Whilst we know that virtually all of Arabia’s wildlife was more abundant in the past than it is today, it is sometimes difficult to imagine an Arabia in which lions and leopards were creatures familiar to many of the peninsula’s people. A text that was written in the second century BC, over two thousand years ago, by Agatharchides of Cnidos reflects the Ancient Greek’s fascination with wild animals. Indeed, there was a flourishing trade in captive carnivores during the late Hellenistic period and subsequently during the height of the Roman Empire. Any lion or leopard unfortunate enough to be trapped in Arabia was quite likely to end up in a cage in Athens or Rome where they became objects of show or participants in some of the blood-spilling ‘games’ of the period. This interest in exotic wildlife resulted in several quite informative texts on Arabia’s wildlife at this time.
“The lions of Arabia”, wrote Agatharchides, “are less hairy and bolder. They are uniform in colour just are those in neighboring Babylonia. The sheen of their mane is such that the hair on the back of their neck gleams like gold. …the leopards are unlike those found in Caria and Lycia. Their bodies are large, and they are much better able to endure wounds and pain. In strength, moreover, they surpass the others by as much as a wild animal does a domesticated one.”
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