Ultimately, the weight of the city caused the cavern to collapse in a massive sinkhole, destroying much of the city and causing the rest to be abandoned. Ubar is an ancient kingdom that is said to. In building his “imitation of paradise,” the legendary King Shaddad ibn ‘Ad unknowingly constructed it over a large limestone cavern. You will then visit the Lost City of Ubar (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), which is just 175 km away from Salalah. Moreover, the researchers say they have documented how the city fell, and that it did not appear to be by divine retribution for wickedness. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, called it “the Atlantis of the sands” and, like the undersea Atlantis, many scholars doubted that Ubar ever existed. Ubar’s rulers became wealthy and powerful and its residents-according to Islamic legend-so wicked and debauched that eventually God destroyed the city, allowing it to be swallowed up by the restless desert. Hardcover Edition: First Edition Author: Ranulph Sir Fiennes Publisher: Bloomsbury Pub Ltd Release Date: 1993 ISBN-10: 0747513279. Lost city of Ubar, Dhofar Governorate, Oman Image details Search stock photos by tags Similar stock images Buying from Alamy Selling with Alamy Company. Used in cremations and religious ceremonies, as well as in perfumes and medicines, frankincense was as valuable as gold.
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Shisr is located in the Dhofar province of Oman, about 3 hours from the provincial capital Salalah."The fabled lost city of Ubar, celebrated in both the Koran and “A Thousand and One Arabian Nights” as the center of the lucrative frankincense trade for 3,000 years before the birth of Christ, has been found by a Los Angeles-based team of amateur and professional archeologists.īuilt nearly 5,000 years ago, Ubar was a processing and shipping center for frankincense, an aromatic resin grown in the nearby Qara Mountains. Read more in his book Atlantis of the Sands – The Search for the Lost City of Ubar.
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British explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes was part of the team that discovered the ruins at Shisr after searching for decades. The ruins of the fabled city of Ubar, chronicled in classical works as the Atlantis of the sands are among a series of exciting archaeologists excavations. Lawrence (of Arabia) dubbed Ubar “Atlantis of the Sands” and talked of taking up the search himself, but he never did. Artefacts from far-away lands have been found and satellite imagery shows tracks crossing the desert and converging on the site. Whether or not the site is the legendary city, evidence is clear that it was a trading post, and caravanserai for desert caravans traveling the incense route between Arabia and the Mediterranean Sea. They believe that the city is in Rub al-Khali desert in the Arabian Peninsula. Excavations have revealed a fort on the site with eight 10-12 foot tall walls, joined by multiple watch towers that were about 30 feet tall. The lost city of Ubar was last seen 300 CE. At the time, archaeologists concluded that the ancient city had disappeared into a sinkhole. The buried remains at Shisr were discovered in 1992 based on satellite imagery, ancient maps and a process of deduction.
In the tales of 1001 Arabian Nights and Bedouin folk tales Ubar is described as a gilded, bejeweled city with soaring towers. Ubar (aka Wabar, Imran or Iram of the Pillars) is called out in the Quran as a wicked, many-towered city that God caused to be swallowed up in a massive sand storm.
In the Rub’ al Kahli desert (the Empty Quarter, the largest contiguous sand desert in the world) at the tiny village of Shisr, Oman, ancient remains discovered in 1992 may be the legendary city of Ubar.