Frankincense

==History==
[[File:Weihrauch.jpg|thumb|left|Indirect burning of frankincense on hot coal]]
[[File:Olibanum resin.jpg|thumb|left|Frankincense olibanum resin]]

Frankincense has been traded on the [[Arabian Peninsula]] for more than 5,000 years.{{r|"Simla2005"|page=5}} Frankincense was also traded from the Horn of Africa during the [[Silk Road]] era.<ref>Ulric Killion, ''A Modern Chinese Journey to the West: Economic Globalis]ation And Dualism'', (Nova Science Publishers: 2006), p.66</ref> [[Greeks|Greek]] historian [[Herodotus]] wrote in ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|The History]]'' that frankincense was harvested from trees in southern Arabia. He reported that the gum was dangerous to harvest because of winged snakes<ref>{{lang|el|ὄφιες ὑπόπτεροι}}</ref> that guard the trees and that the smoke from burning [[Storax balsam|storax]] would drive the snakes away.<ref name="HerodotusMacaulayEng">{{Cite wikisource|wslanguage=en|title=The History of Herodotus|wslink=The History of Herodotus (Macaulay)|author1=Herodotus|author1-link=Herodotus|translator1-last=Macaulay|translator1-first=George Campbell | name-list-style = vanc |year=1904|origyear=5c BCE|chapter=Book_III|page=107|language=en}}</ref><ref name="HerodotusGreek">{{Cite wikisource|wslanguage=el|title=Ιστορίαι (Ηροδότου)|author1=Herodotus|author1-link=Herodotus|chapter=Θάλεια|wspages=107|pages=107–110| veditors = Godley AD |place=Cambridge|year=1920|origyear=5c BCE}}</ref> [[Pliny the Elder]] also mentioned frankincense in his ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Naturalis Historia]]''.<ref name="PlinyBostockEng">{{Cite encyclopedia|title=THE TREES THAT BEAR FRANKINCENSE|encyclopedia=The Natural History|author=Pliny the Elder|translator1-last=Bostock|translator1-first=John | name-list-style = vanc |chapter-url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D12%3Achapter%3D30|access-date=2021-07-15|volume=XII|chapter=Chapters 30–32|language=en|via=Perseus digital library, Tufts University}}</ref><ref name="PlinyLatin">{{Cite wikisource|wslanguage=la|title=Naturalis Historia|author1=Gaius Plinius Secundus|author1-link=Pliny the Elder|chapter=Liber XII|wspages=51|pages=51–65}}</ref>

Frankincense was reintroduced to [[Western Europe]] by Frankish [[Crusades|Crusaders]],{{Citation needed|date=July 2021|reason=What does "re"-introduced means here?}} and other Western Europeans on their journeys to the [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Roman Empire]] where it was commonly used in church services. Although named ''frank''incense, the name refers to the quality of incense brought to Western Europe, not to the [[Franks]] themselves.<ref name="OED1933_Frankincense" />

Southern Arabia was an exporter of frankincense in antiquity, with some of it being traded as far as China. The 13th-century Chinese writer and customs inspector [[Zhao Rukuo|Zhao Rugua]] wrote that {{transliteration|zh|Ruxiang}} or {{transliteration|sh|xunluxiang}} ([[Chinese language|Chinese]]: {{lang|zh|乳香}} {{transliteration|zh|rǔ xiāng}}/ {{lang|zh|薰陸香}} {{transliteration|zh|xūn lù xiāng}}) comes from the three ''Dashi'' states (Chinese: {{lang|zh|大食}} {{transliteration|zh|dàshí}} - [[Caliphate]] (Arab Muslims)) of ''Maloba'' ([[Murbat]]), ''Shihe'' ([[Shihr]]), and ''Nufa'' ([[Dhofar]]), from the depths of the remotest mountains;<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Kauz R |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YJibpHfnw94C&pg=PA130 |access-date=December 26, 2011 |title=Aspects of the Maritime Silk Road: From the Persian Gulf to the East China Sea |year=2010 |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag |page=130 |isbn=978-3-447-06103-2 |quote=The frankincense was first collected in the [[Hadhramaut]] ports of Mirbat, Shihr, and Zufar whence Arab merchant vessels shipped it to Srivijaya, before it was then reexported to China. The term "xunluxiang" derives from the Arab word "kundur". . . According to Li Xun, frankincense originally came from Persia. Laufer refers to the ''Xiangpu'' 香譜 by Hong Chu . . . Zhao Rugua notes: Ruxiang or xunluxiang comes from the three Dashi countries of Murbat (Maloba), Shihr (Shihe), and Dhofar (Nufa), from the depths of the remotest mountains. The tree which yields this drug may generally be compared to the pine tree. Its trunk is notched with a hatchet, upon which the}}</ref> the trunk of the tree is notched with a hatchet, upon which the resin flows out, and, when hardened, turns into incense, which is gathered and made into lumps; it is transported on elephants<!-- <ref name="IUCN_elephant">Note: there are no wild elephants today in South Arabia: {{Cite iucn|title=African Savanna Elephant|date=2020-11-13|access-date=2021-07-15|doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-1.RLTS.T181008073A181022663.en}}</ref> --> to the ''Dashi'' ports, then on ship to [[Sanfotsi|Sanfoqi]]; which is why it was known as a product of Sanfoqi.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Kauz R |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YJibpHfnw94C&pg=PA131 |access-date=December 26, 2011 |title=Aspects of the Maritime Silk Road: From the Persian Gulf to the East China Sea |year=2010  |editor=Ralph Kauz |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag |page=131 |isbn=978-3-447-06103-2 |quote=resin flows out, and, when hardened, turns into incense, which is gathered and made into lumps. It is transported on elephants to the Dashi (on the coast), who then load it upon their ships to exchange it for other commodities in Sanfoqi. This is the reason why it is commonly collected at and known as a product of Sanfoqi.}}</ref>

In [[Christian tradition]], frankincense is one of the gifts given by the [[Biblical Magi]] to Jesus at his [[Nativity of Jesus|nativity]] as described in the [[Gospel of Matthew]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nga.gov/features/rubens-magi/biblical-magi.html |title=Biblical Magi |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=<!--Not stated--> |website=nga.gov |publisher= National Gallery of Art |access-date=20 February 2024 |quote=The Gospel of Matthew (2:1–12) speaks of Magi, or wise men, who followed a star from the East to Bethlehem in search of a newborn king. There they found Mary and the baby Jesus and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.}}</ref>