Strabo, Geography
H.C. Hamilton, Esq., W. Falconer, M.A., Ed.

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CHAPTER IV.

ARABIA commences on the side of Babylonia with Mæcene.¹ In front of this district, on one side lies the desert of the Arabians, on the other are the marshes² opposite to the Chaldæans, formed by the overflowing of the Euphrates, and in another direction is the Sea of Persia. This country has an unhealthy and cloudy atmosphere; it is subject to showers, and also to scorching heat; still its products are excellent. The vine grows in the marshes; as much earth as the plant may require is laid upon hurdles of reeds;³ the hurdle is frequently carried away by the water, and is then forced back again by poles to its proper situation. [2]

I return to the opinions of Eratosthenes, which he next delivers respecting Arabia. He is speaking of the northern and desert part, lying between Arabia Felix, Cœle-Syria, and Judæa, to the recess of the Arabian Gulf.

From Heroopolis, situated in that recess of the Arabian Gulf which is on the side of the Nile, to Babylon, towards Petra of the Nabatæi, are 5600 stadia. The whole tract lies in the direction of the summer solstice (i. e. east and west), and passes through the adjacent Arabian tribes, namely Nabatæi, Chaulotæi, and Agræi. Above these people is Arabia Felix, stretching out 12,000 stadia towards the south to the Atlantic Sea.⁴

The first people, next after the Syrians and Jews, who occupy this country are husbandmen. These people are succeeded by a barren and sandy tract, producing a few palms, the acanthus,⁵ and tamarisk; water is obtained by digging [wells] as in Gedrosia. It is inhabited by Arabian Scenitæ, who breed camels. The extreme parts towards the south, and opposite to Ethiopia, are watered by summer showers, and are sowed twice, like the land in India. Its rivers are exhausted in watering plains, and by running into lakes. The general fertility of the country is very great; among other products, there is in particular an abundant supply of honey; except horses,⁶ there are numerous herds of animals, mules (asses?), and swine; birds also of every kind, except geese and the gallinaceous tribe.

Four of the most populous nations inhabit the extremity of the above-mentioned country; namely, the Minæi the part towards the Red Sea, whose largest city is Carna or Carnana.⁷ Next to these are the Sabæans, whose chief city is Mariaba.⁸ The third nation are the Cattabaneis,⁹ extending to the straits and the passage across the Arabian Gulf. Their royal seat is called Tamna. The Chatramotitæ¹⁰ are the furthest of these nations towards the east. Their city is Sabata. [3]

All these cities are governed by one monarch, and are flourishing. They are adorned with beautiful temples and palaces. Their houses, in the mode of binding the timbers together, are like those in Egypt. The four countries comprise a greater territory than the Delta of Egypt.¹¹

The son does not succeed the father in the throne, but the son who is born in a family of the nobles first after the accession of the king. As soon as any one is invested with the government, the pregnant wives of the nobles are registered, and guardians are appointed to watch which of them is first delivered of a son. The custom is to adopt and educate the child in a princely manner as the future successor to the throne. [4]

Cattabania produces frankincense, and Chatramotitis myrrh; these and other aromatics are the medium of exchange with the merchants. Merchants arrive in seventy days at Minæa from Ælana.¹² Ælana is a city on the other recess of the Arabian Gulf, which is called Ælanites, opposite to Gaza, as we have before described it.¹³ The Gerrhæi arrive in Chatramotitis in forty days.

The part of the Arabian Gulf along the side of Arabia, if we reckon from the recess of the Ælanitic bay, is, according to the accounts of Alexander and Anaxicrates, 14,000 stadia in extent; but this computation is too great. The part opposite to Troglodytica, which is on the right hand of those who are sailing from Heroopolis¹⁴ to Ptolemaïs, to the country where elephants are taken, extends 9000 stadia to the south, and inclines a little towards the east. Thence to the straits are about 4500 stadia, in a direction more towards the east. The straits at Ethiopia are formed by a promontory called Deire.¹⁵ There is a small town upon it of the same name. The Ichthyophagi inhabit this country. Here it is said is a pillar of Sesostris the Egyptian, on which is inscribed, in hieroglyphics, an account of his passage (across the Arabian Gulf). For he appears to have subdued first Ethiopia and Troglodytica,¹⁶ and afterwards to have passed over into Arabia. He then overran the whole of Asia. Hence in many places there are dykes called the dykes of Sesostris, and temples built in honour of Egyptian deities.

The straits at Deire are contracted to the width of 60 stadia; not indeed that these are now called the Straits, for ships proceed to a further distance, and find a passage of about 200 stadia between the two continents;¹⁷ six islands contiguous to one another leave a very narrow passage through them for vessels, by filling up the interval between the continents. Through these goods are transported from one continent to the other on rafts; it is this passage which is called the Straits. After these islands, the subsequent navigation is among bays along the Myrrh country, in the direction of south and east, as far as the Cinnamon country, a distance of about 5000 stadia;¹⁸ beyond this district no one to this time, it is said, has penetrated. There are not many cities upon the coast, but in the interior they are numerous and well inhabited. Such is the account of Arabia given by Eratosthenes. We must add what is related also by other writers. [5]

Artemidorus¹⁹ says, that the promontory of Arabia, op- posite to Deire, is called Acila,²⁰ and that the persons who live near Deire deprive themselves of the prepuce.

