Felix if you want but phoenix sounds more like it.
Ancient Arabia
Arabia (Old-Persian: Arabâya): name of the country to the west and south of Mesopotamia. Three main zones can be discerned: the towns in the regions bordering on the Indian Ocean (modern Yemen and Oman), the nomadic interior (Saudi Arabia), and a northwestern part (Jordan). The Latin names of these three zones are Arabia Felix, Arabia Deserta (Happy Arabia and Desert Arabia) and Arabia Petraea (Arabia ruled from Petra).
An Arab. Relief on the eastern stairs of the apadana, Persepolis.
Arabia Deserta
The nomadic tribes from Arabia Deserta, in Akkadian called Aribi, frequently invaded the surrounding countries -i.e., Arabia Felix and Mesopotamia-, where they sometimes managed to settle. Hardly anything about these isolated 'people without history' is known, although it seems certain that they became dromedary riders in the tenth or ninth century BCE. In the Parthian and Roman period, several Arabian dynasties ruled towns in what is now Syria and Iraq: Palmyra, Emesa, Edessa, Hatra, Charax and Gerrha.
Arabia Petraea or Nabataea
These Arabs lived between Egypt and Mesopotamia, and could not maintain their isolated way of life. They build several towns; Petra became their famous capital.
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The Arab warrior Mushayqat Hamayat ibn Yusuf on a dromedary. Funerary stele from Saba (second century CE?). Louvre, Paris (France). Photo Marco Prins.
Among the oldest references to Arabs in what is now Jordan is the account of the battle of Qarqar in 853 BCE, in which the Assyrian king Salmanasser claims to have defeated a Syrian coalition. Somewhat younger are the reports about a kingdom named Aribi, which is mentioned from Tiglath-Pileser III (ruled 745-727). Aribi was an Assyrian vassal until the second half of the seventh century. Later, the Arabs were subdued by the Babylonian king Nabonidus, who made the oasis of Temâ his capital and reached Iatribu (modern Medina).
According to the Greek researcher Herodotus, the Persian king Cambyses did not subdue the Arabs when he attacked Egypt in 525 BCE. His successor Darius I the Great mentions Arabs in the Behistun inscription, which suggests that Darius conquered this part of Arabia. There are no indications that these Arabs were no loyal subjects of later Persian kings.
After the Macedonian king Alexander the Great had conquered the Achaemenid empire (between 335 and 323), this part of Arabia remained more or less autonomous for centuries; it is called the Nabataean kingdom In 106 CE, however, the part corresponding to modern Jordan was made a province of the Roman empire by the emperor Trajan, who wanted to protect the road from Damascus to Alexandria. There were several cities in this province: from north to south Adraa (modern Dar'â), Dion (unknown), Gerasa (Jarash), Philadelphia (Amman) and Aila (Aqaba).
Arabia Felix
In Antiquity, modern Yemen was famous for its incense and cinnamon - the latter being imported from India. There were several minor kingdoms in Arabia Felix:
Map of southern Arabia. Design Jona Lendering.
Saba (capital: Marib, later Sana) was the leading power in Yemen under the kings Yathî'amar (last quarter of the eighth century BCE?) and Karib'il Watar (first half seventh century). These men may be identical to the kings Itiamara and Kariba'ilu mentioned in Assyrian annals. The Awam cemetery and the Bar'an sanctuary in the Marib oasis were in use from the eighth century BCE to the fifth century CE. The famous story of the queen of Sheba's visit to the Jewish king Solomon (1 Kings 10.1-10) is somehow related to Saba, but is is unclear how.
The city state Ma'in was a kingdom of traders, which gained its independence from Saba at an unknown moment before circa 375 BCE. The Minaeans controlled the incense trade.
Qataban (capital Timna) had been an ally of Saba, but became its main rival. In the third century, it seized the southwest from Saba; these territories were called Himyar.
Hadramaut (capital Šabwa) was situated in the East. The Hadramautians produced incense and traded cinnamon from the port of Qana'.
Zufar was situated in modern Oman. Hardly anything about this country is known, because archaeologists have not found texts. The Roman geographer Ptolemy of Alexandria calls its capital Trade center of the Omanians; others have identified this with other towns known from ancient texts, Ubar and Iram. (The latter is mentioned in the Quran as a splendid city, being punished by God for its wickedness; 89.6-13)
Each of these kingdoms possessed extensive hydraulic installations, enabling the population to cope with both drought and the sometimes devastating river floods. The great dam at Marib is a technical masterpiece.
Marib as it looks today, from Der Spiegel.
Marib. From Der Spiegel (©!!!)
The incense trade was the most important source of wealth. The product was transported from Hadramaut to Ma`in, and from there to Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean world. (The traders used dromedaries: this animal was domesticated in the tenth century BCE and could travel some hundred kilometers/day.) Several new towns were founded along the incense road; the most important was Iatribbu. Mecca was a little off the main road.
When Alexander the Great had conquered the Achaemenid empire, he wanted to launch a naval expedition to Arabia Felix, but he died several days before the expedition started (323 BCE). Although this expedition had come to nothing, southern Arabia was now part of a larger world, and several economic changes took place. It is clear that several new towns were founded in this period and that access to the trade routes changed the balance of power: we already noticed how Qataban seized the country known as Himyar during the third century. About 120 BCE, Saba managed to reconquer Ma`in, a war that may have been motivated by economic motifs.
Minaean coin, c. 200 BCE.
Minaeaen coin (©!!)
However, the trade route by land had declined. It had become possible to use the monsoon to make long voyages across the Indian Ocean. Himyar, situated in the southwest, now became independent (about 110 BCE), because it controlled harbor towns like modern Al-Mukha and Aden. The capital of Himyar was Zafar.
From now on, Saba and Himyar were competitors, and they sometimes invited foreign powers to assist them in their wars: e.g., tribes from Arabia Deserta or Ethiopian warriors from Aksum. Later, the foreigners came uninvited, such as the army that was sent by the Roman emperor Augustus in 24 BCE, who wanted to control Himyar's ports.
During the first stages of the conflict between Himyar and Saba, the latter was the leading power. Together with Hadramaut, it destroyed Qataban; later, king Ša`r Awtar conquered Hadramaut. Saba now controlled all the countries in the interior.
However, Himyar's control of the sea routes was decisive. The discovery of many bronze statuettes in Jabal al-Awd, not far from Zafar, proves that there were good trade contacts with the Roman Empire. At the end of the third century, its king Šamir Yuhar`iš united Yemen. He was important enough to negotiate on equal terms with the king of the Parthian Empire. At a later stage (sixth century), king Dhu Nuwas of Himyar (518-525) converted to Judaism. Several inscription mention his "merciful Lord", a title that was later used for Allah.
Ancient Arabia
