Al-Masajid (archaeological site)
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Al-Masajid (Old South Arabian Maʿrabum,[1] Arabic: المساجد, romanized: al-Masājid) is an archaeological site from the Old South Arabian-Sabaean period, which lies at the edge of the Yemeni highland-basin, below the Jabal Ṣaḥl mountain range[2] near the border with Qataban.[3]
The ancient site derives from the building activities of the Sabaean Mukarrib[4] Yada'il Zarih I, whose reign was placed around 660 BC by Hermann von Wissmann and around 490-470 BC by Kenneth Kitchen. Yada'il Zarih I built the three most important temples dedicated to the Moon god Almaqah: the temple of Awwam in front of the gates of the capital city Ma'rib,[5] the temple of Sirwah, and the temple of Masajid,[1] which was named Ma'rib, after the Sabaean capital city (with which it should not be confused). Around it, Yada'il Zarih I placed fortifications, which are repeatedly referred to as Murad. Inscriptions found on the site have been published as RES 3949 and Gl 1108, 1109, 1122, 1116 and 1120.[4][3] Jacqueline Pirenne, an expert on Semitic languages, was able to use inscriptions of the site to determine how the visual depiction of Old South Arabian letters changed over time.[4]