Incense Route

The incense route from South Arabia to the Mediterranean is one of the oldest trade routes in the world.

About it the incense was transported from its original country of Dhofar in Oman today about Yemen, Asir and Hijaz to the Mediterranean port of Gaza and Damascus. Important trading posts on the caravan route were Shabwa, Sanaa, Medina and Petra.

Importance of incense

The dried resin of the frankincense tree ( Boswellia sacra ) developed during burn up ( smoking ) an aromatic fragrant smoke. It has been used since ancient times as a disinfecting and anti-inflammatory fumigant in medicine. As a remedy, it is highly sought after in the non-European medicine and natural healing today.

In addition, and incense is used for religious rites, such as the Catholic and the Orthodox Church. In the temples of almost all the religions of the ancient world, he was considered particularly valuable offering.

Beginnings and flowering time

The development of the Frankincense Trail was made ​​possible only by the domestication of the dromedary in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. With the use of camels as pack animals, the dependence of the caravans fell from the waterholes in the desert.

In addition to the incense came over the caravan also spices and precious stones from India and Southeast Asia to Palestine and Syria. In Petra, north of the Gulf of Aqaba, the incense road divided into a northern branch with the endpoint Gaza and into eastern, which led to Damascus. According to reports of ancient authors needed camel caravans 100 days marches for the 3400 km long stretch between Dhofar and Gaza.

The Incense Road was probably used in the 10th century BC. However, an upsurge of trade, it came only after the emergence of the South Arabian kingdoms Saba, Qataban, Hadramaut and Ma'in in the 8th century BC The high demand for incense in ritual activities in the Mediterranean resulted in the 5th century BC BC to fruition the route as well as the cities and empires that connected them. To the time of Christ is said to have consumed 1,500 tons of annual production estimated 2500-3000 tonnes of frankincense alone the Roman Empire. The Romans therefore designated the area of ​​origin of the precious commodity as Arabia felix - Happy Arabia.

Decline

Shortly before this, however, began the slow decline of the Incense Road. The Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt had to unlocking the sea route through the Red Sea in the 1st century BC. This allowed them to go into the frankincense trade and the high duties and taxes circumvent that were levied on the land route. This not only lost the old caravan route its meaning. Even the ancient Arab kingdoms of the economic base was gradually withdrawn. This resulted in the 3rd century to the rise of Himyarites in Yemen. They rely now more on agriculture in climatically favorable highlands and on the control of maritime trade.

The triumph of Islam in the 7th century represented another major setback for the trade. Although incense was also in the Islamic Medicine continues to use but not in the religious sphere of mosques.

Ancient places on the Incense Road

• Petra
• Medina
• Sanaa
• The oasis - The oasis is explored since 2004 by a team of DAI under the direction of Ricardo Eichmann archaeologically. There the old trade routes, contacts crossed to the realms of Egypt, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and southern Arabia passed. The oasis was above a pool of groundwater reservoirs, which were achieved even at one meter depth to the part. Since the next water point was 150 km away, all the traffic on the street did not incense around the oasis. Tayma was well secured with a 14 km long wall, the inner district was covered by several walls. The foundation walls of numerous temples and other buildings were discovered. There weapons were found by mercenaries from Lebanon, Syria and northern Mesopotamia, some dating back to 2000 BC There are also inscriptions of Aramaic and other peoples from the 2nd and 1st millennium BC A stele confirms that Nabonidus, the last Babylonian king, mid-6th century BC, probably resided there because of the caravan trade. The archaeologists plan to improve awareness about the entire Arab world from here to the scientific field.