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Arabian aromatics had powered the religious life of the pagan Roman Empire,but when that empire converted to Christianity and no longer needed frankincense for worship, the incense trade was dealt a massive blow, contributing to a collapse in the Yemen economy.
阿拉伯的香料曾極廣泛地應用于信仰異教 的羅馬帝國的宗教生活。但當羅馬帝國轉而信仰基督教時，他們便不再需要焚燒乳香了。香料貿易的大幅下滑導致了也門的經濟衰落。
Local gods, like Ta'lab, disappeared, perhaps because they were no longer delivering the promised prosperity.
塔拉布等本土神消失了，也許是因為他們不能再給人民帶來富足。
Suddenly, in the 370s, offerings to traditional gods just stop, and their place is taken by other gods with a wider, universal reach-these are the religions of today.
公元370年左右，也門人對本土神的敬拜戛然而止，取而代之的是在全世界都有信徒的大宗教，也就是那些延續至今的教派。
Within the next couple of centuries the rulers of Yemen shift from Judaism to Christianity to Zoroastrianism and finally, in 628, to Islam, which has remained the dominant religion of Yemen ever since.
在接下來的數百年間，也門統治者從猶太教轉向基督教，又轉向祆教，最后在628年改信伊斯蘭教，直至今日，伊斯蘭教仍是也門占支配地位的宗教信仰。
Gods like Ta'lab no longer stood a chance.
在這些超越國境的大宗教面前，塔拉布等本土神再也沒有任何機會。
But some elements of Ta'lab's world did live on. We know for example that, like many Arabian gods, he was venerated through pilgrimages to his shrine.
但塔拉布信仰的一些元素仍保留了下來。比如人們仍會前往他和其他一些阿拉伯神的神廟朝圣。
The religious historian Philip Jenkins, of Pennsylvania State University, is fascinated by elusive survivals like this:
賓夕法尼亞州立大學的宗教歷史學家菲 利普?詹金斯教授對這種殘存的信仰元素很感興趣：
"There are aspects of the old pagan Arabian religion which do live on into Islam, and into Muslim times.
阿拉伯的這些古老宗教確實有一些元素延續到了伊斯蘭和穆斯林時期，
Especially in the practice of the pilgrimage, the Hajj-what goes on at Mecca.
其中影響最大的便是到圣地麥加的朝覲儀式。
Muslims would absolutely reject any pagan context, obviously-they frame it in terms of Abraham and his story,but probably the events of the Hajj closely recall what would have happened in pagan times at that centre.
穆斯林排斥一切異教教義，因此將這種觀念融入了易卜拉欣的故事里。但其實這種朝覲行為很可能曾受到發生在這一宗教中心的古代異教信仰儀式的影響。
