Sailing Around Erethraean Sea: Twenty Six

The previous chapter narrated Ocelis ( Al Shihr) an ancient anchorage on the southern coast of Yemen. It was neither a market-town nor a port. But it was a watering place and first landing for those sailing into the Gulf. Continue to read:

Beyond the Ocelis (Al-Shihr) the sea widening again toward the east and soon giving a view of the open ocean, after about twelve hundred stadia there is Eudaemon Arabia, a village by the shore, also of the Kingdom of Charibael, and having convenient anchorages, and watering places, sweeter and better than those at Ocelis; it lies at the entrance of bay and land receds from it. It was called Eudaemon [=prosperous ] because in the early days of the city when the voyage was not yet made from India to Egypt, and when they did not dare to sail from Egypt to ports accross the ocean, but all together came at this place, it received the cargoes from both countries, just as Alexandria now receives the things brought both from abroad and from Egypt. But not long before our own time Charibael destroyed the place.

My Search:-

1. Eudaemon Arabia is modern day Aden, situated on the southern coast of Yemen, overlooking Gulf of Aden. A key navigation point for ships travelling between the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.

2. Charibael was a regnal name shared by many local chieftains in southern Arabia. They maintained friendship with Roman merchants who came and stayed to collect merchandise coming from Egypt and Indian subcontinent.

End of the Section 


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