Iram of the Pillars

• Iram of the Pillars, also known as Ubar, is one of the Lost cities of antiquity mentioned in the Quran.
• Opinion is divided as to whether Iram refers to a city or a region and its people.

History

• Iram may have been a city during the Roman Period on the Incense Road.
• If so, it may have been located in the ‘Empty Quarter’, a large desert in the south of the Arabian Peninsular, before being lost to desertification.
• Ptolemy's Geographia refers to a city called Omanum Emporium, the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Oman, and which is thought to have possibly been Ubar or Iram of the Pillars.
• Its location remains unknown.

The Sultanate of Oman