In antiquity, Roman geographers divided the Arabian peninsula into three regions: Arabia Deserta, the desert interior; Arabia Felix, in southern Arabia; and Arabia Petraea, a frontier province of the Roman Empire. In Latin, the word felix means both happy and fertile, and the name Arabia Felix was applied to the areas now known as Yemen and Dhofar, Oman.

In modern times, the term could also be applied to the coastal regions further north, including northern Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Bharain. All of these formerly impoverished regions now share a common prosperity due to their large oil and gas reserves.