Iram of the Pillars

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Erum of the Pillars (Arabic: إرَم ذات العماد, Eruma ḏāt al-`imād), also called Iram, Irum, Irem, Ubar, Wabar, or the City of a Thousand Pillars^{[citation needed]}, is a lost city (or region surrounding the lost city) on the Arabian Peninsula.

1 Introduction
2 Rediscovery of Ubar/Erum
3 In fiction
4 See also
5 References
6 Further reading
7 External links

[edit] Introduction

Ubar was mentioned in ancient records, in its Arabic form "Erum", and was spoken of in folk tales as a trading center of the Rub al-Khali Desert in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula. It is estimated that it lasted from about 3000 B.C to the first century A.D. According to legends, it became fabulously wealthy from trade between the coastal regions and the population centers of the Middle-East and Europe. The city became lost to modern history, and was thought to be only a figment of mythical tales.

The Qur'an says that Erum was a city inhabited by the tribe of 'Ad:

The Qur'an, chapter 89 (Al-Fajr), verse 6 to 13:

“

[6] Have you not considered how your Lord dealt with Ad, [7] (The people of) Eruma, possessors of lofty buildings, [8] The like of which were not created in the (other) cities, [9] And (with) Thamood, who hewed out the rocks in the valley, [10] And (with) Firon (Pharaoh), the lord of hosts, [11] Who committed inordinacy in the cities, [12] So they made great mischief therein?, [13] Therefore your Lord let down upon them a portion of the chastisement.— translated by M. H. Shakir

”

According to the scripture, King Shaddad defied the warnings of the prophet Hud (in the Bible Eber or Heber) and God smote the city, driving it into the sands, never to be seen again. The ruins of the city lie buried somewhere in the sands of the Rub' al-Khali. Erum became known to Western literature with the translation of The Book of One Thousand and One Nights.

Arabic tradition holds that the tribe of 'Ad were the great-grandchildren of Noah; It is Mentioned in the Tafseer Al Qur'an " The Explanation of The Qur'an" which can be found in English or any other language.

In the 2nd century A.D. Ptolemy made a map which labeled the region with the name "Iobaritae", meaning that it belonged to the Ubarites. Later legends referred to the fabulous wealth of the lost city and used the region name "Ubar" to designate it.

T. E. Lawrence showed some interest in Erum, and named it "The Atlantis of the Sands".

[edit] Rediscovery of Ubar/Erum

The ruins of the Ubarite oasis and its collapsed well-spring

Recent discoveries have brought Erum out of the realm of myth into history.

In the early 1980s a group of researchers interested in the history of Erum used NASA remote sensing satellites, ground penetrating radar, Landsat program data and images taken from the Space Shuttle Challenger as well as SPOT data to identify old camel train routes and points where they converged. These roads were used as frankincense trade routes around 2800 BC to 100 BC.

One area in the Dhofar province of Oman was identified as a possible location for the lost civilization. A team including adventurer Ranulph Fiennes, archaeologist Juris Zarins, filmmaker Nicholas Clapp, and lawyer George Hedges, scouted the area on several trips, and stopped at a water well called Ash Shisar.^[1] Near this oasis was located a site previously identified as the 16th century Shis'r fort. Excavations uncovered an older settlement, and artifacts traded from far and wide were found. This older fort was found to have been built on top of a large limestone cavern which would have served as the water source for the fort, making it an important oasis on the trade route to Iram. As the residents of the fort consumed the water from underground, the water table fell, leaving the limestone roof and walls of the cavern dry. Without the support of the water, the cavern would have been in danger of collapse, and it seems to have done so some time between 300-500 AD, destroying the oasis and covering over the water source.

Four subsequent excavations were conducted by Dr. Juris Zarins, tracing the historical presence by the people of 'Ad, the assumed ancestral builders of Erum .

[edit] In fiction

Irem, City of Lofty Pillars is a play by Kahlil Gibran.

The city is alluded to in the tales of H. P. Lovecraft as being somewhere near The Nameless City.^[2]

The legend may have inspired the story of the 'accursed sietch' of Jacurutu in Frank Herbert's novel Children of Dune.

James Rollins's recent novel Sandstorm centers on Ubar and its mysteries.

Sean McMullen's story "The Measure of Eternity" (published in Interzone 205) is set in Ubar, describing it as the wealthiest city on earth.

Ubar may also be the source for the desert city of Miraab described in "The Witchcraft of Ulua" by Clark Ashton Smith.

"Wabar" is a major part of the plot in Josephine Tey's mystery novel The Singing Sands.

In the "The Legend of the Arab Astrologer", part of Washington Irving's Tales of the Alhambra, Iram is mentioned as a marvellous magical urban Eden that appears to sleepers that disappears as soon as you exit the gates.

In Weaveworld, by Clive Barker, one of the antagonists visits the Empty Quarter and finds what is presumably the magically reanimated ruins of Iram.