In sailing from Heroopolis along Troglodytica, a city is met with called Philotera,²¹ after the sister of the second Ptolemy; it was founded by Satyrus, who was sent to explore the hunting-ground for the elephants, and Troglodytica itself. Next to this is another city, Arsinoë; and next to this, springs of hot water, which are salt and bitter; they are precipitated from a high rock, and discharge themselves into the sea. There is in a plain near (these springs) a mountain, which is of a red colour like minium. Next is Myus Hormus, which is also called Aphrodites Hormus;²² it is a large harbour with an oblique entrance. In front are three islands; two are covered with olive trees, and' one (the third) is less shaded with trees, and abounds with guinea-fowls.²³ Then follows Acathartus (or Foul Bay), which, like Myus Hormus, is in the latitude of the Thebais. The bay is really foul, for it is very dangerous from rocks (some of which are covered by the sea, others rise to the surface), as also from almost constant and furious tempests. At the bottom of the bay is situated the city Berenice.²⁴ [6]

After the bay is the island Ophiodes,²⁵ so called from the accidental circumstance [of its having once been infested with serpents]. It was cleared of the serpents by the king,²⁶ on account of the destruction occasioned by those noxious animals to the persons who frequented the island, and on account of the topazes found there. The topaz is a transparent stone, sparkling with a golden lustre, which however is not easy to be distinguished in the day-time, on account of the brightness of the surrounding light, but at night the stones are visible to those who collect them. The collectors place a vessel over the spot [where the topazes are seen] as a mark, and dig them up in the day. A body of men was appointed and maintained by the kings of Egypt to guard the place where these stones were found, and to superintend the collection of them. [7]

Next after this island follow many tribes of Ichthyophagi and of Nomades; then succeeds the harbour of the goddess Soteira (the Preserver), which had its name from the circumstance of the escape and preservation of some masters [of vessels] from great dangers by sea.

After this the coast and the gulf seem to undergo a great change: for the voyage along the coast is no longer among rocks, and approaches almost close to Arabia; the sea is so shallow as to be scarcely of the depth of two orguiæ,²⁷ and has the appearance of a meadow, in consequence of the sea-weeds, which abound in the passage, being visible through and under the water. Even trees here grow from under the water, and the sea abounds with sea-dogs.

Next are two mountains,²⁸ the Tauri (or the Bulls), presenting at a distance a resemblance to these animals. Then follows another mountain, on which is a temple of Isis, built by Sesostris; then an island planted with olive trees, and at times overflowed. This is followed by the city Ptolemaïs, near the hunting-grounds of the elephants,²⁹ founded by Eumedes, who was sent by Philadelphus to the hunting-ground. He enclosed, without the knowledge of the inhabitants, a kind of peninsula with a ditch and wall, and by his courteous address gained over those who were inclined to obstruct the work, and instead of enemies made them his friends. [8]

In the intervening space, a branch of the river Astaboras³⁰ discharges itself. It has its source in a lake, and empties part of its waters [into the bay], but the larger portion it contributes to the Nile. Then follow six islands, called Latomiæ,³¹ after these the Sabaïtic mouth,³² as it is called, and in the inland parts a fortress built by Suchus.³³ Then a lake called Elæa, and the island of Strato;³⁴ next Saba³⁵ a port, and a hunting-ground for elephants of the same name. The country deep in the interior is called Tenessis. It is occupied by those Egyptians who took refuge from the government of Psammitichus.³⁶ They are surnamed Sembritæ,³⁷ as being strangers. They are governed by a queen, to whom also Meroë, an island in the Nile near these places, is subject. Above this, at no great distance, is another island in the river, a settlement occupied by the same fugitives. From Meroë to this sea is a journey of fifteen days for an active person.

Near Meroë is the confluence of the Astaboras,³⁸ the Astapus,³⁹ and of the Astasobas with the Nile. [9]

On the banks of these rivers live the Rhizophagi (or root-eaters) and Heleii (or marsh-men). They have their name from digging roots in the adjacent marsh, bruising them with stones, and forming them into cakes, which they dry in the sun for food. These countries are the haunts of lions. The wild beasts are driven out of these places, at the time of the rising of the dog-star, by large gnats.

Near these people live the Spermophagi (or seed-eaters), who, when seeds of plants fail, subsist upon seeds of trees,⁴⁰ which they prepare in the same manner as the Rhizophagi prepare their roots.

Next to Elæa are the watch-towers of Demetrius, and the altars of Conon. In the interior Indian reeds grow in abundance. The country there is called the country of Coracius.

Far in the interior was a place called Endera, inhabited by a naked tribe,⁴¹ who use bows and reed arrows, the points of which are hardened in the fire. They generally shoot the animals from trees, sometimes from the ground. They have numerous herds of wild cattle among them, on the flesh of which they subsist, and on that of other wild animals. When they have taken nothing in the chase, they dress dried skins upon hot coals, and are satisfied with food of this kind. It is their custom to propose trials of skill in archery for those who have not attained manhood.

