Indian Antiquary Vol 08

SR No.: 032500
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 404
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 19 MB

Page 377

DECEMBER, 1879.] ON THE PERIPLUS OF THE ERYTHREAN SEA.
Zôskalês. But, for my part, I find in the same lists, under a date corresponding to the years 246 and 247 A.D., a prince of the name of S&gal or As gal-in which the form approaches satisfactorily to the Greek one.
The ship after sailing as far as Zanzibar returns to the head of the Red Sea, and stops on the Arabian coast at Leukê Kômê or the white village.' The text states that from Leukê Kômê a road led directly to the city of Petra.20 The vast commerce of Petra was mostly carried by camels, but it also received by sea and exported by the same some of its traffic, and Leukê Kômê served it as an entrepôt in its relations with: Arabia Felix, Abyssinia, India, &c. M. Müller thinks, with reason I believe, that Le u kê Kômê corresponds with the place called A 1-Hauara. But I may not stop at this; my attention is specially directed to two circumstances mentioned in the text, viz., that the city of Petra was then subject to Malik ha, king of the Nabat hæans, and that the Roman Government maintained an agent at Leukê Kômê charged with superintending the customs on the merchandise, as well as a centurion and company of soldiers."1
In Arabic malek is king,' and serves as a proper name also. Exactly in the 3rd century history presents us with persons of the name of Malek among the Arabs. Is it used here as a name or a title? Unfortunately the Arab genealogies afford us nothing more precise. M. Müller observes, with reason, that in the year 80 the kingdom of Petra still subsisted, but was overthrown some years later by Trajan. However, nothing opposes our believing that under the emperor Philip the Roman Government was confined in these parts, to the possession of the maritime places most accessible and where the Roman vessels put in, and that it had abandoned the interior to an Arab Sheikh. This is what the Arab writers say of the Gassanite" princes of whom some had embraced Christianity, and which agrees with Roman numismatology. Among the Roman medals struck at Petra, we possess pieces of Adrian, Marcus Aurelius, Septimus Severus and his children; but there are none for the epoch now under consideration. Let us hope that the inscriptions in Sinaitic characters which have lately been discovered on the route from Petra
10 This is El-Segel in Salt's list, and who is there placed in A.D. 275 and 276; Dillmann's dates are more exact.-ED. 30 Mém. sur le royaume de la Mésène et de la Kharacène in Mém. de l'Inst. tom. XXIV. pt. ii. p. 189, also Jour. Asiatique, Vième Ser. tom. XVIII. pp. 197, 198, 217.
1 The interpretation of Letronne (Mém. de l'Acad. des inscrip. &c. t. IX, p. 175) is preferable to that of Müller. Letronne's opinion had been already held by Dr. Vincent. sa Caussin de Perceval, Histoire des Arabes, t. II. pp. 199-222.
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to the Hauran and Palmyra may throw light on this matter.
When the voyage was made along the coast to the cast and south, all Arabia Felix on this side and beyond the Strait of Babelmandeb formed one vast state under the King Kharibaêl. This kingdom appears to have been bordered on the north only by half-savage peoples addicted to violence and piracy; but on the south-east it was limited by the possessions of a prince called Eleazos. The author of the Periplús adds that Kharibaêl took special care to cultivate the friendship of the emperors, and to this end sent them frequent deputations and rich presents. No writer, Greek or Arab, mentions the name of Kharibaê 1, but it is met with in certain inscriptions in the Himyaritic character and language recently discovered. Now we know that in the 3rd, 4th and 5th centuries the Himyarites, called Homêrites by the Greeks, formed a powerful state. Certain of its princes had embraced Judaism; and the Jews were always numerous in the country. Among the inscriptions is one dated 573 and another 640. These dates have proved an enigma to scholars. The facts known and the presence of the Jews in the country indicate that the Seleukidan era only can be used, adopted by all the Jewish communities under the style of the era of the contracts. This gives us for 573 the year 261 A. D., and for 640, 323 A. D., which fall within the limits established for the date of the composition of the Periplús.
Among the towns which Kharibaêl possessed on the southern coast of Arabia the Periplus mentions one called Arabia Felix." Situated at the entry of the Gulf of Arabia it necessarily corresponds to the modern 'Aden (1). The fact is that Aden by its situation and the strength of its position has always been a place of considerable importance. Now the author of the Periplús says that, after the discovery of the monsoons, it was at Arabia Felix that the Arab, Indian and Malay ships bearing the rich products of eastern Asia arrived, and that thither the ships from Egypt came to load. When the fleets from Egypt came to sail directly for the western coast of peninsular India the importance of Arabia Felix diminished; it was however a place of frequent call; but in the
23 See Eckhel, Doctrina, t. III. p. 503; Mionnet Descr. des médailles antiques, t. V. p. 58, and Suppl. t. VIII.p.387.
Bios TWV AUTOкpaтópov.-Perip. § 23, ante p. 130.. 25 Memoir of M. Fresnel in the Jour. Asist. for Sept. 1845 pp. 169 ff. See also the Memoir of M. Osiander in the Journal of the German Oriental Society, 1856, vol. X. pp. 59 ff.
20 M. Reinaud's Mémoire on Mésène and Kharacène, Mém. de l'Inst. tom. XXIV. pt. ii. p. 202.
27 Εὐδαίμων ̓Αραβία. § 26, ante p. 132.