The Origins of the Incenses

Once exposed to air and sun, mur dries and hardens to reddish brown pea sized chunks. Diodorus of sicily even claims that the smells were so strong that sailors travelling up the coast of arabia could smell them as they sailed past. A group of greek sailors who ran out of supplies on the arabian coast around the year 300 a d landed on the shore in search of water and stumbled upon a plantation of these trees. The cultivation of these trees was veiled in secrecy, and this secrecy gave rise to outlandish myths.