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Roman History etiketine sahip kayıtlar gösteriliyor. Tüm kayıtları göster
Roman History etiketine sahip kayıtlar gösteriliyor. Tüm kayıtları göster

Rome's Forgotten Expedition: Arabia Felix

The Roman Empire, at its peak
The Romans were arguably history's greatest war machine. Conquering the Italian peninsula from the Latin League whilst being politically and militarily outnumbered, subduing the relentless Gauls of modern-day France, wiping out the Carthaginian civilisation and bringing an end to the Seleucid Empire. The year is 25 BC, Rome's empire stretches from the Iberian peninsula to Egypt. But this was during the time of Octavian, founder of the Roman empire and he wanted to expand his newly-created empire. It should be no surprise that he referred to himself as Imperator Caesar Divi Filius Augustus, Imperator meaning 'Emperor' which is where the term originates from. Seeking to expand his empire, Augustus set his sights on Arabia Felix, in modern-day Yemen.
 
Arabia Felix, on a map by Ptolemy.

Of all places, why Arabia Felix? Why conquer a land in a seemingly hot desert region at the world's end? To understand, it is necessary to look at the situation from the Roman perspective. The Latin phrase 'Arabia Felix' literally translates into 'Happy Arabia' but is meant to imply 'Blessed Arabia' (Romans and their Latin, eh?). Many geographers and historians in antiquity referred to Arabia Felix as being extremely wealthy, owing to its strategic position in the incense trade. 

The legendary riches of the Nabataeans (those who lived beyond south of the Roman province of Syria) and Sabaeans (the inhabitants of Yemen) had captured Roman imaginations for centuries. Gold, silver, perfume, incense; control over these goods would provide a solid supply of income for the Roman coffers. The illusion of legendary Nabataean riches caught the attention of the likes of Antigonus the One Eyed of Macedon, the Roman general Pompey amongst others.

Augustus had other reasons for choosing Arabia Felix over the other regions in the Middle East. Persia's riches were guarded by the Parthian empire whereas mainland Arabia had no empire to guard its riches. Augustus brushed aside the minor Arabian kingdoms in the south and ordered Aeilius Gallus, the governor of Roman Egypt, to lead an expedition along the Red Sea coast of Arabia (and Ethiopia) with the purpose of conquests. The Nabataeans encouraged the Romans, promising to cooperate and provide assistance against the Sabaeans, their motives hidden.
The incense trade route (From Ancient Cultures.net)

The expedition was doomed to fail before it even began. Poor leadership, poor planning and a poor choice of guides were to blame. The expedition landed on the Arabian side of the Red Sea, with one source stating they landed near Aynunah on the north side. Other sources state they landed in the Nabataean port of Leuce-Come. The sea journey was disastrous; the vast majority of the boats and crew were lost to rocky shores, improper storage of provisions and scurvy. The expedition's strength was depleted to the extent that the Romans had to camp the winter to regain their strength.

10,000 men were drafted from Egypt's garrison for the expedition, accompanied by an auxiliary force of 500 Judaeans and 1,000 Nabataeans under their own commander and influential minister, Syllaios. Unfortunately for the Romans, Syllaios was their guide. The Romans relied heavily on Syllaios; not only did the Romans venture into uncharted and foreign territory, Syllaios was their only guide who knew where the roads were and the watering holes as well. He was also the Romans' negotiator with local tribes, to gain provisions from them. 

But Syllaios had an agenda. Under orders from the Nabataean king Obodas III, Syllaios deliberately misled the expedition. The Nabataeans wished to safeguard Arabia's lucrative trade routes for themselves and they saw sabotaging Aeilius Gallus' expedition as the perfect way to expand their own influence in Arabia and to weaken the Roman hold on Egypt. Syllaios deliberately led the expedition in circuitous routes, avoiding wells and provisions, hoping that hunger and disease would destroy the Romans. Though it had some effect, the expedition carried on and soon, the Romans encountered the defenseless Minnaean city of Negrana (present-day Najran) and swiftly occupied it. It had taken six months but the expedition finally arrived in Arabia Felix.

Map of the doomed Roman expedition. Copyright of Warwick Ball
The South Arabians amassed an army to counter the Roman invaders. Despite disease, hunger and treachery, superior Roman military discipline led to minimal losses against the Arabians. The expedition carried onwards to occupy Yathil (modern day Baraqish) and planned to march onto the legendary Kingdom of Sheba's capital, Marib.

 Marib was a fortress like no other, the Sabaeans of South Arabia were masters of stone masonry, second to none. Limestone ramparts and 6-metre thick walls covered the city, providing a formidable obstacle to Roman siege tactics. 

The Romans besieged the city but only for six days, citing the lack of water. Marib had an oasis, a potentially endless source of water. The Romans, heavily demoralised with illnesses and scarcity of supplies as well as the intense heat, called off their expedition. Aelius Gallus conceded defeat. Having finally realised Syllaios' treachery, Gallus sought new guides. Within two months, the shattered remnants of the expedition returned to Alexandria. Gallus had stated that, of the dead, only seven of his men died to enemy combat, the rest were thought to have perished due to disease. The Romans made no further attempts to conquer territory in the Arabian peninsula.

Epilogue

Syllaios didn't keep a low profile. His actions led him up the hierarchical line in Nabataean society and became a key adviser to the king. He would later act as Nabataea's ambassador to Judaea (where he had a rather heavily-publicized affair with Herod's sister) and the Romans until his death in 9 BC.

