Temple of Barran | |||||||||||||
Native Name: | عرش بلقيس | ||||||||||||
Map Type: | Yemen | ||||||||||||
Relief: | yes | ||||||||||||
Coordinates: | 15.4032°N 45.3431°W | ||||||||||||
Location: | Marib Governorate, Yemen | ||||||||||||
Epochs: | Ancient Yemen | ||||||||||||
Excavations: | 1951–2, 1988 | ||||||||||||
Archaeologists: | Wendell Phillips | ||||||||||||
Notes: |
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The Barran Temple (ar|معبد بران) is a Sabaean temple near Marib, Yemen; also known as the "Throne of Bilqis", it dates back to the 10th century BCE[1] and was dedicated to the god al-Maqah.
In 2023, along with other landmarks of the ancient Kingdom of Saba, the temple was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.[2]
The temple is located to the west of the Temple of Awwam, also dedicated to the god Almaqah.[3] The main features of the structure are the six columns and the sacred well in the middle of the courtyard.[4] Until the 1988 excavations only five columns were known to exist, when remains of another were discovered.[5] The temple is considered to be the largest pre-Islamic temple in Yemen.
It was partly excavated by Wendell Phillips' expedition of 1951–1952.[6] [7] In addition to its religious functions the complex may have also served as a documentation center, as the inscriptions describing the events surrounding the Sabaean state were found on the walls.