Dr Mounir Arbach, Research Director at CNRS presents:

While there is plenty of documentation about archeological sites and Mesopotamian texts from end of 4^th Millennium BC, the historical period (Iron Age) – 1^st Millennium BC until Islam – is not well known.

Only few texts dating back this period have reached us. The recent discovery of an inscription mentioning a King of Oman dating back 3^rd Century BC, confirms, through the presence of dozens of coins, the existence of a thriving kingdom: trade of spices with the Greek Mesopotamia as well as with the kingdoms of Southern Arabia, named Arabia Felix by classical authors.