Desert cities in the Negev (Shivta) were linked to the Mediterranean end of the ancient incense and Spice trading routes.

The Incense trade route or the Incense Road of Antiquity (see also the spice trade) comprised a network of major ancient land and sea trading routes linking the Mediterranean world with Eastern and Southern sources of incense, spices and other luxury goods, stretching from Mediterranean ports across the Levant and Egypt through Arabia to India and beyond. The incense land trade from South Arabia to the Mediterranean flourished between roughly the 7th century BCE to the 2nd century CE.^[1] The Incense Route served as a channel for trading of goods such as Arabian frankincense and myrrh;^[1] Indian spices, precious stones, pearls, ebony, silk and fine textiles;^[2] and East African rare woods, feathers, animal skins and gold.^[2]

Early history[link]

The incense trade, connecting Egypt to the incense-producing lands, depended heavily on navigation along the Red Sea.^[3]

The Egyptians had traded in the Red Sea, importing spices, gold and exotic wood from the "Land of Punt" and from Arabia.^[4] Indian goods were brought in Arabian and Indian vessels to Aden.^[4] Rawlinson identifies the long-debated "ships of Tarshish," as a Tyrian fleet equipped at Ezion-Geber that made several trading voyages to the east bringing back gold, silver, ivory and precious stones.^[4] These goods were transhipped at the port of Ophir.^[4]

According to one historian:^[5]

Land routes[link]

The economy of the Kingdom of Qataban (light blue) was based on the cultivation and trade of spices and aromatics including frankincense and myrrh. These were exported to the Mediterranean, India and Abyssinia where they were greatly prized by many cultures, using camels on routes through Arabia, and to India by sea.

Among the important trading points of the Incense Route from the Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea was Gerrha in the Gulf, reported by the historian Strabo to have been founded by Babylonian exiles as a Chaldean colony.^[7] Gerrha exercised influence over the incense trade routes across Arabia to the Mediterranean and controlled the aromatics trade to Babylon in the 1st century BC.^[7] Gerrha was one of the important entry ports for goods shipped from India.^[7]

Due to its prominent position in the incense trade, Yemen attracted settlers from the fertile crescent.^[8] The frankincense and myrrh trees were crucial to the economy of Yemen and were recognized as a source of wealth by its rulers.^[8]

Assyrian documents indicate that Tiglath-Pileser III advanced through Phoenicia to Gaza.^[9] Gaza was eventually sacked and the ruler of Gaza escaped to Egypt but later continued to act as a vassal administrator.^[9] The motive behind the attack was to gain control of the South Arabian incense trade which had prospered along the region.^[9]

Tiglath-Pileser III attacked Gaza in order to control trade along the Incense Route.^[9]

I.E.S. Edwards connects the Syro-Ephraimite War to the desire of the Israelites and the Aramaeans to control the northern end of the Incense route, which ran up from Southern Arabia and could be tapped by commanding Transjordan.^[10] Archaeological inscriptions also speak of booty retrieved from the land of the mu-u-na-a-a, possibly Meunites mentioned in the Old Testament.^[9] Some scholars identify this group as the Minaeans of South Arabia, who were involved with the incense trade and occupied the northern trading outposts of the Incense Route.^[9]

Aromatics from Dhofar and luxury goods from India bought wealth to the kingdoms of Arabia.^[11] The aromatics of Dhofar were shipped out from the natural harbor of Khor Rori towards the western inhospitable South Arabian coast.^[12] The caravans carried these products north to Shabwa and from there on to the kingdoms of Qataban, Saba, Ma'in, Palestine up to Gaza.^[13] The tolls levied by the owners of wells and other facilities added to the overall cost of these luxury goods.^[13]

Greco-Roman bypassing of land routes[link]

Roman maritime trade routes with India according to the Periplus Maris Erythraei, 1st century CE. The Romans bypassed the land route in favour of the faster and safer searoute.

