Image Details

T.J. Wilkinson

Himyarite Period: 2nd century B.C. to 7th century A.D.
Even as the power of the Sabaean state declined (overland incense routes had became less important as maritime trade increased), Yemen’s architecture grew more sophisticated. It was during the Himyarite period that the several-stories-high south Arabian “tower houses” first appeared. Here we see a low-relief Himyarite carving of a bull incorporated into the wall of a traditional house in the village of Zafar, the former Himyarite capital.