Latest / Trade Routes That Changed Human History Forever — Fexingo History / The Incense Route: Frankincense, Myrrh, and the South Arabian Kingdoms
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've covered silk, spices, salt, and silver on this show. But there's one trade route that's even older than all of them — and it's the one that built the fortunes of ancient South Arabia. I'm talking about the Incense Route. Luna: Frankincense and myrrh — like the biblical gifts? Lucas: Exactly. But it's not just a nativity scene prop. Frankincense and myrrh were the most valuable commodities in the ancient world for almost two thousand years. They were used in religious rituals, medicine, cosmetics, even as a form of currency. And the only place on earth where the best frankincense trees grew was a narrow strip of coastline in what's now Oman and Yemen. Lucas: The resin comes from trees of the genus Boswellia for frankincense and Commiphora for myrrh. These trees grow in rocky, arid terrain — they thrive in places no other crop can survive. The Boswellia sacra tree, the source of the highest-grade frankincense, is native to the Dhofar region of Oman and the Hadhramaut region of Yemen. And in antiquity, these areas were controlled by powerful kingdoms you almost never hear about: the Sabaeans, the Minaeans, and the Qatabanians. Luna: I've heard of Saba — the Queen of Sheba, right? Lucas: That's the one. The biblical Queen of Sheba is traditionally identified with the Sabaean kingdom, which was based in what's now Yemen, with its capital at Marib. But the Sabaeans were just one of several South Arabian kingdoms that grew rich on the incense trade. There were also the Minaeans, centered at Qarnawu, and the Qatabanians, with their capital at Timna. These kingdoms didn't just harvest resin — they controlled the entire overland route northward to the Mediterranean. Lucas: The Incense Route was a network of caravan trails that started in the frankincense-growing regions of Dhofar and Hadhramaut, then wound north through the Arabian desert, passing through oasis towns like Shabwa and Najran, then up through the Hijaz to Petra, the Nabataean capital, and finally to the ports of Gaza and Alexandria. It was a grueling journey — over a thousand miles of desert, mountains, and hostile territory. Luna: So who actually did the transporting? Was it the same kingdoms that grew the incense? Lucas: Good question. The South Arabian kingdoms controlled the production and the early stages of the route. But the long-distance trade through the desert was largely handled by the Minaeans — they were known as the great carriers of the Incense Route. Later, the Nabataeans, based at Petra, became the dominant middlemen, taking the goods from the Arabian border to the Mediterranean. And the Romans, of course, were the ultimate consumers. Pliny the Elder wrote that a pound of frankincense could cost the equivalent of several hundred dollars in today's money. Luna: Wait — Pliny the Elder wrote about this? I thought he was more focused on natural history. Lucas: He did! In his Natural History, Pliny gives a detailed account of the frankincense trade. He describes the trees, the harvesting process, and even the corruption he claims was rampant in the trade. He says the harvesters were required to keep the groves pure — no sex, no funerals, no menstruating women near the trees. And he claims that the frankincense was collected by a special class of priests who were paid a percentage of the yield. But here's the thing: modern scholars aren't sure how much of that is accurate. Pliny never visited Arabia. He was relying on secondhand accounts, some of which may have been exaggerated. Luna: So it's like ancient hearsay. Lucas: Exactly. And that's part of the challenge of studying the Incense Route. We have archaeological evidence — the ruins of cities like Shabwa, the port of Sumhuram on the coast of Oman, the frankincense trees at Wadi Dawkah, which are now a UNESCO World Heritage site. But the written records are sparse. The South Arabians had their own script and left inscriptions, but they're mostly religious dedications and building records, not trade logs. The best literary sources are Greek and Roman, like the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, which is a first-century AD sailor's guide to trade routes in the Indian Ocean. Lucas: The Periplus mentions the port of Sumhuram — which the Greeks called Moscha — and describes how frankincense was shipped from there to ports in India and the Roman Empire. It also mentions the island of Socotra, which produced a type of frankincense and was a key stop on the sea route. But by the time the Periplus was written, the overland Incense Route was already facing competition from maritime trade. Luna: Because the Romans figured out the monsoon winds, right? Lucas: Exactly. In the first century BC, a Greek sailor named Hippalus is credited with discovering how to use the monsoon winds to sail directly across the Indian Ocean, bypassing the coastal routes. This made sea travel from Egypt to India much faster and cheaper. And once the Romans could ship frankincense directly from South Arabian ports to the Red Sea, the overland caravan routes began to decline. The South Arabian kingdoms lost their monopoly, and their power slowly eroded. Luna: And that's when the region became vulnerable to outside conquest — like the Ethiopians and then the Persians. Lucas: Right. By the third century AD, the Sabaean kingdom was in decline. The Himyarites, a rival South Arabian group, took over. Then the Aksumites from Ethiopia invaded in the fourth century. And by the sixth century, the region was a battleground between the Byzantine and Persian empires. But the final blow to the Incense Route wasn't military — it was cultural. The rise of Christianity and later Islam changed the demand for incense. In the Roman world, pagan temples had used vast quantities of frankincense in rituals. But as Christianity spread, that demand plummeted. And in Islam, while incense was still used, it never had the same ritual centrality. Lucas: There's also an ecological dimension. The frankincense trees are fragile. Overharvesting in antiquity may have damaged the groves. And climate change — the region became drier over the millennia — reduced the areas where Boswellia could grow. Today, the frankincense forests of Oman and Yemen are a fraction of what they once were. There are conservation efforts underway, but the trees are still under threat from overgrazing, development, and climate change. Luna: It's a story that really brings the ancient world to life — how a single luxury item could shape entire civilizations. Lucas: Absolutely. And it's a reminder that trade routes are never just about commerce. They're about politics, religion, ecology, and human ingenuity. The Incense Route may be less famous than the Silk Road, but it was arguably the first global trade network — connecting the highlands of Arabia with the temples of Rome and the courts of India, all through the power of a fragrant resin. Lucas: If today's episode was useful to you and you want to keep it ad-free, buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo helps. Luna: Yeah, it really does. Every little bit keeps us going — and it's how we stay independent. Lucas: Anyway, back to the Incense Route. One of the most fascinating archaeological sites associated with this trade is the so-called 'Lost City of Ubar' in Oman. For centuries, it was known only from the Arabian Nights and from references in the Quran as a city destroyed by God for its wickedness. In the 1980s, archaeologists using satellite imagery discovered a buried fortress in the desert of southern Oman — and it turned out to be Ubar, or at least a major trading post on the Incense Route. Luna: Wait — so the legend was real? Lucas: Partially. What they found was a large octagonal fortress, but it had collapsed into a sinkhole. The site, known as Shisr, had been a key watering stop for caravans. The fortress was built to protect the well and to control the trade route. It was destroyed sometime around the 4th or 5th century AD — probably by the sinkhole collapse, not divine wrath. But the legend of Ubar had been passed down for millennia, and it turned out to have a kernel of truth. Luna: That's amazing. So the Incense Route left behind not just ruins, but stories. Lucas: Exactly. And those stories remind us how much of history is lost — and how sometimes, with a little luck and a lot of research, we can find it again.