ABSTRACT

The Greeks had extended the designation Arabia to encompass the whole peninsula when they realized the existence of this large land mass beyond the area between Egypt and Palestine. This occurred at the latest in the time of Alexander. There is no doubt that the Greeks even before that time had vague notions of a larger Arabia. The frankincense route from South Arabia, which was established in the seventh century Bc, had made it known to them, even though it took some time before they realized the dimensions of this new continent. As has become evident from the preceding survey, the Greeks tended to call all inhabitants of the area Arabs, even though there are sporadic hints in the sources that the Greeks, too, had information that Arabs were in fact a group among others in the frankincense land.