Next to the altars of Conon is the port of Melinus, and above it is a fortress called that of Coraus and the chase of Coraus, also another fortress and more hunting-grounds. Then follows the harbour of Antiphilus, and above this a tribe, the Creophagi, deprived of the prepuce, and the women are excised after the Jewish custom.⁴² [10]

Further still towards the south are the Cynamolgi,⁴³ called by the natives Agrii, with long hair and long beards, who keep a breed of very large dogs for hunting the Indian cattle which come into their country from the neighbouring district, driven thither either by wild beasts or by scarcity of pasturage. The time of their incursion is from the summer solstice to the middle of winter.

Next to the harbour of Antiphilus is a port called the Grove of the Colobi (or the Mutilated), the city Berenice⁴⁴ of Sabæ, and Sabæ⁴⁵ a considerable city; then he grove of Eumenes.⁴⁶

Above is the city Darada, and a hunting-ground for elephants, called ‘At the Well.’ The district is inhabited by the Elephantophagi (or Elephant-eaters), who are occupied in hunting them. When they descry from the trees a herd of elephants directing their course through the forest, they do not [then] attack, but they approach by stealth and hamstring the hindmost stragglers from the herd. Some kill them with bows and arrows, the latter being dipped in the gall of serpents. The shooting with the bow is performed by three men, two, advancing in front, hold the bow, and one draws the string. Others remark the trees against which the elephant is accustomed to rest, and, approaching on the opposite side, cut the trunk of the tree low down. When the animal comes and leans against it, the tree and the elephant fall down together. The elephant is unable to rise, because its legs are formed of one piece of bone which is inflexible; the hunters leap down from the trees, kill it, and cut it in pieces. The Nomades call the hunters Acatharti, or impure. [11]

Above this nation is situated a small tribe the Struthophagi⁴⁷ (or Bird-eaters), in whose country are birds of the size of deer, which are unable to fly, but run with the swiftness of the ostrich. Some hunt them with bows and arrows, others covered with the skins of birds. They hide the right hand in the neck of the skin, and move it as the birds move their necks. With the left hand they scatter grain from a bag suspended to the side; they thus entice the birds, till they drive them into pits, where the hunters despatch them with cudgels. The skins are used both as clothes and as coverings for beds. The Ethiopians called Simi are at war with these people, and use as weapons the horns of antelopes. [12]

Bordering on this people is a nation blacker in complexion than the others,⁴⁸ shorter in stature, and very short-lived. They rarely live beyond forty years; for the flesh of their bodies is eaten up with worms.⁴⁹ Their food consists of locusts, which the south-west and west winds, when they blow violently in the spring-time, drive in bodies into the country. The inhabitants catch them by throwing into the ravines materials which cause a great deal of smoke, and light them gently. The locusts, as they fly across the smoke, are blinded and fall down. They are pounded with salt, made into cakes, and eaten as food.

Above these people is situated a desert tract with extensive pastures. It was abandoned in consequence of the multitudes of scorpions and tarantulas, called tetragnathi (or fourjawed), which formerly abounded to so great a degree as to occasion a complete desertion of the place long since by its inhabitants. [13]

Next to the harbour of Eumenes, as far as Deire and the straits opposite the six islands,⁵⁰ live the Ichthyophagi, Creophagi, and Colobi, who extend into the interior.

Many hunting-grounds for elephants, and obscure cities and islands, lie in front of the coast.

The greater part are Nomades; husbandmen are few in number. In the country occupied by some of these nations styrax grows in large quantity. The Icthyophagi, on the ebbing of the tide, collect fish, which they cast upon the rocks and dry in the sun. When they have well broiled them, the bones are piled in heaps, and the flesh trodden with the feet is made into cakes, which are again exposed to the sun and used as food. In bad weather, when fish cannot be procured, the bones of which they have made heaps are pounded, made into cakes and eaten, but they suck the fresh bones. Some also live upon shell-fish, when they are fattened, which is done by throwing them into holes and standing pools of the sea, where they are supplied with small fish, and used as food when other fish are scarce. They have various kinds of places for preserving and feeding fish, from whence they derive their supply.

Some of the inhabitants of that part of the coast which is without water go inland every five days, accompanied by all their families, with songs and rejoicings, to the watering-places, where, throwing themselves on their faces, they drink as beasts until their stomachs are distended like a drum. They then return again to the sea-coast. They dwell in caves or cabins, with roofs consisting of beams and rafters made of the bones and spines of whales, and covered with branches of the olive tree. [14]

The Chelonophagi (or Turtle-eaters) live under the cover of shells (of turtles), which are large enough to be used as boats. Some make of the sea-weed, which is thrown up in large quantities, lofty and hill-like heaps, which are hollowed out, and underneath which they live. They cast out the dead, which are carried away by the tide, as food for fish.

There are three islands which follow in succession, the island of Tortoises, the island of Seals, and the island of Hawks. Along the whole coast there are plantations of palm trees, olive trees, and laurels, not only within, but in a great part also without the straits.

There is also an island [called the island] of Philip, opposite to it inland is situated the hunting-ground for elephants, called the chase of Pythangelus; then follows Arsinoë, a city with a harbour; after these places is Deire, and beyond them is a hunting-ground for elephants.

From Deire, the next country is that which bears aromatic plants. The first produces myrrh, and belongs to the Icthyophagi and the Creophagi. It bears also the persea, peach or Egyptian almond,⁵¹ and the Egyptian fig. Beyond is Licha, a hunting-ground for elephants. There are also in many places standing pools of rain-water. When these are dried up, the elephants, with their trunks and tusks, dig holes and find water.

