THE ARABS.
The Arabian peninsula is a repetition of Africa on a smaller scale and
in more moderate proportions, without a river-valley like that of the
Nile. The centre is occupied by a table-land, which presents a few
well-watered depressions lying under a burning sky between naked
deserts, plains of sand, cliffs, and bald peaks. Thus, in spite of the
great extent of the country (more than 1,000,000 square miles), there
are few districts in the interior of Arabia suitable for agriculture.
But towards the south, on the Indian Ocean, the plateau sinks down to
the sea in broad mountain terraces. Here are extremely fertile valleys,
and the most valuable fruits grow on the terraces in the tropic
atmosphere, which is cooled by the elevation of the mountains and the
winds blowing from the ocean. This is the land of frankincense, of the
sugarcane and coffee-tree, of pomegranates, figs, and dates, of wheat
and maize.
Herodotus, who follows all antiquity in extending the name Arabia to the
deserts of Syria and Sinai, gives us but few notices of the inhabitants
of this wide district. "The Arabs," he tells us, "wear long garments,
and on the right side carry large bows, which can be strung on either
side, and travel on swift camels. They have only two gods--Dionysus,
whom they call Urotal; and Urania, whom they call Alilat. Urania is
known to the Babylonians as Mylitta, to the Arabs as Alilat. Bargains
are struck in the following manner. A third person makes an incision in
the hand near the thumb of each of the two persons who wish to enter
into the compact, and with the blood he smears seven stones lying
between them; calling at the same time on Urotal and Alilat. These
compacts are observed with a sanctity unknown to any other nation."[428]
Eratosthenes tells us that the Arab tribes lying next to the Syrians and
Jews were agricultural, but beyond them lay a sandy and poor soil, with
nothing but a few palms, acacias, tamarisks, and wells of water. This
district, as far as the Euphrates, was inhabited by the Nabataeans,
Agraeans, and Chaulotaeans, tribes who kept camels and lived in
tents.[429] Artemidorus of Ephesus calls Arabia rich in cattle, lions,
panthers, wolves, wild asses, and camels; the inhabitants were wandering
herdmen, who gained a subsistence from their camels; on them they rode,
from them they fought, and on their milk and flesh they lived. The names
of the Arabian tribes he is unwilling to mention, because of their
insignificance and harsh sound.[430] Diodorus also tells us that the
inhabitants of the part of Arabia towards Syria lived by agriculture and
trade, but with the Nabataeans the land began to be arid and barren; and
they led the life of robbers, plundering their neighbours far and wide;
no one had succeeded in conquering them.[431] The interior of Arabia,
and the western side, were occupied by plains of sand of enormous
extent. On these it was only possible to travel as on the sea, by taking
the Great Bear as a guide. In the whole of the interior there were no
cities, but only dwellers in tents, and the most part of the Arabian
tribes led a nomadic life, for Arabia was very rich in animals of
various kinds, so that the Arabs could easily live on them without
cultivating corn. They had large herds of cattle, and with these they
wandered over immeasurable plains. In conclusion, Diodorus praises the
fertility and beauty of a well-watered palm-grove in the peninsula
between the northern bays of the Arabian Sea, which the barbarians had
very justly consecrated to the gods, as it lay in the midst of a very
hot and desert land, surrounded by a wilderness. There was an old altar
there of hard stone inscribed with very ancient letters, which no one
could read. A man and woman presided for life as priests over this holy
palm-grove, and every four years the neighbouring Arab tribes sacrificed
hecatombs of goodly camels there.[432] Pliny observes: "Strange to say,
the Arabs live about equally on plunder and on trade; what they get from
their forests (by which is meant the products of the date-palms and the
fruit-trees of South Arabia) and from the sea they sell; but they
purchase nothing in return."[433] "The Arabs," says Ammianus
Marcellinus, "extend from the Euphrates to Egypt. They are half-naked,
with only a coloured apron round the body reaching to the middle. Every
man is a warrior. On their swift fine-limbed horses and their camels
they ride in every direction. They do not continue long in any one
place: without settled abodes they wander to and fro, and their whole
life is nothing but a flight. Of bread and wine the most part of them
know nothing whatever."[434]
Of the southern coasts of Arabia the accounts are different. It is a
remark of Herodotus that the fairest blessings are allotted to the
extreme limits of the earth; and among other places to Arabia, the
southern extremity of the inhabited world. Here only, in all the earth,
grow frankincense, myrrh, cassia, and ladanum; here are sheep with such
thick tails, that carriages have to be fastened behind them. But the
frankincense trees are watched by winged serpents, and the cassia by
bats. Cinnamon does not grow in Arabia, but large carnivorous birds of
prey brought branches of cinnamon for their nests,--from which direction
the Arabs could not tell.[435] Heraclides of Cyme gave an account of the
wealth of the king of the land of frankincense. He pretended to know
that the expenses for the king, his wife, and friends, amounted each day
to the sum of fifteen Babylonian talents. Living an effeminate and
luxurious life, he always remained in the palace; he did nothing, and
was never seen by the people; but if anyone went into the palace to
complain of a decision at law, the king himself passed sentence.[436]
Through the trade connection of Alexandria Eratosthenes obtained better
information on these districts, and was enabled to mention the tribes
who possessed the south. "In the extreme end of Arabia next the sea
dwell the Minaeans, whose metropolis is Karna; after these come the
Sabaeans, whose metropolis is Mariaba; further to the west, as far as the
corner of the Arabian Gulf, are the Cattabani, whose kings dwell at
Thamna; finally, the Chatramites are furthest to the east, and their
city is Sabbatha. Each of these four districts is larger than the Delta
of Egypt; they have rain in the summer, and rivers which lose
themselves in the plains and lakes. Hence the land is so fruitful that
seed is sown twice in the year. The land of the Cattabani supplies
incense, the Chatramites produce myrrh; but elsewhere also fruits of
every kind are plentiful and cattle abundant. From the Chatramites it is
a journey of forty days to the Sabaeans; from the Minaeans the merchants
go in seventy days to Aela (Elath). The cities of the Chatramites,
Cattabani, Sabaeans, and Minaeans are rich, and adorned with temples and
royal palaces."[437] The Sabaeans, the most numerous tribe of Arabia,
according to Agatharchides, who wrote in the second half of the second
century B.C., inhabited the so-called Arabia Felix. Here grew the most
beautiful fruits without number; here was an inexhaustible abundance of
animals of every kind. In the strips of land by the sea grew balsam and
cassia, and another plant most beautiful to the eye. In the interior
were thick forests of tall frankincense and myrrh-trees, and also
cinnamon-trees, palm and calmus, and trees of a similar kind, which,
like the others, send forth the sweetest odour. Owing to the innumerable
multitude, it is not possible to name and describe every species. The
perfume is divine and beyond all words. Even those who go past on the
coast, at a distance from the land, enjoy this perfume, if the wind is
blowing off shore. For there the spices are not cut and old and stored
up, but in fresh vigour and bloom, so that those who sail along the
coast believe that they are enjoying ambrosia, since no other word can
express the extraordinary power and strength of the odour. The monarchy
among the Sabaeans is hereditary. Their chief city, Mariaba, lies on a
mountain; here lives the king, who pronounces justice for the people,
but he is never allowed to leave his palace. If he acts otherwise, he is
stoned by the people, in obedience to an ancient oracle. The Sabaeans are
the richest people in the world. For a few goods silver and gold are
brought in quantities, and flow in from every side; while, owing to
their remote situation, they have never been conquered by any one.
