Objects from the Red Sea Trade
Routes during the Roman Empire
by Susan J. Bandes, Kresge Art
Museum
Yemen Update 24
(1988):14
Frankincense and myrrh, the famed gifts
that the Magi brought to the Christ Child, are now but little
known to modern man. At the time of Christ's birth, however,
these incense were as valuable as the gold which the Magi also
gave as gifts.
Both frankincense and myrrh are fragrant
gum resins from trees that grow only in southern Arabia and
northern Somalia. Both are harvested by scraping the bark of a
tree, allowing the resin ducts to ooze a thick liquid. These
"tears" harden into translucent clumps in about a week and are
ready for export 10-20 days after collection. Frankincense, an
important incense of the ancient world for domestic and religious
purposes. Myrrh is a reddish-brown color, bitter to the taste,
less aromatic than frankincense, and was traditionally used in
anointing oils, as a fumigant, in cooking and embalming. Myrrh
was also far more expensive than frankincense, but the demand for
frankincense was greater.
Frankincense and myrrh were considered
"spices" (Latin species), which in the ancient world
connoted expensive, usually imported items of special distinction
and value, not just flavorings for food. Traffic in these and
other spices (pepper, cinnamon, ginger, cumin, and cardamom) and
luxury items peaked during the Roman Empire; all destined for
Rome, evidence of the increasing wealth and sophisticated tastes
of the capital's residents. Traded were: cotton and linen
materials, perfumes, gold, glass, and faience from Egypt; ivory
from Ethiopia and India; copper from Spain; silks from China;
frankincense from Africa; and cosmetics, frankincense and myrrh
from Saudi Arabia. Carried to the Mediterranean world along
several distant routes, by sea and land, the journey was
treacherous and merchants encountered pirates, inhospitable tribes
and geographic obstacles including the lack of good harbors. Yet
the business was highly lucrative and a great many people shared
in the profits: the producers at the point of origin, the
shippers, protectors of the shipping and land routes,
tax-collectors, middlemen, thieves and highway
robbers.
South Arabian trade began around the
seventh century B.C. Incense traders used overland routes to
bring aromatics from the center of production in South Arabia to
the major consumers&emdash;cities of Syria and the Mediterranean
world. In the early years, the caravans went by land along two
routes: one followed the east coast of Arabia as far as the
Parthian capital of Ctesphion near Baghdad; the
other&emdash;controlled by the Kings of Hadramawt (in the Yemen)
through the second century A.D.&emdash;traversed the interior
desert on the west coast towards the oasis town of Najran and then
north through Medina to the Nabatean trade centers of Mada'in
Salih and Petra.
With the development of maritime trade
in the second century B.C., the rival kingdom of Saba began to
cultivate an alternate source of aromatics in Ethiopia and
exploited the quicker and cheaper Red Sea routes to counter the
Hadrami monopoly.
By the first century A.D., the Roman and
Greek traders had begun to arrange their own shipments of goods at
the now lost Yemeni port of Muza. With the annexation of Arabia
under Trajan (98-117 A.D.), the Romans acquired the northern
terminal of land routes from South Arabia and redirected the
long-distance trade to new ports under their control. Seaborne
traffic was now routed to the Western Coast of the Red Sea, to the
Egyptian port of Clysma, which was connected to the Nile by the
newly constructed via nova Traiana. This replaced the Nabatean
port of Leuke Kome on the eastern coast as the principal
destination of goods shipped by sea from southern
Arabia.
Travel by sea, however, was not easy.
Coral reefs divide the Red Sea into channels of which only the
central one is navigable. On the Arabian Coast shallow water
prevented the establishment of deepwater ports for large vessels,
and reefs and shoals on the Egyptian side obstructed the approach
to the shore. Here Myos Hormos, Leucos Limen and Berenice were
the only safe harbors. The discovery of the monsoon winds in the
first century A.D. enabled boats to sail from Egypt to India and
back in one year.
Once objects were unloaded at their sea
port destinations, they were transported by camel, the "ship of
the desert," overland to markets and points of distribution.
Overland routes were expensive, time-consuming, and unsafe for
fragile items. Moreover, bulk goods were inconvenient to
transport by camel and the roads were primarily tracks in the
sand.
In this exhibition the objects of trade
including frankincense, myrrh and other spices, cotton, glass,
pottery, and jewelry are displayed as are the vessels in which
they were shipped&emdash;large amphorae, smaller shipping vessels
(unguentaria), glass jugs&emdash;and records of trade (a papyrus
letter and bottle stoppers).
Artifacts from many of the trade route
sites are part of the exhibit. The eastern trade route went
through many different countries&emdash;The Five Incense Bearing
Kingdoms (in the Yemen), Arabia, and the Nabatean Kingdom. Few
archaeological excavations have been conducted in the Yemen and
Arabia and only a small number of artifacts from the first through
the third centuries have been found and studied. Scarcely any are
in collections in America. Petra and Khibet Tannur in Nabatea
have been extensively excavated, and the fabulous architectural
remains from the Roman Imperial period as well as the distinctive
native pottery are evidence of an affluent civilization. Petra,
the Nabatean capital, is represented by Pottery, religious statues
as well as coins of the kingdom. After 106 A.D. when Trajan
conquered Petra, the trade routes were diverted north through
Palmyra, which grew wealthy as a result.
Along the Egyptian side of the Red Sea,
objects from Leucos Limen range from trade goods to everyday
pottery. The other seaports, Berenice and Myos Hormos as well as
the inland trade town of Coptos are only now being
explored.
