Diodorus Siculus Strabo Royal Navy Hydrographic Department

– Bibliotheca Historica (1st Cent. BC) - Geography (1st Cent. AD) - Red Sea and Gulf of Aden Pilot (1967)

Next after these plains [along Gulf of Aqaba] as one skirts the coast comes a gulf of extraordinary nature. It runs, namely, to a point deep in the land, extends a distance of some 500 stades [over 50 miles], and shut in as it is by crags which are of wondrous size, its mouth is winding and hard to get out of; for a rock which extends into the sea obstructs its entrance and so it is impossible for a ship either to sail into or out of the gulf.

Then one comes to a gulf about 500 stades in extent, which is enclosed all round by mountains and a mouth that is difficult to enter....

Between Ras Al Fasma (28° 01' N., 34° 37' E.), the eastern point of the Gulf of Aqaba and Ainuna Bay, about 30 miles eastward, the coast is low, sandy, rising gradually inland, deeply indented, and fronted by coral reefs, with narrow intricate channels between them, barely navigable by boats.... About 2 miles inland a long line of cliffs rises from the plain.... Ainuna valley [is] between two barren rocky hills.... Ainuna Bay's approach is much encumbered with rocks and reefs.

The inhabitants of the land about the gulf, who are known as Banizomenes, find their food by hunting the land animals and eating their meat. And a temple has been set up there which is very holy and exceedingly revered by all Arabians.

Round [the gulf] live men who hunt the land animals.

On both sides of the valley [of Ainuna] lie ruins, and between it and the beach stand the remains of an aqueduct.

[NOTES: Ainuna Valley, an extensive tableland ringed by cliffs, has considerable vegetation. The Red Sea Pilot (1967) describes it as “a luxuriant, though uncultivated tract” which “contrasts strangely with the wild sterility of the neighboring scenery.” Ainuna Valley could be the remaining fragment of a larger green stretch of flatland described by Diodorus and Strabo as being located to the west and north of the “gulf of extraordinary nature.” It is not known whether the ruins described by the Red Sea Pilot include any pre-Islamic structures.]

Next there are three islands which lie off the coast just described and provide numerous harbors. The first of these, history relates, is sacred to Isis and is uninhabited, and on it are stone foundations of ancient dwellings and stelae which are inscribed with letters in a barbarian tongue.... The other two islands are likewise uninhabited and all three are covered thick with olive trees which differ from those we have.

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.

Three islets, including Al Riman and Umm Shagara, stand on a rocky ;edge which extends about 8 miles southward and 10 miles southeastward from the coast about 9 miles eastward of Ras Abu Seif (28° 04' N., 34° 50' E.).

[NOTES: The Red Sea Pilot (1967) offers no details on these islets. There are several larger islands located farther out into the sea, including Shusha, Barqan and

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Yuba'. There are apparently no olive trees remaining on any of these islands off the coast.]

Beyond these islands there extends for about 1,000 stades [over 100 miles] a coast which is precipitous and difficult for ships to sail past; for there is neither harbor beneath the cliffs nor roadstead where sailors may anchor, and no natural breakwater which affords shelter in emergency for mariners in distress. And parallel to the coast here runs a mountain range at whose summit are rocks which are sheer and of terrifying height, and at its base sharp undersea ledges in many places and behind them are ravines which are eaten away underneath and turn this way and that. Since these ravines are connected by passages … and the sea is deep, the surf … gives forth a sound resembling a mighty crash of thunder. At one place the surf, as it breaks upon huge rocks, leaps on high and causes an astonishing mass of foam.

Next in order one comes to a stony beach, and after that to a stretch of coast about 1,000 stades in length which is rugged and difficult for vessels to pass, for lack of harbors and anchoring places, since a rugged and lofty mountain stretches along it. Then one comes to foothills 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.

Between Ras Abu Madharib (27° 08' N., 35° 46' E.) and Sharm Habban, 75 miles south-southeastward, the coast is fronted by steep overhanging cliffs or coral and sandstone.... a level ledge of rocks, the outer part of which nearly dries and rises like a wall from a considerable depth, extends about 40 yeards from the base of these cliffs. Against this ledge the sea, at times, breaks with violence and produces a surf which renders landing between the inlets almost impracticable.

This coast, then, is inhabited by Arabs who are called Thamudeni [Thamudenes, post-Nabataean]; but the coast next to it is bounded by a very large gulf, off which lie scattered islands which are in appearance very much like the islands called the Echinades [now called the Kurtzolares, off the Gulf of Corinth]. After this coast there come sand dunes, of infinite extent in both length and width and black in color.

