Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/291

 MARIABA. Questtom Proposees, par M. Michaelis, pp. 183 — 188.) This catastrophe seems to have happened about the tune of Alexander the Great, though some chronologies place it subsequently to the Chris- tian aera. Sale places the city three days' journey from Sanaa (note, in loc. cit.). The notion of the identity of Mareb with Sheba, mentioned by Abul- feda, is still maintained by some natives ; and Nie- bulir quotes for this opinion a native of the town itself {Desci-iption de l' Arable, p. 2.52), and justly remarks that the existence of the remains of the famous reservoir of the Sabaeans in the vicinity of Mareb serves to identify it with the capital of the Sabaeans. To account for the capital not bearing the name of the tribe, as was usual, he suggests that the Sabaeans may have derived their name from another town, and then have built this stupendous reservoir near JIariaba, and there have fixed the residence of their kings. But a fact elsewhere mentioned by him, will perhaps lead to a more satisfactory solution. It seems that the great re- servoir is not situated before Mareb, nor close to it, but at the distance of an hour, and on the side of it. This may account for its preservation on the burst- ing of the embankment. Way not the inundation have occasioned the utter destruction of the neigh- bouring city of Sheba, as the traditions relate, while the royal residence at Mareb escaped, and formed the nucleus of the modern town ? We have seen from Abulfeda that some native authorities maintain that Jlaarib was the royal residence, while the ca- pital itself was called Saba. The name Mariaba (al. Slariva) signifying, according to the etymology of Pliny, "dominos. omnium," would well suit the residence of the dominant family (vi. 28. § 32). Mareb is now the principal town of the district of JJsorf, 16 German leagues ENE. of Sana, con- taining only 300 houses, with a wall and three gates ; and the ruins of a palace of Queen Balkis are there shown. The reservoir is still much celebrated. It is described by a native as a valley between two chains of mountains, nearly a day's journey in length (=5 German leagues). Six or seven small streams, flowing from the west and south, are united in this valley, which contracts so much at its east end, by the convergence of the mountains, that it is not more than 5 or 6 minutes wide. This space was closed by a thick wall, to retain the superfluous water during and after the rains, and to distribute it over the fields and gardens on the east and north by three sluice-gates, one over the other. The wall was 40 or 50 feet high, built of enormous blocks of hewn stone, and the ruins of its two sides still remain. It precisely resembles in its construction the Bends, as they are called, in the woods of Bel- grave, near Bukderie, on the Bosphorus, which supply Constantinople with water, only that the work at Mareb is on a much larger scale. (Nie- buhr, /. c. pp. 240, 241.) 2. Makiaba Bauamalacum. A city of this name in the interior of Arabia is mentioned with this distinguisliing appellation by Pliny (vi. 32) as a considerable town of the Charmaei, which was one division of the Minaei : he calls it " oppidum XVI. mill, pass et ipsum non spernendum." It is supposed by some to be iden- tical with the Baraba metropolis (JiapaSa al. Ma- fj.apa fi.r]Tp6iTois) of Ptolemy (vi. 15, p. 155), which he places in long. 76°, kit. 18° 20'. Forster has found its representative in the modern Taraba, •whose situation corresponds sufhciently well with MARIANA. 275 the Baraba metropolis of Ptolemy (^Geog. of Ara- bia, vol. i. p. 135, ii. p. 256); but his account of the designation Barairalacum {quasi Bar-Ama- lacum, equivalent to " Merab of the sons of Ame- lek ") is inadmissible according to all niles of etymology (vol. ii. pp. 43, 47). Taraba, pronounced by the Bedouins Toi-oba, is 30 hours (about 80 miles) distant from Toijf'm the Iledjaz, still a con- siderable town, " as large as Tayf, remarkable for its plantations, which furnish all the surrounding country with dates; and famous for its resistance against the Turkish forces of Mohammed Ali, until January, 1815, when its inhabitants were compelled to submit, Taraba is environed with palm- groves and gardens, watered by numerous rivulets." (Burckhardt, Travek in Arabia, Appendix, No. iv. p. 451.) A more probable derivation of Barama- lacum from Bahr-u-malkim = the Eoyal Lake, would identify it with the preceding, No. 1. (Vin- cent, Periplus, p. 307.) 3. Makiaba, another inland city of Arabia, is mentioned also by Pliny (I. c.) as the capital of the Calingii, 6 M.P. iu circumference, which was, ac- cording to him, one of the eight towns taken and destroyed by Aelius Gallus. He has perhaps con- founded it with the JIar.syabae which Strabo fixes as the limit of his expedition, and the siege of which he was forced to abandon ; but it was remarked be- fore that this name was according to Pliny equiva- lent to metropolis, — though the etymology of the name is hopelessly obscure : — so that it is very possible that, besides the Marsyabae mentioned by Strabo, a Mariaba may have fallen in with the line of that general's march, either identical with one of those above named, or distinct from both; possibly still marked by a modern site of one of several towns still pieserving a modification of the name, as El- Marabba, marked in Kiepert's map in the very heart of the country of the Wahibites ; and a Merab marked by Arrowsmith, in the NE. of the Nedjd country. [Maksyabae.] [G. W.] MARIAMA {Mapidj-ia), an inland city of Arabia, mentioned only by Ptolemy (vi. 15), who places it in long, 78° 10' and lat. 17° 10', and therefore not far south-east from his Baraba or Maraba metropolis [Mariaba, 2]. Mannert {Geographie, pt. vi. vol. i. p. 66) suggests its identity with Maribba, marked ill Niebuhr's map towards the north-east of Yemen, which is, however, the name of a district, not of a town, its capital being named Aram (^Description de V Arable, p. 228); but this would not agree with the position above assigned to Mariaba Barama- lacuni. (Ritter, Erdkunde von Arabien, vol. i. p. 283.) [Marsyabae.] [G. W.J MAlilAMME (Mapidnixr)), a city of Syria, sub- ject to Aradus, and surrendered with Aradus and its other dependencies, Marathus and Sigon, to Alex- ander the Great by Straton, .son of Gerostratus, king of Aradus. (Arrian, ii. 14. § 8.) It is placed by Ptolemy in the district of Cassiotis (v. 15), and by Hierocles in the second eparchy of Syria (apud Wesseling, Itineraria,^!. 712). [G. W.] MARIANA {MapiavT], Ptol.), a city on the E. coast of Corsica, which, as its name imports, was a Roman colony, founded by the celebrated C. IMarius. (Plin. iii. 6. s. 12; Ptol. iii. 2. § 5; MeL ii. 7. § 19; Senec. Co7is. ad Uelv. 8.) Nothing more is known of its history, but it is recognised as holding colonial rank by Pliny and Mela, and appears to have been one of the two principal cities in the island. It is a plausible conjecture of Cluvcrius that it was founded T 2