Oman and the Frankincense trade –“ the scent of history” by Hugh Willing

About the speaker:

Hugh Willing was an Army Officer for 36 years before retiring in 2007. Born and brought up in Africa but latterly educated in Britain he served with the Royal Green Jackets and 2nd KEO Gurkha Rifles in many parts of the world. He was an Instructor at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and at the Army Staff College Camberley before commanding an Infantry battalion on operations in Northern Ireland. His more exotic overseas postings included two years in both Gibraltar and Cyprus, two years in Hong Kong, and nearly five years in Oman, the latter as Defence Attaché in the British Embassy. He also served in Bosnia and Italy during the Balkans conflict. A Swahili, Arabic, and Gurkhali speaker he has travelled widely in Europe, the Mediterranean, Africa, Arabia, and the Far East both in a military and private capacity, but since 2010 as a lecturer on British cruise ships.

About the talk:

Frankincense, the quintessential aroma of Arabia, has long been considered the very essence of luxury and one of the greatest treasures of the ancient world. Indeed, the scent of frankincense still permeates everyday Omani life.  For it is here that the fabled frankincense of Herodotus is grown, the frankincense guarded by flying snakes and shrouded in perpetual mist as told in the Tales of the Arabian Nights, and the same frankincense brought by the Three Wise Men to Bethlehem. This talk is about the history of the Frankincense trade in Southern Oman.