city state · Arabia and the Gulf

Gerrha

400 BCE – 100 CE (approx.) · capital Gerrha

A legendary trading city of eastern Arabia, described by Greek writers as the richest place in the world for its incense and spice trade.

Origins

Gerrha is known mainly from Greek and Roman writers, who say it was founded by Chaldean exiles from Babylon on the Gulf coast of eastern Arabia. It flourished from around the 4th century BCE. Its site has never been identified with certainty; Thaj, Hofuf and the coast near Uqair have all been proposed.

Rule and society

The Gerrhaeans carried frankincense and other goods from south Arabia across the desert and shipped Indian wares up the Gulf to Babylonia. Agatharchides and Strabo describe houses decorated with gold, silver and ivory. In 205 BCE the Seleucid king Antiochus III sailed to Gerrha and accepted a tribute of silver, frankincense and myrrh in return for leaving it free. Local coins with Aramaic legends were struck in the region.

Decline and legacy

Gerrha fades from the sources around the 1st century CE as Roman Red Sea trade and the Nabataean and Palmyrene routes took over. Its precise location remains one of the open questions of Arabian archaeology.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Connections (1)

More states of Arabia and the Gulf →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Gerrha. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/gerrha
MLA
“Gerrha.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/gerrha. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Gerrha.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/gerrha.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Gerrha’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/gerrha (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