On this coast there are two very large lakes extending as far as the promontory Pytholaus.⁵² One of them contains salt water, and is called a sea; the other, fresh water, and is the haunt of hippopotami and crocodiles. On the margin grows the papyrus. The ibis is seen in the neighbourhood of this place. The people who live near the promontory of Pytholaus (and beginning from this place) do not undergo any mutilation in any part of their body. Next is the country which produces frankincense; it has a promontory and a temple with a grove of poplars. In the inland parts is a tract along the banks of a river bearing the name of Isis, and another that of Nilus,⁵³ both of which produce myrrh and frankincense. Also a lagoon filled with water from the mountains; next the watch-post of the Lion, and the port of Pythangelus. The next tract bears the false cassia. There are many tracts in succession on the sides of rivers on which frankincense grows, and rivers extending to the cinnamon country. The river which bounds this tract produces (phlous) rushes⁵⁴ in great abundance. Then follows another river, and the port of Daphnus,⁵⁵ and a valley called Apollo's, which bears, besides frankincense, myrrh and cinnamon. The latter is more abundant in places far in the interior.

Next is the mountain Elephas,⁵⁶ a mountain projecting into the sea, and a creek; then follows the large harbour of Psygmus, a watering-place called that of Cynocephali, and the last promontory of this coast, Notu-ceras (or the Southern Horn).⁵⁷ After doubling this cape towards the south, we have no more descriptions, he says, of harbours or places, because nothing is known of the sea-coast beyond this point.⁵⁸ [15]

Along the coast there are both pillars and altars of Pytholaus, Lichas, Pythangelus, Leon, and Charimortus, that is, along the known coast from Deire as far as Notu-ceras; but the distance is not determined. The country abounds with elephants and lions called myrmeces (ants).⁵⁹ They have their genital organs reversed. Their skin is of a golden colour, but they are more bare than the lions of Arabia.

It produces also leopards of great strength and courage, and the rhinoceros. The rhinoceros is little inferior to the elephant; not, according to Artemidorus, in length to the crest,⁶⁰ although he says he had seen one at Alexandreia, but it is somewhat about [ * * * less]⁶¹ in height, judging at least from the one I saw. Nor is the colour the pale yellow of boxwood, but like that of the elephant.⁶² It was of the size of a bull. Its shape approached very nearly to that of the wild boar, and particularly the forehead; except the front, which is furnished with a hooked horn, harder than any bone. It uses it as a weapon, like the wild boar its tusks. It has also two hard welts, like folds of serpents, encircling the body from the chine to the belly, one on the withers, the other on the loins. This description is taken from one which I myself saw. Artemidorus adds to his account of this animal, that it is peculiarly inclined to dispute with the elephant for the place of pasture ; thrusting its forehead under the belly [of the elephant] and ripping it up, unless prevented by the trunk and tusks of his adversary. [16]

Camel-leopards are bred in these parts, but they do not in any respect resemble leopards, for their variegated skin is more like the streaked and spotted skin of fallow deer. The hinder quarters are so very much lower than the fore quarters, that it seems as if the animal sat upon its rump, which is the height of an ox; the fore legs are as long as those of the camel. The neck rises high and straight up, but the head greatly exceeds in height that of the camel. From this want of proportion, the speed of the animal is not so great, I think, as it is described by Artemidorus, according to whom it is not to be surpassed. It is not however a wild animal, but rather like a domesticated beast; for it shows no signs of a savage disposition.

This country, continues Artemidorus, produces also sphinxes,⁶³ cynocephali,⁶⁴ and cebi,⁶⁵ which have the face of a lion, and the rest of the body like that of a panther ; they are as large as deer. There are wild bulls also, which are carnivorous, and greatly exceed ours in size and swiftness. They are of a red colour. The crocuttas⁶⁶ is, according to this author, the mixed progeny of a wolf and a dog. What Metrodorus the Scepsian relates, in his book ‘on Custom,’ is like fable, and is to be disregarded.

Artemidorus mentions serpents also of thirty cubits in length, which can master elephants and bulls: in this he does not exaggerate.⁶⁷ But the Indian and African serpents are of a more fabulous size, and are said to have grass growing on their backs. [17]

The mode of life among the Troglodytæ is nomadic. Each tribe is governed by tyrants. Their wives and children are common, except those of the tyrants. The offence of corrupting the wife of a tyrant is punished with the fine of a sheep.

The women carefully paint themselves with antimony. They wear about their necks shells, as a protection against fascination by witchcraft. In their quarrels, which are for pastures, they first push away each other with their hands, they then use stones, or, if wounds are inflicted, arrows and daggers. The women put an end to these disputes, by going into the midst of the combatants and using prayers and en- treaties.

Their food consists of flesh and bones pounded together, wrapped up in skins and then baked, or prepared after many other methods by the cooks, who are called Acatharti, or impure. In this way they eat not only the flesh, but the bones and skins also.

They use (as an ointment for the body ?) a mixture of blood and milk ; the drink of the people in general is an infusion of the paliurus (buckthorn);⁶⁸ that of the tyrants is mead; the honey being expressed from some kind of flower.

Their winter sets in when the Etesian winds begin to blow (for they have rain), and the remaining season is summer.

