IOH eventually proved elliptical—a form of temple found
at Marib, the ancient Saba and capital of the Sabsean
kingdom in Arabia, and at the Castle of Nakab
al Hajar, also in that country,1 Its greatest length
is 280 feet; the wall at its highest point is thirty-
five feet above the ground, and fifteen feet at the
lowest; its greatest base thickness is sixteen feet
two inches, and its thinnest point is about five feet.
In the structure- of the wall one very noticeable
feature is that the portion to the south-east is very
much better built, and is both thicker and higher :
here the courses are marvellously true, as if built
with a levelling line, and the stones, of granite
hammered into shape, are exactly- the same size,
whereas on the north-west side and in some of the
interior walls, which are marked in a lighter colour
on the plan, the courses begin to get slightly irregular,
and the stones of unequal size, suggesting
almost a different period of workmanship ; but then
there is no point where the good definitely ends or
the bad begins, except at a short gap on the northern
side, where the good wall would seem to have been
continued more in a northerly direction, and the
inferior wall to have been brought round to
meet it.
There are three entrances to this circular building.
The principal one, only three feet wide, faces the hill
fortress and the north. It has an odd curvature in
it, constructed evidently true north, whereas all the
other entrances are straight.. Below this entrance
1 Encyclop. B r it. ' -