Khor Rori is best known for the ruins of the ancient fortified port city of Sumhuram on the eastern bank, which was founded in the 3rd century BC as an outpost for the Kingdom of Ḥaḍramawt.[4] After the eclipse of Ḥaḍramawt, Sumhuram was under the influence of the Kingdom of Ḥimyar, as indicated by the Himyarite coins excavated from there.[5] It was finally abandoned in the 5th century, most likely due to the formation of the sandbar blocking the estuary.[1][6]
There are also archaeological ruins on the two promontories at the mouth of Khor Rori. The eastern promontory (Inqitat Mirbat[7]) is better explored than the western promontory (Inqitat Taqah[7]).[8] Inqitat Mirbat, also known as Khatiya or al-Ḥamr al-Sharqiya,[9][10] had been inhabited by the 4th century BC before the emergence of Sumhuram, and its settlement history might date back to the 8th century BC.[11] It was abandoned in the 1st or 2nd century,[11] and re-occupied in the medieval period.[10]
History
Inscriptions at Khor Rori report that the town of Sumhuram (Hadramautic: s1mhrm), was founded on royal initiative and settled by Hadhrami emigrants. The Dhofar region was the main source of frankincense in the ancient period, and it seems likely that the foundation of the settlement by the Hadhramaut was in part motivated by wish to control the production of this valuable commodity.
Khor Rori has been tentatively identified as the location of Moscha Limen (Ancient Greek: Μόσχα λιμήν, probably meaning "the harbour of young shoots (μόσχος)" and referring to the possible mangrove vegetation in the past), or else "the harbour of musk, perfume"[12][13] The name appeared in the anonymous Periplus of the Erythraean Sea of the 1st century CE, and in Ptolemy's Geographia in the next century. It has also been identified with Abissa polis or Abyssapolis (Ancient Greek: Ἄβισσα πόλις) from Ptolemy; this name has first been connected with the abyss besides the waterfall of Wādī Darbāt,[9][14][15] but may be related to the Abyssinian people.[13][16] The existence of an ancient port city in this area has been expected by 19th century western geographers based on the classical and Arabic sources. In the 1890s the location was pointed out by Eduard Glaser, and English explorer James Theodore Bent, who visited it in January 1895 with his wife Mabel, published a description of it, and reiterated the double identification.[15][9]
A remarkable lake or inlet of the sea running a mile or more inland; it is the estuary of Wadi Dirbat from Jabal Samhan.
The inlet is divided from the sea by a sand bar over which the water flows at high tide. A peninsula, once fortified, adjoins the east side of the entrance. Remains of ancient buildings surround the lake. There is a fortified rock at the entrance to the inlet, which is called Khatiyah. This harbour is the ancient Moscha, or Abyssapolis.[17]
The site has been excavated by the American Foundation for the Study of Man (AFSM) in the early 1950s and by the Italian Mission to Oman (IMTO) since 1994. The excavations have uncovered the ground plan of the settlement and has attested maritime contacts with the Ḥaḑramite homeland, India and the Mediterranean.
In tourism literature, Sumhuram is occasionally promoted as the summer palace of the Queen of Sheba,[18] the legendary ruler of the Sabaʾ Kingdom living in the 10th century BC.[19] It contradicts archaeological evidence which shows that Sumhuram was founded in the 3rd century BC by the kingdom of Ḥaḍramawt.[4]
^ abBent, James Theodore; Bent, Mabel Virginia Anna (1900). "The Identification of Abyssapolis". Southern Arabia. London, England: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 268–276.
