History is dotted with tales of legendary tones, having inspired fictional adventurers and real-world explorers. From Atlantis to El Dorado via Shambhala or Avalon, Futura invites you to retrace the steps of these mythical places, in order to understand their origins while analyzing the truth from the falsehood.
The Near and Middle East are home to many regions teeming with myths and legendary stories. Among these ancient tales is that of a city lost in the sandssands from arid regions has aroused the curiosity of historianshistorians and theologians throughout the centuries. The City of Pillars, Iram, mentioned in the Quran, is one of the most popular legends of the peninsulapeninsula Arabic. Between religious metaphors, age-old tales relayed by local tribes and archaeological expeditions, what do we know today about this vanished site, renowned for its prosperity and beauty, which we call Atlantis of the Sands?
A mythical city mentioned in Islam
It is in Surah Al-Fajr 6-14 that the first mention of Iram is made:
« Have you not seen how your Lord dealt with the ‘Ad?
[avec] Iram, with its remarkable columns,
The like of which was never built among cities? »
For Iram would have been a colossal metropolis, recognizable by its buildings decorated with vast columns. Academics and religious figures have tried to decipher the mention of Iram in the holy book of Islam. It could refer to a place that actually existed during Antiquity, but could also have a spiritual function serving the religious story depicted in the Koran. Like Atlantis in Plato or Sodom and Gomorrah in the Bible, the mention of Iram is the expression of powerlessness in the face of divine forces, and despite the apparent opulence of the city. While its inhabitants, the ‘Âd, turned away from Allah, the prophet Hud arrived in the city to restore the faith of its inhabitants. In vain, the latter having succumbed to pride, lust and heresy. The desertdesert would then have engulfed the rich city, without its location ever being specified…
Archaeological research centered around religious writings
Despite the paucity of primary sources recounting Iram’s fate, many scholars, explorers, and academics have sought to determine the veracity of the myth. And why not, discover potential archaeological remains in the process. It was then necessary for researchers to find other sources and concordant elements. In IIe century AD, the Greek philosopher and mathematician Claudius Ptolemy drew up a map of the Arabian Peninsula, on which a region called “Ubarite” attracted the attention of archaeologists.
From there, confusion arises. Some believe that the Greek scholar was talking about a city, others lean towards a region. But in the oral tradition conveyed by the Bedouins, Ubar was one of the hubs of trade in the heart of the Rub’ al Khali desert. This vast expanse of 650,000 square kilometers is particularly austere. However, it was in this sea of sand that merchants had established one or more cities during Antiquity to facilitate the transit of goods.
In the 1980s, satellite technologies deployed by NASA offered new views of the Earth. Researchers then use the images collected from space to scrutinize each fraction of land in the Rub’ al Khali, trying to detect traces of a city hidden by time and the elements. A successful idea: traces of artificial structures are observed by imaging satellites.
At the beginning of 1992, a team led by Juris Zarin of the Southwest Missouri State University, manages to exhume an archaeological site in the province of Dhofar, in Oman. An octagonal fort with several towers and some ramparts caused the joy of archaeologists. But thirty years later, uncertainties remain. There is no proof that the fort found in 1992 is Ubar and it would be presumptuous to estimate that Ubar and Iram are one and the same city. The myth of Iram could be a variation of the abandonment of Ubar during Antiquity. But perhaps the City of Pillars still lies beneath the sands of Rub’ al Khali, centuries after its disappearance.
