In the 1st millennium BC, the most powerful state in southern Arabia was the Sabaean kingdom, which during its heyday occupied the territory from the Red Sea to Hadhramaut and from Central Arabia to the Indian Ocean.
The country lay at the crossroads of the great trade routes that led from the Mediterranean to India and Africa. Countless caravans for centuries carried elephant tusks and gold, incense and spices, diamonds and pearls, silk and henna, carpets and incense, gum and antimony. A fair share of this wealth was awarded to the rulers of Happy Arabia - for permission to transport and for protection from robbers.
Marib Dam
The Oman tribe lived in the neighborhood with the Sabaeans, tracing their origin to the descendants of Shem, the son of the biblical patriarch Noah. Omani merchants, having acquired the necessary skills in seafaring, went to the Indian Ocean and were the first to pave the way to India and Ceylon. There is evidence that Omani ships in ancient times called the ports of China, Indonesia, as well as East Africa - present-day Somalia, the islands of Zanzibar and Madagascar.
Today, the territory of Oman and Yemen is occupied by a huge desert. But there was a time when everything looked different. Five thousand years ago, the climate in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula was almost subtropical, and the skillful use of water resources ensured the extraordinary prosperity of these lands. In order to solve the problem of fresh water, the Arabians built canals, dams and reservoirs. One of the dams in Marib (Yemen) was so great and famous that there are numerous references to it in ancient literature. The Marib Dam (600 meters long and over 15 meters high), built in the 6th century BC, was one of the wonders of the ancient world. For many centuries she abundantly irrigated hundreds of thousands of hectares of fertile land, the crops from which were harvested three times a year.
But as time went on, "Happy Arabia" was corroded by internal strife. The Sabaean kingdom was constantly at war with its neighbors Ha-dramaut and Mine. Both of them were disturbed by the Bedouins from the desert, who penetrated the sedentary agricultural zones. Natural disasters also affected. Due to earthquakes, the Marib Dam collapsed. Left without water, the fields were empty, the dried up land cracked, and loose Arabian sands moved on it, besides, the climate gradually became more and more arid.
Only in some corners were fertile "scraps" left, which the impoverished people defended with their last strength. Nevertheless, even at the end of the 19th century, ancient "cisterns" (tanks for collecting rainwater) could be seen in Aden. They were partly created by nature (of volcanic origin), but brought by the hands of local engineers to the state of fortified dams cascading down from the local mountains. New ones were added to the old "tanks". There was a road between them. After rains fell in the desert, which happens once every three years, the reservoirs were instantly filled with water. A holiday was coming for people.
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Scary sound
Around the 5th millennium BC, in the area where the Sultanate of Oman is now located, the mysterious city of Ubar, the "city of columns", arose. All civilizations of the Ancient World knew about the prosperous Ubar. Countless legends circulated about the city and its inhabitants. Ubar is mentioned in the Holy Qur'an and the Arabian tales of the Thousand and One Nights.
Ancient Greek scientists Ptolemy and Herodotus wrote about him. The latter claimed that the city was under the protection of terrible flying snakes, and its inhabitants allegedly possessed the secret of eternal youth. Not surprising, because, according to legend, sages and astrologers lived in the city. Arts and trade, alchemy and medicine flourished here. The life of the Ubari seemed extraordinary and mysterious. They said that they knew the mysterious rites of resurrection from the dead. Like the legendary Atlanteans, the Ubarites supposedly knew how to fly! The prosperous oasis aroused not only admiration, but also envy.
More than once hostile tribes tried to conquer the city, but each time their raids ended in defeat. The inhabitants of Ubar used weapons unprecedented in those days in defense, which, according to rumors, they got from the gods. The enemy, besieging the city, fled in panic, as soon as mysterious devices appeared on the fortress walls, one sight of which plunged the enemy tribes into horror. The most incredible thing was that these devices did not fire shots, but the people against whom they were directed began to experience such fear that there was no longer any question of any offensive. Modern researchers suggest that the inhabitants of Ubar directed something like "Jericho trumpets" at the enemy, emitting frightening sounds.
Cut off from the rest of the world by the Arabian desert, Ubar remained an oasis of life among the advancing sands. It is curious that in the Qur'an the mysterious city is called not Ubar, but Irem. And it was inhabited by Adits, the descendants of Hell, who founded Aden, which in turn also descended from the biblical Noah. The Adits had gardens and springs, numerous offspring and livestock. But Allah, for refusing to accept Islam, sent a terrible drought and a sandstorm that lasted three years to the Adits. The water level dropped and the prosperity of the Adits went with it. The city was buried in the desert sands.
The mysterious Irem-Ubar wanted to find the famous British intelligence officer Lawrence of Arabia, who in 1912-1918 operated in the countries of the Middle East and Arabia. But he did not have time to fulfill his dream. He called Ubar "Atlantis of the Sands" and, apparently, not without reason.
Discoveries are yet to come
Archaeologists hope that today, thanks to modern technology, there is a chance to find the Arabian Atlantis. Images from space shuttles and satellites have unexpectedly revealed a web of thin lines in Oman that converge at one point. This "point" may be Ubar. The city walls are not visible in the photographs, but field studies have confirmed the antiquity of the roads and found ruins.
In the 1990s, several expeditions worked in the sands of Arabia. Excavations have revealed the remains of a wall that surrounded a vast area. It was also possible to prove that three rivers, from 8 to 20 meters wide, once flowed in this area. Moreover, archaeologists say that there are signs that a fortress with several watchtowers is hidden under a thick layer of sand. A large complex of residential buildings, and trading shops, and even a structure resembling a ruler's palace are guessed.
But even earlier, in 1978, in the Sultanate of Oman, researchers from Harvard University managed to find a pyramid, or, better to say, a ziggurat. This type of ancient buildings, characteristic of Mesopotamia, has not been encountered here before. The pyramid is oriented towards the sun and has a slice emanating from the center. The existence of the ziggurat tower can serve as a convincing argument confirming the voyage of the ancient Sumerians through the Strait of Hormuz, a thousand miles from the shores of the Red Sea.
Remnants of ancient buildings lie everywhere around the pyramid. A complex system of irrigation canals, fortifications and numerous burial mounds was also discovered. The latter are dated by archaeologists to the 3rd millennium BC. It has also been established that the ancient ruins are at the center of a giant prehistoric copper mine. In the immediate vicinity of the pyramid rises a mountain destroyed almost in two by ancient miners. Nearby, there are even larger ancient copper mines, and one of the peaks is almost completely leveled to the ground. But in the Sumerian cuneiform clay tablets, merchants-sailors who visited the copper mountain of the far eastern country of Magan are often mentioned.