"Examining Accounts of the Incense Trade"
This unit was funded by the Asian Art Museum's Education Program as part of the "Roads of Arabia" exhibit.
Overview:
Students will learn about the lucrative incense trade that dominated Arabia for more than a thousand years. They will learn about various spices, their many uses in the ancient world, and how the sources of these products were obscured to protect the lucrative trade. Students will read Biblical and historical accounts about the incense trade to understand its importance for more than a thousand years.
Objective:
Students will understand the uses of incense in the ancient world and recognize the importance of spices, especially frankincense and myrrh, to the economy of Arabia. Students will interpret a range of primary source documents to better understand the extraordinary value of these items and the wide range of their uses.
Enduring Understanding:
Students will understand that rare spices such as frankincense, myrrh, and cinnamon had extraordinary value due to their unique properties and also due to the mystery of their origin.
Grade Level: 6th - 7th Grade; 9th grade
Duration: Three to four class periods
Common Core Standards:
HSS 6.2: Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior
knowledge or opinions.
HSS 6.7: Distinguish between fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.
R 6.1: Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
R 7.1: Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
R 6.2: Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal
opinions or judgments.
Content Standards (California)
Historical and Social Sciences Analysis Skills - Grades 6 -8
2. Students construct various time lines of key events, people, and periods of the historical era they are studying.
3. Students use a variety of maps and documents to identify physical and cultural features of neighborhoods, cities, states, and countries and to explain
the historical migration of people, expansion and disintegration of empires, and the growth of economic systems.
Research, Evidence, and Point of View - Grades 6-8
1. Students frame questions that can be answered by historical study and research.
2. Students distinguish fact from opinion in historical narratives and stories.
3. Students distinguish relevant information, essential from incidental information, and verifiable information from unverifiable information
in historical narratives and stories.
4. Students assess the credibility of primary and secondary sources and draw sound conclusions from them.
5. Students detect the different historical points of view on historical events and determine the context in which the historical statements were
made (the questions asked, sources used, author's perspectives).
Historical Interpretation - Grades 6-8
2. Students understand and distinguish cause, effect, sequence, and correlation in historical events, including the long-and short-term causal
relations.
3. Students explain the sources of historical continuity and how the combination of ideas and events explains the emergence of new patterns.
Materials:
Frankincense Harvesting (video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ed5hyCsnJM
Incense Roads: Primary Source Accounts
Incense Roads: Primary Source Chart
Incense Altars hand out
Tall Tales of the Nabataeans
Spices Defined
Background:
For more than three thousand years, the ancient world was linked by elaborate trade routes where caravans carried exotic goods along the Silk Road to burgeoning markets around the Mediterranean Sea. Parallel, segmented sea routes brought cargoes of exotic woods and spices from India and Southeast Asia to ports along the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea. Spices were highly prized in the ancient civilized world, as they were used in various rituals in Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Arabia played a central role as the crossroads for both the land and sea trade as goods made their way to ports near the Gulf of Aqaba and the Sinai. Arabia was the primary source for the highly prized incense products, frankincense and myrrh, that grew in the south. Romans would later call this land "Arabia Felix." Determined to protect their lucrative trade, merchants concealed the origin of these valuable aromatics. Far-fetched tales about distant lands and their dangers contributed to the mystery surrounding spices. For the next fifteen hundred years, the desire to discover new routes to the legendary "spice lands" would spur geographers, astronomers, and sailors to chart new understandings of the world itself.
This lesson will help students understand what "spices" and incense are, and what gave them their extraordinary value.
There are several parts:
• an introduction to spices that were transported across Arabia
• understanding market forces of "supply and demand"
• readings of primary source accounts on the uses, origins, and value of frankincense and myrrh.
