Iram of the Pillars

Iram (Arabic إرم ذات العماد, DMG Iram Dat al - ʿ IMAD ), also Irem or IRAM, is a lost city which is mentioned in the Qur'an in the verse 89:6-8 and in oriental tradition. The different spelling of the name is that the Hebrew and the Arabic alphabet and hieroglyphics usually show no vowels. Ranulph Fiennes called Irem also the " Atlantis of the Sands ".

Ostsemitisch

In the archives of Ebla is mentioned around 2400 BC a town called Irem.

Egyptian

In Egyptian sources mentioned around 1450 BC, a country Irem, the between Punt (Gold Country ) and Egypt lies. The localization is controversial (eg in Africa: the Nile above the fifth cataract, in the southern Red Sea ( on both sides ) or in Asia: Byblos in Lebanon from inland ). It is mentioned only under Hatshepsut in the Puntberichten, not on previous expeditions. The inhabitants live in stilt houses and produce frankincense and myrrh.

Arabic

In the Quran

The Qur'an describes as a city Iram of the people of ʿ AD, which was destroyed by Allah due to the sinful way of life of the inhabitants.

In the Arabian Nights

In several stories in Arabian Nights, a city is mentioned, which lies in the middle of the desert.

  • The pillars City: King of Iram was Schaddad / شداد. He was the son of Ad, son of Uz, son of Aram, son of Shem, son of Noah. In the history of the 277th to 279th night the city is located in southern Arabia and discovered the time of Caliph Muawiya.
  • In the history of the City of Brass is a untergangene city whose last king Kush, the son of Schaddad, son of Ad, was the time of Caliph Omar discovered when a caravan in search of genies is. The city is located in the Maghreb (Northwest Africa).

Persian

Irem is a fabulous garden of paradise, mentioned in the history of charezmischen princess in Nezami: The seven stories of seven princesses.

Modern identifications

Iram was identified by Muslim scholars with both Damascus and with Alexandria. Harold Glidden wants the Nabataean Jabal Ramm in Jordan ( about 30 km east of Aqaba ), excavated since 1932 by George Horsfield and Father Raphael Savignac of the École Biblique in Jerusalem, equate with Iram, and also considers it the Aramaua of Ptolemy. Nicolas Clapp is of the opinion that the ruins of Ubar in the Rub al Khali desert from the coast of Oman from inland, are equated with Irem.

Modern fiction

  • In several stories of the Cthulhu cycle HP Lovecraft used the pillars city of Iram, eg in The Nameless City ( Eng.: The Town With No Name ) and The Call of Cthulhu (German: Call of Cthulhu ).
  • Friedrich Wilhelm Mader ( 1910 ): The City of Brass (Adventure to a mysterious city in the Sahara, with German scientists and their struggles in the desert), who later became Title: The Secret of the Sahara.
  • Ernst Schnabel (1979 ): At the height of the brass city, Zurich [ua ].
  • In Sylvian Hamilton's first book, The Bone Merchant (2001, English original: 2000) is a magician from Irem an important supporting character and antagonist.
  • In the video game Uncharted 3: Drake 's Deception is the main plot revolves around the search for the city of Iram, which is located in the center of the Rub al Khali desert.
DIN 31635 Land of Punt ʿĀd
86073
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