Evidence for an Ancient Church in southern Arabia?

1600 years ago a terracotta cup inscribed with six symmetrical symbols got buried in a fort in southern Arabia. What did those symbols represent and what was the cup used for?

Greek Cross

A team of archaeologists headed by Dr Juris Zarins unearthed it from a buried fort, which was once an integral part of the ancient frankincense trade. Fort Hamran, as it is now known, lies 25 km east of Salalah in the Dhofar governorate of southern Oman.

The vessel they found was originally purple in colour and marked with six simple Greek crosses. Their conclusion is that it was a Christian chalice (communion cup)! And what was it doing in southern Arabia?

This raises the possibility that Christian monks had set up a centre in what was once a frankincense trading post. “There is a chance that Ain Humran was the missing ‘third church’ founded by the Byzantine missionary Theophilus Indus in the middle 300s.” (Clapp, N. (1998). The road to Ubar : finding the Atlantis of the sands. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p.212)

Michael the Mechanic of Sinaya, Salalah, Dhofar, Oman

Michael the Mechanic of Sinaya, Salalah

Do you know this man? He’s a very well known personality in Salalah, Oman. Ask any seasoned Jeep owner there and almost without fail they will have met him at some stage! I had a Jeep when I lived in Salalah – I think he’s fixing the cooling system on it in this photo! – and I got to know him well and trust him and his judgement on many things, but especially mechanical!

He started work in Salalah in about 1977, I think, and has many stories to tell from his time in Salalah over the years!

I left Salalah in 2005, and haven’t had any news of him since then. I’d be interested to know any new news. In fact, let me know and I’ll let you all know!

Dhofar Frankincense Trade

Dhofar in southern Oman has had a long association with the frankincense trade. The most active period was from the first century BC to the fourth century.

Frankincense trees (Dhofar)

AD. During this period the Roman Empire had a great demand for the precious gum. Classical authors say that there was a gold drain on their economy in the eastern empire such was the demand for it. Strabo says that sometimes there were caravans of 2000 camels at one time although it is not known whether such large caravans travelled from Dhofar or from present-day Yemen (1).

Wendell Phillips wrote about frankincense in the 1950s and 60s: ”The ancient kings of Hadramaut had to secure Andhur Oasis to control the vital frankincense trade; the fortress on the ridge was designed to accomplish this objective. Even today (1960) camel trails can be seen leading out to the north-west in the direction of Shisr; another route leads west-south-west to the post of Hanun, where the frankincense collection centre described above was partially cleared… Mirbat is only 40 miles due south of Andhur Oasis, but a direct route is rendered impossible by the precipitous southern face of the intervening Jabal Samhan…” (2). Some Mahra interviewed by him stated that it took 3 or 4 days’ camel journey to reach Salalah from Andhur.

I dispute Philips saying that there was no direct route down Jebel Samhan to Mirbat. In 1999 three Dhofari friends and I walked along the top of the escarpment east of Mirbat until we reached Wadi Kharis (about 1700 m.). This deep valley runs north south and eventually leads to Wadi Andhur 40 km to the north. However, we descended the cliff face along an old narrow camel track and came out at Sawb on the plains near Jufa. This is one of the few places where it’s possible to come down the cliff between Mirbat and Hadbeen.

Traditional Dhofari culture - burning frankincense

Frankincense was exported from ports along the Dhofar coast up until the 1950s. Of course frankincense is still exported today although in much smaller quantities. Frankincense harvested from the eastern Dhofar mountains — that is the mountains above Mirbat, also known as Solot — was transported by camel to Mirbat and further to the north-east, Hasik. In December 1894 Theodore Bent and his travelling party journeyed from Mirbat to Al-Haffa by baggala – an Arab sailing ship – which was carrying a ‘large cargo’ of frankincense for Bombay. The 40 mile journey from Mirbat to Al-Haffa took them two days because of opposing winds. However Bent comments that one of the songs the sailors sang was about frankincense (3).

References

^{(1) Nigel Broom, “Frankincense and Myrrh”.}

(2) Wendell Phillips, “Unknown Oman”, p.201

^{(3) Theodore Bent, “Exploration of the Frankincense country of southern Arabia” (1900), p.233}

Plans for good not evil – أَفْكَارَ سَلاَمٍ لاَ شَرّ

أَفْكَارَ سَلاَمٍ لاَ شَرّ

Qasbar Fort

Location

Qasbar Fort lies less than 1 km north of Ain Tabruq on a hilltop about 450 m a.s.l. It commands a strategic position with an extensive view of the coastline (9 km away), and must have been an effective post for observing the movement of people and their animals. It lies 27 km east of Salalah.

Directions

Drive east from Salalah, taking the road towards Taqah. About 4 km before reaching the Taqah turnoff, turn north at the sign marked Nashib (15 km from Al-Mamurah roundabout). After driving 6 km on this road, park on the side of the graded road, about three quarters of the way up the hill. The fort is directly to the east on the top of a conical hill about 3 km walk away – an hour’s walk.