• a look at "Tall Tales" typical of the common fears of unknown lands
• observation of incense altars and burners in the collection
Vocabulary:
primary source
scarcity
surplus
secondary source
supply
demand
monopoly
frankincense
myrrh
value
tribute
segmented
aromatics
incense
Procedure:
Depending on your school and student population, you might have frankincense burning in the classroom as your students arrive. Note that a few students may be uncomfortable with the scent or the smoke. Others will be intrigued or pleased.
1. Introduce the lesson by asking students:
a. Define "luxury goods." What are some examples? (technology gadgets, cars, and designer clothing, jewelry)
b. What qualities make something a luxury good? What gives an item high value? (high quality, unique, rare, or stylish
attributes, advertising contributes)
c. What might have been a luxury good 100 years ago? 1000 years ago? (art, exotic animals, certain foods, gemstones,
or gold. Notice that the list of attributes includes rarity, scarcity, and quality.) The spices that were sought out in the
ancient world had a value equivalent to gold and precious gemstones.) What would give these items value to the
ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Persians, or Romans?
2. Explore and define the terms: market, supply, scarcity versus surplus) and how both affect demand. Discuss products that
your students can relate to. Elicit examples from them to explore "market forces." Point out today that rare or exotic goods can
be quite costly and yet fashionable.
3. Brainstorm types of spices. Introduce 8-10 spices that were in high demand during ancient times. These came from a wide
range of places but were transported in a "segmented trade," where merchants would stop frequently, thus extending the time it
would take for products to reach their destination, and increasing their price. These extensive land and water networks
connected the Middle East, South Asia, and the Far East to the Mediterranean markets.
4. To help students understand the central role that Arabia played in the ancient spice trade, review the geography of West Asia.
The overland Silk Road traversed across the northern part of the country to the terminus sites of Petra and Gaza. Sea traders
brought goods into the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea from sources in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia.
5. Two of the most prized spices were fragrant wood resins, frankincense and myrrh from Arabia, which were natural resources in
Southern Arabia and east Africa. (See "Spices Defined").
Introduce the following "aromatics" to the class:
• frankincense
• myrrh
• sandalwood
• oud (aloeswood)
• nutmeg & mace
• cardamom
• cinnamon & cassia
• black pepper
• cloves
Optional Activity: Working in groups of three, assign students to research the nine spices. If your students have internet or library access, they should focus on origin, history, and uses. Afterwards students will share their findings with the class. Note where these spicess originated. Discuss the challenge of transporting goods across great distances to foreign markets by sea or caravan.
6. Watch Frankincense Harvesting - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ed5hyCsnJM How does the video help your further understanding
about frankincense and its value? Show Incense Burners and Altars Images from the Roads of Arabia exhibition. Explain that
incense would have been placed on top of the burners and burning them would create a fragrance. Incense was burned in
temples as ritual offerings, but also to cover up unpleasant smells of daily life. Add page & Link to: Incense Altars.doc.
7. Remind your students that during ancient times, there was little understanding of the geography of the world. Exaggerated
stories and myths were common about the faraway lands where spices originated. Eventually, during the height of the Roman
Empire period, the Nabataeans (in present-day Jordan) dominated the incense trade. They were assumed to be "tellers of tall
tales" believed to obscure their sources. Share three such stories with your class here.
8. To help students understand the central role that Arabia played in the ancient spice trade, be sure that they are familiar with
the geography of the Middle East. The overland Silk Road traversed across the northern part of the country to the terminus
sites of Petra and Gaza. Sea traders brought goods into the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea from sources in the Indian Ocean.
Activity: Analyzing Primary Sources
Distribute the Incense Roads: Primary Source Chart and selected Incense Roads: Primary Source Accounts
Your students will now work with partners to analyze primary source accounts about the spice trade. They should identify the following in their readings:
• Source /Origin
• Religious Beliefs or Legends
• Given as Tribute
• Uses / Rituals
• Evidence of Value
Before class, make copies of the primary sources & charts for your students to read.
