Southern Arabia records the explorations of J. Theodore Bent and his wife Mabel Bent across the Arabian peninsula and adjacent regions in the late nineteenth century. The Bents were among the most active British travellers and archaeologists of their era, and this posthumously completed volume gathers their observations on the lands of Hadhramaut, Dhofar, Socotra, and beyond.
The narrative combines geography, archaeology, and ethnography, describing ancient ruins, frankincense trade routes, local customs, and the hazards of travel in little-known territory. Written with curiosity and a keen eye for detail, it offers a window onto regions then almost wholly unfamiliar to Western readers. The work remains a valuable record of early European engagement with southern Arabia and the antiquities and peoples the Bents encountered there.