First settled by the Liburnian tribes in the IX century BC, Rab changed its rulers often in the last 2000 years, from Romans, to Bysanthium to Venice to Croatian kings. Emperor Octavian August has built the walls and towers to defend it in the I century BC and couple of hundreds of years later that Rab was christened as Felix Arba. That same name was used often, for many cities across the Roman empire ( Felix means happy, rich, prosperous) but it reflects how developed and important Rab was in those days.