Record Number: 33604
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
Great black blocks, roughly cut, show the seawall protecting the citadel's approach; and on a ledge east of the causeway the two inscriptions in the rock are clear as on the day that they were cut [...] as through a rift in clouds, they show for a moment the history of Cana in the past. The citadel itself was called Mawiya, and the Governor of Cana here, in the shorter inscription, recorded his presence. The longer one was dated and tells how the tribes of Himyar, having made an expedition into Abyssinia, were harassed by the Abyssinians in their turn; with their lands invaded, their king killed, they shut themselves up in this fortress, and restored its single gateway, its cisterns and walls in the year A.D. 625 or thereabout, many centuries after the Periplus speaks of the ancient harbour [...] these things I turned idly over while copying out the inscriptions through the quiet solitary hours of the afternoon.
Century:1900-1945
Date:Between 22 Mar 1938 and 26 Mar 1938
Country:Yemen
Timeafternoon
daytime
city: Bal Haf, near Bir Ali
county: Shabwa
specific address: ruined citadel and causeway
(Reader):
silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
(Listener):
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
Reader / Listener / Reading Group:
Reader: Age:Adult (18-100+)
Gender:Female
Date of Birth:31 Jan 1893
Socio-Economic Group:Professional / academic / merchant / farmer
Occupation:Travel writer
Religion:Christian
Country of Origin:England
Country of Experience:Yemen
Listeners present if any:e.g family, servants, friends
n/a
Additional Comments:
n/a
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:unknown inscriptions
Genre:History, Politics, unknown inscriptions in Sabaean (Himyaritic) script
Form of Text:Unknown
Publication Detailsc. 625 A.D. Rock inscriptions in Sabaean (Himyaritic)
Provenanceread in situ
Read in situ in the ruined citadel of Bir Ali
Source Information:
Record ID:33604
Source:Freya Stark
Editor:n/a
Title:A Winter in Arabia: A Journey through Yemen
Place of Publication:London
Date of Publication:1972
Vol:n/a
Page:291-92
Additional Comments:
Pagination is from the 2011 IB Tauris edition. The book was first published by John Murray in London in 1972.
Citation:
Freya Stark, A Winter in Arabia: A Journey through Yemen, (London, 1972), p. 291-92, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=33604, accessed: 09 May 2025
Additional Comments:
Dame Freya Madeline Stark (31 January 1893 - 9 May 1993) was a British traveller and explorer. This reading took place in the ruins of Balhaf, near Bir Ali (site of the ancient port of Cana), in the Wahidi Sultanate of Balhaf, which was a British protectorate from 1888-1967, when it was abolished by the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (1967-1990) regime. Balhaf is today Yemen's leading port for the export of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). The inscriptions were in Sabaean (Himyaritic) which Stark had taught herself to read.