Saw this theory on social media that suggested the root of the word Macrobia was MKRB (مكرب) and RABA (رب) which means Temple of our Lord in Ancient South Arabian. Over time it got shortened to Makkah. The map by Ptolomy that dates back to 150AD also shows a Macrobia roughly to where Mecca currently is;
This paper goes into it in more detail; Mecca and Macoraba 2018 by Ian D. Morris
Hes a bit weird cause his argument is that its not in the EXACT coordinates modern mecca is in as Ptomoly used a spherical globe system. That it could've been elsewhere in the Arabian peninsula (not accounting for where the Wadi Baysh or"Baitos"). He also argues that the Greek letter K "kappa" used in Ptolemy’s work does not align with the arabic ق "Qaf” which is just bull shit imo it could've just been a phonetic diphthong where one trader wrongly says the name of a town and the second hand writer misspells it. He then suggests that the true Macrobia was a Jewish temple further south in Yemen during the Himyar Kingdoms existence in that area. Just a very weak argument.
Third party sources (outside Islam/Arabia) show that Abraha had greater ambitions than Southern Arabia and with the help of delegations from Sasanians, Byzantines, Lakhmids, and Ghassanids, that he wanted to hug the west coast and conquer a "great city". I dont take this at face value because Abraha also left inscriptions claiming to have conquered Central Arabia but it does show there was something important between the Levant and Southern Arabia:
Himyar, Aksūm, and Arabia Deserta in Late Antiquity
In short, it seems like Macrobia was in Mecca, built by Prophet Abraham (saw) and then fell into idol worship only to be resurrected to prosperity.
This paper goes into it in more detail; Mecca and Macoraba 2018 by Ian D. Morris
Hes a bit weird cause his argument is that its not in the EXACT coordinates modern mecca is in as Ptomoly used a spherical globe system. That it could've been elsewhere in the Arabian peninsula (not accounting for where the Wadi Baysh or"Baitos"). He also argues that the Greek letter K "kappa" used in Ptolemy’s work does not align with the arabic ق "Qaf” which is just bull shit imo it could've just been a phonetic diphthong where one trader wrongly says the name of a town and the second hand writer misspells it. He then suggests that the true Macrobia was a Jewish temple further south in Yemen during the Himyar Kingdoms existence in that area. Just a very weak argument.
Third party sources (outside Islam/Arabia) show that Abraha had greater ambitions than Southern Arabia and with the help of delegations from Sasanians, Byzantines, Lakhmids, and Ghassanids, that he wanted to hug the west coast and conquer a "great city". I dont take this at face value because Abraha also left inscriptions claiming to have conquered Central Arabia but it does show there was something important between the Levant and Southern Arabia:
Himyar, Aksūm, and Arabia Deserta in Late Antiquity
In short, it seems like Macrobia was in Mecca, built by Prophet Abraham (saw) and then fell into idol worship only to be resurrected to prosperity.