To get to the fort itself, follow the well-worn path to the right of the road. It skirts north around the edge of the hillside, and after crossing several rocky wadis it heads south-east across rock strewn fields, which form a saddle to the hill on which the fort is situated. As you start to climb the hill from the north you first come to what appears to be a deliberately cut 2 metre wide trench with a sheer three-metre high rock face on the higher side and 1 to 2 m one on the lower side. The solid rock face on the higher side is topped with a wall made of blocks of cut stone. This 40 metre long defensive moat across the hillside blocks the only practical path to the fort, making it very difficult for intruders to break through. Locals say that defenders used to light fires in this trench to stop attackers. The hillsides on the east and west lead down steep slopes to wadis, while the southern side of the hill is extremely steep and thus a natural defence.

Once past the trench there are piles of hewn stones some of which are cut in curves as if to fit over an arched doorway or window. Other pieces have been cut to fit into each other like a mortise and tenon joint. Many of the stones are overgrown with trees and other vegetation. Once past these on the eastern side of the hill you come to the ruins of two buildings. The first and smaller one is about 4 m long, 3 m wide with a height of about 2 metres. The other is near the summit. It is a much larger building – 18m by 10m by 3m high. Both walled structures, which these days are open at the top, show few signs of wear and tear, indicating how well designed and constructed they were. The walls are constructed of blocks of stone, with the walls an average thickness of about 1 metre. The internal and exposed parts of the external walls are thickly plastered with gypsum, much of which has survived intact. An unusual aspect of these buildings’ design is that neither have any windows, only a doorway. However, it would appear that these doorways are later additions. In both cases it looks as though the walls have been breached at a later date so that the space may be utilised, perhaps by goat or cow herders. The remains of any roof or its beams have long since disappeared. Exactly how these buildings were used is a matter for conjecture. It is thought that the smaller one was used for storing water, and the larger one perhaps for food stuffs.

Who built Qasbar Fort, and when?

According to stories passed on by local Dhofaris, the stone used for the construction of the buildings and their defences was carried from near the coast (from the quarry at Deirab near Khor Soli) some 8 km away. Locals say that the fort was built by Portuguese soldiers, who passed the hewn blocks of stone from hand to hand all the way up the hillside. However from a cursory examination the materials it is built of are the same as the hillside on which the fort stands. However, the gypsum which was used in the mortar and also for plastering the completed walls could well have come from the Khor Soli quarries.

On the southern slope of the hill, facing the sea, there is a 150 m cliff, which forms a natural defence. Near it, running along the southern and western sides there are the remains of a thick, stone wall, with what appears to be regular defensive turrets or lookouts projecting from the walls. There are also ruins of other smaller buildings and fortifications on the hilltop site, but their purpose and even shape is covered with years of rubble as well as being overgrown by the roots of trees and shrubs. The whole fort complex covers an area about 100 m by 40 m.

As far as water supply is concerned one story says that there was an ingenious pumping system for conveying water from Ain Al-Sarooj (about 500 metres to the west and 100 metres below the hilltop) to the fort. Another story says there was a well on the southern side, set into the side of the cliff some 50 metres down from the top. A possible piece of evidence to back up this latter story is an unusual cut stone lying on the top of the hill. This piece of limestone is about 60 cm long, 20 cm wide and 20 cm high. There are deep grooves running around it, like friction marks made by ropes. In fact it is very similar to a block of limestone which is part of the 2000 year old well in the old city of Samhuram.

From an examination of Portuguese policies, fortresses were generally built on the coast in order to maintain their trading routes. If it were a Portuguese enclave, how did they manage to keep their forces fed and watered in such a remote area with hostile inhabitants all around them?

Other Dhofaris connect the ruins to the Al-Manjuwi Dynasty. Al-Manjuwis originated, according to some, in Al-Qashar (hence, Qasbar Fort) in Iran, or to others, in Yemen. The ruins are sometimes referred to as Qasrul Banat (Girls’ Palace) or Qasra Assadeen (Prisoners’ Palace).

An alternative dating is that of Yuris Zarins who, without excavating it, tentatively dated it to the same era as Samhuram and the nearby Hamran Fort (less than 5 km to the south-west). Both of these were occupied between 1600 and 2400 years ago. Another member of Zarins’ team at that time (in 1992) stated: “Since any occupants … could observe much of the Plain of Salalah including … Taqah …, it was reasonable to deduce that this was a mountain garrison from which the incense trade was policed. If so, and should these ruins tie in time-wise with the pre-Islamic city of Samhuram, then we could draw a theoretical line over the mountains towards Andhur and the only other known frankincense storage centre, Hanun. No invaders from the sea could head inland for either of these key storage sites without being spotted from this key vantage point.”(Fiennes pp.135,136)

In one of the wadis adjacent to Qasbar are numbers of rock drawings and paintings – see Jan Schreurs’ blog for details.

