The Asabon promontory that Ptolemy refers to has generally been accepted as that of the Ra’s Musandam and the Ichthyophagi as an indigenous population along the Arabian shore.[1] Recent examination of Ptolemy’s map of Arabia indicates that the Sacrum Sun Promontory may be Ra’s Shaykh Masud and if indeed this was the case there would be a good reason to suppose that Ptolemy’s Rhegama is Khasab.[2] The Asabon mountains are considered to be the Hajar range of Oman especially as Corodamum Point is considered to be Ra’s Al Hadd. With no other significant mountain range to the west of the Hajar range and the fact that the Hajar range reduces in the area of the Emirates to give an appearance of rolling hills then rises again sharply in the Musandam, it would appear acceptable to assume that the ‘Above the Asabon’ mountains referred to by Ptolemy are the Ru’us Al Jibal of the Musandam. Wilkinson states that the identification of Ras al Khaimah with the Biblical Re’ama and the Greek Regma Polis have been considered too speculative though Dibba or Daba is accepted as Pliny’s Dabanegoris regio.[3]

Ptolemy's south-east Arabian toponyms for which locations are known or can be approximately deduced, shown in their true geographical positions (Dhofar inset) by Nigel Groom. © Nigel Groom

The shrine of Shaikh Masud at Ra's Shaykh Masud which Nigel Groom considers may be the Sacrum Sun Promontory. © Peter Rowland