Hence, especially in the metropolis, they have a number of vessels of
silver and gold and couches, and porticoes, the pillars of which are
gilded in the shaft, and the capitals are adorned with silver ornaments,
while the architraves and doors are finished with gold and precious
stones. On these structures they bestow great care and industry.[438]
Artemidorus of Ephesus, who wrote somewhat later than Agatharchides of
Cnidus, represents the king of the Sabaeans and his court as living at
Mariaba, which lay on a wooded mountain, in effeminate luxury. Owing to
the abundance of fruit the people were lazy and inactive, and reclined
on the roots of the spice-trees. For fire-wood they used cinnamon and
cassia. The occupation of the people was partly agriculture, and partly
trade in spices, both native and imported from the opposite coast of
AEthiopia (Africa), whither the Sabaeans passed over the inlet of the sea
in boats of skins. The neighbouring tribes received the wares from the
Sabaeans, and then passed them on to their neighbours, till they reached
Syria and Mesopotamia.[439] Pliny tells us that the Sabaeans were the
most famous of the Arabians, owing to their frankincense, and their land
reached from sea to sea. Their cities lay on the sea and in the
interior, the chief city being Mariaba. One portion of the Sabaeans were
called the Chatramites, and their chief city, Sabbatha, had sixty
temples within its walls; further to the east were the Cattabani, whose
city, Thamna, could enumerate sixty-five temples. The Minaeans lay in the
interior beyond the Chatramites. The frankincense was collected and
brought to Sabbatha, and could not be purchased and taken away by
strangers till the priests had set apart a tenth for the god of
Sabbatha. The only passage for exportation was through the land of the
Cattabani, to the king of which imposts had to be paid. The priests also
and the scribes of the king received presents, and the doorkeepers,
bodyguard, and escort. Thamna, the chief city of the Cattabani, was
distant seventy-five days' journey from Gaza. And as payments had to be
made, at one place for pasturage, at another for water, at a third for
the stage, and again for the convoy, the cost for each camel as far as
the Syrian desert amounted to 688 denarii.[440]
According to the Hebrew Scriptures the Sheba, _i.e._ the Sabaeans, "a
distant people, rich in frankincense, spices, gold, and precious
stones," were to be sought in the south of Arabia.[441] The tribe or
locality of Uzal, which Genesis and Ezekiel mention beside the Sabaeans,
is the older name of the later Sanaa. The chief city of the Sabaeans,
which Western writers call Mariaba, is the Maryab of the inscriptions.
To the east of the Sabaeans, on the south coast, were situated the
Hazarmaweth of the Hebrews, the Chatramites of the Western nations, in
the district of Hadramaut, which still preserves the name. The Rhegmaeans
of the Western nations, the sons of Rama among the Hebrews, are to be
sought in the neighbourhood of the Persian Gulf, in Oman, the south-east
of Arabia. Further to the north-east, on the shore of this Gulf, were
the Dedanites; and yet further to the north-east the Havila appear to
have dwelt, who are perhaps the Chaulotaeans, whom Eratosthenes places
towards the Lower Euphrates. The Hebrew Scriptures repeatedly mention
the Hagarites, the Nebajoth (the Agraeans and Nabataeans of Eratosthenes),
and further towards the interior of Arabia the Kedarites and Temanites;
and lastly, on the peninsula of Sinai, and on the borders of Canaan, the
Amalekites, Edomites, and Midianites. The Hebrews mention two chiefs of
the Midianites, whose names were "Wolf" and "Raven," the leather tents
of this people, the number of their dromedaries, and the moons which
their camels carried as ornaments. Next are mentioned the flocks of the
Nebajoth, the black tents of the Kedarites, their wealth in cattle
(large and small), and their brave bowmen.[442]
The inscriptions of Egypt from the time of the Tuthmosis and the first
Ramses celebrate achievements performed, as it is said, by these
Pharaohs against the Punt, _i.e._ against the Arabs; but with one
exception, they do not supply any information of the land and the tribes
of this people. A daughter of Tuthmosis I., queen Misphra (Hatasu,
Ramake), who was regent first for her brother Tuthmosis II., and during
a considerable time for Tuthmosis III. (1625-1591 B.C.), wished to
become acquainted with "the land of Punt, as far as the uttermost end
of To-Neter." She equipped a fleet on the Red Sea, and led it in person
to the coast of Arabia. The inhabitants of the coast on which she landed
submitted, and she returned to Egypt with rich spoil, in which were
thirty-two spice-trees.[443] The inscriptions of the kings of Asshur
supply further information: among the tribes of the Arabians they
mention in the first place the Pekod, the Hagarites, whom they place in
the neighbourhood of the lands of Hauran, Moab and Zoba, the Kedarites,
Thamudenes, Nabataeans, and finally the Sabaeans. The Hebrew Scriptures
bring the queen of Sheba to Solomon at Jerusalem, and represent her as
offering rich presents in gold and frankincense, and similarly
Tiglath-Pilesar II., king of Assyria, tells us that in the year 738 B.C.
he had received tribute from Zabibieh, the queen of Arabia (Aribi), and
in the year 734 B.C. he had taken from Samsieh, queen of the Arabs,
30,000 camels and 20,000 oxen, and further, that he had subjugated the
people of Saba, the city of the Sabaeans. Sargon boasts that he had
subdued the people of Thammud (the Thamudenes), Tasid, Ibadid, Marsiman,
Chayapa, the distant Arbaeans, and the inhabitants of the land of Bari,
"which was unknown to the learned and to the scribes," and that he
received the tribute of Samsieh, queen of the Arabs, and of Yathamir,
the Sabaean (Sabahi) in gold, spices, and camels (in the year 715 B.C.).
