The temple was oriented toward the rising sun and designed to overwhelm. Eight monolithic pillars formed the propylaeum -- the formal entrance -- topped by square tenons that once supported a stone architrave. Beyond this threshold lay the peristyle hall, a rectangular chamber measuring approximately 42 by 19 meters, containing 32 interior pillars arranged in a pattern of four by eight and 64 recessed false windows in a grid of eight by eight. The number eight appears to have held sacred significance, repeating through the architecture with mathematical precision. Bronze statues of bulls, horses, and humans once adorned the entrance gates. Inscriptions were carved and painted red. Ornamental friezes decorated the exterior walls. An alabaster water conduit ran through the hall into a bronze basin, where water fell with such force over the centuries that it eventually cut through the copper basin beneath and into the stone floor itself. The 1951-1952 excavation by the American Foundation for the Study of Man, led by Wendell Phillips, partially cleared the entrance court and recovered elaborate bronze statues and evidence of ablution rituals.

Behind the peristyle hall stretched the temple's most sacred space: a massive oval enclosure defined by a wall approximately 757 meters long and 13 meters high. This was the dwelling house of Almaqah, the space where most rituals were performed. Inscriptions called it gwbn -- the oracle sanctuary. A raised platform within the enclosure represented a primordial mound, and archaeological investigation suggests a cultic site was built around a wellspring inside. Access was tightly controlled. The main entrance came through the peristyle hall; a second gate on the northwest side was reserved exclusively for priests. A third gate, discovered by American archaeologists, served only funerary rites and could be accessed only from within the oval sanctuary itself. Three separate purification stations enforced ritual cleanliness before anyone could enter. Inscriptions warn that entering without performing ablutions would bring severe consequences.

Attached to the oval sanctuary and accessible only from its interior lay a cemetery dating to the seventh century BCE, estimated to contain some 20,000 burials accumulated over its centuries of use. The tombs were multi-story structures -- some rising four levels high -- built from polished and dressed limestone blocks. External walls were sometimes decorated with friezes and low-relief portraits of the dead. Passages and streets divided the tombs, creating what amounted to a settlement of the dead. The cemetery bore its own sacred name: Mhrm Gnztn, the cemetery sacred enclave. Funerary rituals began in the oval sanctuary precinct before the procession moved through the restricted gate into the burial grounds for final ceremonies. The memory of each person was preserved by placing sculptural representations on their tombs and inscribing their names -- a practice that, across 20,000 graves and many centuries, produced an extraordinary record of individual lives.

Pilgrimage to the Temple of Awwam was obligatory in the Kingdom of Saba. The communal pilgrimage lasted between eight and ten days and occurred in the month of Dhu-Abhay, corresponding to February or March -- the same month in which Muhammad's Farewell Pilgrimage later took place. Alongside this annual communal journey, individual pilgrims could visit at any time of year, a dual structure that scholars have compared to the Islamic Hajj and Umrah. The ceremonial procession began at the nearby Harunum Temple and proceeded along a processional road to Awwam. Pilgrims entered through the west side of the complex, passing through a series of controlled gates. Inscriptions left by worshippers thank Almaqah for successful childbirth, pray for sons, or request protection from harm -- the petitions of ordinary people across a millennium, authored by both men and women. Animals were banned from the temple grounds under penalty of fines paid to the king. Weapons could not be carried. Certain foods and sexual intercourse had to be avoided for days before entry.

The Temple of Awwam was not only a place of worship but an oracle site. Several dozen inscriptions describe its role as a place where the faithful could communicate with the divine. Within the sacred sanctuary precinct, a shrine contained rooms where pilgrims could sleep and receive prophetic dreams sent by the oracle -- a practice known as incubation, widely attested across the ancient Near East. The oracle was understood as the manifestation of Almaqah himself. Animal sacrifices were performed on the seventh of Dhu-Abhay, in rites that scholars have noted parallel the later Islamic traditions of Eid al-Adha. Temple hymns were sung; a Ma'las festival, possibly related to fertility or harvest, was part of the ceremonies. In 2023, the Temple of Awwam was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List along with other landmarks of the ancient Kingdom of Saba. The eight pillars that once framed the entrance still stand, their monolithic columns catching the morning sun they were oriented to greet three thousand years ago.