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CHRISTOPHER ERLINGER

The Ohio State University

Denizens of Arabia, the southern edge of the inhabited world (3.107.1). An unnamed Arabian king granted safe passage to the army of the Persian king CAMBYSES (II) on its way to EGYPT and provided water during the journey, c. 525 BCE (3.7). In exchange, the Arabians were considered ALLIES, not subjects, of PERSIA and were exempt from paying TRIBUTE (3.88.1, 91.1).

Herodotus writes concerning Arabian religion that Arabians only believe in DIONYSUS and Urania (APHRODITE: see 1.105), whom they call OROTALT and ALILAT, respectively (3.8.3). Elsewhere, he says that the Persians learned to worship Aphrodite from the Arabians (1.131.3). The Arabians held OATHS in especially high regard; they consecrated oaths by cutting their palms, applying their blood to seven stones arranged between the two pledging parties, and invoking Dionysus and Urania (3.8).

Arabia was the ancient Greek world’s only source of frankincense, and a prominent source of other rare spices, including myrrh, cassia, and labdanum (3.107.1). According to Herodotus, the process of harvesting these spices was made difficult by the local fauna. Winged serpents guarded the frankincense TREES (3.108); aggressive bat‐like creatures guarded the lake where cassia grew (3.110); and cinnamon had to be stolen from the nests of giant, CATTLE‐eating BIRDS who procured it from unknown places (3.111). Labdanum was procured in an easier, but equally peculiar way; it naturally built up in goats’ beards, during foraging.

SEE ALSO: Deserts; Ethnography; Extremes; Geography; Gods and the Divine; Snakes; Trade