Marib

Marib was the capital of the Sabaean kingdom and one of the great cities of the ancient world, grown rich on the incense route that carried frankincense and myrrh north to the Mediterranean. Its dam, built around the eighth century before Christ, irrigated a plain the size of a small country for more than a thousand years until it finally broke, an event recorded in the Quran. The sluice works still stand. The temples of Awwam and Bar'an, both dedicated to the moon god Almaqah, lie in the sand nearby. The sites lie apart from each other across the plain and need a vehicle.