Traders of the Gold and Incense Road The most prominent and celebrated figure of Yemen�fs ancient history is the legendary Queen of Sheba (named Bilqis in the Arabic Tradition) , who visited King Solomon during the 10th century B.C. bringing with her a large retinue and an abundance of gold and spices . Challenging Solomon with riddles, she eventually had to capitulate to his wisdom and accept his God . This exotic story has sparked the imagination of countless generations and has found entry into three Holy Books: the Bible the Ethiopian Kebra Nagast and the Holy Koran. Yet among all the Sabaean inscriptions found in temples and houses discovered so far, not one makes mention of her. Prehistoric tools and settlements have been found in various places in Yemen. Archaeologists recently discovered that irrigation in the Marib oasis dates back at least 5 millennia . The ancient South Arabian Kingdoms which started out as theocracies, all developed in the mouths of large wadis between the mountains and the great desert . The kingdom of Saba with its capital at Marib was the most powerful, at times dominating all of the South Arabia . The great Marib Dam, built to harness and exploit the seasonal floods by means of an elaborate irrigation system , provided sustenance for some 30,000 inhabitants and was counted among the wonders of the ancient world. The Sabaeans were not only great builders and technicians, but also successful traders . The Greeks and Romans called the southern part of the peninsula "Arabia Felix", glorified by the fabulous wealth supposedly enjoyed by its inhabitants. Since the domestication of the camel (around 1500 B.C.) large Sabaean caravans moved north along the edge of the desert , covering in 60 - 70 days the distance from Qana on the Indian ocean to Ghaza on the Mediterranean sea. The trade route, which was protected by the kingdoms along the way, became famous as the "Gold and Incense Road". Incense was an item of high prestige, burnt in large quantities in the temples of the Mediterranean civilizations. It grows naturally only in the lower Hadhramaut. Among the luxury goods supplied by Sabaean merchants were spices, ebony, silk, fine textiles from India, rare woods, feathers, animal skins, and gold from East Africa. To secure their trade monopoly , the Sabaeans kept the origin of their riches a secret , perhaps inventing for themselves the myth of their spectacular wealth. At the end of the second century A.D., a new power emerged in south Arabia : the Himyarites . They eventually conquered Saba and established their rule over all Yemen . But the first centuries A.D. were a time of great changes in the world, that eventually also led to the downfall of the ancient South Arabian civilization . The trade monopoly was broken when the Romans started to deal with India directly via the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. The overland route declined , and social and religious structures began to disintegrate. Negligence caused the final destruction of the great Marib Dam in 570 A.D. which, according to Arab traditions , caused thousands of Yemenis to emigrate to the north and establish a new Arabic countries . Judaism and Christianity spread among the people , and the old celestial gods lost their power . Eventually, Yemen became deeply involved in the Persian-Byzantine power struggle . In 530 A.D. a joint Himyarite and Persian army cooperated to free Yemen from Ethiopian colonists. The Persians remained in power until the arrival of Islam in 628 A.D.