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44-514: During ancient times, Timna was an important hub in the famous Incense Route , which supplied Arabian and Indian incense via camel caravan to ports on the Mediterranean Sea , most notably Gaza , and Petra . An American excavation of Timna took place in the 1950s chronicled in the book "Qataban and Sheba" by the American archaeologist Wendell Phillips . In 1962, an alabaster head and

88-566: A block with writing was found by a British squadron on patrol. The head was discovered about 500 yards from the main wall and gate, the only structures left standing. The block was sent to the Manchester Museum and in a letter by the curator it was described as being a link between Egyptian and Arabic. This article about a location in Yemen is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Incense Route The incense trade route

132-572: A core ingredient of the sacred anointing oil. Myrrh was an ingredient of Ketoret : the consecrated incense used in the First and Second Temples at Jerusalem , as described in the Hebrew Bible and Talmud . An offering was made of the Ketoret on a special incense altar and was an important component of the temple service . Myrrh is also listed as an ingredient in the holy anointing oil used to anoint

176-542: A general term for perfume . In pharmacology , myrrh has been used as an antiseptic in mouthwashes, gargles, and toothpastes. It has also been used in liniments and salves applied to abrasions and other minor skin ailments. Myrrh has been used as an analgesic for toothache pain and in liniments applied to bruises, aching muscles, and sprains. Myrrh gum has often been claimed to reduce the symptoms of indigestion, ulcers, colds, cough, asthma, respiratory congestion, arthritis, and cancer, although more good scientific evidence

220-417: A king gardening. Myrrh was used by the ancient Egyptians, along with natron , for the embalming of mummies. Myrrh is mentioned as a rare perfume in several places in the Hebrew Bible . In Genesis 37:25 , the traders to whom Jacob 's sons sold their brother Joseph had " camels ... loaded with spices, balm, and myrrh," and Exodus 30:23–25 specifies that Moses was to use 500 shekels of liquid myrrh as

264-552: A number of other Commiphora species are also used as perfumes, medicines (such as aromatic wound dressings), and incense ingredients. These myrrh-like resins are known as bdellium (including guggul and African bdellium ), balsam ( balm of Gilead or Mecca balsam) and opopanax ( bisabol ). Fragrant "myrrh beads" are made from the crushed seeds of Detarium microcarpum , an unrelated West African tree. These beads are traditionally worn by married women in Mali as multiple strands around

308-509: A range of gum resins termed duaka and kankamon and mok rotu. Among the most important trading points of the incense trade route from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea was Gerrha in the Persian Gulf, reported by the historian Strabo to have been founded by Babylonian exiles as a Chaldean colony. Gerrha exercised influence over the incense trade routes across Arabia to

352-531: A secretary bird ( Sagittarius serpentarius ), giraffes and Hamadryas baboons (which were sacred to the Ancient Egyptians ), ebony , ivory and animal skins. In a relief from his mortuary temple celebrating the success of this expedition, Sahure is shown tending a myrrh tree in the garden of his palace. The relief, entitled " Sahure's splendor soars up to heaven ", is the only one in Egyptian art that depicts

396-584: A standstill by the poor economic conditions of the third century, however, when the economic situation improved again under the Tetrarchy many things had changed. By this time, the two main routes in use seem to have been the Wadi Sirhan , now carrying trade which formerly would have passed through Palmyra , and Aila , receiving goods from India and Arabia which before had gone to the Egyptian Red Sea ports. At

440-558: A trade name for Arabian myrrh, is more brittle and gummy than the Somali variety and does not have the latter's white markings. Liquid myrrh, or stacte , which was written about by Pliny , was formerly a greatly valued ingredient and is commercially available as Jewish Incense. The word myrrh corresponds to a common Semitic root m-r-r meaning "bitter", as in Arabic مُرّ murr and Aramaic ܡܪܝܪܐ mureera . Its name entered

484-618: Is also evidence to support that products from the Dhofar region were traded with the Sumerian-Magan people of Dilmun and Qatar as the Sumerian people used some of these resins for medicinal purposes. The tolls levied by the owners of wells and other facilities added to the overall cost of these luxury goods. The Nabateans built Petra , which stood halfway between the opening to the Gulf of Akaba and

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528-490: Is needed to support these uses. There is evidence to suggest certain compounds in myrrh interact with central opioid pathways in the brain. The fifth-dynasty ruler of Egypt, King Sahure , recorded the earliest attested expedition to the land of Punt , the modern day Horn of Africa (particularly Somalia ), whose members brought back large quantities of myrrh, frankincense , malachite and electrum . The expedition also brought back wild animals (particularly cheetahs ),

