HAZM AL-JAWF: The Last Frontier [Archives:1999/12/Culture]

By: Mohammed Al-Shuwaibi 
Sanaa. 




The name Hamz Al-Jawf or simply Al-Hazm occupies a prominent place in the history of Yemen. It has also been the focus of recent archeological excavations. 
It is one of the last frontiers to be explored by trekkers. Alas, it continues to be off-limits because of the kidnapping and hostage-taking practice for which the place has become notorious. Yemeni travel warnings alert visitors not to venture into this no-man’s land. 
The area sleeps on considerable historic and cultural stock of a unique human heritage, which dates back to the prime age of the Yemeni civilization – the Ma’een Kingdom. Preliminary archaeological information traces the history of this place back 4,000 years, when civil and commercial life flourished in the region. The largest political and commercial cities include Brakesh, Nashak, Harem and Ma’aeen. 
Those cities or centers had a political association among them within a federal system of government, and were collectively linked in an alliance with the Kingdom of Sheba and Dhu Raydan, next door. 
Historians and political scientists are strongly attracted by this peculiar political relationship based on dual independence. Vast areas of sandy land is the first view the visitor glimpses when he/she arrives to the town of Al-Hazm, the modern capital of Al-Jawf governorate. But, beneath your very feet lie 4000-years of stories of conquest and defeat, of glory and despair, of love and sorrow, of prosperity and ruin. It is all embodied and preserved in monuments, palaces, and temples. Mankind has only peeked into that history. The inscriptions on walls, arches, and pillars have yet to tell the full story. 
“You can dig in any spot in this land, and you will come up with tales from a glorious and civilized past that once prevailed in here.” The material and the spirit are still preserved underground by piles of sand. This was the site of the first civilization in South Arabia. 
More were to come as the focus point shifted to Marib and other places. 
One kilometer west of Al-Hazm sits the town of Harem. Some parts of it have been uncovered near the present-day village A’al Ali. Unfortunately the homes in this village were built on top of a large portion of the old historic town. Even more unfortunately, the villagers used the rocks of the old city to build their new houses. Thus, the past and the present have come together in a strange mix. 
The protruding past – whatever of it is visible, comes to us in the form of a gate. The top part of a huge gate stands out piercing the sand and announcing the treasures still buried underneath. Only 300 meters away, the remains of another part of history meets your eyes. The lofty entrance of a giant temple, built of granite stones greets your vision offering a wonderful collection of decorations of images and shapes carved out of stones of various shape. 
The temple faces west as is the case in all the old temples of Yemen. The worshipers of the ‘sun’ daily paid their last tribute to the setting sun which they saw as the source of life. 
The part of the gate to the entrance of the temple is 4 meters high. Just a few meters behind is a small hall with another small gate leading to a wide courtyard. The walls of the courtyard are decorated with various beautiful images. Sadly, the higher parts of the walls are destroyed. 
The artistic collection inscribed on the temple’s entrance raises the visitor’s curiosity. On one side of the temple, inscribed, are vessels suspended with ropes, on the bottom of which can be seen two rows of oval jars of wine. Under the jars, suspended, is an image of two ladies dancing with bow-shaped sticks in their hands. They have a small cover on their heads, but their locks of hair cover their faces and flow on to the shoulders and chests. Each is wearing a long dress with ribbons on the shoulders. At their feet, appears the image of an ibex and a number of javelins. Javelins stands for Astarte, the divinity worshipped by the people of Ma’een Kingdom. 
This near-carnal image is repeated on many sides of the entrance. In some cases, the image of the dancing women and the wine jars is replaced with the image of 4 couples of snakes. Two couples each are twisted together. 
In another place, four couples of ibex each couple is facing the other one. Next to this image is an image of a row of ostrich birds standing with their heads and wings raised high reaching to the sky. 
This decoration and inscription job was done according to the highest technical and artistic rules, and it points to a well-developed level of artisanship and skill, as scientists and tourists say. The painting of the dancing women represents a progressive stage on the social level, or at least a certain love of life. 
On the artistic and creative level, these images surpass every artistic painting ever discovered in the Arabian Peninsula, so far. On the same line, the images of animals and birds indicate the variety of wildlife that must have existed in the Ma’aeenian civilization. The style and artistic work must have interacted in some way with Greek and Babylonian artistic traditions. 
As was the case in all temples in Ma’aeen cities, this temple was built outside the town’s walls. The purpose for this is still unknown. In fact, local and oriental studies are still unable to understand many aspects of the Ma’aeen civilization. 
The local inhabitants call the temple in Al-Hazm area Banat A’ad or the daughters of A’ad. Arab linguists say that the word A’ad means any old thing that has some value. In a way it is similar to the way the English word classic is used today. 
The Ma’aneen temples were specially built for the worship of Astar, the same god worshipped in Babylon. The common religion of the two civilizations raises the question of whether Ma’aeen, during part of its history, was a Babylonian colony. That possibility is strengthened by the image of the wine jars and the dancing girls sculpted on walls in both civilizations. Yet it appears from social traditions and political practices in Ma’aeen that this kingdom experienced more liberal socio-cultural values and a tolerant political system than its Babylonian contemporary. 
We will never know for sure, except with more excavations. In the meanwhile, an unruly and fiercely independent tribal structure is keeping everybody off-limits. In a sense, they are its ‘protectors’. 
For oriental scientists and archaeologists, here is an opportunity to do studies and research on one the world’s few remaining virgin sites – one of humanity’s last frontiers – the antiquities of Ma’aeen civilization. 
NOTE: 
Last week’s article on Serwah was also written by 
Mohammed Al-Shuwaibi 
His name accidentally dropped off the written space of the article. Our apologies.
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