Western tourists are eager to come to Yemen, which is one of the oldest continuously inhabited regions in the world, according to the Bible and Old Testament and holy Koran, but the uncomfortable relations between the government and tribes on one hand, and al-Qaeda's deadly threats on the other hand both stand as a barrier against that.
According to Yemen's folklore, Sana'a was built by the eldest son of Prophet Noah "Shem" or "Sam" in Arabic; it may also have been the town of 'Azal' described in the Old Testament. To this day, the capital Sana'a is nicknamed "Sam City."
At the east of Sana'a, about 150 kilometers, lies another city connected with a Biblical character - Marib, capital of Sheba, or Saba, the mightiest kingdom of ancient Arabia, and the most famous archaeological site in modern Yemen.
The Islam's holy book, Koran, in a chapter called "Saba" describes the Sheba kingdom this way:
"There was indeed a sign for Sheba in their dwelling place: Two gardens on the right hand and the left (as who should say): Eat of the provision of your Lord and renders thanks to Him. A fair land and an indulgent Lord!"
The Bible talks about a visit made by the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon in Jerusalem, where she took with her camels bearing spices, gold and precious stones. "Never again did spices come in such quantity as that which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon," according to the Biblical story.
Old Marib is deserted under 1960s mud-brick buildings on top of a tiny hill. A few kilometers away are the remnants of the throne and Mahram Bilqis (Temple of Bilqis) - and Bilqis is the name given to the Queen of Saba in the later stories in the Islamic tradition. Not far away lies what remains of the famous old dam of Bilqis, which was built in the 8th century B.C. and stood for well over 1,000 years. (END)
*(Mohamed Al-Azaki is a Yemeni independent journalist and researcher on Islamic militants at the Saba Center for Political and Strategic Studies based in Sana'a, Yemen.)
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