page_title: Ed-Dur
section_title: Graeco-Roman links
hierarchical_section_title: Ed-Dur / Graeco-Roman links
caption_attribution_description: English: A Tetra Drachma of the type found in large quantities at Ed-Dur. Finds of moulds in Mleiha show these were minted there.
context_page_description: Ed-Dur or Ed-Dour is an Ancient Near Eastern City located in Umm Al Quwain, in the United Arab Emirates. One of the largest archaeological sites in the emirates, comprising an area of some 5 km², the coastal settlement overlooks Al-Beidha Lake. One of the most important archaeological finds in the UAE, It has been dubbed 'one of the most significant lost cities of Arabia'.
context_section_description: It is thought that Ed-Dur is the site of Omana, mentioned by both Pliny and Strabo as an important town in the Lower Gulf. The city is referred to in the anonymous Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a documentation of trade between Alexandria and India, and the Periplus indicates that Omana was the most important port in the Gulf during the first century CE and was linked with the port of Apologos (al-Ubulla) at the head of the Gulf, which has been linked to Basra. This trade down the Gulf, via camel trains inland from the Gulf to Syria would explain the richness of finds of Roman materials at Ed-Dur. Contemporary Greek manuscripts have given the exports from Ed-Dur as 'pearls, purple dye, clothing, wine, gold and slaves, and a great quantity of dates'.
  The site has been associated with the inland historical development of Mileiha in the Emirate of Sharjah, with which it is thought to have had strong ties. Similarities in burial rituals — of laying animals to rest with their owners — and vessels, decorations and small bronze snake figures have also been unearthed. Camels buried with their heads reversed are a common feature of both the animal burials at Ed-Dur and inland Mleiha.
  Ed-Dur had a rich trading past, with artefacts found at the site showing links both with Mesopotamia and India. Macedonian style coinage unearthed at Ed-Dur dates back to Alexander the Great, while hundreds of coins have been found featuring a head of Heracles and a seated Zeus on the obverse, and bearing the name of Abi'el in Aramaic. These coins match coin moulds found at Mleiha. Their dating to 100 AD, when Ed-Dur was in its prime, is complicated by similar coins found in Bahrain in a hoard dated to 200 BC. It is thought that Abi'el lived on in coinage much as Alexander did on coins minted centuries after his death.
caption: A Tetra Drachma of the type found in large quantities at Ed-Dur. Finds of coin moulds in Mleiha matching these coins show they were minted there, between 100-200 CE.
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