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Fortified city of Baraqish
Height: 31.000 cm
ME 125111
Middle East
The kingdoms of ancient South Arabia
Calcite incense burner
The small kingdom of Ma'in appeared in the seventh century BC. Less concerned with military exploits than their neighbours, the Mineans specialized in the incense trade with the Near East and the Mediterranean. They established close ties with other cities involved in the incense trade and often settled there; Minean inscriptions have been found as far away as Egypt and Delos. On the enclosure wall of the Minean city of Baraqish is an incription which gives thanks to the gods Athtar, Wadd and Nakrah for deliverance from danger in Egypt during the war between the Persians and the Egyptians in the Achaemenid period (6th-4th centuries BC).
The inscription on this incense burner records the dedication of a pair of incense burners (the second one was never found) to the god Athar dhu-Qabd by Ammdhara and Hawf-Wadd. Athar dhu-Qabd (the local version of Athtar, who was worshipped throughout South Arabia) was the most important Minean diety, to whom was dedicated the great temple at the Minaean capital, Qarnaw.
The kingdom of Ma'in collapsed around the beginning of the first century BC under the pressure of nomadic Arabs.