A Glimpse of Ancient Yemen’ – Through Aug. 18, 2019 at the Smithsonian's Sackler Gallery in Washington D.C.

A Glimpse of Ancient Yemen’ – Through Aug. 18, 2019 at the Smithsonian's Sackler Gallery in Washington D.C.

Erote mounted on a striding lion, Bronze, 1st century BCE - 1st century CE Kingdom of Qatabān (ancient Yemen) courtesy of the Sackler Gallery in Washington, D.C.

This exhibit highlights south Arabia (now known as Yemen) and its prosperous trading during ancient times. Aromatics such as frankincense and myrrh came from the region to Greece, Rome and Persia, which in turn spread artistic and cultural traditions in Arabia. The exhibit features objects that were retrieved from the region in the early 1950s, by the so-called "American Lawrence of Arabia", Wendell Phillips, painting a detailed picture of an ancient metropolis.
I had the opportunity to view this small but fascinating collection when I visited Washington D.C. in 2015. Phillips' excavation party was attacked by warring tribesmen and barely managed to save just a few of the items his team recovered from the sites at Timna and surrounding areas. There are also some fascinating artifacts from ancient Arabia in the Near Eastern collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

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