The Sabaeans build the Marib Dam
An ancient engineering marvel waters Yemen's desert
In the 8th century BC the Sabaeans dammed the Wadi Adhanah by their capital, Marib. The dam caught seasonal floods and irrigated thousands of hectares of fields that fed the kingdom of Saba; it was repaired for over a thousand years until a final breach in the 6th century AD ruined the oasis.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 8th century BC
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Europe
- c. 753 BC Founding of Rome — 3 years earlier
- c. 750 BC Homer's epics — same year
Africa
- c. 727 BC Kushite conquest of Egypt — 23 years later
Alive at the time
- Piye (aged 20)