The Nabateans seized Petra, which stood halfway between the opening to the Gulf of Akaba and the Dead Sea at a point where the Incense Route from Arabia to Damascus was crossed by the overland route from Petra to Gaza.^[14] This position gave the Nabateans a hold over the trade along the Incense Route.^[14] In order to control the Incense Route from the Nabatean a Greek military expedition was undertaken, without success, by Antigonus Cyclops, one of Alexander of Macedonia's generals.^[14] The Nabatean control over trade increased and spread to the West and the North.^[14] The replacement of Greece by the Roman empire as the administrator of the Mediterranean basin led to the resumption of direct trade with the east.^[15] According to a historian "The South Arabs in protest took to pirate attacks over the Roman ships in the Gulf of Aden. In response, the Romans destroyed Aden and favored the Western Abyssinian coast of the Red Sea."^[16] The monopoly of the Indian and Arab middlemen weakened with the development of monsoon trade by the Greek through the discovery of the direct rout to India (Hippalus), forcing the Parthian and Arabian middlemen to adjust their prices so as to compete on the Roman market with the goods now being bought in by a direct sea route to India.^[15] Indian ships sailed to Egypt as the maritime routes of Southern Asia were not under the control of a single power.^[15]

Areas around the Arabian peninsula according to the Periplus Maris Erythraei.

According to one historian:^[17]

The Roman trade with India kept increasing, and according to Strabo (II.5.12.):^[18]

Decline[link]

According to a historian^[19]

Green: Sassanian Empire in 602 to 629, Strokes: Under Sassanid military control.

At the end of the sixth century Isidore of Seville enumerated the aromatics still being imported into Visigothic Spain.^[20] Of aromatic trees (de arboris aromaticis) Isidore listed in his encyclopedia myrrh, pepper, cinnamon, amomum (cardamom?) and cassia; of aromatic herbs (de herbis aromaticis), nard, saffron, cardamom, will have arrived through the trade routes, others were available in Spain: thyme, aloes, rose, violet, lily, gentian, wormwood, fennel and others.^[21]

The decline of the incense trade saw Yemen take to the export of Coffee via the Red Sea port of al-Mocha.^[22]

Egypt under the rule of the Rashidun.

  Prophet Mohammad, 622-632

  Patriarchal Caliphate, 632-661

  Umayyad Caliphate, 661-750

Following the Roman-Persian Wars the areas under the Roman Byzantine Empire were captured by Khosrow I of the Persian Sassanian Dynasty.^[23] The Arabs, led by 'Amr ibn al-'As, crossed into Egypt in late 639 or early 640 CE.^[24]

This advance marked the beginning of the Islamic conquest of Egypt^[24] and the fall of ports such as Alexandria,^[25] used to secure trade with India by the Greco Roman world since the Ptolemaic dynasty.^[26]

Finally, the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople in the 15th century, marking the beginning of Turkish control over the most direct trade routes between Europe and Asia.^[27]

Present status[link]

UNESCO's World Heritage Committee meeting since November 27, 2000 in Cairns, Australia attached World Heritage Site status to The Frankincense trail in Oman.^[28] The official citation reads:^[29]

Ruins of Avdat.

The World Heritage Committee, headed by Themba Wakashe, recorded Incense Route - Desert Cities in the Negev on UNESCO’s World Heritage List on July 15, 2005.^[30] The official citation reads:^[1]

See also[link]

• King's Highway (ancient)
• Way of the Patriarchs
• Via Maris

Notes[link]

References[link]

This article's factual accuracy is disputed. Please help to ensure that disputed facts are reliably sourced. See the relevant discussion on the talk page. (January 2009)

Israel Christian
Born	c. 1720 Derry, Ireland
Died	1784 Pulaski County, Virginia, United States
Nationality	United States
Occupation	Businessman and landowner
Known for	Early Kentucky pioneer and landowner; founded Fincastle, Kentucky and Christiansburg, Virginia.
Religion	Presbyterian
Spouse	Elizabeth Starke
Children	6 children
Relatives	William Fleming, son-in-law Caleb Wallace, son-in-law William Bowyer, son-in-law Stephen Trigg, son-in-law

Israel Christian (c. 1720–1784) was an 18th century American pioneer, militia officer, politician and businessman. One of the earliest landowners in Kentucky, he founded the town of Fincastle, Kentucky. Christiansburg, Virginia, the county seat of Montgomery County, was also named in his honor. He was also a representative of Augusta County in the House of Burgesses from 1759 to 1761.

