Keywords
Maʿīn
cultic practices
votive practices
statuary
Abstract
The purpose of this contribution is to observe, through some of the most significant epigraphic and
archaeological data, if and how the divinity was represented in the cultic sphere in the Jawf valley
during the archaic, the Minaean and part of the post-Minaean periods (1st millennium BC). Although
divine anthropomorphic figurations are possibly attested during the archaic phase, no confirmed
example of such representations is recognized for the leading divinities since the 7
th century BC, which
also reflects on the absence of cultic anthropomorphic statuary within South Arabia.
This situation is even more marked within the Minaean cultural sphere, as here dedicatory
inscriptions mentioning votive statuettes are not attested, a practice that is by contrast very common in
Sabaʾ and Qatabān, where such artifacts represent the devotee. The three archaeologicallyinvestigated main cellae from the Jawfite temples will finally help to briefly observe the few remaining
traces about the location of a possible divine simulacrum.