15

The Local Area

Sumhamram

Discovered in 1952, east of the Salalah plains, the city of Sumahram dates back to the third millennium BC. Upon five of its fortified stone walls, are inscriptions written in the Southern Arabic alphabet, describing the history of the city and affirming its importance in the frankincense trade.

The port of Sumahram is one of the oldest in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula. It was widened during the period of the Hermiarite rule (115 BC - 300 AD) and ships loaded with Omani frankincense set off on some of the longest journeys of that time, reaching the lands of Greece, Italy and Egypt. The frankincense trade is represented in paintings in the monastery at Wadi Al Mulook (the Valley of the Kings) in the Egyptian city of Luxor.

It is also suggested that the jars of frankincense sent by Balqis, the Queen of Sheba, to the Prophet Solomon, were loaded in the port of Sumahram.

Further discoveries made in this location are statuettes, coins and a bell, all made of bronze, in addition to writings dating back to before the establishment of the Yemini Hermiarite Kingdom. Also found here is a temple with two altars, one of which is carved in the shape of an ox, the moon god in the Hermiarite religion.