Horn of Africa Himyarite Kingdom. Under Ezana (fl. 320–360), the kingdom of Aksum became the first major empire to adopt Christianity, and was named by Mani as one of the four great powers of his time, along with Persia, Rome and China. Northern Somalia was an important link in the Horn, connecting the region's commerce with the rest of the ancient world. Somali sailors and merchants were the main suppliers of frankincense, myrrh and spices, all of which were valuable luxuries to the Ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians, Mycenaeans, Babylonians and Romans. The Romans consequently began to refer to the region as "Regio Aromatica". In
German horn excessive. Although the French firm Jérôme Thibouville-Lamy in about 1928 introduced a piston-valved double-horn with ascending third valve, designed in collaboration with the horn player Louis Vuillermoz, the double horn has continued to be identified mainly as a German horn. The double horn essentially combines two instruments into a single frame: one horn in F, and a second, higher horn keyed in B. Like the single horn it has three valves, but each has a double set of tubing, the first tuned in F and a shorter set in B. By depressing a fourth valve (usually operated by the thumb),