Eudaemon
Encyclopedia
In the 1st century BCE, the Arabian city Eudaemon (usually identified with the port of Aden
) was a transshipping port in the Red Sea trade. The city and surrounding country were the Latin Arabia Felix. It was described in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
(probably 1st century CE) as if it had fallen on hard times. Of the auspiciously named port we read in the periplus
that
The new development in trade during the 1st century CE avoided the middlemen at Eudaemon and made the courageous direct crossing of the Arabian Sea
to the coast of India
.
Aden
Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...
) was a transshipping port in the Red Sea trade. The city and surrounding country were the Latin Arabia Felix. It was described in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea or Periplus of the Red Sea is a Greco-Roman periplus, written in Greek, describing navigation and trading opportunities from Roman Egyptian ports like Berenice along the coast of the Red Sea, and others along Northeast Africa and India...
(probably 1st century CE) as if it had fallen on hard times. Of the auspiciously named port we read in the periplus
Periplus
Periplus is the Latinization of an ancient Greek word, περίπλους , literally "a sailing-around." Both segments, peri- and -plous, were independently productive: the ancient Greek speaker understood the word in its literal sense; however, it developed a few specialized meanings, one of which became...
that
- Eudaemon Arabia was once a full-fledged city, when vessels from IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
did not go to EgyptEgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
and those of Egypt did not dare sail to places further on, but came only this far.
The new development in trade during the 1st century CE avoided the middlemen at Eudaemon and made the courageous direct crossing of the Arabian Sea
Arabian Sea
The Arabian Sea is a region of the Indian Ocean bounded on the east by India, on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, on the south, approximately, by a line between Cape Guardafui in northeastern Somalia and Kanyakumari in India...
to the coast of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.