Ancient Arabia
Ancient Arabia refers to the period before the rise of Islam in the 7th century CE and is characterized by a blend of nomadic and settled cultures, predominantly influenced by tribalism. This region is historically significant as the original home of Semitic peoples, with ancient Arabs tracing their lineage back to patriarchs such as Ya'rab ibn Qahtan and Adnan. The Arabian Peninsula, primarily a vast desert, supported trade routes that connected it to the Mediterranean, facilitating the growth of prosperous kingdoms in South Arabia, including the influential Sabaeans and the Ḥimyaritic kingdoms, known for their wealth derived from incense and trade.
In the northern regions, the Nabataean and Palmyrene kingdoms emerged, playing key roles in trade and cultural exchange between East and West. The social structure was largely tribal, with Bedouin tribes dominating much of the landscape, leading to constant feuding and warfare. However, significant cities like Mecca and Medina developed as trade hubs, setting the stage for the emergence of Islam with the birth of the Prophet Muhammad. By the time of Muhammad's death in 632 CE, Arabia had undergone a profound transformation into a united state under Islam, which subsequently expanded its influence beyond Arabia, creating a lasting impact on world history.
Ancient Arabia
Date: 8000 b.c.e.-700 c.e.
Locale: Arabian Peninsula, West Asia
Arabia
Muslims refer to the period before the revelation of Islam in 622 c.e. as al-Jāhilīyah (“time of ignorance”) because knowledge of this long period is of little value in understanding Islam and the period was characterized by religious ignorance of the one God Allāh. The Arabian Peninsula is the only region in the Middle East that has always been known as a Semitic land and is considered to be the original home of the Semitic peoples.
Arabic tradition speaks of two ethnic groups as the seeds of Arabian origin. The ancient Arabs of South Arabia (uh-RAY-bee-uh) claim descent from the patriarch Ya՚rab ibn Qahtan, from whose name the term “arab” is derived, and northern Arabs claim descent from the patriarch Adnan, a descendant of Ismā՚īl, son of Abraham. Almost every Arabic tribe traces its ancestry to these two patriarchs, although no evidence supports such claims. The vast, largely desert peninsula of Arabia was an absolute monarchy ruled under the title al-Mamlaka al-ՙArabīyah as-Suՙūdīyah (“kingdom of the Arabs of the House of Saud”).
The peninsula of Arabia is covered by shifting sand in the south central region of Rub ՙal-Khālī, the Empty Quarter, and by eroded sandstone elsewhere. Three thousand years ago, the Rub ՙal-Khālī was less arid and supported abundant fauna and flora. During the Pleistocene Era, central and northern Arabia was a vast lake system. These lakes eventually dried up and formed riverbeds that run from the southeast to the northwest. The southern and southwestern fringes of the peninsula are more humid, allowing agricultural pursuits. The book of Genesis speaks of this area as the “limit of the known world,” and the Roman Empire referred to it as Arabia Felix.
Early History
Unlike Europe, Africa, and Asia, Arabia has only sparse evidence of any Stone Age culture; what exists is limited to northern Arabia and is closely associated with cultures of Asia Minor and Mesopotamia. Only scattered archaeological discoveries point to a Paleolithic or Neolithic presence. Although ancient Mesopotamian cuneiform inscriptions contain numerous references to sites in Arabia such as Magan and Dilmun, and Pharaonic Egyptian records describe trade connections with the Sinai and Red Sea areas, very little direct reference to Arabia is found in them.
The earliest centuries of the first millennium b.c.e. were a time of momentous change represented by the Iron Age in the Middle East and migrations of Semitic Arameans into the Fertile Crescent. Little direct knowledge exists from the era before the emergence of historical kingdoms of Maՙīn and Saba՚ in South Arabia. The early centuries of Arabic history remain obscure at best. Even the chronology of early southern Arabic history is in question.
South Arabian kingdoms
Greek historical records written during the first centuries in the common era mention the existence of four kingdoms in South Arabia dating from the first millennium b.c.e. These kingdoms derived their considerable wealth from caravan trade with the Mediterranean world and maritime trade in the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. Collectively known as Ḥimyaritic kingdoms, they included the Sabaeans, Qatabānians, and Minaeans.
As early as the fifteenth century b.c.e., agricultural settlements existed in western South Arabia, and by the tenth century b.c.e., an amalgamation of several Arab tribes gave rise to the kingdom of Saba՚, associated with the Queen of Sheba, who visited King Solomon in Israel. The mainstay of South Arabian trade was incense: myrrh from the Hadhramaut and frankincense from Dhafar. The kingdoms of Maՙīn and Qatabān appeared, but Saba՚ retained its supremacy throughout South Arabia. The cities contained monumental temples and other civic buildings, and an elaborate irrigation system made cultivation possible in the countryside.
