Citation with stable link: Philip A. Harland, 'Arabians, Trogodytes, and peoples around the Red Sea: Eratosthenes, Artemidoros, and Strabo on their locations and customs (early first century CE),' Ethnic Relations and Migration in the Ancient World, last modified August 29, 2024, https://philipharland.com/Blog/?p=21440.

Ancient authors: Eratosthenes (third century BCE), Geography = FGrHist 241 F95; Agatharchides of Knidos (second century BCE), On the Erythraian Sea = FGrHist 86 F32c, 34c, 35c, 47c; Artemidoros of Ephesos (late second century BCE), FGrHist 438 F99-100 (link to FGrHist), as discussed by Strabo (early first century CE), Geography 16.4.2-5, 8-14, 17-21 (link).

Comments: Strabo moves on to the peoples on either side of what we now call the Red Sea, providing further comments on lifestyles in some cases. Sometimes he does not even give the names of peoples, claiming that this is due to their insignificance rather than his ignorance. Throughout Strabo primarily draws on Artemidoros of Ephesos’ account (ca. 100 BCE) but also on Eratosthenes of Cyrene (third century BCE) and Agatharchides of Knidos (second century BCE). First he outlines four main Arabian peoples down in what is now Yemen. Then he turns to a variety of peoples between the Nile and the Red Sea in Trogodyte territory, including many different groups that Greeks labelled with nicknames related to what they principally ate (e.g. Fish-eaters, Turtle-eaters, Elephant-eaters). In these cases we have no idea what these peoples called themselves. He gives significant attention to the Trogodytes, drawing on Artemidoros again. Finally he turns to other Arabian peoples on the eastern shore of the Red Sea.

Works consulted: Duane W. Roller, A Historical and Topographical Guide to the Geography of Strabo (Cambridge: CUP, 2018).

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[For Strabo’s preceding discussion of Judeans, go to this link].

[Peoples and land of Arabia the Blessed, south of Petra of the Nabateans]

(16.4.2) Now I return to Eratosthenes, who next presents his opinions concerning Arabia. Eratosthenes speaks about the northerly or desert part of Arabia, which lies between Arabia the Blessed, on the one hand, and Coele-Syria and Judea, on the other, extending as far as the recess of the Arabian gulf. He says that the distance from Heroonpolis [modern Tell el-Mashūta, Egypt, about 16 km west of Ismalia] (which forms a recess of the Arabian gulf near the Nile) in the direction of Petra of the Nabateans to Babylon is five thousand six hundred stadium-lengths The whole journey is in the direction of the summer sunrise and through the adjacent countries of the Arabian peoples (ethnē), I mean the Nabateans, Chaulotaians, and Agraians [largely in what is now Saudi Arabia].

Above these [i.e. to the south of Petra in Jordan] lies Arabia the Blessed [overlapping with Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen], which extends for a distance of twelve thousand stadium-lengths towards the south, to the Atlantic ocean [i.e. the so-called outer ocean, namely the Arabian Sea in this case]. The first people who occupy Arabia the Blessed, after the Syrians and Judeans, are farmers. After these the soil is sandy and barren, producing a few palm-trees, a thorny tree and the tamarisk, and providing water by digging, as is the case in Gedrosia [i.e. further east]. This area is occupied by tent-dwellers and camel-herds.

The extreme parts towards the south, lying opposite to Ethiopia [i.e. on the eastern coast of our Red Sea], are watered by summer rains and are sowed twice, like India. The rivers there are used up in supplying plains and lakes. The country is in general fertile, and especially has many places for making honey. With the exception of horses, mules and hogs, it has an abundance of domesticated animals. With the exception of geese and chickens, it has all kinds of birds.

[Minaians, Sabaians, Kattabanians, and Chatramotitians]

The extreme part of the country mentioned above is occupied by the four largest peoples: by the Minaians, on the side towards the Erythraian sea [our Red Sea in this case], whose largest city is Karna or Karnana [near modern Jawf, Yemen]; next to these, by the Sabaians, whose metropolis is Mariaba [Marib, Yemen]; third, by Kattabanians, whose territory extends down to the straits and the passage across the Arabian gulf, and whose royal seat is called Tamna [modern Hajar Kuhlan, Yemen]; and, farthest toward the east, the Chatramotitians, whose city is Sabata [Shabwah, Yemen].

