Iram of the Pillars (Ubar, the Atlantis of the Sands)
A legendary lost city in the Arabian desert mentioned in the Quran, built by the tyrannical King Shaddad son of Ad in an attempt to create an earthly paradise with gold and silver ramparts, pillars of chrysolite and ruby, and rivers flowing through channels of gold. God destroyed Shaddad and his entire army with a mighty sound when they were one day's march from the city, blotting out the road forever. The city became known as the 'Atlantis of the Sands.' In 1992, satellite radar imagery led to the discovery of a 2,000-year-old fortified trading site at Shisr in Oman, now identified by some wi