572-616: The Dead Sea at a point where the Incense Route from Arabia to Damascus was crossed by the overland route from Petra to Gaza . This position gave the Nabateans a hold over the trade along the Incense Route. In order to control the Incense Route from the Nabateans a Greek military expedition was undertaken, without success, by Antigonus Cyclops , one of Alexander of Macedonia 's generals. The Nabatean control over trade increased and spread to

616-673: The English language by way of the Hebrew Bible , in which it is called מור mor , and also later as a Semitic loanword . It appears in numerous pre-Hellenic sources up to the translation of the Tanakh into the Septuagint , and later makes its way into the Greek myth about Myrrha ; in the Ancient Greek language , the related word μῠ́ρον ( múron ), likely derived from a Semitic source, became

660-661: The Horn of Africa , rare woods, feathers , animal skins, Somali frankincense , gold, and slaves . The incense land trade from South Arabia to the Mediterranean flourished between roughly the 3rd century BC and the 2nd century AD. The Egyptians had traded in the Red Sea , importing spices, gold and exotic wood from the " Land of Punt " and from Arabia. Indian goods were brought in Arabian and Indian vessels to Aden . Rawlinson identifies

704-498: The Mediterranean Sea . It was also shipped to Babylon and Palmyra via the Persian Gulf . The Roman trade with India kept increasing, and according to Strabo (II.5.12.): At any rate, when Gallus was prefect of Egypt, I accompanied him and ascended the Nile as far as Syene and the frontiers of Ethiopia , and I learned that as many as one hundred and twenty vessels were sailing from Myos Hormos to India, whereas formerly, under

748-536: The Negev Desert , are spread along routes linking them to the Mediterranean end of the Incense and Spice route. Together they reflect the hugely profitable trade in frankincense and myrrh from South Arabia to the Mediterranean, which flourished from the 3rd century B.C. until the 2nd century A.D. With the vestiges of their sophisticated irrigation systems, urban constructions, forts, and caravanserai they bear witness to

792-645: The Ptolemies , only a very few ventured to undertake the voyage and to carry on traffic in Indian merchandise. According to a historian: The third century would thus appear to be a significant time in the history of the incense trade in Arabia. During the political and economic crisis of that century the nature of the trade changed dramatically; prior to that time the incense route from South Arabia seems to have continued to function. Much of this trade seems to have been brought to

836-796: The Roman-Persian Wars the areas under the Roman Byzantine Empire were captured by Khosrow I of the Persian Sassanian Dynasty. The Arabs, led by 'Amr ibn al-'As , crossed into Egypt in late 639 or early 640. This advance marked the beginning of the Islamic conquest of Egypt and the fall of ports such as Alexandria , used to secure trade with India by the Greco-Roman world since the Ptolemaic dynasty . Several centuries after

880-501: The magi "from the East" presented to the Christ Child ( Matthew 2:11 ). Myrrh was also present at Jesus' death and burial. Jesus was offered wine and myrrh at his crucifixion ( Mark 15:23 ). According to John's Gospel , Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea brought a 100-pound mixture of myrrh and aloes to wrap Jesus' body ( John 19:39 ). The Gospel of Matthew relates that as Jesus went to

924-630: The sacrament of chrismation , which is commonly referred to as "receiving the Chrism ". According to the hadith of Muhammad , narrated by Abu Nuaim on the authority of Abban bin Saleh bin Anas, Muhammad said, "Fumigate your houses with mugwort, myrrh and thyme." ( Kanz-ul-Ummal ). The Encyclopedia of Islamic Herbal Medicine mentions the same hadith: "The Messenger of Allah stated, 'Fumigate your houses with al-shih, murr, and sa'tar.'" The author states that this use of

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968-493: The tabernacle , high priests and kings. Oil of myrrh is used in Esther 2:12 in a purification ritual for the new queen to King Ahasuerus : Now when every maid's turn was come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after that she had been twelve months, according to the manner of the women, (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, to wit, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours, and with other things for

1012-559: The Indian and Arab middlemen weakened with the development of monsoon trade by the Greeks through the discovery of the direct route to India ( Hippalus ), forcing the Parthian and Arabian middlemen to adjust their prices so as to compete on the Roman market with the goods now being bought in by a direct sea route to India. Indian ships sailed to Egypt as the maritime routes of Southern Asia were not under