[Rulership customs]

(16.4.3) All these cities are ruled by a single ruler and are prosperous, being beautifully adorned with both temples and royal palaces. And the houses are like those of the Egyptians in the way the timbers are joined together. The four jurisdictions cover more territory than the Egyptian Delta. No son of a king succeeds to the throne of his father, but the son of some notable man who is born first after the appointment of the king. For at the same time that some one is appointed to the throne, they register the pregnant wives of their notable men and place guards over them. By law the wife’s son who is born first is adopted and reared in a royal manner as future successor to the throne.

[Local products and merchants]

(16.4.4) Kattabania produces frankincense,​and Chatramotitis produces myrrh. Both these and the other aromatics are bartered to merchants. These arrive there in seventy days from Ailana​ [Aqaba, Jordan]. (Ailana is a city on the other recess of the Arabian gulf, the recess near Gaza​ called Ailanites, as I have said before). But the Gerrhaians arrive at Chatramotitis in forty days. The part of the Arabian gulf along the side of Arabia, beginning at the Ailanites recess, is, as recorded by Alexander’s associates and by Anaxikrates, fourteen thousand stadium-lengths, though this figure is excessive; and the part opposite the Troglodytic country (which is on the right side as one sails from the City of Heroes), as far as Ptolemaïs and the country where elephants are captured, extends nine thousand stadium-lengths towards the south and slightly in the direction of the east. From there as far as the straits it is four thousand five hundred stadium-lengths, in a direction more towards the east. The straits are formed towards Ethiopia by a promontory called Deire,​ and by a town bearing the same name, which is inhabited by the Ichthyophagians (“Fish-eaters”).

[Senwosret’s conquests in this area]

It is said that, at this location, there is a pillar of Sesostris the Egyptian [one of the Senwosrets], which tells in hieroglyphics of his passage across the gulf. For clearly he was the first man to subdue the countries of the Ethiopians and the Troglodytes. Sesostris then crossed into Arabia, and from there invaded all of Asia. Actually, for this reason, there are in many places palisades of Sesostris, as they are called, and reproductions of temples of Egyptian gods. . . [omitted sentences].

After the islands, the next voyage, following the sinuosities of the bays, along the myrrh-bearing country in the direction of south and east as far as the cinnamon-bearing country [modern Somalia], is about five thousand stadium-lengths. To the present time, it is said, no one has arrived beyond that country. Though there are not many cities on the coast, there are many in the interior that are beautifully settled. Such, then, is Eratosthenes’ account of Arabia. But I must also add the accounts of the other writers.

[Sexual customs]

(16.4.5) Artemidoros [of Ephesos] says that the promontory on the Arabian side opposite Deire is called Akila; and that the males in the neighbourhood of Deire have their sexual glands mutilated. As one sails from the Heroonpolis along the Troglodytic [actually Trogodytic, without the el] country, one comes to a city Philotera, which was named after the sister of the second Ptolemy, having been founded by Satyros, who had been sent for the purpose of investigating the Troglodytic country and the hunting of elephants. Then one comes to another city, Arsinoe [modern Suez]. Then one comes to springs of hot water, salty and bitter, which flow down a high rock and empty into the sea. Nearby, in a plain, is a mountain that is red as ruddle.

[Myous Hormos and Berenike Trogodytike]

Then one comes to Myous Hormos (literally: Mussel harbour), which is also called Aphrodite’s harbour [modern Quseir al-Qadim, about half way down the west coast of our Red Sea]. This is a large harbour with a winding entrance, off which lie three islands. Two of these islands are densely shaded with olive trees, while the third is less so and is full of guinea-fowls. Then, next, one comes to the Akathartos gulf, which also, like Myous Hormos, lies opposite Thebais, and is really “akathartos,” for it is roughened by reefs and submarine rocks, and, most of the time, by tempestuous winds. And here, deep inland on the recess of the gulf, lies a city Berenike [Trogoditike]. . . [omitted sections]

[Peoples on the southwestern Red Sea coast]

[Sembritians]

(16.4.8) . . . The country deep in the interior is called Tenessis, and it is occupied by the Egyptians who went there as exiles from Psammetichos. They are called Sembritians, as they are foreigners. They are governed by a queen, to whom also Meroe [near Shendi, Sudan], an island in the Nile near that region, is subject. Above this island and not far away is another island in the river, a settlement of these same exiles. The journey from Meroe to this sea, for a well-prepared traveller, requires fifteen days. Near Meroe is the confluence of the Astaboras [modern Atbarah] river and the Astapos river , as well as the Astasobas river with the Nile.