He mentions the land of Agag, "on the borders of the Arabs toward the
rising sun," _i.e._ the Eastern Arabs.[444] King Sennacherib took from
the Pekod, the Hagarites, Nabataeans, and some other tribes, 5,330 camels
and 800,600 head of small cattle (703 B.C.), and in the time of
Assurbanipal (about 645 B.C.) Adiya, the queen of the Arabs, and
Ammuladin, the king of the Kedarites, were brought in chains to Nineveh;
the "innumerable troops" of another prince, Uaiti, were defeated and his
tents burnt. Abiyateh also, who was leagued against Assyria, first with
Uaiti, and then with Nadnu (Nathan), the king of the Nabataeans, was
conquered, together with these allies, and the worshippers of Atar
Samain (Istar). Assurbanipal tells us that out of the booty of this
campaign he distributed camels like sheep, and that at the gate of
Nineveh camels had been sold for half a silver shekel (from 1_s._ 6_d._
to 2_s._).[445]
The position of Arabia, between the valleys of the Nile and the
Euphrates and Tigris, where agriculture and civilisation came into bloom
at an early period, and which were the oldest seats of trade and
industry, brought the Arab tribes who wandered along the borders of
these river valleys into connection with Egypt and Babylon. Barter had
to supply all that could not be obtained by freebooting. The nomads
required corn, implements, and weapons; Egypt and Babylon were in need
of horses, sheep, goats, and camels. The Arabians, therefore, could
exchange their animals for corn, weapons, and implements, and supply the
industry of Babylon and Egypt with a part of the necessary raw products,
more especially skins and wool. The tradition of the Hebrews represents
Abraham as going to Egypt, and the sons of Jacob buy corn in Egypt when
"there was a famine in the land." On the other hand, Egypt, as has been
already remarked, had already, under Snefru, the predecessor of Chufu,
_i.e._ about the year 3000 B.C., fixed herself in the peninsula of
Sinai, and when, a thousand years later, nomad tribes of the north-west
of Arabia obtained the supremacy in the valley of the Nile, and
maintained it for centuries (p. 123), their supremacy could only develop
further the trade between Egypt and the Arabs, between the ruling tribe
in Egypt and their kinsmen at home, and thus the contact with the
civilisation of Egypt and Babylonia was not without effect on the Arabs.
This contact increased their wants, and therefore increased their
trading intercourse. The Arabs could offer not merely the products of
their herds, they could exchange the costly spices and perfumes from the
southern coast of their land with each other, and so convey them to the
Egyptians and Babylonians. The Hebrew Scriptures make Keturah, _i.e._
"Incense," the wife of Abraham, and from this connection spring the
Midianites and the Dedanites; to Esau, the son of Isaac, the progenitor
of the Edomites, they give a wife of the name of Basmath, _i.e._
"Perfume,"[446] and in the twentieth century B.C., according to their
reckoning, we find a caravan of Ishmaelites, with camels, carrying
spices, balsam, and ladanum, and Midianites going for purposes of trade
to Egypt.
The trade of Egypt and Babylonia with the south of Arabia, through the
medium of the Arab tribes, certainly goes back to the year 2000 B.C., if
the attempt was made in Egypt about the year 1600 B.C. to reduce
Southern Arabia. Not long after his campaigns in Syria and Mesopotamia,
Tuthmosis III. imposed on the Syrians a tribute of 828 minae, and on the
Naharina a tribute of 81 minae of spices;[447] hence such spices must not
only have found their way into these districts at this time, but must
have been already known as ordinary articles of trade. How strongly
Egypt felt her need of the products of South Arabia is most strikingly
shown by the fact that the Egyptians were very anxious to obtain these
products by the direct route over the Arabian Gulf; the canal which
Ramses II. began to make towards the gulf (p. 146) could have no other
object in view than to facilitate the communication between the Nile and
the coast of South Arabia and East Africa, by the Red Sea. Under Ramses
III. (1269-1244 B.C.) a great fleet is said to have sailed for a second
time to To-Neter, and to have returned to Coptus with the tribute of
these lands and a rich freight.[448] The need of incense was not less in
Babylon than in Egypt. We saw that the preparation of ointments was a
main branch of Babylonian industry, and Herodotus tells us that at the
feast of Belus, at Babylon, a thousand talents of incense, which
according to the light Babylonian weight is more than 60,000 pounds, was
burnt on the altar of the great temple. As the Temanites, Kedarites,
Nebajoth, and Midianites formed the medium of trade between South Arabia
and Egypt, so were the Rhegmaeans and Dedanites the communicating link
between South Arabia and Babylonia. Among the Sabaeans the Babylonian
talent was current.[449]
This carrying trade between South Arabia, Egypt, Syria, and Mesopotamia
must have increased when the cities of the Phenicians on the Syrian
coast became centres of trade which carried the manufactures of
Babylonia, as well as the products of their own industry, over the sea
to the West, and when the tribes of Greece and Italy began to desire the
incense and spices of Arabia. And it was not only the products of South
Arabia which the Arabs brought to Syria, Egypt, and Babylonia, but also
those of the south coast of Africa, and even of India. Artemidorus told
us that the Sabaeans crossed the Arabian Gulf on boats of skins in order
to bring back the products of Ethiopia. Though it was possible to cross
the narrow basin by these means of transit, the mouths of the Indus and
the coasts of Malabar were beyond the reach of such skiffs. If in the
course of time Indian wares reached Syria through the Sabaeans, they must
have been brought by the Indians themselves to the coasts of the
Sabaeans. At the beginning of the second century B.C. the island
Dioscoridis, off the coast of Somali, which was known to the West as the
Land of Cinnamon, formed the centre of the trade between Egypt, South
Arabia, and India. To this island the ships of the Indians brought the
products of their land.
