Arabs in Antiquity : Their History from the Assyrians to the Umayyads

Preface xi Maps xiv Prolegomena 1(1) Which Arabs? 1(1) Arabs and bedouin: present-day evidence 1(6) Method of investigation 7(2) Notes 9(2) PART I The remembered origins 11(92) Arabs in early Islam 13(11) Sources 13(4) General historical background 17(1) The view of a medieval Muslim sociologist: Ibn Khaldun 18(3) The view of a medieval Muslim belletrist: al-Gahiz 21(1) Notes 22(2) Arabs as a people 24(39) arab and agam 24(4) arab as a nation of tribes 28(2) The `real' arab 30(4) The original ariba peoples 34(6) The language of the arab 40(8) The land of the arab and their villages 48(5) Excursus: the language of Quraysh 51(2) Notes 53(10) The Arabs as a section of society 63(19) arab and Muslim 63(3) arab and mawla 66(3) arab and muhagirun 69(2) arab, Quraysh and the early Muslims 71(3) arab, ansar and their successors 74(2) The arab among the tribesmen 76(3) Notes 79(3) The neglected cousins 82(14) The arab 82(5) The arab in the Qur?an 87(6) Notes 93(3) Arabs in the eyes of outsiders 96(7) Arabs and Muslims in non-Arabic sources from the first century AH 96(3) Arabs in the early Arabo-Islamic tradition: attempt at a summary 99(2) Notes 101(2) PART II The forgotten origins 103(472) The problem of the earliest Arabs 105(14) Introduction 105(1) Pre-Islamic Arabs in modern scholarship: a short survey 105(11) Excursus: nomadism in the Middle East 113(3) Notes 116(3) Arabs in cuneiform sources 119(93) Syria at the beginning of the first millennium BC: sources 119(2) Political outline 121(3) The road to Qarqar 124(5) Excursus: the sons of Qeturah 128(1) Tiglath Pileser III 129(18) Excursus: the earliest Arabs in the Old Testament 136(11) Sargon II 147(6) Sennacherib 153(5) Esarhaddon 158(3) Assurbanipal: the sources 161(5) The course of events 166(5) Excursus: the people of Attar-shamayin 168(1) Excursus: a short historical and redactional survey on the text of the Rassam cylinder 169(2) The late Judaean kingdom and Arabia 171(5) Excursus: the Queen of Sheba 173(3) Nebuchadnezzar II 176(5) Nabonidus 181(3) Nabonidus, Cyrus the Great and the Arabs 184(5) Individual Arabs in the Chaldaean and early Achaemenid periods 189(2) Arabs down to the rise of the Achaemenids: attempt at a summary 191(2) Notes 193(19) The Old Testament and Arabia 212(23) Introduction 212(2) The P tables 214(5) The lists of J 219(1) Ishmael and his descendants 220(2) The story about Ishmael 222(6) Arabs in the Old Testament: a summary 228(1) Notes 229(6) The age of the Achaemenids 235(28) Introduction 235(1) The sources for the period 540--335 BC 235(1) Cambyses and the Arabs 236(1) The testimony from the Persians 237(3) Scylax of Caryanda 240(1) Hecataeus of Mytilene 240(2) Hecataeus' successors 242(1) Herodotus of Halicarnassus 243(7) Geshem the Arab 250(1) Greeks and Arabs from the end of the fifth century BC until Alexander 251(6) Excursus: Arabia in the list of arkhonts in Xenophon's Anabasis VII: 8 256(1) Notes 257(6) Alexander the Great and the Arabs 263(19) Sources 263(1) The Mediterranean campaign 264(2) Alexander and the Arabian peninsula 266(3) The Arabian expeditions 269(5) Excursus: the location and role of Gerrha 273(1) Arabs from Cambyses to Alexander: a preliminary synthesis 274(3) Notes 277(5) The heirs of Alexander 282(47) Antigonus 282(1) The events of 312 BC: Antigonus in Arabia 283(2) The expedition in 312 BC: analysis 285(5) Two early Hellenistic authors on Arabia: Euhemerus and Iambulus 290(4) The Ptolemies and the Arabs 294(1) The Red Sea expedition of Ptolemy II 295(5) Arabs in Ptolemaic Egypt 300(1) Eratosthenes from Cyrene 301(7) The Seleucids and the Arabs 308(3) Arabs around Palestine in the age of the Maccabees 311(3) Arabs in Syria in the age of the Maccabees 314(3) Arabs from Alexander to Demetrius: attempt at a summary 317(2) Notes 319(10) Between the Greeks and the Romans 329(35) The Middle East in the second half of the second century BC 329(1) Sources for the events down to the battle of Actium 330(2) Mesene 332(1) Osrhoene 333(1) Syria-Palestine until the age of Alexander Jannaeus 334(6) Alexander Jannaeus and the Arabs: the course of events according to Josephus 340(3) Evaluation of the evidence 343(3) Tigranes the Great 346(3) The arrival of the Romans 349(2) Posidonius of Apamaea 351(7) Notes 358(6) The Nabataean problem 364(28) Arabs, Nabataeans and Jews during the Roman conquest: the events 364(2) The problem: were the Nabataeans Arabs? 