ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF AL UKHDUD

The ancient city of Al Ukhdud is located 5 kilometers south of the city of Najran, across the Wadi Najran. In the 6th century BC, it was part of the kingdom of Saba, a territory that included Yemen, Eritrea and northern Ethiopia. It was then called Ragmat. It was an important stop on the incense route, where the caravans split off to go back to the northeast and the Persian Gulf regions or the Hejaz and then the Mediterranean. The city, which imposed taxes on merchants, grew richer and more developed. This is reflected in the construction of its stone houses and fortifications. In Arabic, ukhdud means "ditch". Around 520, the Jewish warlord Dhu Nuwas led a raid against Al-Ukhdud and told its Christian inhabitants to convert to Judaism on pain of death. They refused. They were then burned alive in a ditch of the city. There would have been 20,000 of them. Traces of this mass grave are still visible. This episode is mentioned in the Koran, in the Sura of the Constellations, which promises the blaze of fire to those who would try to make the Muslims recant their faith. There is not much left of the city, except for its alleys, the foundations of the buildings and sometimes the bottom of the walls. We also discover the quarry where the blocks of stone piled up in staggered rows to raise the walls were cut. The regional museum of Najran is located at the entrance of the site and it is there that the entrance ticket is taken.