Almaqah or Almuqh (; ) was national deity of the

Sabaeans Sheba, or Saba, was an ancient South Arabian kingdom that existed in Yemen from to . Its inhabitants were the Sabaeans, who, as a people, were indissociable from the kingdom itself for much of the 1st millennium BCE. Modern historians agree th ...

of the pre-Islamic Yemeni kingdom of

Saba' Sheba, or Saba, was an ancient South Arabian kingdom that existed in Yemen from to . Its inhabitants were the Sabaeans, who, as a people, were indissociable from the kingdom itself for much of the 1st millennium BCE. Modern historians agree th ...

, representing the Moon or Sun god. He was also worshipped in

Dʿmt Dʿmt (Unvocalized Ge'ez: ደዐመተ, ''DʿMT'' theoretically vocalized as ዳዓማት, *''Daʿamat'' or ዳዕማት, *''Daʿəmat'') was an Ethio- Sabaean kingdom located in present-day Eritrea and the northern Tigray region of Ethiopia. ...

and

Aksum Axum, also spelled Aksum (), is a town in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia with a population of 66,900 residents (as of 2015). It is the site of the historic capital of the Aksumite Empire. Axum is located in the Central Zone of the Tigray Regi ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

and

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

. The main center for his worship was at the Awwam Temple, which remained in use until the fourth century AD.

Characteristics

Jacques Ryckmans states, The ruling dynasty of Saba' regarded themselves as his seed. Almaqah is represented on monuments by a cluster of lightning bolts surrounding a curved,

sickle A sickle, bagging hook, reaping-hook or grasshook is a single-handed agricultural tool designed with variously curved blades and typically used for harvesting or reaping grain crops, or cutting Succulent plant, succulent forage chiefly for feedi ...

-like weapon. Bulls were sacred to him.

Temples

Marib Marib (; Ancient South Arabian script, Old South Arabian: 𐩣𐩧𐩨/𐩣𐩧𐩺𐩨 ''Mryb/Mrb'') is the capital city of Marib Governorate, Yemen. It was the capital of the ancient kingdom of ''Saba’, Sabaʾ'' (), which some scholars beli ...

, the capital of the

Kingdom of Saba Sheba, or Saba, was an ancient South Arabian kingdoms in pre-Islamic Arabia, South Arabian kingdom that existed in Yemen (region), Yemen from to . Its inhabitants were the Sabaeans, who, as a people, were indissociable from the kingdom itself f ...

, had three important temples dedicated to Almaqah: the Temple of Awwam and the Barran Temple in the southern oasis, and the Harwanum Temple in the north. The Awwam Temple was the main oracular seat for Almaqah, and this was the case as early as the 7th century BC, although most inscriptions discovered at the site (amounting to several hundred) are from the first three Christian centuries. At inscriptions known from the Awwam Temple, Almaqah is given the epithet "Ṯahwān, Lord of Awām". The Awwam Temple was also an important site of pilgrimage across South Arabia during the month of ḏū-Abhī. Beyond Marib, another important temple for Almaqah is the oval temple of Sirwah, another important urban city from the Sabaean kingdom. Here, "Lord of the ibexes". Additional sites of devotion are known from the Yemeni highlands, including an important one from the Alāw mountain, the center of the worship of several tribes and perhaps a secondary branch of the main Awwam Temple. The Temple of Meqaber Gaʿewa near the

n city of Wuqro, is dedicated to Almaqah and contains an altar which represents a miniature model of the Great Temple in Yeha. Almaqah Temple Libation Altar West side

Characteristics

Temples

See also

References

Sources

External links