They go naked, or wear skins only, and carry clubs. They deprive themselves of the prepuce,⁶⁹ but some are circumcised like Egyptians. The Ethiopian Megabari have their clubs armed with iron knobs. They use spears and shields which are covered with raw hides. The other Ethiopians use bows and lances. Some of the Troglodytæ, when they bury their dead, bind the body from the neck to the legs with twigs of the buckthorn. They then immediately throw stones over the body, at the same time laughing and rejoicing, until they have covered the face. They then place over it a ram's horn, and go away.

They travel by night; the male cattle have bells fastened to them, in order to drive away wild beasts with the sound. They use torches also and arrows in repelling them. They watch during the night, on account of their flocks, and sing some peculiar song around their fires. [18]

Having given this account of the Troglodytæ and of the neighbouring Ethiopians, Artemidorus returns to the Arabians. Beginning from Poseidium, he first describes those who border upon the Arabian Gulf, and are opposite to the Troglodytæ. He says that Poseidium is situated within the bay of [Heroopolis],⁷⁰ and that contiguous to Poseidium⁷¹ is a grove of palm trees,⁷² well supplied with water, which is highly valued, because all the district around is burnt up and is without water or shade. But there the fertility of the palm is prodigious. A man and a woman are appointed by hereditary right to the guardianship of the grove. They wear skins, and live on dates. They sleep in huts built on trees, the place being infested with multitudes of wild beasts.

Next is the island of Phocæ (Seals),⁷³ which has its name from those animals, which abound there. Near it is a promontory,⁷⁴ which extends towards Petra, of the Arabians called Nabatæi, and to the country of Palestine, to this [island] the Minæi,⁷⁵ Gerrhæi, and all the neighbouring nations repair with loads of aromatics.

Next is another tract of sea-coast, formerly called the coast of the Maranitæ,⁷⁶ some of whom were husbandmen, others Scenitæ; but at present it is occupied by Garindæi, who destroyed the former possessors by treachery. They attacked those who were assembled to celebrate some quinquennial festival, and put them to death; they then attacked and exterminated the rest of the tribe.⁷⁷

Next is the Ælanitic⁷⁸ Gulf and Nabatæa, a country well peopled, and abounding in cattle. The islands which lie near, and opposite, are inhabited by people who formerly lived without molesting others, but latterly carried on a piratical warfare in rafts⁷⁹ against vessels on their way from Egypt. But they suffered reprisals, when an armament was sent out against them, which devastated their country.

Next is a plain, well wooded and well supplied with water; it abounds with cattle of all kinds, and, among other animals, mules, wild camels, harts, and hinds; lions also, leopards, and wolves are frequently to be found. In front lies an island called Dia. Then follows a bay of about 500 stadia in extent, closed in by mountains, the entrance into which is of difficult access. About it live people who are hunters of wild animals.

Next are three desert islands, abounding with olive trees, not like those in our own country, but an indigenous kind, which we call Ethiopic olives, the tears (or gum) of which have a medicinal virtue.

Then follows a stony beach, which is succeeded by a rugged coast,⁸⁰ not easily navigated by vessels, extending about 1000 stadia. It has few harbours and anchorages, for a rugged and lofty mountain stretches parallel to it; then the parts at its base, extending into the sea, form rocks under water, which, during the blowing of the Etesian winds and the storms of that period, present dangers, when no assistance can be afforded to vessels.

Next is a bay in which are some scattered islands,⁸¹ and continuous with the bay, are three very lofty mounds⁸² of black sand. After these is Charmothas⁸³ a harbour, about 100 stadia in circumference, with a narrow entrance very dangerous for all kinds of vessels. A river empties itself into it. In the middle is a well-wooded island, adapted for cultivation.

Then follows a rugged coast, and after that are some bays and a country belonging to Nomades, who live by their camels. They fight from their backs; they travel upon them, and subsist on their milk and flesh. A river flows through their country, which brings down gold-dust, but they are ignorant how to make any use of it. They are called Debæ;⁸⁴ some of them are Nomades, others husbandmen.

I do not mention the greater part⁸⁵ of the names of these nations, on account of the obscurity of the people, and because the pronunciation of them is strange⁸⁶ [and uncouth].

Near these people is a nation more civilized, who inhabit a district with a more temperate climate ; for it is well watered, and has frequent showers.⁸⁷ Fossil gold is found there, not in the form of dust, but in lumps, which do not require much purification. The least pieces are of the size of a nut, the middle size of a medlar, the largest of a walnut. These are pierced and arranged alternately with transparent stones strung on threads and formed into collars. They are worn round the neck and wrists. They sell the gold to their neighbours at a cheap rate, exchanging it for three times the quantity of brass, and double the quantity of iron,⁸⁸ through ignorance of the mode of working the gold, and the scarcity of the commodities received in exchange, which are more necessary for the purposes of life. [19]

The country of the Sabæi,⁸⁹ a very populous nation, is contiguous, and is the most fertile of all, producing myrrh, frank- incense, and cinnamon. On the coast is found balsamum and another kind of herb of a very fragrant smell, but which is soon dissipated. There are also sweet-smelling palms and the calamus. There are snakes also of a dark red colour, a span in length, which spring up as high as a man's waist, and whose bite is incurable.

On account of the abundance which the soil produces, the people are lazy and indolent in their mode of life. The lower class of people live on roots, and sleep on the trees.