There are 22 different selections provided. Three or four (depending on length) for each student should be adequate for this activity. Students should read the quote, determine the meaning, and write the main ideas in their own words in the second column. Next, they should circle the categories that the information provides. Most importantly, the students should write what can be learned from this quote.
Assessment:
To debrief this lesson, you can have a discussion about what they learned about the uses of spices. What did they learn about the sources of these goods? What were some of the legends or religious uses for certain spices? What made spices so valuable?
Extension:
Give students an opportunity to design a present-day product that captures some of the mystery and allure of the ancient spice trade. How could frankincense or myrrh be marketed today? What uses might appeal to 21st century buyers? Design a promotional poster, commercial, or radio advertisement to sell your idea.
RESOURCES
Websites for teachers:
Caravan Kingdoms: Yemen and the Ancient Incense Trade
Freer-Sackler Museum has good images and clear simple information for students about the incense trade.
Hellenic Gods: Frankincense
Background, history, and uses of frankincense especially in Greek history
The Lure of Spices, The American Spice Trade Association
"Monsoon Winds to the Land of Gold"
Curriculum unit and simulation on ancient maritime spice trade
Nabataean History
Old Scent, New Bottles - Saudi Aramco World, Nov/Dec. 1987
Online article about frankincense:
Books for teachers:
Groom, Nigel, Frankincense and Myrrh: A Study of the Arabian Incense Trade. Librairie du Liban: Longman
London and New York, 1981.
Good books for kids:
Reid, Struan. The Silk and Spices Routes: Exploration by Sea. London: Belitha Press, 1993.
Reid, Struan. The Silk and Spices Routes: Inventions and Trade. London: Belitha Press, 1993.
Schneider, Mical. Between the Dragon and the Eagle. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books,1997.
Partial scene from wall relief in tomb of Queen Hatshepsut in Egypt showing incense tree that was brought from the Land of Punt (Historians disagree on precise location of where this is).
https://answersingenesis.org/archaeology/ancient-egypt/hatshepsut-the-female-pharaoh/
This unit was funded by the Asian Art Museum's Education Program as part of the "Roads of Arabia" exhibit.
Overview:
Students will learn about the lucrative incense trade that dominated Arabia for more than a thousand years. They will learn about various spices, their many uses in the ancient world, and how the sources of these products were obscured to protect the lucrative trade. Students will read Biblical and historical accounts about the incense trade to understand its importance for more than a thousand years.
Objective:
Students will understand the uses of incense in the ancient world and recognize the importance of spices, especially frankincense and myrrh, to the economy of Arabia. Students will interpret a range of primary source documents to better understand the extraordinary value of these items and the wide range of their uses.
Enduring Understanding:
Students will understand that rare spices such as frankincense, myrrh, and cinnamon had extraordinary value due to their unique properties and also due to the mystery of their origin.
Grade Level: 6th - 7th Grade; 9th grade
Duration: Three to four class periods
Common Core Standards:
HSS 6.2: Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior
knowledge or opinions.
HSS 6.7: Distinguish between fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.
R 6.1: Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
R 7.1: Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
R 6.2: Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal
opinions or judgments.
Content Standards (California)
Historical and Social Sciences Analysis Skills - Grades 6 -8
2. Students construct various time lines of key events, people, and periods of the historical era they are studying.
3. Students use a variety of maps and documents to identify physical and cultural features of neighborhoods, cities, states, and countries and to explain
the historical migration of people, expansion and disintegration of empires, and the growth of economic systems.
Research, Evidence, and Point of View - Grades 6-8
1. Students frame questions that can be answered by historical study and research.
2. Students distinguish fact from opinion in historical narratives and stories.
3. Students distinguish relevant information, essential from incidental information, and verifiable information from unverifiable information
in historical narratives and stories.
4. Students assess the credibility of primary and secondary sources and draw sound conclusions from them.
5. Students detect the different historical points of view on historical events and determine the context in which the historical statements were
made (the questions asked, sources used, author's perspectives).