[Rhizophagians, Heleians, and Spermophagians]

(16.4.9) Along these rivers live the Rhizophagians (“Root-eaters”) and the Heleians (“Marsh-people”), who are so-called because they cut roots from the adjacent marsh, crush them with stones, form them into cakes, and then heat the cakes in the sun’s rays and use them for food. This region is the haunt of lions. The wild animals are driven out of this region by large gnats on the days of the rising of the dog-star. Near by are also the Spermophagians (“Seed-eaters”), who, when the seeds fail, live on nuts, preparing them for eating in the same manner as the Rhizophagians prepare roots.

[Naked people and Kreophagians]

After Elaia one comes to the Lookouts of Demetrios and the Altars of Konon. In the interior grows an abundance of Indian reeds, and the country is called the country of Korakios. Deep in the interior was a place called Endera, a settlement of naked people, who use bows made of reeds and arrows hardened by fire. Generally they shoot wild animals from trees, but sometimes from the ground. They have a lot of wild cattle in their country, and they live on the flesh of these and the other wild animals. However, when they take nothing in the chase, they bake dried skins on hot coals and are satisfied with such food as that. It is their custom to propose contests in archery for boys who are in their teens. After the Altars of Konon one comes to the Melinos harbour, above which lie a Fortress of Koraos, as it is called, and a Hunting-ground of Koraos and another fortress and several hunting grounds. And then to the harbour of Antiphilos, and, above this, to the Kreophagians (“Flesh-eaters”), of whom the males have their sexual glands mutilated and the women are excised in the Judean fashion.

[Kynamolgians]

(16.4.10) Also above these, approximately towards the south, are the Kynamolgians (“Dog-milkers”), by the natives called Agraians, who have long hair and long beards and raise good-sized dogs. With these dogs, they hunt Indian cattle which come in from the neighbouring territory, whether driven there by wild animals or by scarcity of pasturage. The time of their incursion is from the summer solstice to mid-winter. Next after the Harbour of Antiphilus one comes to the Grove of the Kolobians (“Mutilated-people”), and to Berenike, a Sabaian city, and to Sabai, a good-sized city. Then one comes to the Grove of Eumenes.

[Elephantophagians]

Above the grove lie a city Daraba and the hunting ground for elephants called “the one near the well.” They are inhabited by the Elephantophagians (“Elephant-eaters”), who engage in the chase of elephants. When from trees they first see a herd of elephants moving through the forest they do not then attack them. Instead, they stealthily follow the herd and hamstring those that have wandered from the rear of the herd. Some, however, kill them with arrows dipped in the gall of serpents. But the shooting of the bow is performed by three persons Two of these step to the front and hold the bow, and the third draws the string. Others, noting the trees against which the elephants are accustomed to rest, approach them from the other side and cut the trunks of these trees low down. So when the elephant approaches and leans against it, the tree falls and the elephant falls too. Since the elephant is unable to arise because its legs have only a continuous and unbending bone, they leap down from the trees and cut the animal to pieces. The nomads call the hunters “Akathartians.”

[Strouthophagians]

(16.4.11) Above these is situated a people of no large size, that of the Strouthophagians (“Bird-eaters”), in whose country there are birds of the size of deer, which, though unable to fly, run swiftly, like ostriches. Some hunt them with bows and arrows. But others, covered with the skins of birds, conceal the right hand in the neck of the skin and move it in the same way as the birds move their necks. Then with the left hand they pour out seeds from a bag suspended to the side, and with these seeds they bait the creatures and run them together into gullies. There the men standing over the to slaughter them with cudgels. The birds’ skins are used both for clothing and for bed covers. The Ethiopians called “Simians” carry on war with these people. They use the horns of gazelles as weapons.

