The old city of Haz, a story of glory [Archives:2005/907/Culture]
By: Ahmed Saleh Al-Shariqi
About 30 kilometers North West of Sana'a, Haz is a historic city in Hamdan County, Sana'a Province, near Qa'a Almiqab in old Mikhlaf Aqial. Its name was mentioned more than once in old Yemeni scriptures as the city of Hagarn. It was described by the famous Yemeni historian Al-Hamdani in his book “Description of Arabia”, as a great pre-Islamic antiquarian site.
Visitors can see the remains of its old wall and other relics. It was the Metropolises of Althulth Hamlan of the Union of Samaie tribes. Today the site includes ruins, sculptures and old Yemeni Musnad scripts on the stones.
I realized in my field visit to Haz that it is an important archeological spot that contains a huge wealth, especially its famous palace, whose chiseled stones tell of its greatness. It also contains the remains of the old superbly built canal, that used to bring water to the palace from what is known today as Bani Matar area. The palace is the oldest remaining building in Haz. It is a square 6 meters high building, in the northern road. Its lower part rises to 3-4 meters, formed of vertical stones. The average size of these is 80 by 40 centimeters. The upper parts were rebuilt in the Islamic period. On the southern side of the lower entrance of the palace, there is a broad staircase made of trimmed stones.
A Russian orientalist mentioned that Haz was a religious and political center for Khamlan and base for the rulers of Bani Batta'. They used to worship god (Talb Riam) and their main temple used to be in this city. Bani Bata' used to bear the title of King of Saba Thi Raidan.
As for the importance of the city, it is considered to be one of the most inspiring sites for historical studies and architectural works. The great number of inscriptions, arabesques and the remains of the old buildings are some of these stimulants for study.
The inhabitants often find old relics when they make unintended excavations. There are many underground passages and canals, which date back to pre-Islamic eras. Orientalist Glazer confirms that the number of discovered sculptures amount to 99, distributed as follows: 76 sculptures are of architecture, 20 sculptures are amulets and 3 others unidentified.
Glazer says that he had seen some inhabited houses that contain many paintings, scripts and parts of the Yemeni architecture which are in a bad condition.
This city is one of the most outstanding architectural sites, which contains a lot of sculptures with historical significance and needs more attention to unearth its secrets.
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