LlTEBATunE. — Bnrcklianit, Trnvels tn .Syria and the FJofy land, 1S-J2; De LiiLonie, Voiiiig,' en Orient, 1^2< : Hull, Mount Seir, .Sinai, and It'utfm Pnirstinr., 1SS1>; 'Tile PhyRicnl Gnol. •iDd Oeop, (if Arabia Pelrifa,' etc., in Mitn. I'EF, \S^Q\ (jirU-t, Voyage d'Eip'irrntion (le la Mer ifurlf, t. :'.b>«, 1S80; Ilfihilisoit, BRI', 1.^5.'.; Stanley, Sinni anil ^'<i' », IRllO; lilnnkiMikurn, 'Ent- IteliunR u. Gesi-h. dc8 T"ilt<;n Jlieies,' In ZDIV, IbUl).
Dean Stanley concurs with the view expressed above, that it was through the Wady el Ithem (W. Ithm) that the Israelites passed on their way to Moab after their retreat from Edom {Sinai, p. 85).
E. Hull.
• Except at Rfld el-Mnfry, cIobo to W. sboi* of O. of Aknbab.
f Stanley sp--akH of tlit-Me cnUinrfl ns 'giTKeouH,'— red pa.s.sing Into rrnuHnii, Ktnak''<) witb pur]>le, yellow, and blue like a Pet^iaii car)>et. .Sinat, p. 87.
t The head waters of the 0. nf Akal>ali arp fringed by an extensive grove of the date l»alin ll'hrrnU ilarlyliii ra), tojrether with aomeKpeclniensof the mrer dnniii italni(//i/i'/ia*n< TheUiun), whieli Is also found In Upjier Kcypt and on the t>aiiki« of the Atbani. Theae trees are prid>aMj iiidl^'eiinua, aa the old natue of AJcai>ali was ' Elath,' wlilch ineaiia a ' gn>ve of treea ' ( Dt 2^).
ARABIA (3-iv, 'Apa^la), the name given by the Or geographers to the whole of the vast peninsula which lies between the mainlands of Asia and Africa. Of the application of the name in the Bible some account is given under Arablan ; this article will contain a brief account of the country itself, and of the references to it in the sacred books.
i. Geography and Geology.— The shape of A. was compared by Pliny to that of Italy, but the breadth of the former is greater in comjiarison with its length ; the length of the W. coast-line is about 1800 miles, while its breadth is about 600 miles from the Red Sea to the Pers. Gulf. The Sin. peninsula, which divides the Ked Sea at its N. end into the Gulf of Suez on the W. and the Gulf of Akabah on the £., is ordinarily reckoned to A., of which the sea forms the boundarj' on the W., S., and E. sides. On the other hand, the N. limit is not so easily fixed. Some writers would draw an imaginary line from the head of the Gulf of Akabah to that ot the Pers. Gulf ; but this would cut the S. extremity of the liamad, or stony plain which rises from the level of the Euphrates, and a little N. of 29° suddenly alters into tne broken dunes of red sand called by modem writers Nefud. It seems best, therefore (with the most recent authorities), to extend the application of the name A. through- out the IlamaU, making the Euphrates for the greater part of its course the N. boundary ; Syria, which separates it from the Mediterranean, forming, between about lats. 32-36% its E. neighbour.
For an incalculable period the sea has been re- ceding from the Arubi.-in coast, at a rate reckoned at 22 metres yearly. Hence the peninsula is, esp. on the W. and S. sides, fringed with lowlands, called by the Arabs Tihamah ; yet on parts of the E. coast the mountains rise directly from the sea. Of the long coast-line on the W. side, much is fringed with coral reefs, greatly endangering navi- gation. Between these and the shore in many places a narrow passage allows only ships of small burden to pass. The reefs commence in the Gulf of Akabah, where alone has their nature as yet been made tlie subject of minute investigation (see Valter, ' Die Korall-riffen der Sinait. Halbinsel,' Abhandl. d. Sachs. Akad., Math. Klasse, vol. xiv.). The inlets in the coast form not a few harbours, of which, however, owing to the paucity of towns in the interior, only a few are of any importance : Yanbo, the port of Medina; Jiddiih, the port of Mecca ; Hodaida, the port of Sana, on the W. coast ; Aden on the S. ; Mascat on the E. Of these, Aden perhaps is the same as the port which bears the name Eden in Ezk 27^, called Athene by Pliny, and Eudaimon Arabia by the author of the I'criplus J while Yanbo may be the "la/i/Sio of Ptolemy. Tlie rest were not known to the ancients, whose ports have for the most part disappeared with the advancing coast-line. Oi these, the chief port of the incense country, Moscha according to the Penplus, Abi.ssa Polls according to Ptolemy, has been recently identilicd by Mr. Theodore Bent (Sineteenth Century, Oct. 18'J.')) with a creek two miles long and in parts one wide near the village of Taklia. Others that played an important part in ancient times, Eeuke Kome, Cliarmotas or C'harmutas, Okelis, Muza, and Canneli (Ezk I.e.), have been located with more or less certainty by Wellstcd, Sprenger, (ilaser, and other ex|ilorers. Wliile the W. and S. coasts are broken by no very striking peninsulait, the sea which lies between A. and Pcrsiu is divided by the peninsula wliieh ends in Has Mesandum into the Pers. Gulf and the Sea of Oman, while the Pers. Gulf is again broken by the [leninsuhi of Katar, to the W. of which lies the island of Bahrain, with the exception of Socotra