This gulf, the Sinus Elauites of antiquity, is the eastern estuary at the upper extremity of the Red Sea, extending N.N.E. from Lat. 28° to 29° 32' N., a distance of about 100 miles, and varying from about 12 to 17 miles in breadth. The navigation is rendered dangerous by the number of coral reefs, and the heavy squalls that sweep from the adjacent mountains, many of which rise perpendicularly to the height of 2000 feet. Tiran, and several other small islands, lie at its mouth. Its only well-sheltered harbour at the present day, according to Lieut. Wellsted, is that of Meenap-el-Deshale, or the Gulden Port (so called from the colour of its sand) on the western shore, nearly opposite to Mount Sinai. The castle of Akabah, which stands about 2½ miles from the head of the gulf, on the east side, 150 yards from the beach, is a massive bastioned quadrangle, erected by the Sultan el-Ghury of Egypt in the sixteenth century, and is situated, as its Arabic name imports, on a steep declivity, in Lat. 29° 30' 58" N. Long. 35° 0' 54" E. It is surrounded with groves of the date-palm, and immediately behind it rises the lofty Jebel el-Ashhab. A few soldiers garrison the castle, which serves as a depot to supply provisions to the troops and the Hajj Caravan in its progress from Cairo to Mecca. Within its walls are several Arab dwellings, and deep wells of good water. Fresh water is also obtained on the shore by digging a little way into the sand. The adjacent plain is rich in pasturage, though near the sea it is strongly impregnated with salt. The fierce predatory character of the neighbouring Bedouins is a serious impediment to travellers.

Though now a place of little importance, Akabah is not devoid of historical interest: it is supposed to occupy the site of the Elath of Scripture, from which an extensive commerce was carried on in remote ages with Rhinocoula, now El Arish, on the Mediterranean, 116 miles distant. It was the Aila or Elana of the Romans; and during the Crusades it was taken by the Christians, and again wrested from them by Saladin, through means of ships transported on camels from Cairo. Midway between Akabah and Kaszer-el-Bedawy (a dilapidated castle standing southward one hour's journey on the east side of the gulf) there are ruins in the sea, consisting of houses, walls, and columns, visible only at low water, and rendered difficult of access by the shallows. They are supposed to be the remains of the Scripture Eziongeber "which is beside Eloth," where king Solomon made a navy of ships, which brought gold from Ophir (1 Kings ix. 26, 28; 2 Chron. viii. 17), and was probably the port to which his fleet returned from Tarshish once every three years, bringing "gold and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks." (2 Chron. ix. 21.) The mention of peacocks would seem to indicate that Tarshish was some part of the coast of India, as this bird is indigenous to that country; and it may likewise be inferred, from several other passages, that the Israelites were not a maritime people, as Solomon's ships, we are told, were manned by Hiram with Tyrian sailors. The "Akrabbin" (i.e. steep of scorpions), mentioned in Numbers xxxiv. 4, is supposed by Burckhardt to be the acclivity of the mountain-chain westward from the plain of Akabah.—Burckhardt's Travels in Syria: Robinson's Biblical Researches in Palestine: Wellsted's Travels in Arabia.