[Akridophagians]

(16.4.12) Neighbouring these people are the Akridophagians (“Locust-eaters”), who are blacker than the rest and shorter in stature and lives the shortest lives. For they rarely live beyond forty years, since their flesh is infested with parasites. They live on locusts, which are driven into this region in the spring-time by strong-blowing south-west and western winds. They cast smoking timber in the ravines, lighting it slightly (and so easily catch the locusts). When the locsuts fly above the smoke, they are blinded and fall. The people pound them with salt, make them into cakes, and use them for food.

Above these people lies a large uninhabited region, which has pastures in abundance. It was abandoned because of the multitude of scorpions and tarantulas, the tetragnathoi, as they are called. These once prevailed and caused a complete desertion by the inhabitants.

[Ichthyophagians, Kreophagians, Kolobians, and Chelenophagians, drawing on Agatharchides of Knidos, FGrHist 86 F32c, 34c, 35c, 47c]

(16.4.13) After the Harbour of Eumenes, as far as Deire [modern Bab-el-Mandeb] and the straits opposite the six islands, ​the country is inhabited by the Ichthyophagians (“Fish-eaters”), the Kreophagians (“Meat-eaters”) and the Kolobians (“Mutilated-people”), ​who extend as far as the interior. In this region are several hunting-grounds for elephants, insignificant cities, and islands lying off the coast. Most of the people are nomads, and those who farm are few in number. In some parts of their country styrax ​grows in significant quantities.

The Ichthyophagians collect the fish when the tide goes out, throw them upon the rocks, and bake them in the sun. Then, when they have thoroughly baked them, they pile up the bones, tread the flesh with their feet and make it into cakes. Again they bake these cakes and use them for food. But in stormy weather, when they are unable to collect the fish, they pound the bones which they have piled up and mould them into cakes and use them for food. They also suck the bones when fresh.

But some, who have shell-fish, fatten them by throwing them down into gullies and pools of sea-water, and then, throwing in minnows as food for them, use them for food when there is a scarcity of fish. They also have all kinds of places for hatching and feeding fish,​ from which they parcel them out. As they shout out songs with their families, some of the people who inhabit the part of the coast that is without water go inland every five days to the water-reservoirs, throw themselves upon the ground face downwards, and drink like cattle until their stomachs are filled out as tight as drums. Then they return to the sea again. They live in caves, or in pens roofed over with beams and cross-beams, consisting of the bones of whales and small fish,​as also with olive branches.

(16.4.14) The Chelonophagians (“Turtle-eaters”) ​live under cover of turtle-shells, which are so large that they are used as boats. But some of these people, since the sea-weed is thrown ashore in great quantities and forms high and hill-like heaps, dig beneath these and dwell under them. They throw out their dead as food for the fish, the bodies being caught up by the flood-tides. . . [omitted sections].

[Trogodytes / Troglodytes between the Nile and the Red Sea, according to Artemidoros]

(16.4.17) Now the Troglodytes live a nomadic life. Their several peoples are ruled by tyrants. They hold both their wives and their children in common, except those of the tyrants. The fine for anyone who corrupts the wife of a tyrant consists of a sheep. The women paint their eyelids carefully with stibi. They wear shells for amulets around their necks. The Troglodytes go to war about pasturage, at first pushing their way through with their hands and then with stones, and also, when a wound is inflicted, with arrows and daggers. But the fighters are reconciled by the women, who advance into the midst of the combatants and ply them with entreaties.

[Customs and lifestyle]

Their food consists of flesh and bones which are first chopped up together and wrapped in skins and then baked, or prepared in numerous other ways by the cooks (whom they call “unclean”), so that they not only eat the flesh, but also the bones and the skin. They also use the blood mixed with milk. As for beverages, most of the people drink a brew of buckthorn, but the tyrants drink a mixture of honey and water, the honey being pressed out of some kind of flower.

They have winter when the Etesian winds blow (for they have rains); but the rest of the time is summer. They also go lightly clad, wear skins, and carry clubs. They not only mutilate their bodies, but some of them are also circumcised, like the Egyptians. The Ethiopian Megabarians have iron knobs on their clubs, and also use spears and shields made of rawhide, but the rest of the Ethiopians use the bow and arrow and lances.

