Hadhramawt, as ‘the Frankincense-bearing Country’, and Yemen's Indian Oceanside according to the 'Periplus of the Red Sea'

Hadhramawt, as ‘the Frankincense-bearing Country’, and Yemen's Indian Oceanside according to the 'Periplus of the Red Sea'

By Prof. Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis

As far as the history of Yemen is concerned, the 'Periplus of the Red Sea' is a valuable source of information – among many other similar sources – written in Ancient Greek by an Egyptian captain and merchant of Alexandria in the second half of the 1st CE. The text offers no less than 19 of its 66 paragraphs to the area of the then Yemenite states and of their colonies on the Eastern Coast of Africa. If we only count that the text starts with the description of the Red Sea coast of Egypt and goes down to the coast of today’s Tanzania, only to go back and continue with the narration of details about the coast of Arabia, and – after Yemen – the Persian Gulf, the coast of Persia, Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka, finally ending with a brief account of the way to reach China through Indochina, we deduce that the significance of Yemen within the East – West trade and navigation must have been seminal.

One perhaps may contend that this was the anonymous author’s interest or knowledge, but there is no point in this. The author knew all the details the then leading figures of the Trade between East and West, captains and merchants, knew; furthermore, his text was meant to be a sailor’s and a merchant’s guide! It should be accurate and objective. Otherwise, it would become obsolete very soon. What is even more fascinating with the 'Periplus of the Red Sea' is the fact that it gives a historical frame of the trade between East and West, which lasted for about a millennium (approximately, since the end of the 1st Ptolemaic century down to the beginning of Islam).

There were certainly various turning points during this long period, namely the rise of Ptolemaic interest for trade and political relations with India, the end of Qatabani control, the end of Sabaean – Himyarite control, the rise of Sassanid Iran, and its involvement in the Horn of Africa area, the rise of Christian Axumite Abyssinia, the Eastern Roman – Axumite coalition against Iran, the temporary Abyssinian invasion of Yemen, the Persian occupation of Yemen and expulsion of the Axumite armies, etc. However, during all this period the major outlines given by the text of the 'Periplus of the Red Sea' regarding the navigation and the trade in this vast area remain almost unchanged!

1. Eleazos, king at Shabwa, the capital of the ‘Libanotoforos Khora’

In previous articles, we translated integrally and analyzed the excerpts of the text relating to the navigation throughout the eastern coast of the Red Sea, and through the Bab al Mandeb straits up to Aden. We focused on references to Mouza (al Mokha), Okelis, Diodorus’ island (Perim), and Felix Arabia (Aden), an entire area that belonged to king Kharibael, who was ruling ‘by law’ the two peoples, namely the Sabaeans and the Himyarites. Today, we will visit another ancient Yemenite state, Hadhramawt, which is called by the author in a purely narrative but most attractive way, the Frankincense-bearing Country (in Greek: ‘e Libanotoforos Khora’). The text covers three and a half paragraphs (27 to 30), and reads as follows:

"Immediately after Arabia Felix, is located a long coast and a gulf for more than 2000 stades length. The Nomads and the Ichthyophagoi (Fish-eaters) inhabit these areas, gathered in small towns. Beyond the end of the gulf is located Kane, another coastal port of call, which belongs to the Frankincense-bearing country, where reigns Eleazos. Nearby lie two uninhabited islands, the island of the Birds, and Troullas, in a distance of 120 stades from Kane. Deep inland is located Saubatha, the capital of the kingdom, where resides the king. All the frankincense produced throughout the country is transported to Kane that serves as the main storehouse. There are many ways of transportation, either loaded on camels, or laden on small vessels made out of leather paraphernalia, or fraught on ships. Kane has strong contacts with the ports of call on the other side of the sea, with Barygaza, as well as with the harbours of Scythia, Omana and the neighboring Persia".

In this text, we get valuable details about the area at the east of present day Aden. As it comes out, we realize that the kingdom of Kharibael, who joined Sabaeans and Himyarites under his scepter, was extended at the area of the modern Northern Yemenite state, encompassing in addition the area around Aden. As we are going to see later on, a similar land expansion towards the east was characterizing the neighboring state of Eleazos, the Frankincense-bearing country, i.e. the second Yemenite state of those days. This state comprised most of the surface of the 20th c. South Yemenite state (but not the area of Aden), and in addition the entire area of Dhofar, therefore including a large part of present day Oman in its territories.