Four of his daughters became married to William Fleming, William Bowyer and Stephen Trigg, all colonels in the Kentucky Militia, as well as Presbyterian minister Caleb Wallace. Three counties in Kentucky were named in honor of his son William Christian, and two of his sons-in-law, Fleming and Trigg.^[1]

Biography[link]

Israel Christian was born in Northern Ireland, most likely in the Presbyterian enclave at Derry. His uncle Gilbert Christian had previously arrived in New Castle, Pennsylvania in 1726 and, after living in Lancaster for a time, he and his family were among the first to settle in the Valley of Virginia in 1732. Christian was engaged in the mercantile business in Dublin when he received news of his uncle's success in the American colonies and decided to emigrate there himself in 1740. He became a successful merchant in the Staunton River area before arriving in Augusta County (now present-day Botetourt County) around 1740.^[2] He married Elizabeth Starke, reportedly a woman of "vigorous and cultivated intellect", around 1741 or 1742 and together had six children.^[3]

He later became an officer in the Kentucky Militia with the rank of captain. During the French and Indian War, he served on the 12-man war council after Augusta was attacked by the French and Shawnee in 1756. Held at the Augusta Courthouse on 27 July, the council members included Colonels John Buchanan and David Stewart^{[disambiguation needed ]}, Major John Brown, Captains Joseph Colton, Robert Scott^{[disambiguation needed ]}, Patrick Martin^{[disambiguation needed ]}, Robert Breckenridge, James Lockhart, Samuel Stalnicker, Thomas Armstrong^{[disambiguation needed ]} and his cousin William Christian^{[disambiguation needed ]}. He was named "captain of horse" that same year.^[4]

From 1759 until 1761, he and John Wilson represented Augusta in the House of Burgesses.^[5] In November 1761, he became the first trustee of Staunton with nine others following its official chartering by act of assembly. During the mid-1760s, be began acquiring large tracts of land. He personally surveyed 400 acres (1.6 km²) of land on Buffalo Creek^{[disambiguation needed ]} where he resided during this time. In 1763, he played a major role in defending the county from an Indian raiding party which had advanced as far as Kerr's Creek.^[3] The following year, he was granted two tracts of land on Tinker Creek, 66 and 54 acres (220,000 m²) respectively, on 24 June 1764. A portion of this land was later donated by him to found Fincastle, Kentucky.^[6]

In November 1767, he and John Buchanan caused an official protest by members of the Staunton trustees after the two refused to sign a declaration "to be comfortable to the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England". After Buchanan died, he was supported by Major Robert Breckenridge although they were both replaced when the incident came up again in 1769.^[7] In the fall of 1768, he bought 81 acres (330,000 m²) of land on a south branch of Catawba from John Bowman. He later donated this land for the construction of public buildings including the first courthouse in Botetourt County.^[8]

He and Breckenridge served as justices on the first county court held in Augusta on 13 February 1770. Two years later, he donated 40 acres (160,000 m²) of land to the justices for the use of the county and on which Fincastle, Kentucky was established in 1772.^[9] He left the area sometime after and retired to Christiansburg, Virginia where he died at his estate in Dunkard's Bottom, adjoining New River in present-day Pulaski County. His last will and testament was read at Montgomery County, Virginia on 12 July 1784 and witnessed by Robert Currin, Priscilla Christian, James McCorkle and Francis Preston.^[3]

References[link]