Before burying their dead, some of the Troglodytes bind the neck of the corpses to the legs with twigs of the buckthorn. Then, immediately, happily and with laughter, they throw stones on the dead until the body is hidden from sight. Then they place a ram’s horn on the barrow and go away.

They travel by night, first fastening bells to the male cattle, so as to drive away the wild animals with the noise. They also use torches and bows to repel the wild beasts. For the sake of their flocks, they also keep watch during the night, singing a kind of song near the fire.

[Arabians on the eastern shore of the Red Sea, according to Artemidoros]

(16.4.18) After saying all this about the Troglodytes and the neighbouring Ethiopians, Artemidoros returns to the Arabians. First, beginning at Poseideion, he describes Arabians who border on the Arabian gulf and live opposite the Troglodytes [i.e. on the eastern coast of the Red Sea]. He says that Poseideion lies farther in than the Ailanitic gulf [Gulf of Aqaba], and that contiguous to Poseideion there is a grove of palm trees, which is well supplied with water and is highly valued because all the country around is hot and waterless and shadeless. He says that here the fertility of the palms is wonderful, and that a man and a woman are in charge of the grove, being appointed to that charge through hereditary right. They wear skins, and live on dates from the palm trees. However, because of the number of wild animals, they build huts in trees and sleep there.

Then, next, one comes to the Island of Phokai [still in the Gulf of Aqaba], which was so named from the number of “seals” there. Near the island is a promontory, which extends to the Rock of the Nabatean Arabians, as they are called, and to the Palestine country, from where Minaians and Gerrhaians and all the neighbouring peoples convey their loads of aromatics.

[Garindaians and Maranitians]

Then one comes to another coast, which was formerly called the coast of the Maranitians, some of whom were farmers and others tent-dwellers, but is now called the coast of the Garindaians, who destroyed the Maranitians by treachery. For the Garindaians attacked them while they were celebrating some quadrennial festival. They not only destroyed all the people at the festival but also overran and exterminated the rest of them.

[Nabateans on islands]

Then one comes to the Ailanitic gulf and to Nabatea, a country with a large population and well supplied with pasturage. They also inhabit the islands situated off the coast nearby. These Nabateans formerly lived a peaceful life, but later, by means of rafts, went to plundering the vessels of people sailing from Egypt. But they paid the penalty when a fleet went over and sacked their country.

Next one comes to a plain which is well supplied with trees and water and is full of all kinds of domestic animals — mules among others. It also has many wild camels, deer, and gazelles, as well as numerous lions, leopards, and wolves. Off this plain lies an island called Dia [modern location unknown]. Then one comes to a gulf about five hundred stadium-lengths in extent, which is enclosed all around by mountains and a mouth that is difficult to enter. Around this gulf live men who hunt the land animals. Then to three uninhabited islands, full of olive trees, not the kind in our country, but the indigenous kind, called Ethiopic, the sap of which has medicinal power.

Next in order one comes to a stony beach, and after that to a stretch of coast about one thousand stadium-lengths in length which is rugged and difficult for vessels to pass, for lack of harbours and anchoring places, since a rugged and lofty mountain stretches along it. Then one comes to foot-hills, which are rocky and extend to the sea; and these, especially at the time of the Etesian winds and the rains, present to sailors a danger that is beyond all help. Next is a gulf with scattered islands. Continuous with the gulf are three exceedingly high banks of black sand; and after these lies Charmothas Harbour, about one hundred stadium-lengths in circuit, with an entrance that is narrow and dangerous for all kinds of boats. A river flows into it; and there is an island in the middle of it which is well supplied with trees and fit for tillage. Then one comes to a rugged stretch of coast; and after that to certain gulfs and to a country of nomads who get their livelihood from camels; for they carry on war from the backs of camels, travel upon them, and subsist upon their milk and flesh.

[Debians, and Strabo’s explanation that he is not supplying names of peoples because they are “insignificant”]

A river flows through their country that brings down gold dust, but the inhabitants do not know how to work it. They are called Debians, and some of them are nomads, whereas others are also farmers. I am not giving most of the names of the peoples because of their insignificance and at the same time because of the oddity of the pronunciations.