In the first instance the Arabs transported the goods from South Arabia
to the Euphrates and the Nile on their camels, and afterwards it lay
with them to permit or refuse a passage for the caravans of the
Babylonians and Phenicians. First one tribe and then another lay in wait
for the caravans, plundered them, or allowed them to buy a passage,
convoy, or guide.[450] Eratosthenes has already told us that the
merchants took seventy days in going from the Minaeans to Aela, _i.e._ to
Elath, on the north-east point of the Arabian Gulf, and Pliny fixes the
distance from Gaza to Thamna, the chief city of the Cattabani, at
seventy-five days' journey. Of the caravan road which led from the
Sabaeans, _i.e._ in all probability from Maryab to Elath, we only know
that it ran along the coast, then passed from Elath by Sela and Bosra
into the mountains of the Edomites, then divided the land of the
Moabites and Ammonites, passed by Kir Moab (Charak Moab) and Rabbat
Ammon, Edrei and Ashtaroth Karnaim, through the land of the Jeturites,
to Damascus, and finally, from this place reached the cities of the
Phenicians. A second road led apparently past the Oasis of Duma (Dumaetha
of Ptolemy, Dumat-el-Dshandal) straight to Damascus. In the east the
Dedanites brought the products of South Arabia through the desert, by
the land of the Temanites and Kedarites, to the Lower Euphrates.[451]
The goods not required for Babylonia then passed up the Euphrates to
Harran (Charrae). From this point the caravans turned to the west, and in
twenty days arrived through the desert at the coasts of the
Phenicians.[452]
How active the trade with the land of frankincense was is shown by the
words of the Hebrew prophet, who proclaims to the new Jerusalem: "A
multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and
Ephah (see below); all they from Shebah shall come; they shall bring
gold and incense. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together
unto thee; the rams of Nebajoth shall minister unto thee."[453] The
Arabs, when conquered by the Persians, were compelled to pay a yearly
tribute of 1,000 talents of incense,[454] _i.e._ at least 60,000 pounds.
This they could only obtain from South Arabia, and to Western nations
the connection between Damascus and South Arabia appeared so close, that
they represented the Sabaeans as colonists of the Egyptians, Ninus and
Semiramis having sent colonies from Damascus to Arabia Felix.
Though the Phenicians could receive the products of South Arabia and the
Somali coast by the high road of Elath, and from the Euphrates by
Harran, they were nevertheless eager to have a connection by sea with
these regions. They availed themselves of the relations in which they
stood to Solomon, king of Israel, in order to send ships from Eziongeber
down the Arabian Gulf, to Ophir, as far as the mouth of the Indus. These
ships brought back sandalwood, apes, peacocks, and gold. This trade fell
with the decline of the kingdom of Judah, after the time of Jehoshaphat.
But when Amaziah of Judah again subjugated the Edomites, about the year
790 B.C., and after him his son Uzziah again advanced the borders of
Judah to the Red Sea, the Phenicians also resumed their connection with
the kings of Judah and the trade to Ophir.[455] Afterwards Pharaoh Necho
gave them an opportunity for a short time to set out upon their voyages
in the Arabian Gulf, not, indeed, from the north-east, but from the
north-west corner of the Red Sea. But immediately afterwards
Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, by subduing the Dedanites and planting
Babylonian centres of trade on the coast of Dedan and at the mouth of
the Euphrates, succeeded in transplanting the marine trade with South
Arabia to the Persian Gulf, while the conquest of the Kedarites also put
him in a position to strike a road across the desert from Babylon to
Sela (in the land of the Edomites, see below). Darius or the Ptolemies
were the first to succeed in the attempt made by Rameses II. and Necho,
and concentrated in the Bay of Heroonpolis the trade of Egypt and Syria
with South Arabia.
Soon after the year 2000 B.C.--so we must conclude--the tribes of South
Arabia delivered their spices to the Egyptians, Syrians, and
Babylonians, and their incense, which Eastern nations, and in time
Western nations also, burned upon the altars of their gods. Then they
imported the products of the opposite shore of Africa, a region no less
fruitful than South Arabia, and at length the ships of the Indians
brought to them the products of the Indus and the Ganges. Thus South
Arabia not only exported her own fruits, she became the central mart of
East African and Indian products, the point of connection between
Eastern and Western Asia. Owing to the fertility of their valleys and
terraces, and their old and extensive trade, the tribes of the South
soon acquired a more fixed form of constitution and a more advanced
civilisation. Numerous remains of magnificent stone structures, ruins of
aqueducts, canals, basins, and dams, built with the object of preserving
and collecting the water which streamed down the terraces of the
mountains and in the valleys, still excite the astonishment of our
travellers for the excellence of the plan as well as for the strength of
the masonry. The ruins of Nedshran, Sirwah, Ghorab, Nakb-el-Hadshar, and
Misenat, and those of Maryab, the old metropolis of the Sabaeans, confirm
what Western writers and Arab tradition tell us of the glorious palaces
of the ancient time and the mighty dams built in the valley of
Maryab.[456] The remains of the dams prove that South Arabia, like Egypt
and Babylonia, was far better cultivated in those distant times than
