Commiphora myrrha is native to Yemen as well as other dry regions of the southern Arabian Peninsula and northeastern Africa. The resin used in this Sacred Plants Australia preparation is Yemeni in provenance.
On Yemen's southern coast, the ancient port of Qanāʾ in present-day Shabwah was the principal maritime outlet of the Kingdom of Hadramawt and one of Arabia's great incense ports. Its prosperity was closely connected with the export of valuable Yemeni aromatics, particularly frankincense and Myrrh.
Qanāʾ connected the South Arabian resin trade with Red Sea ports, East Africa and India. Inland caravan routes carried aromatics through a network of fortified Yemeni cities associated with the Hadramites, Sabaeans, Qatabanians, Minaeans and other South Arabian peoples.
Across these routes, Myrrh travelled far beyond the landscapes where the resin was produced. It entered incense, perfumery, anointing and funerary traditions across the ancient Near East and Mediterranean world.
The history behind this oil therefore begins with a specifically Yemeni botanical material whose trade helped connect South Arabia with cultures thousands of kilometres away.