Historical Interpretation - Grades 6-8
2. Students understand and distinguish cause, effect, sequence, and correlation in historical events, including the long-and short-term causal
relations.
3. Students explain the sources of historical continuity and how the combination of ideas and events explains the emergence of new patterns.
Materials:
Frankincense Harvesting (video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ed5hyCsnJM
Incense Roads: Primary Source Accounts
Incense Roads: Primary Source Chart
Incense Altars hand out
Tall Tales of the Nabataeans
Spices Defined
Background:
For more than three thousand years, the ancient world was linked by elaborate trade routes where caravans carried exotic goods along the Silk Road to burgeoning markets around the Mediterranean Sea. Parallel, segmented sea routes brought cargoes of exotic woods and spices from India and Southeast Asia to ports along the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea. Spices were highly prized in the ancient civilized world, as they were used in various rituals in Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Arabia played a central role as the crossroads for both the land and sea trade as goods made their way to ports near the Gulf of Aqaba and the Sinai. Arabia was the primary source for the highly prized incense products, frankincense and myrrh, that grew in the south. Romans would later call this land "Arabia Felix." Determined to protect their lucrative trade, merchants concealed the origin of these valuable aromatics. Far-fetched tales about distant lands and their dangers contributed to the mystery surrounding spices. For the next fifteen hundred years, the desire to discover new routes to the legendary "spice lands" would spur geographers, astronomers, and sailors to chart new understandings of the world itself.
This lesson will help students understand what "spices" and incense are, and what gave them their extraordinary value.
There are several parts:
• an introduction to spices that were transported across Arabia
• understanding market forces of "supply and demand"
• readings of primary source accounts on the uses, origins, and value of frankincense and myrrh.
• a look at "Tall Tales" typical of the common fears of unknown lands
• observation of incense altars and burners in the collection
Vocabulary:
primary source
scarcity
surplus
secondary source
supply
demand
monopoly
frankincense
myrrh
value
tribute
segmented
aromatics
incense
Procedure:
Depending on your school and student population, you might have frankincense burning in the classroom as your students arrive. Note that a few students may be uncomfortable with the scent or the smoke. Others will be intrigued or pleased.
1. Introduce the lesson by asking students:
a. Define "luxury goods." What are some examples? (technology gadgets, cars, and designer clothing, jewelry)
b. What qualities make something a luxury good? What gives an item high value? (high quality, unique, rare, or stylish
attributes, advertising contributes)
c. What might have been a luxury good 100 years ago? 1000 years ago? (art, exotic animals, certain foods, gemstones,
or gold. Notice that the list of attributes includes rarity, scarcity, and quality.) The spices that were sought out in the
ancient world had a value equivalent to gold and precious gemstones.) What would give these items value to the
ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Persians, or Romans?
2. Explore and define the terms: market, supply, scarcity versus surplus) and how both affect demand. Discuss products that
your students can relate to. Elicit examples from them to explore "market forces." Point out today that rare or exotic goods can
be quite costly and yet fashionable.
3. Brainstorm types of spices. Introduce 8-10 spices that were in high demand during ancient times. These came from a wide
range of places but were transported in a "segmented trade," where merchants would stop frequently, thus extending the time it
would take for products to reach their destination, and increasing their price. These extensive land and water networks
connected the Middle East, South Asia, and the Far East to the Mediterranean markets.
4. To help students understand the central role that Arabia played in the ancient spice trade, review the geography of West Asia.
The overland Silk Road traversed across the northern part of the country to the terminus sites of Petra and Gaza. Sea traders
brought goods into the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea from sources in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia.
5. Two of the most prized spices were fragrant wood resins, frankincense and myrrh from Arabia, which were natural resources in
Southern Arabia and east Africa. (See "Spices Defined").
