Également en téléchargement par l'URL : http://cy.revues.org/1671 ; International audience ; By the dawn of the Christian era, Southern Arabia is undergoing major changes; among these, the expansion of maritime trade at the expense of the old caravan route. This change is often described as something sudden, leading to a more perennial situation the ensuing centuries. We have chosen to take a new look at this case by first gathering all the epigraphic and historic data having to do with pre-Islamic ports in the Red Sea and the Aden Gulf, from when they were first founded 'till the 7th century. This global outline then has then allowed us to describe the evolution of the maritime economy all along the first centuries of the Christian era, the nature of the trading places and the part political power plays in overseeing this new economy. This leads us to conclude that maritime didn't develop quite as quickly as was thought: the setting up of networks and main ports took place over several centuries. This trade was only ever the economic locomotive for Southern Arabic kingdoms for a limited amount of time, from the mid-1st century to the early 3rd century. After which, ports went through a rough patch, as a result of the political and economic evolutions of Southern Arabic kingdoms, their neighboring countries and the Mediterranean sea. ; L'Arabie du Sud, au début de l'ère chrétienne, connaît des changements significatifs. Parmi ceux-ci, le développement du commerce maritime au détriment de l'ancienne voie caravanière. Ce changement est souvent décrit comme brusque et débouchant sur une situation pérenne durant les siècles suivants. Nous avons choisi de reprendre ce dossier en réunissant, dans un premier temps, l'ensemble des données épigraphiques et historiques relatives aux ports préislamiques de la mer Rouge et du golfe d'Aden depuis leur fondation jusqu'au viie siècle. Ces synthèses nous permettent de décrire, dans un second temps, l'évolution de l'économie maritime au cours des premiers siècles de l'ère ...