For centuries Yemen was the starting point of the trans-Arabian perfume road. Here caravans were equipped which were full of fragrances for lords, priests and women of fashion of Egypt and Baby-lon, for incense burners in the temples and homes in Rome and Athens, and for doctors throughout the Mediterranean. Goods were brought here including purple cloth and clothes, honey and wine, lavish vases which Greece was famous for, vessels of gold and silver, and along with fragrances, tales were taken away about Arabia Felix, where aromatic smells waft from the shores to the sea, where fragrant trees are used for kindling, and where people give themselves over to happy idleness. Who knows how many unknown Odysseuses have made their journey here?
![]() | ![]() Burner for incense. Clay, “dragon’s blood” dye. Hadramawt. | ![]() Incense. San‛a’ | ![]() |
About Exhibition | The Expeditions Are not Over | The Soviet‑Yemen complex expedition (SOYCE) | SOYCE: Studies on Hadramawt Antropology and Ethnography | IJMA= CONCORD | www.kunstkamera.ru