Introduce the following "aromatics" to the class:
• frankincense
• myrrh
• sandalwood
• oud (aloeswood)
• nutmeg & mace
• cardamom
• cinnamon & cassia
• black pepper
• cloves
Optional Activity: Working in groups of three, assign students to research the nine spices. If your students have internet or library access, they should focus on origin, history, and uses. Afterwards students will share their findings with the class. Note where these spicess originated. Discuss the challenge of transporting goods across great distances to foreign markets by sea or caravan.
6. Watch Frankincense Harvesting - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ed5hyCsnJM How does the video help your further understanding
about frankincense and its value? Show Incense Burners and Altars Images from the Roads of Arabia exhibition. Explain that
incense would have been placed on top of the burners and burning them would create a fragrance. Incense was burned in
temples as ritual offerings, but also to cover up unpleasant smells of daily life. Add page & Link to: Incense Altars.doc.
7. Remind your students that during ancient times, there was little understanding of the geography of the world. Exaggerated
stories and myths were common about the faraway lands where spices originated. Eventually, during the height of the Roman
Empire period, the Nabataeans (in present-day Jordan) dominated the incense trade. They were assumed to be "tellers of tall
tales" believed to obscure their sources. Share three such stories with your class here.
8. To help students understand the central role that Arabia played in the ancient spice trade, be sure that they are familiar with
the geography of the Middle East. The overland Silk Road traversed across the northern part of the country to the terminus
sites of Petra and Gaza. Sea traders brought goods into the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea from sources in the Indian Ocean.
Activity: Analyzing Primary Sources
Distribute the Incense Roads: Primary Source Chart and selected Incense Roads: Primary Source Accounts
Your students will now work with partners to analyze primary source accounts about the spice trade. They should identify the following in their readings:
• Source /Origin
• Religious Beliefs or Legends
• Given as Tribute
• Uses / Rituals
• Evidence of Value
Before class, make copies of the primary sources & charts for your students to read.
There are 22 different selections provided. Three or four (depending on length) for each student should be adequate for this activity. Students should read the quote, determine the meaning, and write the main ideas in their own words in the second column. Next, they should circle the categories that the information provides. Most importantly, the students should write what can be learned from this quote.
Assessment:
To debrief this lesson, you can have a discussion about what they learned about the uses of spices. What did they learn about the sources of these goods? What were some of the legends or religious uses for certain spices? What made spices so valuable?
Extension:
Give students an opportunity to design a present-day product that captures some of the mystery and allure of the ancient spice trade. How could frankincense or myrrh be marketed today? What uses might appeal to 21st century buyers? Design a promotional poster, commercial, or radio advertisement to sell your idea.
RESOURCES
Websites for teachers:
Caravan Kingdoms: Yemen and the Ancient Incense Trade
Freer-Sackler Museum has good images and clear simple information for students about the incense trade.
Hellenic Gods: Frankincense
Background, history, and uses of frankincense especially in Greek history
The Lure of Spices, The American Spice Trade Association
"Monsoon Winds to the Land of Gold"
Curriculum unit and simulation on ancient maritime spice trade
Nabataean History
Old Scent, New Bottles - Saudi Aramco World, Nov/Dec. 1987
Online article about frankincense:
Books for teachers:
Groom, Nigel, Frankincense and Myrrh: A Study of the Arabian Incense Trade. Librairie du Liban: Longman
London and New York, 1981.
Good books for kids:
Reid, Struan. The Silk and Spices Routes: Exploration by Sea. London: Belitha Press, 1993.
Reid, Struan. The Silk and Spices Routes: Inventions and Trade. London: Belitha Press, 1993.
Schneider, Mical. Between the Dragon and the Eagle. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books,1997.
Partial scene from wall relief in tomb of Queen Hatshepsut in Egypt showing incense tree that was brought from the Land of Punt (Historians disagree on precise location of where this is).
https://answersingenesis.org/archaeology/ancient-egypt/hatshepsut-the-female-pharaoh/