[ca. 2500-645 B.C.]
The Hebrew Scriptures have preserved for us information concerning the populations of Arabia, that is older by a thousand years than that of Pliny, and by five hundred than that of Herodotus. According to Genesis[h] the tribes fall into four main groups; the Joktanites, among whom the tribes of the south and east are the most prominent; the Keturites, which include certain tribes of the east and northwest; the Ishmaelites, among whom can be counted tribes of the north and of the tableland of the interior; and finally the group of tribes who wandered and settled near the eastern frontiers of Canaan—the Amalekites, Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites. The Hebrews ascribe to the Arabs the same origin as their own.
From the genealogies it is plain that the Hebrews regarded the Arabian tribes as close kinsmen of their own, and kinsmen of a far more ancient branch. The Arabs of the south traced their origin back to the fifth generation after Shem, the common forefather, while the Hebrews descended from the second son of Isaac. Most closely related to them are the Ishmaelites, who are divided into twelve tribes—the descendants of the sons of Ishmael, the “twelve princes”; then follow the Edomites, the Ammonites, and the Moabites.
The tradition of the Arabs scarcely goes back to the beginning of the Christian era. What their writers, who began after Mohammed to tell the early history of their race, knew of those ancient periods is either derived from the accounts of the Hebrews, or is the work of pure imagination. They represent the Amalekites, whom they found in Hebrew Scriptures, as the founders of their race, and place their dwelling variously in Canaan and Damascus, and the district of Mecca and Oman, and cause them at one time to rule over Egypt. These Amalekites, the Tasmites and Jadi, Aadites and Jorhomites, they look upon as the true Arabian stock, to whom God taught Arabic after the confusion of tongues. But the Tasmites and Jadi are as little to be accepted historically as Amalek, their names signifying “the extinct,” and “the vanished”; the Aadites are a purely fabulous people, and the Jorhomites (near Mecca) are a tribe of by no means ancient origin. The progenitor of the tribes of Yemen in the south is, according to the Arabians, Kahtan, the son of Eber, and great-grandson of Noah; this is the Joktan of Genesis. This founder of the Sabæan monarchy left two sons, Himyar and Kahtan. Himyar was the progenitor of the Himyarites, and their abode is placed on the southern coast of Arabia, between Mareb (Saba) and Hadramaut.
To the kingdom of Mareb, founded by Abd Shams-Sabah, is ascribed by Arab tradition a long succession of rulers. But even if we were to allow to each name a reign of more than thirty years, Kahtan’s period would not be carried back beyond 700 B.C. Abd Shams-Sabah is supposed to have built not only Mareb but a great dam for the irrigation of the land. The well-built dams, canals, and sluices at Sana (the Uzal of the Hebrews, to the west of Mareb) are said to have been erected by Asad. The castles of Sahlin and Bainun (near Sana) were built by dæmons, at Solomon’s bidding, for Belkis, queen of Sheba. Towards the end of the year 700 B.C. Harith, at the head of the Himyarites, gained possession of the kingdom of the Sabæans, who were thus driven from their own land, and the Himyarites who supplanted them (the Homerites of western nations) became the ruling people in Yemen. Arab tradition had somewhat prepared the way for this change by making Himyar the oldest son and successor of Abd Shams-Sabah.
If we trace the genealogies given by Arab tradition to the rulers of the tribes descended from Ishmael backwards for twenty generations till we reach Adnan, his grandson, we do not arrive at an earlier period than the second century B.C., even if we allow thirty years for each generation.
There have been handed down to us no consistent accounts of these people. We learn that Egypt, at some period later than 3000 years B.C., gained a foothold in the west of the Sinai peninsula, but we are unable to obtain any certainty of the origin of the invading tribes. The inscriptions of Egypt of the time of Tehutimes and the first Ramses,[i] tell of victories achieved over the Shasu and over the Punt, that is, the Arabs; but we cannot learn the extent of these victorious operations, nor the names of the tribes against which they were directed, hence we conclude that they were of but a transitory nature. The Hebrews relate that the queen of the Sabæans, ruler over that fruitful, spice-bearing land, journeyed to Jerusalem to lay before King Solomon rich presents of spices and gold.
It would surprise us to learn that an Arabian monarchy was in the hands of a woman, did not the inscriptions of the Assyrian kings[j] reveal that even the tribes of the deserts frequently had women as rulers. These same inscriptions also furnish us with information concerning certain early Arabian tribes, and make known to us their great wealth in cattle. The third Tiglathpileser relates that in the year 735 B.C. he received tribute from Zabibieh, queen of Arabia (Aribi). In the year 734 he marched on Samshi, queen of Arabia, and took from her as spoils thirty thousand camels and twenty thousand oxen, afterwards subjugating the people of Saba, the Sabæan city. King Sargon makes boast that he conquered the people of Thamud, the Thamudenes of western writers; also those of Tasid, Ibadid, Marsiman, Chayapa, the distant Arbæans, the inhabitants of the lands of Bari, “which the learned and the scribes knew not,” and that Samshi, queen of the Arabs and Yathamic, the Sabæan, paid him tribute of spices, camels, and gold (715 B.C.). Sennacherib took from the Pecod, the Hagarites, the Nabatæans, and certain other tribes, 5330 camels, and 800,600 head of small cattle (703 B.C.). During the reign of Asshurbanapal, Adija, queen of the Arabs, and Ammuladin, king of the Kedarites, were conquered and brought in chains to Nineveh; and the “innumerable warriors” of another prince, Yauta-ben-Bir-Dadda, were put to rout and his tents were burned. A third chief, Abiyate, with his allies, Yauta-ben-Hazael, Natnu (Nathan) king of the Nabatæans, and the worshippers of Istar, was defeated in 645 B.C.
The position of Arabia between the river valleys of the Nile, the Euphrates, and the Tigris, which had been the seats of the oldest industries and where agriculture and civilisation had early begun to flourish, brought the Arabs, who were continually wandering about the frontiers of their land, into close connection with Egypt and Babylon. What robbery failed to supply could be obtained by barter. The wandering herdsmen had need of corn, tools, and weapons; the Egyptians and Babylonians, of horses, camels, skins, and wool. By giving in exchange for what they required cattle and skins, the Arabs kept the Egyptians and Babylonians supplied with raw materials for their industries. According to Hebrew tradition Abraham went into Egypt, and the sons of Jacob bought grain in Egypt when “there was a famine in the land.” The fact that the Egyptians gained possession, in 3000 B.C., of the valley of Maghara in the Sinai peninsula, and that a thousand years later certain nomad tribes of the northwest of Arabia obtained supremacy over Egypt, served but to strengthen the later relations between the two countries. That there had long been intercourse is certain; and contact with the superior culture of Egypt had so multiplied the wants of the Arabs as greatly to increase their trading relations. They could offer not alone their cattle to the Egyptians in barter but the costly products of their southern coasts, the frankincense and perfumes that had already attained a high celebrity in Egypt as early as 2500 B.C.
It is no wonder then, in view of this ancient and active trade, that Queen Ramaka (Maat-ka-Ra or Hatshepsu) of Egypt made the attempt to import the products of southern Arabia direct by way of the Red Sea; and it must have been this same intention that caused Ramses II to project a canal that should connect the Nile with the Red Sea. Later, Ramses III caused ships to be built especially for the trade with “the land of Punt” (Arabia) and “the land of the gods” (the far East). Great as was the demand of Egypt for incense and perfumes, that of Babylon seems to have been no less. Herodotus[b] tells us that at the annual feast of Belos a thousand talents of incense was burned on the altar of the great Babylonian temple.