[A more civilized people corresponding to a temperate climate]

Next to the Debians are men more civilized than the Debians. The country these live in has a more temperate climate, because it is well watered and well supplied with rains. Gold obtained by digging is found in their country — not gold dust, but gold nuggets, which do not require much purification. The smallest nuggets have the size of a fruit stone, the medium that of a medlar, and the largest that of a walnut. They make collars with these nuggets, perforating them and stringing them alternately with transparent stones by means of thread. They wear them round their necks and wrists. They also sell the gold at a cheap price to their neighbours, giving it in exchange for three times the quantity of brass and double the quantity of silver, because of their lack of experience in working gold and because of the scarcity of the things received in exchange, which are more important for the necessities of life.

[Sabaians and their customs]

(16.4.19) Bordering upon these people is the very fertile country of the Sabaians [in Yemen], a very large people, in whose country myrrh and frankincense and cinnamon are produced. On the coast is found balsam, as also another kind of herb of very fragrant smell, which quickly loses its fragrance. There are also sweet-smelling palms, and reeds; and serpents a span in length, which are dark red in colour, can leap even as far as a hare, and inflict an incurable bite.

On account of the abundance of fruits the people are lazy and easygoing in their modes of life. Most of the populace sleep on the roots of trees which they have cut out of the ground. Those who live close to one another receive in continuous succession the loads of aromatics and deliver them to their next neighbours, as far as Syria and Mesopotamia. When they are made drowsy by the sweet odours they overcome the drowsiness by inhaling the incense of asphalt and goats’ beard.

The city of the Sabaians, Mariaba [Marib, Yemen], is situated on a well-wooded mountain. It has a king who is authority in lawsuits and everything else. However, it is not lawful for him to leave the palace. If he does leave, the rabble, in accordance with some oracle, stone him to death on the spot. Both he himself and those around him live in effeminate luxury.

But the masses engage partly in farming and partly in the traffic in aromatics, both the local kinds and those from Ethiopia. To get the latter they sail across the straits in leathern boats. They have these aromatics in such abundance that they use cinnamon, cassia and the others instead of sticks and firewood. In the country of the Sabaians is also found larimnum, a most fragrant incense.

From their trading both the Sabaians and the Gerrhaians have become richest of all. They have a vast equipment of both gold and silver articles, such as couches and tripods and bowls, together with drinking vessels and very costly houses. For doors and walls and ceilings are variegated with ivory and gold and silver set with precious stones.

This is Artemidoros‘ account of these peoples. But the rest of his statements are partly similar to those of Eratosthenes and partly quoted from the other historians. . . [omitted sections]

[Roman control of the peoples and description of Petra]

(16.4.21) The first people above Syria [i.e. to the south] who dwell in Arabia the Blessed are the Nabateans and the Sabaeans. They overran Syria before they became subject to the Romans. But at present both they and the Syrians are subject to the Romans. The metropolis of the Nabateans is Petra, as it is called, because it lies on a site which is otherwise smooth and level, but it is fortified all around by a rock, the outside parts of the site being precipitous and sheer, and the inside parts having springs in abundance, both for domestic purposes and for watering gardens.

Outside the circuit of the rock most of the territory is desert, in particular towards Judea. Here, too, is the shortest road to Hierikos, a journey of three or four days, as also to the grove of palm trees, a journey of five days. Petra is also ruled by some king from the royal family. The king also has as administrator one of his companions, who is called “brother.” It is exceedingly well-governed. Anyways, Athenodoros, a philosopher and companion of mine, who had been in the city of the Petraians, used to describe their government with admiration, for he said that he found both many Romans and many other foreigners sojourning there. He said that he saw that the foreigners often engaged in lawsuits, both with one another and with the natives, but that none of the natives prosecuted one another, and that they in every way kept peace with one another.

[For Strabo’s subsequent discussion of Aelius Gallus’ imperial expedition into Arabian territories, go to this link].

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Source of translation: H.L. Jones, Strabo, 8 volumes, LCL (Cambridge, MA: HUP, 1917-28), public domain (passed away in 1932), adapted by Justin Nadeau and Harland.