Khawr Rawrī ( ar, خور روري) or Khor Rori is a

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar ( ...

-built

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

(or

river mouth A river mouth is where a river flows into a larger body of water, such as another river, a lake/reservoir, a bay/gulf, a sea, or an ocean. At the river mouth, sediments are often deposited due to the slowing of the current reducing the carrying ...

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into '' coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons ...

) at the mouth of Wādī Darbāt in the

Dhofar Governorate The Dhofar Governorate ( ar, مُحَافَظَة ظُفَار, Muḥāfaẓat Ẓufār) is the largest of the 11 Governorates in the Sultanate of Oman in terms of area. It lies in Southern Oman, on the eastern border with Yemen's Al Mahrah ...

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

, near

Taqah Taqah ( ar, طاقة) is a province and coastal town in the Dhofar governorate, in southwestern Oman. It is located at about . History In 1908, J.G. Lorimer recorded Rakhyut in his ''Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf'', noting its location as the ea ...

. It is a major breeding ground for birds, and used to act as an important harbour for

frankincense Frankincense (also known as olibanum) is an aromatic resin used in incense and perfumes, obtained from trees of the genus '' Boswellia'' in the family Burseraceae. The word is from Old French ('high-quality incense'). There are several species ...

trade when it was an open estuary. Khor Rori has been identified as the location of Moscha Limen ( grc, Μόσχα λιμήν, probably meaning "the harbour of young shoots (μόσχος)" and referring to the possible

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...

vegetation in the past) and Abyssapolis (named after the abyss besides the waterfall of Wādī Darbāt) in ancient Greek literature. The area represents a popular tourist spot within Oman and since 2000, is a part of the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

, the

Land of Frankincense The Land of Frankincense is a site in Oman on the Incense Road. The site includes frankincense trees, Khor Rori and the remains of a caravan oasis, which were crucial to the medieval incense trade. The site was declared a UNESCO World Heritage S ...

. 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. After the eclipse of Ḥaḍramawt, Sumhuram was under the influence of the Kingdom of Ḥimyar, as indicated by the Himyarite coins excavated from there. It was finally abandoned in the 5th century, most likely due to the formation of the sandbar blocking the estuary. There are also archaeological ruins on the two promontories at the mouth of Khor Rori. The eastern promontory (Inqitat Mirbat) is better explored than the western promontory (Inqitat Taqah). Inqitat Mirbat, also known as Khatiya or al-Ḥamr al-Sharqiya, 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. It was abandoned in the 1st or 2nd century, and re-occupied in the medieval period.

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

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. Most scholars identify Khor Rori with the

exporting port of Moscha Limen mentioned in this region in the first century CE merchants guide, the ''

Periplus of the Erythraean Sea The ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' ( grc, Περίπλους τῆς Ἐρυθρᾶς Θαλάσσης, ', modern Greek '), also known by its Latin name as the , is a Greco-Roman periplus written in Koine Greek that describes navigation and ...

''. The discovery of Khor Rori / Sumhuram is credited to the English explorer

James Theodore Bent James Theodore Bent (30 March 1852 – 5 May 1897) was an English explorer, archaeologist, and author. Biography James Theodore Bent was born in Liverpool on 30 March 1852, the son of James (1807-1876) and Eleanor (née Lambert, c.1811-1873) B ...

, with his wife Mabel, who identified the site during their travels in the region in January 1895. 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. It was inscribed in 2000, along with other sites along the

Incense Route The Incense Trade Route was an ancient network of major land and sea trading routes linking the Mediterranean world with eastern and southern sources of incense, spices and other luxury goods, stretching from Mediterranean ports across the Le ...

in Oman, as part of the

". In 1908, J.G. Lorimer recorded Khor Rori in his ''

Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf The ''Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia'' (nicknamed ''Lorimer'') is a two-volume encyclopedia compiled by John Gordon Lorimer. The ''Gazetteer'' was published in secret by the British government in India in 1908 and 1915 an ...

'', noting its location as the eastern extremity of Dhofar proper. He wrote:

Other contexts

In tourism literature, Sumhuram is occasionally promoted as the summer palace of the

Queen of Sheba The Queen of Sheba ( he, מַלְכַּת שְׁבָא‎, Malkaṯ Šəḇāʾ; ar, ملكة سبأ, Malikat Sabaʾ; gez, ንግሥተ ሳባ, Nəgśətä Saba) is a figure first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. In the original story, she bring ...

, the legendary ruler of the Sabaʾ Kingdom living in the 10th century BC. It contradicts archaeological evidence which shows that Sumhuram was founded in the 3rd century BC by the kingdom of Ḥaḍramawt. Some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints believe that Khor Rori is the " land Bountiful" where Nephi from the

Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude ...

stayed during his travels from Jerusalem (

First Nephi The First Book of Nephi: His Reign and Ministry (), usually referred to as First Nephi or 1 Nephi, is the first book of the Book of Mormon and one of four books with the name Nephi. The original translation of the title did not include the word "f ...

, chapter 17).Potter, George and Wellington, Richard. ''Lehi's Trail: From the Valley of Lemuel to Nephi's Harbor.http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/jbms/?vol=15&num=2&id=415''

Gallery

Khor Rori flamingos.jpg,

Greater flamingo The greater flamingo (''Phoenicopterus roseus'') is the most widespread and largest species of the flamingo family. It is found in Africa, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, and in southern Europe. Taxonomy The greater flamingo was desc ...

s in Khor Rori OM-sumhuram-tafel-2.jpg, Information board of Sumhuram OM-sumhuram-tafel.jpg, Information board of Sumhuram Sumharam.jpg, The ruins of Sumhuram OM-sumhuram-weihrauchstr.jpg, Frankincense tree in the ruins of Sumhuram

References

{{Authority control Land of Frankincense Archaeological sites in Oman Book of Mormon studies Estuaries of Asia Lagoons of Asia Bodies of water of Oman Dhofar Governorate