The people who live near each other receive, in continued succession, the loads [of perfumes] and deliver them to others, who convey them as far as Syria and Mesopotamia. When the carriers become drowsy by the odour of the aromatics, the drowsiness is removed by the fumes of asphaltus and of goat's beard.

Mariaba,⁹⁰ the capital of the Sabæans, is situated upon a mountain, well wooded. A king resides there, who determines absolutely all disputes and other matters ; but he is forbidden to leave his palace, or if he does so, the rabble immediately assail him with stones, according to the direction of an oracle. He himself, and those about his person, pass their lives in effeminate voluptuousness.

The people cultivate the ground, or follow the trade of dealing in aromatics, both the indigenous sort and those brought from Ethiopia; in order to procure them, they sail through the straits in vessels covered with skins. There is such an abundance of these aromatics, that cinnamon, cassia, and other spices are used by them instead of sticks and firewood.

In the country of the Sabæans is found the larimnum, a most fragrant perfume.

By the trade [in these aromatics] both the Sabæans and the Gerrhæi have become the richest of all the tribes, and possess a great quantity of wrought articles in gold and silver, as couches, tripods, basins, drinking-vessels, to which we must add the costly magnificence of their houses; for the doors, walls, and roofs are variegated with inlaid ivory, gold, silver, and precious stones.

This is the account of Artemidorus.⁹¹ The rest of the description is partly similar to that of Eratosthenes, and partly derived from other historians. [20]

Some of these say, that the sea is red from the colour arising from reflection either from the sun, which is vertical, or from the mountains, which are red by being scorched with intense heat; for the colour, it is supposed, may be produced by both these causes. Ctesias of Cnidus speaks of a spring which discharges into the sea a red and ochrous water. Agatharchides, his fellow-citizen, relates, on the authority of a person of the name of Boxus, of Persian descent, that when a troop of horses was driven by a lioness in heat as far as the sea, and had passed over to an island, a Persian of the name of Erythras constructed a raft, and was the first person who crossed the sea to it; perceiving the island to be well adapted for inhabitants, he drove the herd back to Persia, and sent out colonists both to this and the other islands and to the coast. He [thus] gave his own name to the sea. But according to others, it was Erythras the son of Perseus who was the king of this country.

According to some writers, from the straits in the Arabian Gulf to the extremity of the cinnamon country is a distance of 5000 stadia,⁹² without distinguishing whether (the direction is) to the south or to the east.

It is said also that the emerald and the beryl are found in the gold mines. According to Poseidonius, an odoriferous salt is found in Arabia. [21]

The Nabatæans and Sabæans, situated above Syria, are the first people who occupy Arabia Felix. They were frequently in the habit of overrunning this country before the Romans became masters of it, but at present both they and the Syrians are subject to the Romans.

The capital of the Nabatæans is called Petra. It is situated on a spot which is surrounded and fortified by a smooth and level rock (petra), which externally is abrupt and precipitous, but within there are abundant springs of water both for domestic purposes and for watering gardens. Beyond the enclosure the country is for the most part a desert, particularly towards Judæa. Through this is the shortest road to Jericho, a journey of three or four days, and five days to the Phœnicon (or palm plantation). It is always governed by a king of the royal race. The king has a minister who is one of the Companions, and is called Brother. It has excellent laws for the administration of public affairs.

Athenodorus, a philosopher, and my friend, who had been at Petra, used to relate with surprise, that he found many Romans and also many other strangers residing there. He observed the strangers frequently engaged in litigation, both with one another and with the natives; but the natives had never any dispute amongst themselves, and lived together in perfect harmony. [22]

The late expedition⁹³ of the Romans against the Arabians, under the command of Ælius Gallus, has made us acquainted with many peculiarities of the country. Augustus Cæsar despatched this general to explore the nature of these places and their inhabitants, as well as those of Ethiopia; for he observed that Troglodytica, which is contiguous to Egypt, bordered upon Ethiopia; and that the Arabian Gulf was extremely narrow, where it separates the Arabians from the Troglodytæ. It was his intention either to conciliate or subdue the Arabians. He was also influenced by the report, which had prevailed from all time, that this people were very wealthy, and exchanged their aromatics and precious stones for silver and gold, but never expended with foreigners any part of what they received in exchange. He hoped to acquire either opulent friends, or to overcome opulent enemies. He was moreover encouraged to undertake this enterprise by the expectation of assistance from the Nabatæans, who promised to co-operate with him in everything. [23]

Upon these inducements Gallus set out on the expedition. But he was deceived by Syllæus, the [king's] minister of the Nabatæans, who had promised to be his guide on the march, and to assist him in the execution of his design. Syllæus was however treacherous throughout; for he neither guided them by a safe course by sea along the coast, nor by a safe road for the army, as he promised, but exposed both the fleet and the army to danger, by directing them where there was no road, or the road was impracticable, where they were obliged to make long circuits, or to pass through tracts of country destitute of everything ; he led the fleet along a rocky coast without harbours, or to places abounding with rocks concealed under water, or with shallows. In places of this description particularly, the flowing and ebbing of the tide did them the most harm.

