Did Roman Commercial Competition Ruin South Arabia?

Abstract

T is not easy to know precisely to what extent the prosperity of ancient South Arabia was dependent on international commerce. The valleys and terraces of Yaman provide plenty of rich agricultural land, and the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea in the middle of the first century A.D. says that this country (the hinterland of the port of Muza) produces grain in moderate amount, and a great deal of wine, and that for this reason little grain or wine was imported.' The HIadramawt has much cultivated land in its long valleys, and its ancient port of Cane is also said by the Periplus to import little grain or wine.2 In the plains east of Yaman and north of the Hadramawt Mountains, cultivation once extended far into what is now the gravel desert of Sabatayn, as is evident from the many ruins of ancient cities and irrigation works in that area. On the other hand, cultivated area has to be considered in relation to total population, and this is a wholly unknown factor. But at least it can be said with confidence that the wealth of those people above the subsistence level was derived from their well-attested com-