158 



A. D. 73. 



Under the name of the Erythraanjea the author comprehends that part 

 of the Ocean, which is between Africa and India, and apparently aHb the 

 Gulf of Bengal. He obferves, that the unexplored ocean extends to the font h- 

 ivard till it joins the Atlantic ; a moft capital and important piece of geo- 

 graphical and commercial knowlege, which had lain concealed from al- 

 moh the whole world from the age of Necos king of Egypt (about fix 

 hundred years before the Chriftian tera) till the re-difcovery of the Cape of 

 Good Hope by the Portuguefe : for Herodotus, though he recorded the 

 circumnavigation of Africa by the Phoenicians in the reign of Necos, 

 appears not to have believed it himfelf : and no other Greek or Roman 

 writer, to the beft of my knowlege, unlefs the Mauritanian prince Ju- 

 ba * may be reckoned among them, had the fmallefl idea of the true 



are mentioned by Pliny as his contemporaries ; and 

 he alfo notices ambaffadovs from Arabia, evidently 

 fi-om the fouth part of it (perhaps thofe fent by 

 Charibael) who were in Rome in his time. \_Plin. 

 L. vi, c. 23 ; L. xii, c. 14.] It is thence not im- 

 probable, that our author and Pliny lived at the 

 fame time. But it mull be acknowleged, that fome 

 kings of the fame names are alfo mentioned by 

 Ptolemy, who was near a century later than Pliny; 

 though he might copy them from older documents, 

 or the names might be preferved in the families, or 

 be permanent titles rather than names of individu- 

 als. Our author alfo fays that the city of Arabia 

 Felix was deftroyed a httle before his own time by 

 Cos far, that is, the Roman emperor. But the de- 

 flruftion of the city not being mentioned by any 

 other author extant, it affords us no aflillance in 

 finding his age. It has been afcribed to Trajan, 

 for no other reafon than becaufe that emperor was 

 in Arabia, and did a grot deal of mifchief in his 

 progrefs : for the aflertions of Eutropius and Ru- 

 fus r"cllus, that Trajan reduced Ai'abia to the con- 

 dition of a province, are contradidled by the fubfe- 

 quent hiftory of Adrian ; and a hyperbolical paf- 

 fage in the Philopatris, a dialogue afcribed to Lu- 

 cian, ie mere rodomontade and prophecy. Trajan 

 marched, indeed, from Ctcfiphon a^rMnft the Aga- 

 rcncs, an Arabian nation bordering upon Judaa, 

 and above a thoufand miles from the city of Arabia 

 Felix, from whom lie was obliged to retreat witli 

 great lofs. But a proper chronological attention 

 to all the ciicumftances of his eallern expedition 

 might Ihow, that he could not poffibly have ever 

 gone near the fouth part of Arabia, and confe- 

 quently could not be the deflroyer of the city of 

 Arabia Felix ; though the mod learned Dodwell, 

 who might be fuppofcd to have examined the hif- 

 tory of the later years of Trajan with the moll fcru- 

 pnlous attention, when compofing his ledlurcs on 

 the life of Adrian the fuccelTor of Trajan, has af- 

 cribed the dellrudlion of it to him, and has made 

 our author contemporary with the joint emperors 

 Marcus Antoninus and Verus, becaufe he fays that 



Charibael ' fends frequent embaflies and prefents to 

 ' our emperors,' by which plural word, he thinks, 

 we muft underftand a conjundlion of emperors, 

 though there feems no reaioii why the embaf[ies,bc- 

 'ya<g frequent, might not be to a fucceffion of emper- 

 ors : or, if there muft be a conjunftion of emperors, 

 let us not forget, that Titus was afibciated with his 

 father in the imperial dignity long before the age 

 of Antoninus. But it is very clear, that the dc- 

 ftruftion of that city was neither the work of Tra- 

 jan, nor of any other Roman emperor in perfon. 

 If we could tell exaAly, when anchors began to be 

 made of iron, it might perhaps help to fix our au- 

 thor's Kra, which was prior to that moft important 

 improvement. (See below in the nautical notices 

 under this fame year.) But, after much refearch, 

 I am inclined to believe, that neither the date of 

 the deftru£tion of Arabia Felix, nor that of the in- 

 troduftion of iron anchors, can be afcertained, how- 

 ever defirable_j^they may be, as helping to fix the 

 chronology of the Periplus, and alfo on account of 

 their own importance in commercial hillory. 



The name of this valuable author, and his coun- 

 try, are alfo mifreprefented. The work is com- 

 monly afcribed to Arriau, a Bithynian Greek, 

 and governor of Cappadocia under the emperor 

 Adrian, who wrote the Hiftory of Alexander the 

 Great ; though it is not in the lift of his works 

 given by Pholius, who tlouiiftied in the ninth cen- 

 tury, and though it contains fome miftakes con- 

 cerning Alexander, which Artian could not poffi- 

 bly have fallen into. The only reafon feems to be, 

 that Arrian alfo wrote a Periplus, which, iiotwith- 

 ftanding his acknowleged fuperior literary merit, 

 is as far inferior in interefting informaiion to our 

 author's Periplus, as flie Euxine fea, Arrian's fub- 

 jcft, is inferior to the Indian ocean. 



* Juba, as quoted by Pliny, [i. vi, c. 29] had 

 fome idea of the communication of the Indian and 

 Atlantic oceans ; for he extends the later as far as 

 tlie MolTyllite promontory (Cape Guardafui), 

 which other writers call the Aromatic promon- 

 tory. 



