Bab el Mandeb

The Bab el Mandeb Strait is a narrow channel located at the southern mouth of the Red Sea, between the Yemen in Arabia and Djibouti in Africa.
The Strait connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, and then the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean and is about 980 ft (300 m) deep.

Next to the Bab el Mandeb Strait was Arabia Felix, modern Yemen and Southern Arabia, which traded Frankincense and Myrrh.
Arabia Felix consisted of four kingdoms:
1. Sabaean Kingdom (Yemen) with the capital at Marib, then later, at Sana (Sanaa). This was the most powerful Kingdom.
2. Kingdom of Hadramaut with the capital at Sabwa. They traded Incense and Cinnamon traded through their Port of Cana (Mukalla). Hadramaut became a Roman Ally and then in 25 BCE, it invaded the Sabaean Kingdom which then also became a Roman Ally.
3. Kingdom of Ma’in with the capital at Timna, which controlled the Incense Road.
4. Kingdom of Zufar (Oman) with their capital Ubar, a the lost city of which nothing is known.

The port of Ocelis was mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his ‘Natural History’ Book VI.
It was located next to the Bab el Mandeb Strait, on the Arabian coast.
Ocelis was the first port of call, for vessels leaving Berenice in Egypt, to collect fresh water. Sailing took 30 days. The alternative to Ocelis was Cane, in Arabia, source of Frankincense. The third option was Muza, but this was not recommended.
Indian vessels were not permitted to enter the Red Sea beyond Ocelis.
Ocelis to Muziris, the first Port of Trade in India, was 40 days sail.

The port of Assab on the African coast, gave the Aksumite Empire an influence over Trade in the Red Sea.

Aden in the Yemen was ‘Eudaemon’, mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. It is located outside of the Bab el Mandeb Strait on the Arabian coast. Originally, it was a port of transhipment, but had already been bypassed by the long distance Red Sea Fleets by the first century CE. It was built in the crater of an extinct volcano.

Bab-el-Mandeb Strait