Bronze altar to Rahmaw
Sabaean, 6th century BC
Probably from Marib, Yemen
This fragmentary altar is made of bronze and is cast in relief.
It is decorated with three rows of sphinxes shown frontally below a
Sabaean dedicatory inscription to the god Rahmaw. It is thought to
come from Marib, which was the capital of the kingdom of Saba, the
oldest and most powerful of the states in the South Arabian
region.
The southern Arabians had the monopoly on two of the most prized
materials of ancient times: frankincense and myrrh. These two
resins only grow in eastern Yemen, southern Oman and Somaliland.
Their production and trade were in the hands of the ancient South
Arabians. Every temple and wealthy home in the Mediterranean and
Near East used these precious aromatics, and purchasers were
prepared to pay for their weight in gold. This is the historical
background to the legendary Old Testament account of the Queen of
Saba (in Hebrew, Sheba) making her caravan journey to
Jerusalem.
Although the South Arabian pantheon is not properly known, each
of the South Arabian kingdoms appears to have had its own national
god. For example, Qataban's principal deity was Amm ('paternal
uncle'), whereas Saba's god was Almaqah, a sun-god whose motifs
include a bull's head.
A.G. Lundin and S.A. Frantsouzoff, 'An inscribed Sabaean bronze altar from the British Museum', St Petersburg Journal of Orien, 9 (1997), pp. 384-91
W. Daum (ed.), Yemen: 3000 years of art and c (Penguin, 1988)
St J. Simpson (ed.), Queen of Sheba: treasures from (London, The British Museum Press, 2002)