now; that there also the greatest importance was attached to irrigation,
and the inhabitants understood how to preserve and use the water from
the mountain-streams on the terraces. The natural assumption that at one
time the cultivation of valuable fruits was far more extensive in South
Arabia than at present can hardly be incorrect. The inscriptions found
in those ruins and elsewhere in the south-west of Yemen, though they do
not, so far as is at present ascertained, go back beyond the year 120
B.C.,[457] give us some insight into the nature of the civilisation of
these tribes and the ancient form of the South Arabian language and
alphabet, which must have grown out of the Phenician at an early date,
and then have developed independently beside it.[458] Of a still more
recent date, from the first century A.D., we find in the opposite
north-west corner of Arabia numerous inscriptions on the rocks in the
region of Sinai, written in the North Arabian language and
alphabet.[459]
The Hebrew Scriptures divide the tribes of the Arabs into four
groups--the Joktanites, among whom tribes of the south and east take the
lead; the Keturites, among whom are tribes of Western and Eastern
Arabia; the Ishmaelites, including tribes of the table-land of the
interior and North Arabia; and finally, the group of tribes who settled
and wandered on the eastern borders of Canaan--the Amalekites, Moabites,
Ammonites, and Edomites. The Hebrews derive the origin of the Arabs from
the progenitors from whom they were themselves sprung. To Shem, the son
of Noha, so Genesis tells us, Arphaxad was born, and "Arphaxad begat
Salah, and Salah begat Eber, and Eber begat Peleg and Joktan. And Joktan
begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth (the Chatramites, in
Hadramaut, p. 314), and Jerah, and Hadoram, and Uzal (Sanaa), and
Diklah, and Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba (the Sabaeans), and Ophir and
Havilah (the Chaulotaeans), and Jobab (the Jobarites of Ptolemy, on the
south coast), and their dwelling was from Mesha (Maishan, Mesene on the
Euphrates) towards Sephar (Dshafar, to the south of Sanaa and Maryab), a
mount of the East." Peleg, the elder brother of Joktan, was the father
of Reu, Reu, of Serug; then followed Nahor and Terah. Terah's sons were
Abraham, Nahor, and Haran. To Abraham Hagar, his Egyptian bond-servant,
bore Ishmael. Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael into the deserts of
Beersheba, but "God was with the lad, and he grew and dwelt in the
wilderness of Paran, and was an archer, and his mother took him a wife
from the land of Egypt, and his first-born was Nebajoth (the Nabataeans,
p. 314), and his sons were Kedar (the Kedarites) and Adbeel, and Mibsam,
and Mishma, and Dumah (p. 320), and Massa (the Masanians of Ptolemy),
and Hadar, and Thema (the Themanites, p. 314), and Jetur (the Jeturites,
near Damascus, p. 320), and Naphish, and Kedemiah, twelve princes; and
the descendants of Ishmael dwelt from Shur, which is before Egypt, and
from Havilah (p. 314) to Asshur." "And again Abraham took a wife, whose
name was Keturah, and she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and
Midian (the Midianites) and Ishbak, and Shuah. And Joksham begat Dedan,
and the sons of Midian were Ephah and Epher (p. 320). And Abraham gave
them gifts and sent them away into the east country."[460] Abraham's son
was Isaac, Isaac's oldest son was Esau, the father of the Edomites, and
Esau's grandson, Amalek, was the progenitor of the Amalekites.[461]
Haran, the brother of Abraham, begat Lot, and Lot's sons were Moab and
Ammon (the Moabites and Ammonites). From these genealogies it is clear
that the Hebrews looked on the Arabs almost without exception as kinsmen
of their own,[462] and as kinsmen of a more ancient branch, for the
Hebrews were descended from the second son of Isaac. The place nearest
to themselves they give to the Ishmaelites, who were divided into twelve
tribes, the descendants of the twelve princes, the sons of Ishmael--and
next in order came the Edomites, Ammonites, and Moabites.
The native tradition of the Arabs is without historical value. Their
recollections hardly go back as far as the beginning of the Christian
era, and all that their historians who began to write after Mohammed
knew of the older fortunes of their race is either borrowed from the
Hebrews or mere imagination. The Amalekites, whom they found in the
Hebrew Scriptures, they took for their original stock, and represented
them as dwelling in Canaan and Damascus, as well as in the land of Mecca
and Oman, and even as ruling over Egypt. These Amalekites--the Tasmites
and Dshadi, the A'adites and Dshorhomites--they consider as the genuine
Arabs; to whom God had taught Arabic after the confusion of speech. But
the Tasmites and Dshadi are as little historic as Amalek in the Arabian
tradition; their names signify "the extinct" and "the lost;" the
A'adites are a purely fabulous nation, and the Dshorhomites (near Mecca)
are a tribe of no great antiquity.[463] The progenitor of the southern
tribes of Yemen is, in the Arabian tradition, Kachtan, the son of Eber,
and great-grandson of Noah. This is the Joktan of Genesis. Kachtan's
son, J'arab, founded the monarchy of the Kachtanids, in South Arabia;
Abd-Shams-Sabah, the grandson of J'arab, built the city of Mareb, the
chief city of the Sabaeans, according to the Greeks. This founder of the
monarchy of the Sabaeans left two sons, Himyar and Kachlan. The first was
the progenitor of the Himyarites, who are mentioned even by Western
writers, but not till the first century A.D., and then on the south
coast between Mareb and Hadramaut. The name Himyarites includes the
tribes of the Chatramites, the Codaa, the Kinana, the Dshoheina, &c.