366(1) Nabataeans and Arabs before 65 BC: the literary sources 367(1) The Nabataeans before 65 BC: the non-literary testimony 368(1) Arabs and Nabataeans: a first evaluation 369(2) Arabs and Nabataeans after the Roman conquest: the sources 371(1) Arabs and Nabataeans after the Roman conquest: Josephus' account 372(1) The solution: Herod's legacy 373(2) The Arabo-Nabataean kingdom 375(2) The king of Arabs and Nabataeans 377(6) Excursus: who were the Nabataeans? 378(5) Notes 383(9) Arabs and Romans until the time of Trajan 392(40) Arabs and Romans in the Middle East 392(1) Arabs and the battle of Carrhae 393(2) Arabs and the Parthian invasion after Carrhae 395(1) Arabs and the anti-Caesarians 396(2) When Antony and Cleopatra ruled the East 398(1) Rome and the Arabs in the reign of Augustus 399(4) Excursus: the expedition of Aelius Gallus to Yemen 402(1) Iuba's book on Arabia 403(9) Excursus: `the Ituraeans, the Arabs' 407(1) Excursus: Emesa 408(1) Excursus: the arabarchia 409(3) Arabs in the time of Claudius 412(1) Arabs in Adiabene 413(1) Arabs in the time of Nero: Corbulo's testimony 414(2) Arabs in the New Testament 416(2) Arabs and the Great Jewish Revolt 418(3) The Periplus Maris Erythraei 421(1) Arabs in the Middle East from the end of the Seleucids to Trajan: a summary 422(1) Notes 423(9) Arabs in the age of the good emperors 432(22) Sources for the second century AD 432(1) The reign of Trajan and its results 433(3) Claudius Ptolemy 436(2) An anonymous source on Arabs from the second century AD 438(1) Arabs between Romans and Parthians before the Severian dynasty 439(1) The Arabs at Edessa 440(2) The Arabs at Hatra 442(6) Excursus: arab in the Hatra texts: region or people? 447(1) Notes 448(6) From the Severians to Constantine the Great 454(51) Sources for the period from Septimius Severus to Theodosius 454(1) The course of events from Septimius Severus to Diocletian: general outline 455(2) Septimius Severus and the Arabs 457(3) Philippus Arabs 460(1) The Orient in turmoil: Shapur I and Palmyra 461(1) The rise and fall of Palmyra 462(4) The three empires: interaction around AD 300 466(1) The king of all Arabs: the text from an-Namara 467(3) Historical interpretation of the text 470(3) The Namara inscription and the kings of al-Hira: the Arabic tradition 473(3) Analysis of the story 476(4) The evidence from contemporary documents 480(5) Arabs in literary texts from the third century 485(1) Arabs in the outgoing second century: the testimony of Clement of Alexandria 486(1) Origen 486(1) Hippolytus' Diamerismos 487(3) The Book of the Laws of Countries 490(1) Uranius' Arabica 491(2) Glaucus 493(1) Notes 494(11) The disappearing Arabs 505(21) The emergence of the Taieni and the Saraceni 505(1) Eusebius of Caesarea 506(3) Basil the Great 509(1) Epiphanius 510(1) Other testimonies from the early fourth century 511(1) The fourth century: Arabs in the waning 512(1) The time of Julian the Apostate: the testimony of Ammian Marcellinus 513(4) Excursus: Ammian's description of Arabia and Arabs and its background 514(3) Arabs and Saracens from the end of the fourth century 517(3) The tayyae 520(1) Arabs versus Saraceni and tayyaye 520(1) Notes 521(5) Arabs in Talmudic sources 526(10) Notes 532(4) Arabs in South Arabia 536(39) Introduction 536(1) Arabs in South Arabia until the end of the third century 537(15) Arabs in South Arabia from the fourth to the sixth century 552(10) Arabs in South Arabia: survey and summary 562(5) Notes 567(8) PART III The solution of an enigma? 575(48) The picture of Arabs in pre-Islamic sources 577(14) A final evaluation of the sources 577(1) The lands of the Arabs 578(2) How the Arabs lived 580(4) Political structure 584(1) Arabs, Hagar, Nabat 585(3) Notes 588(3) The linguistic issue 591(9) The language of the Arabs 591(4) The name and its linguistic background 595(3) Notes 598(2) The Arabs and their religion 600(23) The six gods of Dumah 600(2) The two gods of Arabo-Nabataea 602(3) The cult of the Saracens 605(1) The gods of the Arabs and the Saracen cult of the twin gods 606(3) Tracing the Arab god 609(1) The Arabs and their god 610(4) Rendezvous in Mecca: the legend of Qusayy b. Kilab 614(1) Notes 615(8) Summing up: the Arabs from the Assyrians to the Umayyads 623(4) Bibliography 627(41) Abbreviations 627(1) Sources 628(17) Secondary literature 645(23) General index 668(12) Index locorum 680