The first mistake consisted in building long vessels [of war] at a time when there was no war, nor any likely to occur by sea. For the Arabians, being mostly engaged in traffic and commerce, are not a very warlike people even on land, much less so at sea. Gallus, notwithstanding, built not less than eighty biremes and triremes and galleys (phaseli) at Cleopatris,⁹⁴ near the old canal which leads from the Nile. When he discovered his mistake, he constructed a hundred and thirty vessels of burden, in which he embarked with about ten thousand infantry, collected from Egypt, consisting of Romans and allies, among whom were five hundred Jews and a thousand Nabatæans, under the command of Syllæus. After enduring great hardships and distress, he arrived on the fifteenth day at Leuce-Come, a large mart in the territory of the Nabatæans, with the loss of many of his vessels, some with all their crews, in consequence of the difficulty of the navigation, but by no opposition from an enemy. These misfortunes were occasioned by the perfidy of Syllæus, who insisted that there was no road for an army by land to Leuce-Come, to which and from which place the camel-traders travel with ease and in safety from Petra, and back to Petra, with so large a body of men and camels as to differ in no respect from an army. [24]

Another cause of the failure of the expedition was the fact of king Obodas not paying much attention to public affairs, and especially to those relative to war (as is the custom with all Arabian kings), but placed everything in the power of Syllæus the minister. His whole conduct in command of the army was perfidious, and his object was, as I suppose, to examine as a spy the state of the country, and to destroy, in concert with the Romans, certain cities and tribes; and when the Romans should be consumed by famine, fatigue, and disease, and by all the evils which he had treacherously contrived, to declare himself master of the whole country.

Gallus however arrived at Leuce-Come, with the army labouring under stomacacce and scelotyrbe, diseases of the country, the former affecting the mouth, the other the legs, with a kind of paralysis, caused by the water and the plants [which the soldiers had used in their food]. He was therefore compelled to pass the summer and the winter there, for the recovery of the sick.

Merchandise is conveyed from Leuce-Come to Petra, thence to Rhinocolura in Phœnicia, near Egypt, and thence to other nations. But at present the greater part is transported by the Nile to Alexandreia. It is brought down from Arabia and India to Myus Hormus, it is then conveyed on camels to Coptus⁹⁵ of the Thebais, situated on a canal of the Nile, and to Alexandreia. Gallus, setting out again from Leuce-Come on his return with his army, and through the treachery of his guide, traversed such tracts of country, that the army was obliged to carry water with them upon camels. After a march of many days, therefore, he came to the territory of Aretas, who was related to Obodas. Aretas received him in a friendly manner, and offered presents. But by the treachery of Syllæus, Gallus was conducted by a difficult road through the country ; for he occupied thirty days in passing through it. It afforded barley, a few palm trees, and butter instead of oil.

The next country to which he came belonged to Nomades, and was in great part a complete desert. It was called Ararene. The king of the country was Sabos. Gallus spent fifty days in passing through this territory, for want of roads, and came to a city of the Negrani, and to a fertile country peacefully disposed. The king had fled, and the city was taken at the first onset. After a march of six days from thence, he came to the river. Here the barbarians attacked the Romans, and lost about ten thousand men; the Romans lost only two men. For the barbarians were entirely inexperienced in war, and used their weapons unskilfully, which were bows, spears, swords, and slings; but the greater part of them wielded a double-edged axe. Immediately afterwards he took the city called Asca, which had been abandoned by the king. He thence came to a city Athrula, and took it without resistance; having placed a garrison there, and collected provisions for the march, consisting of corn and dates, he proceeded to a city Marsiaba, belonging to the nation of the Rhammanitæ, who were subjects of Ilasarus. He assaulted and besieged it for six days, but raised the siege in consequence of a scarcity of water. He was two days' march from the aromatic region, as he was informed by his prisoners. He occupied in his marches a period of six months, in consequence of the treachery of his guides. This he discovered when he was returning; and although he was late in discovering the design against him, he had time to take another road back; for he arrived in nine days at Negrana, where the battle was fought, and thence in eleven days he came to the ‘Seven Wells,’ as the place is called from the fact of their existing there. Thence he marched through a desert country, and came to Chaalla a village, and then to another called Malothas, situated on a river. His road then lay through a desert country, which had only a few watering-places, as far as Egra⁹⁶ a village. It belongs to the territory of Obodas, and is situated upon the sea. He accomplished on his return the whole distance in sixty days, in which, on his first journey, he had consumed six months. From Negra he conducted his army in eleven days to Myus Hormus; thence across the country to Coptus, and arrived at Alexandreia with so much of his army as could be saved. The remainder he lost, not by the enemy, but by disease, fatigue, famine, and marches through bad roads ; for seven men only perished in battle. For these reasons this expedition contributed little in extending our knowledge of the country. It was however of some small service.

Syllæus, the author of these disasters, was punished for his treachery at Rome. He affected friendship, but he was convicted of other offences, besides perfidy in this instance, and was beheaded. [25]

The aromatic country, as I have before said,⁹⁷ is divided into four parts. Of aromatics, the frankincense and myrrh are said to be the produce of trees, but cassia the growth of bushes; yet some writers say, that the greater part (of the cassia) is brought from India, and that the best frankincense is that from Persia.

According to another partition of the country, the whole of Arabia Felix is divided into five kingdoms (or portions), one of which comprises the fighting men, who fight for all the rest; another contains the husbandmen, by whom the rest are supplied with food; another includes those who work at mechanical trades. One division comprises the myrrh region; another the frankincense region, although the same tracts produce cassia, cinnamon, and nard. Trades are not changed from one family to another, but each workman continues to exercise that of his father.