Kachlan founded Dshafar (p. 324), and was the progenitor of the
Kachlanids, _i.e._ the Hamdanids, the Badshila, the Odthan, the Chozaa,
and other tribes. To the kingdom of Mareb, founded by Abd-Shams-Sabah,
the Arab tradition ascribes a long list of princes. But even if we
ascribe a period of more than thirty years to every name in this series,
the date of Kachtan is not carried back beyond 700 B.C.[464]
Abd-Shams-Sabah is said to have built not only Mareb, but also a great
dam for the irrigation of the country. The excellent dams, canals, and
sluices at Sanaa (the Uzal of the Hebrews, westward of Mareb) are said
to have been built by Asad.[465] The castles of Sahlin and Bainun (at
Sanaa) are said to have been built by demons at the bidding of Solomon
for Belkis, queen of Shebah. Besides these the Arabs talk of numerous
castles and fortresses in the south. Towards the year 100 B.C. Harith, a
descendant of Himyar, obtained the throne of the Sabaeans; and the place
of the Sabaeans is taken by the Himyarites, the Homerites of Western
nations, who henceforth are the ruling nation in Yemen, a change for
which Arab tradition prepares the way by making Himyar the son and
successor of Abd-Shams-Sabah. Harith's successors fixed their residence
first at Dshafar (Dhu Raidan), then at Mareb, and finally at Sanaa.[466]
The tribes of the high land of the interior, whom the Arabs call Neshd,
_i.e._ "the high people," and certain tribes of Hidyaz, are derived by
tradition from Adnan, a grandson of Ishmael. When Ibrahim (Abraham) had
sent away Hagar and her son, and Hagar was about to perish in the
desert, the child Ishmael struck the earth with his foot, and from it
sprang the fountain of Zamzam, close to Mecca. Amalekites, in search of
their lost camels, found the spring, settled down beside it, and
worshipped Ishmael as the lord of the spring. Then came tribes from the
South, the Dshorhomites and Katura, to the fountain; and Ishmael married
the daughter of the chief of the Dshorhomites and begot Nabit (the
Nebajoth) and Kaidar (the Kedarites). The Amalekites and Katura were
then driven away, and the Dshorhomites remained alone in possession of
the fountain of Zamzam. Kaidar's son was Adnan. From Adnan sprang the
Benu Bekr, the Taghlib, the Temim, the Takif, the Gatafan, &c. If we
ascend the genealogies which Arab tradition gives to the princes of the
tribes sprung from Ishmael, in twenty generations, ending with Adnan,
the grandson of Ishmael, we only arrive at the end of the second
century B.C., even if we allow thirty years for each generation.[467]
The few facts which we can make out about the religious worship of the
southern Arabs (they belong almost exclusively to the period in which
the Himyarites obtained the supremacy in South Arabia) exhibit a certain
connection with the worship of the Babylonians; but we cannot ascertain
whether this coincidence, like the close relationship of the South
Arabian and Babylonian languages (p. 256), is due to original unity or
later intercourse. The Byzantines tell us that the Himyarites worshipped
the sun, the moon, and certain demons of the land. The tradition of the
Arabs mentions Abd-Shams-Sabah as the founder of the kingdom of the
Sabaeans, and the name Abd-Shams signifies the servant of the sun-god,
and hence in the eyes of the Arabs the worship of the sun-god must have
occupied a very prominent place in the religion of the Sabaeans--a fact
which is confirmed by the inscriptions. They mention the sun-god (Shams,
Shamas), the moon-god Al-makak, and the gods Aththor, Haubas, and Dhu
Samavi.[468] The Himyarites are said to have worshipped the sun under
the form of an eagle (Nasr), and the Hamdanids (who dwelt to the north
of Sanaa and Mareb) under the form of a horse; a third tribe in Yemen
are said to have worshipped him in the form of a lion.[469]
The accounts which we have of the religion of the tribes who in the
second century of our era, in consequence of the bursting of a great dam
at Mareb, according to Arab tradition, migrated to the North, and by
this migration destroyed or drove out or amalgamated with the new-comers
a considerable number of the old tribes of this region, prove that the
immigrants worshipped certain stars as their protecting deities. The
Tadshi immigrants from the South, who pastured their flocks on the oasis
of Duma (p. 320), worshipped Canopus; the Lachmites, who were driven
towards Hira, on the lower Euphrates, worshipped the fortunate star
Jupiter; and the Chozaa, who settled to the north of Mecca, worshipped
Sirius.[470]
With regard to the religious rites of the tribes derived by the Arabs
from Adnan, we learn that the Benu Bekr, who forced their way from Neshd
towards the Euphrates, worshipped the god Audh, _i.e._ the burning one;
an ancient form of oath used by this tribe runs as follows--"I swear by
the blood streams round Audh and the stones set up beside Suair." The
Kinana and the Benu Gatafan in Hidyaz worshipped the goddess Uzza, a
name which is said to signify "the mighty one" in a sacred tree.[471]
The tribe of the Takif (near Taif, southward of Mecca) worshipped the
goddess Allat, in whose name we can, without difficulty, recognise the
Alilat of Herodotus: Alilahat means "the goddess." Among the palms of
the valley of Nachlah rose the mighty tree of the goddess, "presented
with sacred offerings;" but the Takif also prayed to this goddess under
the form of a white stone. A third goddess, of the name of Manat, held
sway in the district of Medinah; she was worshipped in a black
shapeless stone. The Kuraish swore by Allat, Uzza, and Manat.[472] Among
other tribes of the desert the goddess Halasah, or Venus, was
worshipped. According to the Western writers the Nabataeans are said to
have worshipped the sun and the war-god Dusares.[473] "His image is a
black, undressed, rectangular stone, four feet high and two feet broad,
on a pedestal of beaten gold. To this stone they offer sacrifice and
pour libations with the blood of the victims; such are their libations;
the whole temple is filled with gold and votive offerings." Modern
scholars identify this god Dusares with the Du'sharah of Arabian
writers.[474] Herodotus has already told us that on the conclusion of
agreements the stones between the two parties were smeared with blood;
and, as according to this evidence, the idols also were sprinkled with
the blood of the victims, we can explain the oath of Benu Bekr by the
bloodstreams round Audh. The statement of Herodotus that the Arabs
worshipped Urotal and Alilat only, and the statements of Strabo and
Arrian that they worshipped Zeus, and Dionysus, and the sky, must
apparently be limited to the migratory tribes of the north.
Of the gods worshipped by the tribes bordering on Syria we have more
definite knowledge. The Midianites and Amalekites who possessed the
sandstone plateau of Sinai, and the deserts of Shur in the north, and
Sin in the south, worshipped on the highest peaks of that district
which the Hebrews called Horeb and Sinai (_i.e._ the Sinian), the god
Baal, who was also worshipped by the Syrians. At the foot of Sinai there
still remains the well-watered palm grove, with its rich black earth, of
which Agatharchides and Diodorus told us above (p. 309). It is the oasis
of Firan, and from the palms the mountain above it is still called
Serbal, _i.e._ "the palm forest of Baal."[475] The Moabites invoked Baal
on Mount Peor, and in times of distress appeased his wrath by human
sacrifices. In the same way the Ammonites worshipped their god Milkom;
the female deity of the Moabites was Astor, the Astarte of the Syrians,
who was also worshipped by the Kedarites.[476] That the Baal of Sinai
was a god who gave fruits and water in the desert is clear from the fact
that Herodotus could compare the god of the Arabs with Dionysus, and
Strabo and Arrian could ascribe the worship of Dionysus to the Arabs.
