Incense burner ca. mid-1st millennium B.C. This bronze incense burner from southwestern Arabia consists of a cylindrical cup set on a conical base. A rectangular architectural form suggesting a facade extends upward from the cups front. Its face is decorated with two serpents flanking a round disk set within a crescent, all in low relief. Cast separately, an ibex standing on a plinth projects from the front of the incense burner and may serve as a handle.From the middle of the first millennium B.C. until the sixth century A.D., the kingdoms of southwestern Arabia gained considerable wealth and power through their control of the trade in incense between Arabia and the lands of the Mediterranean seacoast. Frankincense and myrrh, gum resins that are native to southern Arabia, were widely valued in the ancient world for the preparation of incense, perfumes, cosmetics, and medicines, as well as for use in religious and funerary ceremonies.The importance of incense in the religion of southw