AHC: Romanized Arabia

Well, I think they can conquer at least more of the Pennisula. The entire I don't know but Mecca could be possible. A better sea trade there would also help a lot keeping the provinces there. I do wonder however if the Romans would want to have it - most of it is desert after all and pretty useless, and it is a large area for an army to occupy. I think they might be Romanized, but I think Hellenization is more likely - this also happened with the Nabateans OTL.
 
Well, I think they can conquer at least more of the Pennisula. The entire I don't know but Mecca could be possible. A better sea trade there would also help a lot keeping the provinces there. I do wonder however if the Romans would want to have it - most of it is desert after all and pretty useless, and it is a large area for an army to occupy. I think they might be Romanized, but I think Hellenization is more likely - this also happened with the Nabateans OTL.

I thought the Nabateans experienced a rather superficial Hellenization compared to say the Anatolian peoples. The language that they communicated with was a local offshoot of Aramaic and their culture was Aramaean in its roots. It was several decades after Trajan invaded and annexed the Nabatean kingdom that the nobility had stopped writing in Aramaic and the predominant language became Greek (the peasantry apparently didn't speak this language nor Greek but a northern Arabic dialect). They became weak and sedentary with time and eventually were conquered by the Ghassanid Arabs who lived in the interior.

It's possible to conquer the coastal cities but the interior Arabian tribes will always be a threat to them and when Rome is weak, they'll lose much of it to them.
 
If Arab raiders were attacking the Roman provinces and Roman caravans a punitive expedition could follow with the aim to subjugate them. This could lead to the conquest of Mecca. An insurrection in Mecca would lead to the destruction of the town and foundation of a roman colonia in its place with a temple of Jupiter in place of the Kaaba.
 
If Arab raiders were attacking the Roman provinces and Roman caravans a punitive expedition could follow with the aim to subjugate them. This could lead to the conquest of Mecca. An insurrection in Mecca would lead to the destruction of the town and foundation of a roman colonia in its place with a temple of Jupiter in place of the Kaaba.

Except there are no Arab raiders from Mecca which are going to attack Rome. Bad for business.

The Arab provinces would be absurdly poor compared to the eastern provinces and I don't see much interest in them.
 
The Arab provinces would be absurdly poor compared to the eastern provinces and I don't see much interest in them.
This. The only area of Arabia worth something to the Romans at this time was modern day Yemen, and there is a huge area of desert/sea to go through to get to there. I'd expect that the Romans would be more interested in Mesopotamia.
 
Let's assume that they are interested in Yemen and manage to conquer it. Then they have also the need to take control of the trading routes. And with Mecca being on one of those ...
 
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