Next is a gulf of scattered islands … and continuous with the gulf are three exceedingly high banks of black sand.

Between Ras Karkame (25° 54' N., 36° 39' E.) and Ras Abu Madd, about 68 miles south-southeastward, the coast is much indented, and is fronted by low sandy inlets and reefs, which, studded with rocks, and connected by extensive banks, extend from about 3 to 20 miles offshore. Black hill, which is conspicuous from northwestward, is situated about 10 miles eastward of Ras Abu Madd.

Beyond [the dunes] a neck of land is to be seen and a harbor, the fairest of any which have come to be included in history, called Charmuthas. For behind an extraordinary natural breakwater, which slants toward the west, there lies a gulf which not only is marvelous in form but far surpasses all others in the advantages it offers; for a thickly wooded mountain stretches along it, enclosing it on all sides in a ring 100 stades [over 10 miles] long; its entrance is 2 plethra [202 feet] wide, and it provides a harbor undisturbed by the waves sufficient

After these [dunes] lies Charmothas Harbor, about 100 stades [over 10 miles] 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

From Ras Mahar the coast trends about 22½ miles south-southeastward to Ras al Lakk, thence the coast, which is steep-to and composed of steep coral cliffs, trends about 8 miles southeastward to Ras Baridi, and thence about 7 miles eastward to the western entrance point of Sharm al Khaur. [The stretch of coast from Ras al Lakk to Ras Baridi constitutes a neck of land, as charts clearly indicate.] Between Sharm al Khaur and Yanbu the coast is fringed by a reef. Sharm Yanbu is the best harbor on the coast between Ras Muhammad [at the tip of Sinai] and Jeddah, and affords good anchorage to small vessels with local knowledge. [Sharm Yanbu, several miles north of the modern port of Yanbu, is 13 miles east-

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for 2,000 vessels. Furthermore, it is exceptionally well supplied with water, since a river, larger than ordinary, empties into it, and it contains in its center an island which is abundantly watered and capable of supporting gardens. In general, it resembles most closely the harbor of Carthage, which is known as Cothon....

middle of it which is well supplied with trees and fit for tillage.

southeastward of Ras Jarbu, the eastern entrance point of Sharm al Khaur. The Red Sea Pilot (1967) adds the following details:] Between Ras Jarbu and Yanbu the coast is low, sandy and fringed by a reef, through which there is a gap leading into Sharm Yanbu.... Close within the entrance to this inlet a branch extends eastward, and about 1 ½ miles farther in a branch extends northwestward. [Charts show an island in the middle of Sharm Yanbu.]

[NOTES: Sharm Yanbu is a remarkably shaped harbor, with good anchorage. It appears to be identical with Charmuthas Harbor. What is not known at this point is whether Charmuthas is the site of the Nabataean port of Leuce Come (White Village). Diodorus and Strabo are not clear on this point.]

Periplus of the Erithraean (Red) Sea

Now to the left of Berenice [Ras Banas on the Egyptian coast], sailing for two or three days from Mussel Harbor [Myos-Hormus] eastward across the adjacent gulf, there is another harbor and fortified place, which is called White Village [Leuce Come], from which there is a road to Petra, which is subject to Malichas, King of the Nabataeans. It holds the position of a market town for the small vessels sent there from Arabia [i.e., Arabia Felix, or Southern Arabia]; and so a centurion is stationed there as a collector of one-fourth of the merchandise imported, with an armed force, as a garrison.

COMMENTS:

Wilfred H. Schoff, translator of the Periplus, describes Berenice [identified with Umm el-Ketef Bay, south of Ras Banas] as Egypt's leading port for the Eastern trade and the probable home of the unnamed Greek Egyptian ship captain who wrote the Periplus. According to Schoff, most commentators place Leuce Come at Al Haura (25° 7' N., 37° 13' E.), which lies in a bay protected by Hasani Island. “The name Haura also means 'white',” he says, “and the Arab name itself appears as Auara in Ptolemy. The place is on the regular caravan route that led, and

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still leads, from Aden to the Mediterranean.” If Schoff is correct, then Charmuthas Harbor (described above) is not identical to Leuce Come. But it should be noted that Diodorus and Strabo, in their geographical accounts of the Arabian Red Sea coast, do not mention Leuce Come by name (though Strabo does mention the “large emporium” of Leuce Come in a later historical account of the Roman attempt to conquer Arabia). Sharm Yanbu (or Charmuthas Harbor) is about the proper distance and direction from Berenice cited for Leuce Come in the Periplus. But then so is Al Haura. Both locales should be carefully explored in any coast survey.

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