Akrakomi Port
Akrakomi Port or Akra is a historic harbor located forty-five km south of the city of Al-Wajh, which belongs to the Tabuk Province in north-western Saudi Arabia. It was the main port of the Nabataean Kingdom on the Arabian Peninsula, and it served Hegra, one of the most important Nabataean settlements, lying 170 km away. A historic route known as the Kharrāz Road connected the two sites,and Akrakomi is mentioned in classical accounts relating to the failed campaign of the Roman commander Aelius Gallus against the Arabian Peninsula in 25 BC.
Location of Akrakomi Port
The port site witnessed the end of the course of Wadi Al-Hamid, one of the largest wadis in western Saudi Arabia, which flows through it into the Red Sea.Until 1992, the location of this historic port mentioned in ancient sources was unknown; then the quays and the archaeological remains made up of Nabataean materials revealed and pinpointed the location of Akrakomi Port, which lay between the Al-Qusayr Templeand the anchorage of Karkamah,a place currently known as Akra.
Historical importance of Akrakomi
Akrakomi has historical importance, as archaeological studies and the fixed remains at the site indicate that the Akrakomi Port area also included a Nabataean temple, built using rajam stones, connected to the port’s anchorage by a levelled dirt track running parallel to the seacoast.
The site preserves the architectural style that prevailed during the Nabataean period and includes inscriptions and texts written in the Nabataean language, and in the design of columns, friezes and capitals it mirrors the architectural style used on the façades of tombs at the historic site of Hegra.
Naming of Akrakomi
The term Akrakomi is of Nabataean origin; in the Nabataean language it is a compound name of “Kra – Komi”. Kra means “place” and Komi means “port”. To make it easier to pronounce, it was called “Akrakomi”.
Sources
Ministry of Tourism.
Encyclopaedia of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Ghobban; Akra Komi and Luki Komi, and Ambloni: Historic ports on the Red Sea in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, verifying their locations in the light of the results of archaeological research; 1439 AH/2017 AD; Ministry of Tourism.