Editing Aden (section)

===Antiquity===
Aden is an ancient port and was mentioned by the Greeks under the name ({{langx|grc|Αραβία Εμπόριον|translit=Arabia Emporion}}), which means an Arabic trade port.<ref>''Contributions to the Semitic religious history: the God of Israel and the gods of the Gentiles'' Friedrich Baethgen p.88</ref> The port's convenient position on the sea route between India and Europe has made Aden desirable to rulers who sought to possess it at various times throughout history. Known as [[Eudaemon]] ({{langx|grc|Ευδαίμων}}, meaning "blissful, prosperous",) in the 1st century BC, it was a transshipping point for the Red Sea trade, but fell on hard times when new shipping practices by-passed it and made the daring direct crossing to India in the 1st century AD, according to the ''[[Periplus of the Erythraean Sea]]''. The same work describes Aden as "a village by the shore", which would well describe the town of Crater while it was still little-developed. There is no mention of fortification at this stage, Aden was more an island than a peninsula as the [[isthmus]] (a [[tombolo]]) was not then so developed as it is today. Aden was explicitly mentioned by this name in the [[Book of Ezekiel]], which talks about Jerusalem, and it says:<ref>{{Citation |last=London |first=Jack |editor-first1=John |editor-last1=Sutherland |title=Chapter Twenty-Seven |date=2009-05-28 |work=The Sea-Wolf |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/owc/9780199554942.003.0028 |access-date=2024-02-16 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/owc/9780199554942.003.0028 |isbn=978-0-19-955494-2}}</ref><blockquote>"The merchants of [[Sheba]] and Raamah are your merchants. They set up your markets with the finest perfumes and every precious stone and gold. Harran, Qena, and Aden are the merchants of Sheba, and Assyria and Kilmud are your merchants."</blockquote>At its beginning, the city was a small peninsula with no significant natural resources, but its location between Egypt and India made it important in the ancient Indian Ocean trade route. The city was the home of the ancient Kingdom of Osan from the eighth to seventh centuries BC.<ref name="Gentiles' p.89">''The Semitic religious history: the God of Israel and the gods of the Gentiles'' Friedrich Baethgen p.89</ref> In the beginning of the seventh century BC, [[Karib'il Watar|Karbil Watar I]], king of the Kingdom of Sheba, launched a campaign against Osan during which, according to the Sabaean texts, sixteen thousand people were killed, forty thousand people were enslaved, and the kings of [[Kingdom of Awsan|Awsan]] made offerings to the god.<ref name="Daniel McLaughlin p.1752">Daniel McLaughlin,''Yemen: The Bradt Travel Guide'' p.175</ref> [[Almaqah|al-Maqah]], according to the inscription that Karbiel Watar I left in [[Sirwah]], commemorating his victory.<ref name="Conti Rossini 1931 p.55">Conti Rossini, Carlo, ''Chrestomathia Arabica meridionalis epigraphica edita et glossario instructa'' (1931) Pubblicazioni dell'Instituto per l'Oriente p.55 (4th line)</ref>

In the second half of the first century BC, the Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar determined to control Arabia Felix and reach the Indian Ocean. The Roman governor of Egypt, Aelius Gallus, was sent in 25 BC. The campaign ended with disastrous results and the annihilation of the Roman army in front of the walls of Ma'rib.<ref>Bafaqīh, M. ‛A., L'unification du Yémen antique. La lutte entre Saba’, Himyar et le Hadramawt de Ier au IIIème siècle de l'ère chrétienne. Paris, 1990 (Bibliothèque de Raydan, 1) p.34</ref> The Himyarites overthrew the Kingdom of Sheba in 275 AD and took control of Aden.<ref name="Volume 1 p.252">South Arabia as an economic region, Volume 1, in: Volume 7 of philosophical writings of the faculty of the German University in Prague, Rohrer, 1930 p.25</ref> Recent incomplete archaeological studies suggest that the Himyarites were the ones who built the huge water cisterns currently known as the "Cisterns of Aden", which stored approximately 136,382,757 liters of water.<ref name="T. Norris, F. W 1955">H. T. Norris, F. W. Penhey,''An Archaeological and Historical Survey of the Aden Tanks'' Government Press (1955) ASIN: B0007JLQLQ</ref><ref name="Sir Robert Lambert Playfair p.7">Sir Robert Lambert Playfair,''History of Arabia Feilx or yemen'' p.7</ref>

The Himyarite Kingdom fell in the first quarter of the sixth century AD. Yusuf Dhu Nuwas mentioned Bab al-Mandab in one of his writings. The forces of the Kingdom of Aksum were entering Yemen through it. The [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] Emperor [[Justinian I]] sent a fleet to fight the Himyarite Jews and support the Kingdom of Aksum and the Christians of Najran. The fleet entered through Aden. Byzantine sources indicate that the [[Sasanian Empire]] took control of the city in 571 AD.<ref name="Richard Frye p.325">Richard Frye, The History of Ancient Iran p.325</ref><ref name="ReferenceB">The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity edited by Scott Fitzgerald Johnson p.298</ref>

A local legend in Yemen states that Aden may be as old as human history itself. Some also believe that [[Cain and Abel]] are buried somewhere in the city.<ref>Modern Middle East Nations and Their Strategic Place in the World: Yemen, 2004, by Hal Markovitz. {{ISBN|1-59084-521-8}}</ref>