AHC: Earliest plausible invasion/conquest of Arabia from the outside

The challenge is to have the earliest possible invasion or conquest of Arabia from states outside this region, meaning something akin to the Sassanid or Aksumite conquest of Himyar but involving also Hejaz and maybe some of the interior.

I'm particularly interested about an invasion before around 500 BCE, can any of the early iron age or late bronze age empires be in the position to launch such an invasion(s) and what could they get out of it? It doesn't need to happen all at once.
 
Wasn't this Alexander's next plan? And i heard somewhere about Axum or Ethiopia having Yemeni territory, but I'm not sure. Baring those two, Egypt or Rome probably could anytime it would be profitable
 
I would say all of them, especially Egypt are in the position to do it but there wouldnt be any benefit.
 
1) Neo-Assyrian Empire is the earliest chance if they focus on Arabia instead of Egypt.
2) Alexander the Great sent a fleet to Eastern Arabia in otl, but I'm pretty sure his soldiers would have mutinied if he made them campaign anymore.
3) Ptolemaic Egypt could conquer the Hedjaz
4) Askum could conquer the Hedjaz
5) In otl, the Persians/Parthians/Sassanids always controlled eastern Arabia.
6) Turkish migrations.
 
Perhaps Arab raiding, or wanting a more direct path from Mesopotamia to Judea instead of having to loop around the fertile crescent?
They already vassalized Qedarites I believe, what would push them to go for Hejaz or Yemen? The Aksumite and Sassanians had a religious and geopolitical reason to go for Yemen respectively.
 
Banditry, possibly. Anyway, it was just a suggestion.
Yeah I know, but if nobody bothered invading it, even Rome when they didn't have a secure Mesopotamian route, I'm not so sure securing trade without any other party threatening said trade routes would be enough of a reason to invade.
 
1) Neo-Assyrian Empire is the earliest chance if they focus on Arabia instead of Egypt.
2) Alexander the Great sent a fleet to Eastern Arabia in otl, but I'm pretty sure his soldiers would have mutinied if he made them campaign anymore.
3) Ptolemaic Egypt could conquer the Hedjaz
4) Askum could conquer the Hedjaz
5) In otl, the Persians/Parthians/Sassanids always controlled eastern Arabia.
6) Turkish migrations.
The 6th century is the terminus ante quem of the challenge, so the last 3 are out but I wonder how such an invasion would play out, I imagine it would make heavy use of proxies and allies, what would be the target objectives to pacify and control the region?
 
Wasn't this Alexander's next plan? And i heard somewhere about Axum or Ethiopia having Yemeni territory, but I'm not sure. Baring those two, Egypt or Rome probably could anytime it would be profitable
Do you know why exactly Alexander was eyeing Arabia? Did they do something to him? Because afterall his rapid conquest left some untouched spots in Anatolia and the Caucasus, I would have imagined he would pacify those places first.
 
Do you know why exactly Alexander was eyeing Arabia? Did they do something to him? Because afterall his rapid conquest left some untouched spots in Anatolia and the Caucasus, I would have imagined he would pacify those places first.
I would assume to prevent raids and monopolize the the persian gulf and red sea
 
Crasus pulls a Caesar rather than an Alexander.

As governor of Syria he takes every slight against Rome, her client states, or allies as an excuse to militarily intervene in Arabia.
 
They already vassalized Qedarites I believe, what would push them to go for Hejaz or Yemen? The Aksumite and Sassanians had a religious and geopolitical reason to go for Yemen respectively.

The Assyrians forced Qedar into a tributary and then apparently marched south of the Qedar realm into the land of Tabuk and northern Hijaz. This led to the Saba kingdom in Yemen sending a series of tribute and envoys to Assyria. The reason Assyria invaded these lands, was that the Qedar and other Arab groups to the south, were continually infiltrating and interfering in local politics in the Assyrian vassal states or in Karduniash.
 
Do you know why exactly Alexander was eyeing Arabia? Did they do something to him? Because afterall his rapid conquest left some untouched spots in Anatolia and the Caucasus, I would have imagined he would pacify those places first.

Because he was Alexander the "hippity hoppity your empire is now my property"?

It existed, therefore he wanted to conquer it.
 

Capacity

Banned
The conditions needed are that such a Civilization that wants to conquer, influence for a long term and hold Arabia and Saharan regions should be well versed in knowledge about Scientific and sustainable food production, cooling technology for settling in the hotter desert climate and those kind of stuff.

Maybe an advanced Egyptian Civilization or an advanced Bronze Age Civilization rising in Europe, could eventually conquer this region and influence it for a long term, after mastering the knowledge needed to do so.
 
Top