Very interesting information is given through the sentence that Kane has strong contacts with the harbours of Omana (i.e. the eastern area of the present day Oman), Persia, and Scythia. By this name the author identifies the Scythian state that was formed after the collapse of the Hellenistic state of Bactria, at the area of today’s Afghanistan and Pakistani Baluchistan, since the area of Gedrosia, i.e. the Iranian part of Baluchistan, belonged then to the ‘Indo-Parthian’ state, a small tributary state to the Arsacid Iran. The Periplus names Minnagar as capital of Scythia, and Barbarikon as main harbour and port of call, at the area of present day Karachi, not far from the estuary of Indus river, ‘Sinthos’ according to the author of the text. As far as Barygaza is concerned, the last port of call with which Kane had strong contacts, it is identified with Bharu Katzha of the Sanskrit texts, in the north of present day Mumbai, at the estuary of Narmada river that divides India into the North and the South (Dekkan). Barygaza/Mumbai belongs already to the Ariake, the Indo-European state of Manbanos, and with this state ‘starts’ India.
It is interesting to note here that the author refers again to Kane, when describing Barygaza (paragraph 57), in order to give insightful details about sailing straight from Kane to Barygaza and crossing the ocean, in order to save time and to avoid various coastal dangers.

However all these contacts signify the involvement of various kingdoms in the Yemenite Frankincense. Iran, the Indo-Parthian, the Scythian, the Indian states, the tiny Omana state were all interested in purchasing frankincense for their royal, sacerdotal and social use. It was not only Rome and Iran, the two big states, that were concerned in this regard, although we have reason to believe that the Roman acquaintance with the Oriental royal courts’ formalities changed to such extent their customs and habitudes, that a very great Roman interest was expressed towards incense use.

2. Kane - Husn al Ghurab, the source of the frankincense trade network

Through the text we realize that the two main ports of call in the southern Yemenite coast, Felix Arabia (Aden) and Kane (Husn al Ghurab), belonged to two different kingdoms, but yet they were separated by a small buffer area, 2000 stades long that was inhabited by the Nomads and the Ichthyophagoi (Fish-eaters). Similar cases we meet several times in the text of the Periplus with references to Ichthyophagoi and Moschophagoi (lamb-eaters), as for instance in the coast of today’s Egypt and Sudan, in the south of the last Egyptian port of call, Berenice, and in the north of the Egyptian Ptolemaic and Roman colony Ptolemais Theron (today’s Suakin, 50 km in the south of Port Sudan). The terms are absolutely socio-anthropological and not ethnic – linguistic. It would be an aberration to consider that the Ichthyophagoi in the north of Ptolemais Theron – Suakin, and the Ichthyophagoi in the east of Arabia Felix – Aden, have any sort of interconnection or relationship.

The two islands referred to by the author, the island of the Birds, and Troullas correspond to the major two of the four islands at the west and at the east of present day Bir Ali, the city near Husn al Ghurab. At this point we should refer to an earlier publication of the Yemen Times (Issue 08 – Thursday 23rd February 1998, Vol VIII) under title ‘Qana reveals its secrets’, in which Ismail Al-Ghabiry gave insightful information about the recent French – Russian excavations and findings. What the author calls ‘island of the Birds’ corresponds perhaps to the Halaniya island.

Suddenly and unexpectedly we come across a high place of one of the most valuable commodities of the Antiquity, the Frankincense, at the very epicenter of the Incense Maritime Road, Kane. The importance of the place is counterweighted only by that of the capital, where Eleazos dwells. Saubatha is no other than modern times Shabwa, a major Hadhramawt city. As the text states that the frankincense is transported to Kane via land or sea, we understand that we arrived at the very area of frankincense cultivation, the coast and part of the inland of Hadhramawt. Certainly, within the text of the 'Periplus of the Red Sea' we have references to other ports of call where frankincense, myrrh or other types of incense were available in the market, but none is referred to in the way Kane is. The name of the country adds to this feeling as well.

Although the adjective ‘Adhramotites’ existed in Ancient Greek, the author of the 'Periplus of the Red Sea' prefers to name the entire kingdom of Hadhramawt after its main agricultural commodity, i.e. frankincense.

3. The market of Kane

Paragraph 28 gives us insightful information on the trade and the merchandises that frequent the port of call Kane. The text reads as follows:

"Here is imported from Egypt limited quantity of wheat and wine, as precisely is the case at Mouza, and in addition one can find types of Yemenite clothing, either with the common decoration, or without decoration, or with stamped decoration that is the largest part of the trade. Equally imported are copper, tin, corals and styrax officinalis, as well as all sorts of merchandises imported at Mouza. For the king are made available silverware with curved decoration, currency in cash, and in addition horses, statues, and several types of clothing without decoration. The correct time to sail from Egypt until here is the same we mentioned for Mouza, and even earlier".

