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Arabia Felix (literally: Fertile/Happy Arabia; alsoAncient Greek: Εὐδαίμων Ἀραβία,Eudaemon Arabia) was theLatin name previously used by geographers to describeSouth Arabia,[1][2] or what is nowYemen.[3]
The Latin termArabia Felix was the Roman translation of the earlierHellenisticGreek:Εὐδαίμων Ἀραβία,romanized: Eudaimon Arabia, attributed toEratosthenes of Cyrene.[4][5]Felix has the meanings of both "fecund, fertile" and "happy, fortunate, blessed", this area being the best irrigated of the Arabian peninsula. Arabia Felix, referring to Yemen,[6] was one of the three regions into which theRomans divided the peninsula:Arabia Deserta, Arabia Felix, andArabia Petraea.
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The southwestern corner of the peninsula experienced more rainfall in ancient times and was thus much greener than the rest of the peninsula, enjoying more productive fields. The high peaks and slopes are capable of supporting significant vegetation and river beds calledwadis help make other soil fertile.
Part of what led to Arabia Felix's wealth and importance to the ancient world was its near monopoly of the trade incinnamon and spices, both its native products and imports fromIndia and theHorn of Africa.[7]Strabo says that Arabia Felix was composed of five kingdoms, one each of warriors, farmers, "those who engage in the mechanical arts; another, themyrrh-bearing country, and another thefrankincense-bearing country, although the same countries producecassia, cinnamon, andnard."[8]
In the 1st century BC, the Arabian city ofEudaemon (usually identified with the port ofAden, and meaning "good spirit" in the sense of angelic beings),[9] in Arabia Felix, was atransshipping port in theRed Sea trade. It was described in thePeriplus of the Erythraean Sea (probably 1st century AD) as if it had fallen on hard times. Of the auspiciously named port we read in theperiplus that
Eudaemon Arabia was once a full-fledged city, when vessels fromIndia did not go toEgypt and those of Egypt did not dare sail to places further on, but came only this far.
In 26 BC,Aelius Gallus underAugustus' order led amilitary expedition to Arabia, but after some beginning successes he was obliged by the unhealthy climate and epidemic to desist in the conquest of the area.[10]
New developments in trade during the 1st century AD led to traders avoiding the middlemen of Eudaemon and making the dangerous direct crossing of theArabian Sea to the coast ofIndia.
Arabia Felix is the title of the 1962 book by Danish novelistThorkild Hansen, detailinga disastrous scientific expedition to the area led byCarsten Niebuhr lasting from 1761 to 1767.[11] The historianLawrence J. Baack in his book,Undying Curiosity: Carsten Niebuhr and the Royal Danish Expedition to Arabia, however, says of Hansen's book "While lively and interesting as a novel, Hansen's work is not reliable as a historical study".[12]