From the depths of Arabia: a South Arabian stele from the Al Thani collection

Exhibition October 5, 2021 − January 5, 2022
The State Hermitage presents an exhibition "From the depths of Arabia: a South Arabian stele from the Al-Thani collection".

This monument follows the traditions of South Arabian art, where dedicatory or funerary stelae depicting people with some kind of attribute, often a bundle of ears in their hands, were a common genre. However, all the details of this work testify to a strong influence of antique art. This is the third exhibition organised by the State Hermitage Museum in collaboration with the Al-Thani Collection. Like the first two, the monument is shown in the context of the Hermitage exhibits. The Hermitage collection of South Arabian objects is quite varied, including tomb and dedication inscriptions dating from the 7th century B.C. to the 2nd century A.D. and coins from the Greco-Roman period, the same era as the stele itself.

The ongoing exhibition tells the story of the enigmatic and distinctive South Arabia. The origins of this civilization go back to the early Iron Age - the end of the second and beginning of the first millennium BC - and the lands where it developed roughly coincide with the borders of modern Yemen (hence it is also called ancient Yemenite). Today we know many state formations that were in different periods of antiquity on the territory of South Arabia, but the most famous of them was Saba - thanks to the biblical legend about the Queen of Sheba, who arrived with rich gifts to King Solomon.

Prepared on the materials of the official site of the museum State Hermitage Museum.