The greater part of their wine is made from the palm.

A man's brothers are held in more respect than his children. The descendants of the royal family succeed as kings, and are invested with other governments, according to primogeniture. Property is common among all the relations. The eldest is the chief. There is one wife among them all. He who enters the house before any of the rest, has intercourse with her, having placed his staff at the door; for it is a necessary custom, which every one is compelled to observe, to carry a staff. The woman however passes the night with the eldest. Hence the male children are all brothers. They have sexual intercourse also with their mothers. Adultery is punished with death, but an adulterer must belong to another family.

A daughter of one of the kings was of extraordinary beauty, and had fifteen brothers, who were all in love with her, and were her unceasing and successive visitors; she, being at last weary of their importunity, is said to have employed the following device. She procured staves to be made similar to those of her brothers; when one left the house, she placed before the door a staff similar to the first, and a little time afterwards another, and so on in succession, but making her calculation so that the person who intended to visit her might not have one similar to that at her door. On an occasion when the brothers were all of them together at the market-place, one left it, and came to the door of the house; seeing the staff there, and conjecturing some one to be in her apartment, and having left all the other brothers at the marketplace, he suspected the person to be an adulterer ; running therefore in haste to his father, he brought him with him to the house, but it was proved that he had falsely accused his sister. [26]

The Nabatæans are prudent, and fond of accumulating property. The community fine a person who has diminished his substance, and confer honours on him who has increased it. They have few slaves, and are served for the most part by their relations, or by one another, or each person is his own servant; and this custom extends even to their kings. They eat their meals in companies consisting of thirteen persons. Each party is attended by two musicians. But the king gives many entertainments in great buildings. No one drinks more than eleven [appointed] cupfuls, from separate cups, each of gold.

The king courts popular favour so much, that he is not only his own servant, but sometimes he himself ministers to others. He frequently renders an account [of his administration] before the people, and sometimes an inquiry is made into his mode of life. The houses are sumptuous, and of stone. The cities are without walls, on account of the peace [which prevails among them]. A great part of the country is fertile, and produces everything except oil of olives; [instead of it], the oil of sesamum is used. The sheep have white fleeces, their oxen are large; but the country produces no horses.⁹⁸ Camels are the substitute for horses, and perform the [same kind of] labour. They wear no tunics, but have a girdle about the loins, and walk abroad in sandals.⁹⁹ The dress of the kings is the same, but the colour is purple.

Some merchandise is altogether imported into the country, others are not altogether imports, especially as some articles are native products, as gold and silver, and many of the aromatics; but brass and iron, purple garments, styrax, saffron, and costus (or white cinnamon), pieces of sculpture, paintings, statues, are not to be procured in the country.

They look upon the bodies of the dead as no better than dung, according to the words of Heracleitus, ‘dead bodies more fit to be cast out than dung;’ wherefore they bury even their kings beside dung-heaps. They worship the sun, and construct the altar on the top of a house, pouring out libations and burning frankincense upon it every day. [27]

When the poet says, “‘I went to the country of the Ethiopians, Sidonians, and Erembi,’¹⁰⁰” it is doubtful, what people he means by Sidonians, whether those who lived near the Persian Gulf, a colony from which nation are the Sidonians in our quarter (in the same manner as historians relate, that some Tyrian islanders are found there, and Aradii, from whom the Aradii in our country derive their origin), or whether the poet means actually the Sidonians themselves.

But there is more doubt about the Erembi, whether we are to suppose that he means the Troglodytæ, according to the opinion of those who, by a forced etymology, derive the word Erembi from ἔραν ἐμ<*>αίνειν, that is, ‘entering into the earth,’ or whether he means the Arabians. Zeno the philosopher of our sect alters the reading in this manner, “‘And Sidoni, and Arabes;’” but Poseidonius alters it with a small variation, “‘And Sidonii, and Arambi,’” as if the poet gave the name Arambi to the present Arabians, from their being so called by others in his time. He says also, that the situation of these three nations close to one another indicates a descent from some common stock, and that on this account they are called by names having a resemblance to one another, as Armenii, Aramæi, Arambi. For as we may suppose one nation to have been divided into three (according to the differences of latitude [in which they lived], which successively became more marked [in proceeding from one to the other]), so in like manner we may suppose that several names were adopted in place of one. The proposed change of reading to Eremni is not probable, for that name is more applicable to the Ethiopians. The poet mentions also the Arimi, whom Poseidonius says are meant here, and not a place in Syria or Cilicia, or any other country, but Syria itself. For the Aramæi lived there. Perhaps these are the people whom the Greeks called Arimæi or Arimi. But the alterations of names, especially of barbarous nations, are frequent, Thus Darius was called Darieces; Parysatis, Pharziris; Athara, Atargata, whom Ctesias again calls Derceto.¹⁰¹

Alexander might be adduced to bear witness to the wealth of the Arabians, for he intended, it is said, after his return from India, to make Arabia the seat of empire. All his enterprises terminated with his death, which happened suddenly; but certainly one of his projects was to try whether the Arabians would receive him voluntarily, or resist him by force of arms; for having found that they did not send ambassadors to him, either before or after his expedition to India, he was beginning to make preparations for war, as we have said in a former part of this work.