CHAPTER IX
THE ELLIPTICAL TEMPLE
Main Walls—Plan—Construction—Measurements—Summit—Foundations—Chevron Pattern—Ground Surface of Exterior.
PLAN of main wall.—Though popularly spoken of as the “Circular Temple,”[46] the building is of elliptical plan, “a form of temple,” says Bent, “found at Marib, the ancient capital of the Sabæan kingdom in Arabia, and at the Castle of Nakab al Hajar, also in that country.” The resemblance between the temple at Marib and the Elliptical Temple at Zimbabwe is remarkable, and several scientists of repute, who have considered the plans of both these ruins, emphasise the remarkable resemblance, not only in the plan, but in the forms of worship practised by the ancients, as evidenced also by the relics discovered at both temples. For instance, Professor Müller, of Vienna, the great South Arabian archæologist (Burgen und Schlösser, ii. 20.) compares these two ruins as follows:—
| Marib. | Zimbabwe. |
|---|---|
| Plan, system of curved walls, geometrical building, orientation. | Practically the same. |
| Inscription on Marib is in two rows, and runs round a fourth of the circumference. | Two rows of chevron pattern run round a fourth part of the circumference. |
| Half of elliptical wall, on side of inscription, is well built and well preserved, but opposite side is badly built and ruined. | The same at Zimbabwe, where the pattern side of the wall is well built. The other portion is rough. |
| Temple was dedicated to the goddess Almaquah—the star Venus, which is called in the Himyaritic tongue Ialmaquah, or Almaq = illuminating. | Highly probable that Zimbabwe was a Sabæan Almaquah temple, as it is orientated and geometrically built for astronomical purposes, as in all cases of such buildings used for the worship of Almaquah. Sacred birds found at Zimbabwe are said to represent Venus the “Morning Star.”[47] |
Herr Brugsch believes the images of the birds found at Zimbabwe emphasised a Sabæan occupation, while M. Naville is especially of opinion that there exists a strong connection between Venus, the star of the Sabæans, and the goddess worshipped at Zimbabwe. The evidences pointing to the close connection of the South Arabian temples and Zimbabwe are almost inexhaustible. On this point Bent and Schlichter are at one with each other (see Petermann’s Mitteilungen 1892; also The Gold of Ophir by Professor A. H. Keane; and M. Arnaud’s plan of the temple at Marib).
Professor Müller also states that the elliptically formed wall appears to have been always used in the temple buildings of ancient Arabia, and states that at Sirwah the Almaquah temple is built in an oval form. In these old temples, he says, sacred inscriptions to the deities were set up on stylæ (stone beams). At Zimbabwe some scores of carved soapstone beams have been discovered in the three temples, also ten birds perched on tall soapstone beams and three other birds detached from their beams, also four miniature birds on pedestals carved out of soapstone.
The Elliptical Temple at Zimbabwe is a much larger building than that at Marib, having a circumference of about 833 ft. as against the 300 ft. of the Marib temple.
On entering the building it is at once seen that the most massive and excellently constructed portions of the main wall extend from slightly north of the North Entrance to the east and south and south-west, and that the other portions, particularly the north-west and west, are slighter, and though showing fairly good workmanship, it is not nearly so well built as the other portion of the wall, the average width of the summit of the poor wall being barely a third of the average width of the better-built portion. The general line of the summit is also fairly level, but it averages some 5 ft. to 8 ft. less in height than that of the northern and eastern walls. The distinct character of the two portions of the main wall is very plainly noticeable on viewing the temple from the summit of the Acropolis Hill.