From a general view of these scanty notices it becomes clear that the
basis of the religious conceptions current among the Semitic tribes of
Arabia was not widely different from that of the Semitic tribes by the
Euphrates and Tigris, or in Syria, which will be found to be connected
with each other. It is easy to understand that the rites of the tribes
bordering on Syria were nearer to the rites of the Syrians, and it has
been already remarked that the worship of the southern tribes appears to
be most closely allied to the rites of the Babylonians. Here, as there,
we find the worship of Astarte; Herodotus expressly calls the goddess
of the Arabs by the name of Mylitta, the Bilit of the Babylonians, whom,
as we shall see, the Canaanites also worshipped with much zeal. We saw
that in Babylon her power was recognized in the evening gleam of the
planet Venus, that all young things, fountains, and pools, belonged to
this goddess; and we shall find her worshipped in Syria on the shady
heights of Lebanon. The tribes of the Arabian deserts also consecrated
lofty trees to this goddess, their Allat, or Halasah; and just as they
believed that the power of this, as of other deities, was present in
stones, so shall we find a similar custom prevailing among the Syrians.
That the tribes of the deserts should pay especial reverence to the
deities of the stars--we have seen how systematised was the worship of
stars in Babylon--cannot surprise us. With the refreshing dew of evening
not Venus only or the moon, but the whole glory of the starry heaven met
the eye and touched the spirit of the Arabs. High above the tents and
resting flocks, above the nocturnal ride and waiting ambuscade, and all
the doings of men the stars passed along on their glittering courses.
They guided the Arabs on their way through the deserts; certain
constellations announced the wished-for rain, others the wild storms,
the changes of the seasons, the time for breeding in their herds and
flocks. As these stars at one time brought abundance and good pastures
for their flocks, and at another dried up the springs and scorched the
meadows, so could they also bring joy and happiness or trouble and pain
to men. Hence to the tribes of the desert especially brilliant stars
appeared as living spirits, as rulers over nature and the fortunes of
mankind.
The life of the roving tribes in the interior whom the Arabs denote by
the general name of Badawi (Bedouins), _i.e._ "sons of the desert," has
undergone few changes; at the present day but slight deviations have
been made from the customs and conditions of the ancient time. Their
life was regulated according to their descent in patriarchal forms, and
the basis of it was the natural affection of the family. At the head of
the tribe stood the chief of the oldest family, from which the rest
derived their origin. All descendants of the patriarch who had given the
name to the tribe gave a willing obedience to his nearest descendants,
for the claims of primogeniture were sacred. The wealth in horses of
excellent breed, camels, and cattle is the pride of these tribal chiefs
and the symbol of their supremacy. Surrounded by the council of the
elders, the heads of the other families, the chiefs maintained peace in
the tribe, settled quarrels, led out the youth of the tribe on
plundering expeditions and in feuds, and divided the spoil. They alone
had the right to assemble the tribe, to carry the standards under which
the tribe fought, and give the command in battle. In rare instances the
remembrance of a common origin keeps several tribes together in a kind
of union under the chief of the oldest tribe, from which the others have
branched off, but as a rule the tribes hold proudly aloof and are
hostile to each other. They attack each other, plunder the tents, carry
off the women, children, and servants, and drive away the flocks. When a
feud has once broken out and members of a tribe have been slain, it is
incumbent on the family and tribe to which the dead belonged to revenge
the fallen, and kill at least as many members of the hostile tribe.
This duty of revenge is hereditary on either side, and descends from
generation to generation until the chief of a third tribe is chosen to
decide the quarrel and become a peace-maker by fixing a fine of cattle
or other property.
In such a mode of life, which, in its general features, has remained
unchanged for thousands of years, the Arabs of the desert exercised the
virtues of reverence, piety, and attachment to their tribal chiefs; thus
there grew up among them a steadfast, manly character; they were true to
their promise when once given, and displayed a noble hospitality. If any
one came in peace to their tents, drink was given to him by the
daughters of the tribe from the fountains, the men took him as a friend
into their tents and shared their store of dates with him, or
entertained him with a sheep from the flock. When the stranger had once
set his foot in the tent, the host guaranteed his safety with his own
life. When the night came on with her refreshing coolness, the stranger
was required to sit in the starlight in the circle of the tribesmen. He
was expected to tell of his origin, his race, and tribe; and then the
hosts also told the fame of their ancestors and sang the deeds of their
fathers and themselves, the feuds and encounters in which their tribe
had been victorious, the virtues of their favourite horses, and the
swiftness of their camels.
Poetry was the only form of intellectual life known to the tribes of the
desert. The Bedouins had a lively sense of the incidents which broke the
simple loneliness of their lives, and gave them a vigorous and even a
fiery expression. The artless song was the expression of feelings deeply
stirred by sorrow or joy. Such songs were equally adapted for calling
to mind their own deeds and fortunes or those of the tribe, and for
moral exhortation. They were "occasional" pieces. Lament for the dead,
praise of the noblest warrior, the battles and exaltation of the tribe,
the generosity and courage of their own tribe or hatred of the hostile
tribe, derision of the enemy, hunting, weapons, rides through the
desert, horses and camels, are the subjects of this poetry, which is
expressed in short iambic verses. Tradition mentions Lokman as the
oldest poet. He is supposed to be a contemporary of David; and round his
name is gathered a number of proverbs, gnomes, and fables. The short
poems lived on in the tribe, they were sung again and again, extended
and recast. At a later time there were also rhapsodes who could repeat a
store of such poems.
The Arabs have developed in the most healthy and marked manner the
characteristic features of the Semitic race. Their roving life in the
deserts under the burning sun and amid tempests and whirlwinds of sand
has strengthened and hardened them. Surrounded in pathless isolation by
beasts of prey and hostile tribes, every one was dependent on his own
watchfulness and keenness, on his courage and resolution, on his horse
and his lance. On a frugal and scanty sustenance the body became lean
and thin, but supple, muscular, and capable of endurance; and in these
hardy bodies dwelt a resolute spirit. Thus the Arabs display a freer
attitude, a more steadfast repose, a more haughty pride, a greater love
of independence, and a more adventurous boldness than their kinsmen.
Their land and their mode of life have saved them from the greedy
avarice, from the luxury and debauchery, into which the Semitic nations
on the Euphrates and Tigris, as on the Mediterranean, often fell,
though they share in the cruelty and bloodthirstiness common to their
race. It was the Arabs on whose virgin strength a new Semitic empire and
civilization was able to be founded in the Middle Ages, when Babel and
Asshur, Tyre and Carthage, Jerusalem and Palmyra had long passed away.
