercial activities. (A. Agostini)
ChronologyThe probes revealed that the site was inhabited at least since the 16th century BC. The site became capital only at the beginning of the historical South Arabian phase (7th century BC) and its most flourishing moment was between the 5th and 4th centuries BC. Traces of fire have been detected in several areas and they should be dated around 1st centuries BC/AD. A most serious sack was suffered during the 3rd century AD, but the site was inhabited at least until the 5th century AD.
Classical sourcesEratosthenes of Cyrene, in Strabo Geogr., 16, 4, 2 (3rd cent. BC): Σάβατα
Pliny the Elder, Nat. Hist. VI, 32, 154-155 ; XII, 30, 52 ; XII, 32, 63 (1st cent. AD): Sabbatha/Sabota
Periplus Maris Erythraei § 27 (1st cent. AD): Σαυβαθά
Claudius Ptolemy, Geogr. 6.7.38 (2nd cent. AD) : Σάββαθα
Identification1936: H. St.J. Philby
Archaeological missions1938 R.A.B. Hamilton (UK)
1974/2002 MAFRY (France) [1974-78 dir. J. Pirenne – since 1978 dir. J-F. Breton]

MONUMENTS

City Walls
[By A. Agostini; revised by J.-F. Breton in 2021] Shabwa is the only South Arabian city to have a double enclosure of walls. The inner one, some 1585 m long, consist of 75 slightly prominent towers and 71 curtains. This wall, despite its successive phases of construction, presents a great technical unit. The best preserved sections are to the W, with four gates; the eastern part, mainly destroyed, has a possible fifth gate. The outer ring has two separate walls and several specific devices. First is a 2160 m long pebble with mud mortar wall following the hilltop. The second wall to the E and S, 685 m long, encircles a citadel. The outer ring delimits a large flat area – named al-Sabkha, because of its salt mines – with five gates. It was probably used in antiquity as a stop-over area for camel caravans, as it has neither dwellings nor storerooms.

  • photoPlan of the city wall
  • photoThe city wall. Western sector
Temple of S¹yn ḏ-ʾlm
[By A. Agostini] This was probably the main temple of the town and it lays at the end of the central road which divides the settlement in two parts and running N-S (at the other extremity the Palace S²qr is standing, see here below). It is leaning against the al-ʿAqab hill, at the SE end of the site, and this should have given a considerable prominence and visibility to the building. The main body is not preserved, and the only visible structure is the monumental staircase in stone which leads to a four-columned propylon. In this area a huge pedestal was intended to hold a colossal human statue, considered the size of the footprints on it, since the statue (probably in bronze) is not preserved. Smaller pedestals for other statues were situated in front of each column. Behind the portico there was a narrow terrace closed by a wall which could be the foundation for the main temple structure. The lower terrace was also housing big bronze statues (probably life-sized horses). The building technique is very refined, using ashlar masonry and partly faced with polished stone slabs. The ruins should be dated to the last phase of the structure, thus to the 2nd – 3rd centuries AD.

  • photoTemple of S¹yn
  • photoTemple of S¹yn, reconstruction
Temple extra-muros
[By A. Agostini] Following the typical Hadramitic model, the temple extra muros was erected at the flank of a hill. This is Qārāt al-Hadīda which is reachable through a tortuous passageway at the western limit of the settlement. The building is laying upon a large terrace formed by choppers and mortar. Its plan has a trapezoidal shape and measures 14.5 x 8 m. The inner temple consists of an unique hall with only one lateral bench, the roof was probably sustained by wood pillars. The divinity to whom the building was dedicated is not known.

  • photoTemple extra-muros
Palace S²qr
[By A. Agostini; revised by J.-F. Breton in 2021] The main building of Shabwa is located close to the western gate (n° 3). It has been identified by some inscriptions as the royal palace S²qr. It consists of two adjoining buildings. The central one, to the S (building A), 22.90 m (western façade) by 19.80 m, stands on a massive podium of a refined technique and ashlar masonry. A long corridor divides the whole floor in two main lateral aisles, with long and narrow rooms. The portion next to the entrance has similar rooms but perpendicular in respect to the latter. The second building (B), to the N, some 39.20 m long by 31.20 m large, U-shaped, opens on a courtyard with porticoes. The main entrance with its monumental staircase is located on the eastern part facing the city. This palace was burned for the first time in 225-230 AD, and rebuilt some years later. In Building B, a second floor was erected with adorned windows and paintings. Capitals were positioned above the pillars and fully decorated with vegetal and animal motifs, in particular griffins and horned lions. At the end of the 3rd century and during the 4th century AD, the palace lost its importance and was used only for the himyarite garrison. Its final destruction by fire is supposed to have occurred during the 5th century. Its huge layers of ashes delivered hundreds of wooden pieces, thus allowing some restitutions of its floors. In these layers a number of bronze pieces, ivories, glasses, imported pottery, etc. were also found.

  • photoShabwa. General view of the palace
  • photoGeneral plan of the palace
  • photoThe Palace: the eastern façade
  • photoThe Palace: the western façade
  • photoRoyal Palace. Decorated Capital
Tombs
[By A. Agostini] The two flanks of hills Qārat al-Ghirān and al-Burayk served as necropolis. They seems to be away from the principal routes of the town and from the other sanctuaries so far detected. The tombs have been realized inside the natural rocks, but architectural interventions sometimes enriched the entrance. This is the case of Tomb 1 which has a vestibule whose lateral sides are framed by two walls divided by wood beams and decorated by stone rectangular panels with hollows and red paint. Some stairs allow the access to a subterranean chamber, followed by another one further below while multiple niches (3 to 5) have been organized at their sides. They probably served as family tombs and revealed traces of subsequent reuses, even if the vast majority of them have been pillaged in later times. This model of hypogean tombs seems particularly spread in this region.

  • photoHypogean tombs
Other buildings
[By A. Agostini; revised by J.-F. Breton in 2021] Inside the western part of the city some 120 stone buildings have been recorded. They are scattered on both sides of the main city street without any planning. It has been supposed that the town did not have specialized areas, the dwellings were in fact concentrated more according to the owner families or tribes than according to their functionality. Archaeological excavations demonstrate that all these stone platforms were topped by a vertical wooden frame. The long-beams and cross pieces were carefully interlocked so as to construct a regular vertical frame, about 1.50 m high, and two such frames, one on top of each other, supported a floor at a height of 3.00 m. Whatever the number of floors, the house would be like a tower-house whose main function was the safety of its inhabitants. By contrast, the temples generally consist of a main cella (or one hypostyle hall and one or sometimes three cellae). Similar stone platforms have been excavated at Timnaʿ, and their identification raises the question of the term “bayt”: house or temples.

  • photoA wooden building

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RELATED MATERIAL

Epigraphs in CSAI
Objects in CSAI

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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