The traditional idea that Syllaios is to blame for the failure of the expedition is owed to the fact that Strabo, the Greek geographer, was a personal friend of Aelius Gallus and was unwilling to blame the expedition's failure on his friend. He turned to the foreigner, Syllaios, as a scapegoat. He criticised Syllaios for the routes he had chosen and blamed him for the failure of the expedition. Though Strabo had no evidence aside from his own words, later Nabataean history reveals that Syllaios was unscrupulously ambitious and cruel, Strabos must have known this of him and conveniently put the blame on him but aside from Stabos' words, there is no evidence to suggest that Syllaios caused the expedition to fail. Even without treachery, an expedition into a desert would have been extremely difficult and losses had to be expected. The harshness of the terrain, the inexperience of the Romans in deserts, the over-extension of communications and supply lines, the expedition was destined to fail, even with the world's best guides at its helm. 

References:

My visit to Canterbury, London and beyond

Frequent readers may note that the blog has been quiet as of late this month but don't worry, I have a perfectly valid excuse, at least from my point of view. This month, I had a hectic visit to the UK to visit some relatives and generally do a bit of sightseeing. I've been to the charming Cathedral-and-University-town of Canterbury in England's garden region of Kent for around 10 days, after which I took the train to incredibly-complicated and ever-so-noisy London (I admit, I favoured Canterbury better) where, as you can imagine, I loitered immensely at the museums there.

I don't usually do personal posts but I suppose it's been too long since the last one. Instead of presenting a wall of text, I'll post photos of the stages of my trips, from Bahrain Airport's departure till Heathrow's, and I'll try to keep it short (I took 400 photographs, incredibly).

Bahrain Airport and Departure:
I got the window seat and being the over-excited person I am, I snapped photos out the window. In my defence, it was a six-hour flight.

Morning flights are the worst.

Basra's river networks.


This is probably Basra. Probably.

We approached the mountains of Kurdistan


This is somewhere over Central Anatolia but I forgot its name.


Shadows of clouds!

Its shadow reminded me of Asia, somehow.

Still in Turkey, it's amazing how clouds look like from above.


The Romanian coastline, from the Black Sea. First time I see Europe.

Another view of the coast. Romania is green....

...and just as cloudy as Turkey.

Hungary and Austria were super-cloudy, I assumed it was flooding.

Spotted this monster cloud just south of Dresden (6 June)

I see German land for the first time!

Approaching the Netherlands

Final piece of continental Europe, Dutch land reclamation fully visible.
Train ride!
This was the first time I ever used a train so naturally, I was overly excited. The train moved so fast and at times, I thought we'd hit the train on the other side of the tracks! Note to self, never sit by the window ever again.





I think I now realise why Kent is called England's garden.

Canterbury:

Canterbury is a small city located in southeast England and a popular tourist destination amongst the British (and generally anyone who likes really old buildings). The pride of the city is the majestically built Canterbury Cathedral that was first founded in 597 AD, which also hosts the leader of the Anglican Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Aside from that, the hub of the city is the seemingly never-ending multitude of ancient buildings lining up High Street, forming Canterbury's city centre. One observation I've made is that, as a person coming from a country were public transportation is neglected, the amazing efficiency of the bus system in the city came as a surprise. It was well maintained and reasonably cheap, I only wished this was the case in Bahrain.
Old Blighty lives up to its name.

Old and new Canterbury; the city walls - now a walkway!

Canterbury castle's walls were walking paths! How awesome is that?
A mound dating back to Roman times.

Found this close by (stupid graffiti)
One of the many ruined towers along the walls.

It goes on for a while.

To your left; trees growing in the adjacent park (I've never seen so much greenery)
To your right, asphalt.

These flowers were everywhere. Can someone identify them?

This was in the park, it looked stunning.

Amazing view.

I found so many pennies in the fountain

Canterbury's city centre! So busy and bustling with tourists.

And the first museum I visit; nicknamed The Beaney.

2:30pm 27/6/2013 - Well that is enough photos for now at least, due to time constraints I'll post more photos of my trip at a later time (making this one really long photo-post). Thank you for your patience and be sure to leave your thoughts in the comment section. 
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10th of July, 2013 - Well that was a rather long break. To compensate, here are some photos from the Beaney.

From what I gathered, the Royal Museum & Free Library (cutely called The Beaney) is dedicated primarily to a Canterbury-born Dr. James Beaney, a Victorian surgeon in the British army who served in the Crimean War and later became a politician in Australia. In the building, there was also a permanent art gallery showcasing the works of the renown English landscape artist, Thomas Sidney Cooper, who had a thing for cattle.

A friend told me the place was basically the treasure house of a Victorian adventurer... he wasn't joking.

A donation from the public in the Cooper exhibit.

One of his works (apologies for the horrible quality)

It has to be said that this looks more impressive in person.

Upstairs in the building lies Oriental "loots", such as this camel skull.

And the obligatory ancient-Egyptian cat statues.

Medals belonging to Dr. Beaney (he was a busy man)

A letter written in blood, showcased on the top floor.

Trophies amongst others.

More loot from the Orient.

This was in the animal exhibit. A stuffed falcon, I believe.

More stuffed birds.

A fox... (Look away, bunny)

Stuffed red squirrels

Materials were also on display.

I've always wanted to see a badger...

Taj Mahal painting in the museum.

And amazing china.

If only I remembered to look at the labels.
A bust of Dr. Beaney, I presume?

These paintings were beautiful. More so in person.

Literally a letter in a bottle. Try to read it.

This is a seed! (Allegedly)

More medals for Dr. Beaney, I suppose.

One thing has to be stressed, the stained windows were gorgeous.
 This concludes this update. Next time, I'll be posting photos from the Canterbury Heritage Museum and if time permits, Whitstable! Ciao.