The Ḥimyarite rule of Saba՚ resulted in a four-hundred-year period of unity, but Christian and Judaic rivalry present in South Arabia replaced it with an Abyssinian Christian occupation for ninety-nine years, dominated by Monophysite Coptic, Nestorian, and Arian influences, each disputing the divine and human natures of Christ. In the fourth century c.e., the economic strength and stability of the region were severely compromised by the collapse of the famous Ma՚rib Dam, which regulated agricultural wealth and power. The Ḥimyarits emigrated to North Arabia. An alliance with Persia drove out the Abyssinians in 571 c.e., a year that coincided with the birth of the Prophet Muḥammad. Among the distinctive features of the South Arabian kingdoms were their script, alabaster stelae, and large-scale Mediterranean-style bronzes.
Nabataea and Palmyra
Assyrian, biblical, and Persian sources provide occasional references to nomadic peoples of the northern fringes of Arabia. However, classical literature provides detailed information about semisedentarized border states in the Syrian and northern Arabian deserts. These states, Arab in origin, were strongly influenced by hellenized Aramaic culture and generally used Aramaic for their inscriptions. The most important was the Nabataean kingdom, which ruled over an area from the Gulf of Aqaba northward to the Dead Sea, including northern Hejaz. Its capital was at Petra, and it made its first contacts with Republican Rome in 65 b.c.e. Friendly relations were established, and the kingdom served as a buffer state between the Roman East and the vast untamable desert. In 25 b.c.e., Nabataea became the base for the only Roman expedition to penetrate Arabia. Intent on conquering Yemen, the Romans wished to control the southern outlet of the trade route to India. Rome failed and withdrew in an ignominious retreat. In 105 c.e., Rome annexed Nabataea into Provincia Arabia.
A century and a half later, a second Aramaized Arab kingdom, Palmyra, was established in the Syro-Arabian Desert, at the starting point of the western trade route. It became a significant power in the region under its first king, Udhayna, who assisted Rome in its war against Persia. His widow, Zenobia, succeeded him and extended Palmyrene influence as far as Egypt in the south and Asia Minor in the north. In 272 c.e., Rome attacked Palmyra, and Zenobia fled, bringing an end to Palmyrene rule.
The rise of Islam
During the fifth and sixth centuries c.e., the dominant feature of northern and central Arabia was Bedouin tribalism. On the eve of the rise of Islam, the wide-open expanse of desert between South Arabia and the northern fringes was the domain of tribespeople who were constantly engaged in tribal warfare, feuding, raiding, and pagan practices. A few cities did emerge and prosper; Mecca and Medina served as trading posts along the extended caravan routes between South Arabia and the Fertile Crescent. Mecca, located at the crossroads of routes that led south to Yemen, north to the Mediterranean, east to the Persian Gulf, and west to the Red Sea, was occupied and governed by the Quraysh tribe. Prospering from the trade that passed through the city, the Quraysh merchants stressed cooperation, organization, and discipline, those qualities that were absent among other roving tribesmen. These qualities would prove invaluable in administering the vast empire soon to fall under Quraysh sway.
Into this environment, the Prophet of Islam, Muḥammad, was born in 570 c.e. By 632 c.e., when Muḥammad died, Arabia had experienced a total transformation from a land of anarchy to a united state under the banner of Islam. This transformation was due to the charisma and leadership of Muḥammad and to the sacred book of Islam, the Qur՚n, an Arabic standard of revelations of widespread appeal, that could serve as a force to unite petty tribes. This appeal opened the way for Islam to reach far beyond the borders of Arabia after Muḥammad’s death under the leadership of Abū Bakr, ՙUmar ibn al-Khaṭtāb, and ՙUthmān ibn ՙAffān, the first three caliphs. Under the leadership of the Umayyad caliphate (66l-751 c.e.), Islam expanded Arabic power and conviction into North Africa, the Indus Valley of India, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. However, internal strife began to rear its head in the far-flung empire. A schism over the rightful succession to the caliphate divided the followers of Islam into two camps, Shīՙite and Sunni. This split has continued to the present.
Bibliography
Hitti, Philip K. History of the Arabs. London: Macmillan, 1940.
Hourani, Albert. A History of the Arab Peoples. Cambridge, Mass.: Farber, 199l.
Lewis, Bernard. The Arabs in History. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1993.
Mansfield, Peter. The New Arabians. Chicago: J. G. Ferguson, 1981.