1056-586: The Mahra region. Assyrian documents indicate that Tiglath-Pileser III advanced through Phoenicia to Gaza . Gaza was eventually sacked and the ruler of Gaza escaped to Egypt but later continued to act as a vassal administrator. The motive behind the attack was to gain control of the South Arabian incense trade which had prospered along the region. I.E.S. Edwards connects the Syro-Ephraimite War to

1100-545: The Mediterranean and controlled the aromatics trade to Babylon in the 1st century BC. Gerrha was one of the important entry ports for goods shipped from India. Due to its prominent position in the incense trade, Yemen attracted settlers from the Fertile Crescent . The frankincense and myrrh trees were crucial to the economy of Yemen and were recognized as a source of wealth by its rulers. Recent exploration discovered an ancient trade route through eastern Yemen in

1144-705: The Red Sea each year. An earlier commentator on the significance of the trade, in terms of the connectivity of civilisations on both sides of the Red Sea from the time of the Queen of Sheba, was the British explorer Theodore Bent ; it was Bent who identified the trading site of Moscha Limen in February 1895. Frankincense from Dhofar was collected at Moscha Limen . It was shipped to Qana and taken overland to Shabwa and further North to Najran , Mecca , Medina , Petra and to Gaza on

1188-666: The West and the North. The replacement of Greece by the Roman empire as the administrator of the Mediterranean basin led to the resumption of direct trade with the east. According to a historian, "The South Arabs in protest took to pirate attacks over the Roman ships in the Gulf of Aden . In response, the Romans destroyed Aden and favoured the Western Abyssinian coast of the Red Sea." The monopoly of

1232-866: The commercial centre for the trade in gums has been Aden and Oman . Early ritual texts from Egypt show that incense was being brought to the upper Nile by land traders, but perhaps the most spectacular evidence of this trade is provided by the frescos dated to around 1500 BC on the walls of the temple at Thebes commemorating the journey of a fleet that the Queen of Egypt had sent to the Land of Punt . Five ships are depicted in these reliefs, piled high with treasure, and one of them shows thirty-one small incense trees in tubs being carried on board. The Periplus Maris Erythraei and other Greek texts refer to several coastal sites in Somalia , Southern Arabia and India involved with trade in frankincense , myrrh , cassia , bdellium and

1276-760: The control of a single power. According to one historian: The trade with Arabia and India in incense and spices became increasingly important, and Greeks for the first time began to trade directly with India. The discovery, or rediscovery, of the sea-route to India is attributed to a certain Eudoxos , who was sent out for this purpose towards the end of the reign of Ptolemy Euergetes II (died 116 BC). Eudoxos made two voyages to India, and subsequently, having quarrelled with his Ptolemaic employers, perished in an unsuccessful attempt to open up an alternative sea route to India, free of Ptolemaic control, by sailing around Africa. The establishment of direct contacts between Egypt and India

1320-508: The cross, he was given vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink (Matthew 27:34); the Gospel of Mark describes the drink as wine mingled with myrrh (Mark 15:23). Because of its mention in the New Testament, myrrh is an incense offered during some Christian liturgical celebrations (see Thurible ). Liquid myrrh is sometimes added to egg tempera in

1364-723: The demise of the incense trade, coffee was responsible for bringing back Yemen to international commerce via the Red Sea port of al-Mocha . Finally, the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople in the 15th century, marking the beginning of Turkish control over the most direct trade routes between Europe and Asia. UNESCO 's World Heritage Committee meeting on November 27, 2000, in Cairns , Australia attached World Heritage Site status to The Frankincense Trail in Oman . The official citation reads: The frankincense trees of Wadi Dawkah and

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1408-633: The desire of the Israelites and the Aramaeans to control the northern end of the Incense Route, which ran up from Southern Arabia and could be tapped by commanding Transjordan . Archaeological inscriptions also speak of booty retrieved from the land of the mu-u-na-a-a , possibly Meunites mentioned in the Old Testament . Some scholars identify this group as the Minaeans of South Arabia, who were involved with

1452-558: The end of the sixth century Isidore of Seville enumerated the aromatics still being imported into Visigothic Spain . Of aromatic trees ( de arboris aromaticis ) Isidore listed in his encyclopedia myrrh , pepper , cinnamon , amomum ( cardamom ?) and cassia ; of aromatic herbs ( de herbis aromaticis ), nard , saffron , cardamom, would have arrived through the trade routes, others were available in Spain: thyme, aloes, rose, violet, lily, gentian , wormwood , fennel and others. Following

