OMANA
OMANA (
τὰ Ὄμανα), a deep bay on the south coast of Arabia east of Syagros, 600 stadia in diameter, according to the Periplus, bounded on the east by lofty and rugged mountains (ap. Hudson,
Geog. Min. tom. i. p. 18), doubtless identical with the Omanum emporium, which Ptolemy places in long. 77° 40′, lat. 19° 45′, which must have belonged to the Omanitae mentioned by the same geographer (6.15), separated only by the. Cattabani from the Montes Asaborum, doubtless the mountains mentioned in the Periplus. If
Ras Fartak be correctly taken as the ancient Syagros, the ancient Omana. must have been far to the west of the district of Arabia now called by that name, and within the territory of
Hadramaut. The modern
Omán is the south-eastern extremity of the peninsula, and gives its name to the sea outside the mouth; of the
Persian Gulf, which washes it on the east and south. (Gosselin,
Récherches, tom. iii. pp. 32, 33; Vincent, 3.16,; Forster,
Geogr. of Arabia, vol. ii. pp. 173, 180, note †.)
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G.W]
