Abstract

Throughout various historical eras, the Red Sea has acquired strategic status and importance, represented primarily by its geographical location, as it connects Asia and Africa, east and west, and is considered a passage to Europe from the north. Thus, it connects the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea through Bab-el-Mandeb in the south, and the Gulf of Suez in the north.

This study came to highlight the historical, strategic and commercial importance of the Red Sea in the Hellenistic and early Roman eras, and how this region was an arena for competition, because whoever controls it will inevitably control eastern trade, guarantee the flow of goods from India and China, and facilitate their passage to the Mediterranean region through the Gulf of Suez. Therefore, the Red Sea constituted a strategic field for the Ptolemies and Romans.