These references to the Kane trade center help us to understand its real significance, and make appropriate comparisons. Kane was not as rich as Mouza (Al Mokha) as a port of call, but it definitely held the undisputedly central position in the frankincense trade. The kingdom of Eleazos seems simpler and less exquisite, if compared to that of Kharibael, i.e. the united Sheba and Himyar. This is stressed by the fact that Eleazos’ court did not have high level sculptors and artists, and the kingdom was purchasing (in form of taxes) statues. The taxes extracted by Eleazos would certainly not be envied by Kharibael! But here, we have good reason to feel that the author fell victim of the smart and sophisticated Eleazos intelligence service. The continuation of text brings forth such information that makes any philologist eager to interpret the traditional frankincense trade state strategy of Eleazos.

4. The mystical land of frankincense cultivation

Paragraph 29 describes the easternmost confines of the Hadhramawti coast, where the main cultivation and production of frankincense was taking place. The text reads as follows:

"Beyond Kane, the coast looks more coiled, and there another gulf is formed; it is very open, and it is called Sahalites. This is the precise location of the Frankincense-bearing land that is mountainous and difficult to traverse. The atmosphere is very heavy and the weather is constantly cloudy; the wind blows to the direction of the trees that bear the frankincense. The trees are not big or tall. On their trunks, flows progressively the opaque frankincense, as flows the gum from the trees that produce it in our country, in Egypt. All the work of the collection and the transportation of the frankincense is the work of the servants of the king, as well as of all those who have been condemned to forced works. These parts of the world are very detrimental to health, perilous for contagions to the navigators, and fatal for those working there, since – in addition to all the rest – they face extreme difficulties ensuring food provisions".

We reach therefore the area of present day Al Mukallah, and its truly ‘very open’ gulf. The author calls the gulf and the coastal area Sahalites, but there is no mention to village, town or city.

This paragraph ends an international aperture in regards to the literature of the world of frankincense and spices. This is the starting point in a long series of similar literatures related to the incense trade and to the cultivation of aromatic trees’. Since these commodities became more and more demanded by kings and emperors, courts, temples, as well as simple citizens of a ‘global’ incense civilization, took special measures in order to prevent to foreign powers from any immediate access to the cultivation and production area, so that the privilege and the ensuing wealth be permanently ensured for the kings of the Frankincense bearing country. In this regard myths have been created about the inaccessibility, the unfriendly, unhealthy, and awesome character of the frankincense cultivation and production area.

This literature was not limited to the frankincense cultivation and production, but spread to all highly appreciated aromatic products and items, spices, and silk, as far as textiles are concerned. Useless to say it, the motif was not a ‘topos’ or a pattern within Ancient Greek literature, but among all literatures of the world. It seems that the more the demand was pressing, the more elaborate and perplexing were the myths compiled, and of course the subject of the awe became omnipresent, absolutely inevitable, and more convincingly mythologized, involving dragons, winged snakes, griffons, flying cats, and all sorts of human imaginative and narrative skills. The conviction left with the ancient readers should be such that they would be totally disoriented from paying a visit to those lands…

What is quite striking with the description of the author of 'Periplus of the Red Sea' is that, although he seems to have fallen a victim to the Hadhramawt Frankincense bearing state’s propaganda, he gives accurate and pertinent physical details, namely that the trees are not big, and that the opaque frankincense flows progressively on their trunks, etc.

5. At the confines of Yemen

Paragraph 30 completes in its first part, the narration about the eastern coast of Dhofar, allowing the author to focus on Omana throughout paragraphs 32 and 33. We finish our itinerary through sailing around these precincts; the text reads as follows:

"Beyond this gulf, in the east, a great promontory is formed, ending in the cape that is called Syagros. There is erected a great castle that is necessary for the defense of the land. In front of the castle are located the harbor and the storehouses where the congregated frankincense is collected".

The rest of paragraph 30 serves the author to narrate details concerning the ‘Dioskouridou nesos’, i.e. the Suqutra island. And then the text continues with paragraph 31 that concerns Omana, i.e. the eastern part of the present day Oman.

Syagros means in Ancient Greek ‘wild boar’, and in this regard it contributes to the concept of frankincense land’s inaccessibility, although the reference to a great castle may truly correspond to real facts. We can assume that the Hadhramawti state had some basic points of defense, since the vicinity of Iran could cause a problem, especially if we take into consideration that the eastern confines of present day Oman belonged always to Iran. Syagros is to be located at the present day Ras Fartak.