Oct
10

Arabia Felix

There was a time when basic science research projects took years to prepare for, even more years to undertake, and with high risks of injury of death. "Arabia Felix: The Danish Expedition of 1761-1767" by Thorkild Hansen (1962 Danish, 1964 English) documents one such journey, apparently Europe's first to the south of Arabia. The journey was driven by, amongst other interests, an interest to find empirical data regarding the Bible. The book itself is a detailed history, the author went through immense efforts to document this journey – for example, there are 57 pages on the events that preceded the departure (e.g., this is a detailed historical account). Largely a book about those who undertook the journey, I found the notes about the people and places they went to of greater interest (although the author seems to have the opposite aim, to bring forth the history of these men and their journey). Notes:

On Yemen: "this country was something unusual. Nowhere else on their long journey had they met goodwill to compare with it. Every single one of the expedition's members, as they sat outside in the little courtyard in the mild winter evening which was warmer than the Scandinavian summer, could quote new examples of the kindness and helpfulness of the natives." (p. 220)

On the title (apparently): "the name Arabia Felix is an error of translation. It is the little word "yemen", the country's other name in our own day, that is the real culprit. In Arabic, "yemen" signified originally "the right hand" or "the right side". But when Arabs want to "place" the four corners of the earth, they have always faced east, just as we in Europe find it natural to face North. Consequently, the word "yemen", which originally meant "right", also came to mean "south". The Yemen is thus simply the land lying to the right and the land towards the south. It is well known that the Arabs regard the right side as being superior to the left. The latter is even to-day called "dirty" and regarded as inferior, while the word "right" or "yemen" has come to mean "fortunate" or "beneficent." Arabia Yemen Eudaimon Arabia, Arabia Felix, L'Arabie heureuse, Das glückliche Arabien. In reality the words mean South Arabia." (p. 300-301) 
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