The Lost City and the Golden Flasks: Oman's Contributions to Fragrance History

In the deserts of Dhofar, there are straggly trees that grow right out of the rock.  They do not appear special, but when a groove is carved into the bark, a milky resin seeps out and hardens into bulbous lumps that were once worth more than their weight in gold.  This is silver frankincense, and it remains the highest-quality frankincense in the world.

Few people associate Oman (never mind the Dhofar province specifically) with perfume, yet it was the centre of the scent trade for over a thousand years.  This is partly because we tend to think of perfume as scented liquids, when in fact perfume originated in substances that were burned to give off fragrance.  The word ‘perfume’ itself tells us this: taken back to its Latin roots, it means ‘through smoke’.  

So the perfume trade of antiquity was really the incense trade.  The Incense Road, established around 1800 BC, was a famous trade route that is mentioned in many ancient documents, including the Bible and the Quran.  Camel caravans carried goods along this road, which connected India, Arabia, and Egypt and facilitated commerce between these places as well as with the world beyond (most notably the Roman Empire).  It lasted until around AD 300, by which time trade by sea had become more feasible.  But while the route was active, the major node along it was a magnificent trade centre where the caravans met--a city that lies in the modern Dhofar province.

The city has a number of different names.  In the Quran, it is referred to as Iram and is described as having “pillars of such construction that no other city could match” (89:6-7, my translation).  For this reason it is also called the City of a Thousand Pillars, but it is more commonly known as Ubar or Wabar (although this is misleading, because those names historically referred to the general region rather than a single settlement).  Traditional tales speak of an opulent city that was suddenly destroyed, buried beneath the desert sands never to be seen again (although, in some stories, it would magically reveal itself to the odd traveller).  This, along with a number of failed expeditions to find it in the early twentieth century, earned it the nickname ‘Atlantis of the Sands’.

We have learned since that Iram was not mere legend.  First, archaeologists working at another ancient site found tablets that mentioned trade with Iram.  Then, in 1992, the site of the city itself was finally identified through a combination of clues from historical records and satellite imaging (by which researchers could see the ancient caravan trails and where they converged).  The expedition that uncovered it was led by Ranulph Fiennes, although more recent excavations are being led by the archaeologist Juris Zarins.  It was discovered, among other things, that the city did indeed fall suddenly: its water source came from an underground cavern that, when depleted of water, could not support the mass of the city above it and collapsed.  As part of the Frankincense Trail, the site was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000.

Oman has another claim to perfume fame, one that arises from modern times rather than antiquity.  The capital city, Muscat, is home to the House of Amouage: a perfumery whose signature scent is the world’s most expensive perfume.  Crafted by French perfume legend Guy Robert, it contains over 120 ingredients (including silver frankincense) and comes in gold-plated sterling silver flasks designed by Aspreys of Bond Street, jewellers to Queen Elizabeth II of Britain.  A 120 ml (4 oz) bottle sells for roughly $2000 USD.

All of this makes Oman a good vacation spot for perfume enthusiasts to consider.  Tourists can go to Shisur (where the archaeological site of Iram is located), and Amouage welcomes visitors to its Muscat headquarters.  The latter not only affords an opportunity to experience the world’s most expensive scent, but houses a mini-museum that showcases the perfume history of the region (including information in Iram) and demonstrates how modern perfume is manufactured from ancient ingredients.  Ultimately, Oman plays a unique role in both the ancient and modern worlds of perfume, and deserves a prominent place on the fragrance map.