Some observations on Greek and Latin data relating to South Arabia
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2768220 |
|---|---|
| Authors | A F L Beeston (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1979 |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 7-12 |
| Publication date | 1979-02-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0041-977X • E-ISSN: 1474-0699 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0041977x00108407 |
| OpenAlex | W2054969610 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
It is well known that, according to Pliny, the originating terminal for caravans conveying frankincense from South Arabia to the Mediterranean was at Shabwa; and there has been much talk of an 'incense road' followed by those caravans. It is, however, very unlikely that there was any single 'road' invariably followed. More probably, there was a multiplicity of routes, any one of which might be chosen according to prevailing circumstances. One such route runs directly from Shabwa to the eastern end of the Wādī Jawf, across a gravel corridor bisecting the Sayhad sand-desert, surveyed by Philby in 1936. The possibility of this route has been disregarded mainly because of a widely prevalent but tendentious translation of Pliny's remark, 'evehi non potest nisi per Gebbanitas', as '[the frankincense] cannot be exported [from Shabwa] except through the land of the Gebbanites', where the text says nothing about a 'land' but merely 'by the Gebbanites'. Other possible routes are one skirting the southern edge of the sand-desert and passing through Tumna', and one reaching the upper Wādī Bayḥān by way of Nisab and the Wadi Markha. West of Bayhan, the passes of Nagd. Marqad and Mablaqa clearly represent alternative routes
Ancient history · Archaeology · Desert (philosophy) · Geography · Incense · Mediterranean climate · Nothing · Political science · Raja · Wadi · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Botanical Research and Chemistry · Geology · Historical and Linguistic Studies · History · Law · Paleontology · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 0.13 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1980 - 2020 (41) |
| Highly cited | No |