References

Fiennes, Ranulph. 1992. Atlantis of the Sands, The Search for the Lost City of Ubar. Bloomsbury Publishing: London.

Above article Copyright © Ross Hayden 2010

Khamis the Sailor of Auqad (Awqad) – Salalah, Dhofar (Oman)

Ruins of Khamis's Palace, Salalah

In 1930, Bertram Thomas (Wazir to Sultan Taimur bin Faisal of Oman) visited Salalah and referred to a number of personalities of the day who had gathered in a large house in central Salalah in his honour. On one occasion I mentioned to a close friend from Salalah about the book by Thomas. He said he had read the Arabic translation of it but hadn’t seen the English version. I showed him my copy, especially the part where he referred to well-known men from Salalah Thomas had met. My friend was very interested in this piece of local history and asked me to photocopy the relevant pages so that he could go through them with his father. A few days later after he had showed them to his father, he excitedly phoned me and said he had some news. I couldn’t wait to meet him!

My friend was particularly interested in a person whom Thomas refers to as “A sailor, one Khamis of Auqad”.

“How many Khamises were there in Awqad in your father’s time?” he had asked his father.

“Only one. Why?”, his father replied.

“I’ve been reading a book about an Englishman who visited Salalah in 1930. He refers to a sailor called Khamis of Awqad.”

“That’s your grandfather,” his father said.

“What?” my friend exclaimed, “but I thought he was a trader.”

“Well, he was, but before that, he was a sailor. He visited India and some other countries.”

My friend was flabbergasted by this revelation. It confirmed that the Khamis mentioned by Bertram Thomas was, in fact, his grandfather. Reading on…

“Khamis, a free man, yet was the father of a slave-born child, for he had taken to wife another’s slave woman, so by local canons the child belonged to her owner. The three  hundred dollars he had paid for the woman was the price of her hand, not of her freedom, and he was now engaged in paying a further five hundred dollars to her master, to buy the freedom of his own offspring.” [from Thomas, B. S. (1932). Arabia Felix: Across the Empty Quarter of Arabia. Jonathan Cape: London. Page 19]

Again the facts were accurate. Exactly the same information, including the amount paid, had been handed down to my friend by his grandmother, confirming Thomas’ reliability as a biographer.

Ain Razat

Ain Razat is the most important source of spring water in Dhofar. It used to be one of the main sources of water for Salalah. Its water as well as several smaller springs flow into a long pool on the northern side of the carpark at the foot of the jebel. Water flows along a falaj (watercourse) throughout the year, although flow is highest during the khareef. This water flows 7 km to Al-Mamurah Palace, the Sultan’s residence when in Salalah. A further 3 km further on the watercourse reaches Razat Farm.

Near the spring is a beautiful fenced garden, which belongs to the Diwan of the Royal Court and is constantly guarded. However, it is open to the public on Thursdays and Fridays and every day during the khareef. The garden is a very popular place for picnics, as is the area under the trees near the pool near the spring.

There are several shallow caves in the limestone hills along the northern side of the spring and pool. Unlike the hills on the jebel side of the Razat Valley, the hills on the southern side of the pool and carpark are much more accessible, and relatively easy to climb. There are numerous animal tracks which zigzag the hillside so there are no problems in finding your way to the top. At the summit there is an uninterrupted panorama of the plain from Salalah to Taqah.

During and immediately after the khareef the whole area comes alive. Fresh growth is seen everywhere: fresh grass, trees with new leaves, and many plants and trees covered in colourful blossom. The new growth and easy availability of water attracts insects and birds – for example, the African Paradise Flycatcher, the White-Breasted White Eye, African Silverbills and Wheatears – which thrive under these conditions.

A generation or two ago, waters from Ain Razat and nearby Ain Hamran, were channelled into cultivated fields. Evidence of the irrigation systems are still visible on the plains in some areas around Wadis Razat and Hamran. There are also the remains of an occasional tower or two which were used by farmers to guard their land. Friends have told me that in the late 1930s the plains between Ain Razat and Khor Soli (near Taqa) were, in season, green with crops of millet, corn and other grains.

Gifts for the King

© Ross Hayden. Frankincense Burner

The men from the East see the star halting

Over the place where the Christ Child lies.

Their long journey seemingly at an end;

His just beginning.

They present their costly gifts

To the Child King.

“Look  at me!” Gold boldly proclaims,

“I am indeed a gift fit for a King”.

Frankincense speaks…

Ross Hayden © 2001 Salalah, Sultanate of Oman

Nawal Said Atiq

THE BRIDE

Nawal Said Atiq is a very talented Dhofari artist who has won many local and international awards. Here is an example of one her paintings…

More of her paintings may be seen under Art of Dhofar.