Arab Arch Epig. 2020;00:1–5. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/aae | 1 © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd The history of contacts between the Mediterranean world and South Arabia is still incomplete. However, it is becom- ing increasingly clear that the contacts were quite intensive throughout the first millennium BCE (Graf, 2013). Some South Arabian inscriptions (e.g., BL Nashq? = Demijian 1/13‒14) attest to direct trade contacts between the two re- gions in the mid-first millennium BCE (for a discussion, see Bron & Lemaire, 2009, c.600 BCE; and Multhoff, 2019, with a later dating to the late fifth‒early fourth centuries BCE). Inscriptions RES 3570 = M 349 (second half of the second century BCE from Delos), Ma‘īn 93 = M 392 and RES 3427 = M 338 (dates uncertain) confirm that these contacts were quite intensive in the second half of the first millennium BCE (Graf, 2013: 200, 203). Direct trade relations between the Hellenistic world and South Arabia after the Classical sources can be traced from 324 BCE, when the sea-expedition of Anaxicrates visited South Arabia and loaded aboard some frankin- cense (Theophr. Hist. Plant. IX. 4. 5–6; for an analysis, see Amigue, 1996). Reconstruction of these contacts is based mostly on nar- rative sources, which tend to cover specific subjects (e.g., geography): none reports direct diplomatic contacts in the Hellenistic era. One may only speculate about the beginnings of diplomatic contacts between the Hellenistic and Roman worlds and South Arabia. A Greek inscription, rarely taken into consideration in this context, might shed more light on the subject. The inscription commemorates the return of the officers of King Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II and the queens Cleopatra II and III in 133 BCE The text reports the delivery of ξνια (‘foreign goods’, ‘presents’) from the ‘aromata-bear- ing land’ to the royal court. The text is given after the first publication (Łajtar, 1999: 53–54; with Ἡρακλεῖ instead of Hρακλεῖ in l. 12): Ὑπὲρ βασιλέως Πτολεμαίου καὶ βασιλίσσης Κλεοπάτρας τς δελφς καὶ βασιλίσσης Κλεοπάτρας τῆς γυναικὸς θεν Εὐεργετν καὶ τν τέκνων * * Πτολεμαῖος καὶ Τρύφων τν ἀρχισωματοφυλάκων καὶ ἀρχιθυρωρν καὶ εἰσαγγελέων οἱ ἀποσταλέντες ἐν τι ηλ' (ἔτει) * ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ τν βασιλισσν π τν παράληψιν και ̀κατακομιδν τν παρακεκομισμένων πάντων ἐκ τς Ἀροματοφόρου ξενίων Διὶ Σωτρι Σαράπιδι, Ἴσιδι Μεγάλῃ Μητρὶ Θεν, Ἁρποχράτει, Πανὶ Εόδωι, Κρόνῳ, Διονύσωι, Διοσκούροις, Ἡρακλεῖ Καλλίνικων ν ν ν (ἔτος) λη', Φαφι ἔκτῃ. Received: 18 April 2020 | Revised: 6 July 2020 | Accepted: 10 July 2020 DOI: 10.1111/aae.12165 ORIGINAL ARTICLE New evidence for diplomacy between the Mediterranean and South Arabia Mikhail Bukharin Institute of World History, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia Correspondence Mikhail Bukharin, Institute of World History, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninski pr. 32a, 117334 Russia, Moscow. Email: michabucha@gmail.com Abstract Two inscriptions that shed more light on the history of contacts between Hellenistic Egypt, the Roman Empire and the South Arabian kingdoms between the second cen- tury BCE and the mid-second century CE are in the focus of this research. One inscription mentions foreign gifts for King Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II Tryphon; the other ‒ a Greek inscription from Ẓafār ‒ seems to be the gift for either the king of Ḥimyar or the Roman colony in Ẓafār. The first inscription points to the existence of direct diplomatic contacts between these regions in the second century BCE. The second inscription is linked with the Latin text from the Farasān archipelago by view- ing the reference in the first line to legio II Traiana. KEYWORDS Greek inscriptions, Hellenistic Egypt, Ḥimyar, Red Sea, Roman sea-trade, South Arabia, Ẓafār