1496-463: The gum becomes hard and glossy. The gum is yellowish and may be either clear or opaque. It darkens deeply as it ages, and white streaks emerge. Myrrh gum is commonly harvested from the species Commiphora myrrha . Another commonly used name, Commiphora molmol , is now considered a synonym for Commiphora myrrha . Commiphora myrrha is native to Somalia , Oman , Yemen , Eritrea , Somali Region of Ethiopia and parts of Saudi Arabia . Meetiga,

1540-470: The incense trade and occupied the northern trading outposts of the Incense Route. Aromatics from Dhofar and luxury goods from India brought wealth to the kingdoms of Arabia. The aromatics of Dhofar were shipped out from the natural harbour of Khor Rori towards the western inhospitable South Arabian coast. The caravans carried these products north to Shabwa and from there on to the kingdoms of Qataban , Saba , Ma'in , and Palestine up to Gaza. There

1584-412: The long-debated "ships of Tarshish ," as a Tyrian fleet equipped at Ezion-Geber that made several trading voyages to the east bringing back gold , silver , ivory and precious stones. These goods were transshipped at the port of Ophir . One historian said: In the ancient period, it would seem that South Arabia and the Horn of Africa were the major suppliers of incense, while in modern times

1628-627: The making of icons . Myrrh is mixed with frankincense and sometimes more scents and is used in the Eastern Orthodox , Oriental Orthodox , traditional Roman Catholic , and Anglican / Episcopal churches. Myrrh is also used to prepare the sacramental chrism used by many churches of both Eastern and Western rites. In the Middle East, the Eastern Orthodox Church traditionally uses oil scented with myrrh (and other fragrances) to perform

1672-482: The purifying of the women). Myrrh was recorded in the first century BC by Diodorus Siculus to have been traded overland and by sea via Nabatean caravans and sea ports, which transported it from Southern Arabia to their capital city of Petra , from which it was distributed throughout the Mediterranean region. Myrrh is mentioned in the New Testament as one of the three gifts (with gold and frankincense ) that

1716-657: The remains of the caravan oasis of Shisr/Wubar and the affiliated ports of Khor Rori and Al-Balid vividly illustrate the trade in frankincense that flourished in this region for many centuries, as one of the most important trading activities of the ancient and medieval world. The World Heritage Committee, headed by Themba Wakashe, recorded Incense Route - Desert Cities in the Negev on UNESCO's World Heritage List on July 15, 2005. The official citation reads: The four Nabatean towns of Haluza , Mamshit , Avdat and Shivta , along with associated fortresses and agricultural landscapes in

1760-552: The way in which the harsh desert was settled for trade and agriculture. Myrrh Myrrh ( / m ɜːr / ; from an unidentified ancient Semitic language, see § Etymology ) is a gum - resin extracted from a few small, thorny tree species of the Commiphora genus, belonging to the Burseraceae family. Myrrh resin has been used throughout history in medicine , perfumery , and incenses . Myrrh mixed with posca or wine

1804-455: The word "murr" refers specifically to Commiphora myrrha . The other two are Al-Shih (possibly mugwort ) and Sa'tar (or Za'atar - thyme ). Pedanius Dioscorides described the myrrh of the first century AD as most likely to refer to a "species of mimosa ", describing it "like the Egyptian thorn ". He describes its appearance and leaf structure as "spinnate-winged". The oleo-gum-resins of

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1848-626: Was an ancient network of major land and sea trading routes linking the Mediterranean world with eastern and southern sources of incense , spices and other luxury goods , stretching from Mediterranean ports across the Levant and Egypt through Northern East Africa and Arabia to India and beyond. These routes collectively served as channels for the trading of goods such as Arabian frankincense and myrrh ; Indian spices , precious stones , pearls , ebony , silk and fine textiles ; and from

1892-519: Was probably made possible by a weakening of Arab power at this period, for the Sabaean kingdom of South-western Arabia collapsed and was replaced by Himyarite Kingdom around 115 BC. Imports into Egypt of cinnamon and other eastern spices, such as pepper, increased substantially, though the Indian Ocean trade remained for the moment on quite a small scale, no more than twenty Egyptian ships venturing outside

1936-403: Was widely used in many ancient cultures to produce pleasurable feelings and as an anti-inflammatory and analgesic . When a wound on a tree penetrates through the bark and into the sapwood , the tree secretes a resin . Myrrh gum, like frankincense , is such a resin. Myrrh is harvested by repeatedly wounding the trees to bleed the gum, which is waxy and coagulates quickly. After the harvest,

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