ANCIENT KINGS OF ARABIA. 135 



different accounts of this Roman expedition. Were 

 it possible to identify Mariaba with Mareb, the 

 ancient metro>/olis of the Hamyarites, the cause and 

 date of the mysterious flood of El Arem Avould 

 admit of an easy solution ; but the confused state- 

 ments on the subject have left this important point 

 merely a matter of plausible conjecture. Strabo 

 relates that the Romans, after l^ing before the place 

 for six days, were compelled to raise the siege for 

 want of water ; a necessity which could not have 

 existed in the vicinity of an immense reservoir. 

 Pliny, on the contrary, includes Mariaba, which he 

 describes as the capital of the Calingii, and six miles 

 in circumference, among the citiesthat were wasted 

 or destroyed ; and he calls the town where the 

 expedition terminated Caripeta. Gossellin and De 

 Sacy rather think that Mariaba must have been 

 Mecca (Macoraba) ; but this place did not belong to 

 the Sabaeans, and the distance from Moilah (about 620 

 miles) is obviously too short to occupy so tedious a 

 march as six months. Besides, had such been the 

 fact, it is scarcel}^ credible that the Arabs would 

 have passed in total silence so memorable an insult 

 to their sacred city. 



Dr. Vincent is of opinion that the Mariaba de- 

 stroyed by the legions of Gallus was the capital of 

 the Minaeans in Tehama, and not of the Sabaeans ; 

 the distance of the latter from Moilah (above 1000 

 miles) he considers as too great to be accomplished 

 in a retreat of sixty days. This objection, however, 

 is far from being conclusive. No city of that name 

 is known to have existed in Tehama. Nor is there 

 any insurmountable objection in the remote situation 

 of Mareb ; for we learn from Burckhardt, that the 

 same journey is still performed by the caravans in 

 sixt}''-two days of " slow travelling ;" and we can 

 hardly suppose that a retreating army, which most 

 likely took the same route, and w:hose movements 

 were accelerated bj' famine and an enemy hanging 