FOOTNOTES:
[428] Herod. 3, 7; 1, 131; 7, 69, 86.
[429] Eratosthenes in Strabo, p. 767.
[430] Strabo, p. 777.
[431] Diod. 2, 48; 3, 44.
[432] Diod. 2, 48, 50, 54; 3, 42, 43. The accounts of the grove are
taken from Agatharchides.--Strabo, p. 777.
[433] "Hist. Nat." 6, 32.
[434] Amm. Marcell. 14, 4.
[435] Herod. 3, 107-113.
[436] Heracl. Cuman. Fragm. 4. ed. Mueller.
[437] Apud Strabon. p. 768 ff.
[438] Agatharch. "De Mari Erythr.;" apud Diod. 3, 45-48, and the excerpt
of Photius in Mueller, "Geogr. Gr. Min." 1, 111 ff.; cf. Strabo, p. 778.
[439] Strabo, p. 778.
[440] "Hist. Nat." 12, 32; 6, 32 seq.
[441] The queen of Sheba, who brings such large gifts of gold and spices
to Solomon, must in any case be regarded as the queen of the rich spice
land, and with this account agree other passages in which Sheba is
mentioned. To the Seba, who are mentioned in Psalm lxxii. 10, 15, as
rich in gold along with the Sheba, and are described in Isaiah as people
of great stature (xlv. 15; cf. xliii. 3), and are placed in Genesis x. 7
among the children of Cush, I cannot assign any place. Prideaux assumes
that the two nations became amalgamated; "Trans. Bibl. Arch." 2, 2.
[442] Isaiah xxi. 13, 14, 17.
[443] Duemichen, "Die Flotte einer aegyptischen Koenigin."
[444] G. Smith, "Assyr. Discov." p. 286; Schrader, "Keilschriften und
Alt. Test." s. 56, 143, 163.
[445] G. Smith, "Assurbanipal," pp. 264, 265, 275.
[446] Gen. xxv. 1-11; xxvi. 34; xxxvi. 11.
[447] Birch, "The Annals of Tutmes III.;" "Archaeolog." vol. xlv.
[448] Papyrus Harris in Chabas, "Recherches sur la Dynastie 19," p. 59.
[449] Movers, "Phoenizier," 2, 3, 302.
[450] Strabo, p. 756; Pliny, "Hist. Nat." 12, 32.
[451] Isaiah xxi. 13, 14.
[452] Movers, "Phoenizier," 2, 3, 293.
[453] Isaiah lx. 6.
[454] Herod. 3, 97.
[455] 1 Kings xxii. 49; 2, xiv. 7, 22; 2 Chronicles xvii.; 2, xxvi. 6,
7. Under Ahaz, the grandson of Uzziah, Elath was again lost.--2 Kings
xvi. 6.
[456] Caussin de Percival, "Histoire des Arabes," 1, 16, 17; Wellsted,
"Reisen in Arabien, von E. Roediger," 1, 307.
[457] Prideaux, "Trans. Bibl. Arch." 2, 19.
[458] D. H. Mueller, "Zeit. d. d. M. Gesellschaft," 1876, s. 522 ff.
[459] Osiander in the "Zeit. d. d. M. Gesellschaft," 10, 17-73;
Praetorius, _loc. cit._ 26, 417 ff; Gildemeister and Levy, _loc. cit._
24, 188.
[460] Genesis xxv. 1-6.
[461] Genesis xxxvi. 12-16.
[462] The table in Genesis x. 7, places Ramah, Shebah, Dedan, Havilah,
among the sons of Cush, but in the genealogy of the Arabs (c. xxv.)
Shebah and Dedan are given to Joktan and Midian.
[463] Noeldeke. "Ueber die Amalekiter," s. 23 ff.
[464] Caussin, "Histoire des Arabes," 1, 49, arrives at the year 794 for
the birth of J'arab, by allotting thirty-three years to each generation.
Wuestenfeld, in his genealogical tables, gives from thirty to thirty-four
generations between Kachtan and Mohammed, and thus, though he allows
forty years for each generation, cannot reach beyond the year 700 B.C.
for Kachtan.
[465] Osiander, in "Zeitschr. d. d. Morgen. Gesellschaft," 10, 27.
[466] Caussin, "Histoire des Arabes," 1, 49-60; Prideaux, "Trans. Bibl.
Arch." 2, 10.
[467] Caussin, "Hist. des Arabes," 1, 166 ff. Wuestenfeld ("Genealogische
Tabellen") reaches higher, because, as already remarked, he allows forty
years for a generation.
[468] Krehl, "Religion der Araber," s. 41, 30; Lenormant, "Lett. Assyr."
2, 10.
[469] Osiander, "Zeitschr. d. d. M. G." 7, 474; 10, 63; 11, 472;
Lenormant, _loc. cit._ 279; Caussin, _loc. cit._ 1, 113; Prideaux,
"Trans. Bibl. Arch." 2, 18.
[470] Krehl, "Religion der Araber," 8, 24; Osiander, "Zeitschr. d. d. M.
G." 7, 473 ff.
[471] Osiander, _loc. cit._ 7, 487. On a stone image we find a cow and a
calf with the inscription "Uzza."
[472] Krehl, "Religion der Araber," s. 73, 78. On the seven black stones
of the planets at Erech.--"W. A. J." 2, 50. On the stones of the Kaabah,
Lenormant, "Lettres Assyr." 2, 120 ff.; Caussin, "Hist. des Arabes," 1,
165, 176 ff.
[473] Strabo, p. 784; Suid. [Greek: Theos Ares]; Steph. Byz. [Greek:
Dousare].
[474] Krehl, _loc. cit._ s. 49. See _ibid._ on the worship of Alful,
Sahd, and Sahid.
[475] Lepsius, "Briefe," s. 330 ff.
[476] Noeldeke, "Inschrift. des Mesa," s. 6. The amalgamation of Astarte
with Camus, like the amalgamation with Melkarth among the Phenicians
presupposes the separate worship of the goddess.--G. Smith,
"Assurbanipal," p. 283.