Arabia

VIEW:24 DATA:01-04-2020

evening; desert; ravens
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary

(Arabia arid tract). The Arabah, originally restricted to one wady, came to be applied to all Arabia. (See ARABAH.) Bounded on the N. by Palestine and Syria, E. by the Euphrates and the Persian Gulf, S. by the Arabian Sea and strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, W. by the Red Sea and Egypt. 1700 miles long by 1400 broad. Designated Gen_25:6 "the east country," the people "children of the East" (Gen_29:1; Jdg_6:3), chiefly meaning the tribes E. of Jordan and N. of the Arabian peninsula. "All the mingled people" is in Hebrew ha ereb (Exo_12:38; Jer_25:20; Eze_30:5), possibly the Arabs. The three divisions are Arabia Deserta, Felix, and Petraea. The term Kedem, "the East," with the Hebrew probably referred to ARABIA DESERTA, or N. Arabia, bounded E. by the Euphrates, W. by the mountains of Gilead. Jeremiah (Jer_2:6) describes its features, "a land of deserts and pits, a land of drought and of the shadow of death, that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt."
Tadmor or Palmyra "in the wilderness" was on its N.E. border (1Ki_9:18). Moving sands, a few thorny shrubs, and an occasional palm and a spring of brackish water, constitute its general character. The sand wind, the simoom, visits it. Hither Paul resorted after conversion for that rest and reflection which are needed before great spiritual enterprises (Gal_1:17). Moses' stay of 40 years in the same quarter served the same end of preparatory discipline. Its early inhabitants were the Rephaim, Emim, Zuzim, Zamzummim (Gen_14:5); Ammon, Moab, Edom, the Hagarenes, the Nabathaeans, the people of Kedar, and many wandering tent-dwelling tribes, like the modern Bedouins, succeeded. The portion of it called the Hauran, or Syrian desert, abounds in ruins and inscriptions in Greek, Palmyrene, and an unknown tongue.
ARABIA FELIX or happy, S. Arabia, bounded on the E. by the Persian Gulf, S. by the Arabian Sea, W. by the Red Sea. Yemen, famed for its fertility ("the right hand", so the south, compare Mat_12:42); and Hadramaut (Hazarmaveth, Gen_10:26) were parts of it. Sheba answers to Yemen (Psa_72:10), whose queen visited Solomon (1Ki_10:1). The dominant family was that of Himyer, son of Sava; one of this family founded the modern kingdom of the Himyerites, now called el Hedjaz, the land of pilgrimage, on account of the pilgrimages to Mecca the birthplace, and Medina the burial place, of Mahomet. The central province of the Nejd is famed for the Arab horses and camels, "the ships of the desert."
Joktan, son of Eber (Gen_10:25), was the original founder, Ishmael the subsequent head, of its population. The Hagarenes, originally the same as the Ishmaelites, subsequently are mentioned as distinct (1Ch_5:10; 1Ch_5:19; 1Ch_5:22; Psa_83:6). The people of Yemen have always lived in cities, and practiced commerce and agriculture. It was famed for gems and gold, spices, perfumes, and gums (1Ki_10:10; Eze_27:22). Many of the luxuries attributed to it, however, were products of further lands, which reached Palestine and Egypt through Arabia.
ARABIA PETRAEA, called from its city Petra, the rock, or Selah (2Ki_14:7), now Hadjar, i.e. rock. Between the gulfs of Suez and Akabah; Palestine and Egypt are its northern boundary. The desert of mount Sinai (Burr et tur Sinai), where Israel wandered, Kadesh Barnea, Pharan, Rephidim, Ezion Geber, Rithmah, Oboth, Arad, Heshbon, were in it. The wady Leja (perhaps the valley of Rephidim), near jebel Mousa, and the wady Feiran (Paran, Num_13:3), are most luxuriant. Hawarah (Marab, Exo_15:23) is 33 miles S.E. of Ayoun Mousa (the fountain of Moses); 7 miles S. of this is wady Gurundel, perhaps the Elim of Exo_15:27. Precipitous bore rocks, void of herbage, form the southern coast. Cush, son of Ham, originally peopled Arabia (the ruins of Marib, or Seba, and the inscriptions are Cushite; in Babylonia too there are Cushite traces); then Joktan, of Shem's race (Gen_10:7; Gen_10:20; Gen_10:25; Gen_10:30).
The posterity of Nahor, of Abraham and Keturah (Genesis 25), of Lot also, formed a part of the population, namely, in Arabia Deserta. Then Ishmael's, then Esau's descendants, for Esau identified himself with Ishmael by his marrying Ishmael's daughter (Gen_28:9). The head of each tribe is the sheikh; the office is hereditary in his family, but elective as to the individual. The people are hospitable, eloquent, poetical, proud of ancestry, but predatory, superstitious, and revengeful. The wandering and wild Bedouins are purest in blood and preserve most the Arab characteristics foretold in Gen_16:12; "He will be a wild" (Hebrew a wild donkey of a) "man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him" (marking their incessant feuds with one another or with their neighbors), "and he shall dwell tent in the presence of all his brethren."
The image of a wild donkey untamable, roaming at its will in the desert (compare Job_39:5-8), portrays the Bedouin's boundless love of freedom as he rides in the desert spear in hand, despising town life. His dwelling in the presence of his brethren implies that Ishmael would maintain an independent nationality before all Abraham's descendants. They have never been completely subjugated by any neighboring power. Compare Job_1:15; Jer_49:8; Jer_3:2; 2Ch_21:16. From their dwelling in tents they are called Scenitoe. Their tents are of goats' hair cloth, black or brown (Son_1:5), arranged in a ring, enclosing their cattle, each about 25 feet long and 7 high. The town populations by intermarriages and intercourse with foreigners have lost much of Arab traits. Mecca, in their belief, is where Ishmael was saved and Hagar died and was buried.
The Kaaba or Square was built by Seth, destroyed by the flood, and rebuilt by Abraham and Ishmael. Sabeanism, or the worship of the hosts, the sun, moon, and stars, was the first lapse from original revelation (Job_31:26-27); but just before Mahomet they were divided between it, Judaism, Magianism, and corrupted Christianity. Mahometanism became the universal faith in A.D. 628. The Wahabees are one of the most powerful sects, named from Abd el Wahab, who in the beginning of last century undertook to reform abuses in Mahometanism. To the Arabs we owe our arithmetical figures. They took the lead of Europeans in astronomy, chemistry, algebra, and medicine. They spread their colonies from the Senegal to the indus, and from Madagascar to the Euphrates. The Joktanites of southern Arabia were seafaring; the Ishmaelites, more northward, the caravan merchants (Gen_37:28).
The Arabic language is the most developed of the Semitic languages. in the 14th or 13th century B.C. the Semitic languages differed much less than in later times. Compare Gen_31:47; Jdg_7:9-15; Phurah, Gideon's servant, evidently understood the Midianites. But in the 8th century B.C. only educated Jews understood Aramaic (2Ki_18:26). In its classical form Arabic is more modern than Heb., in its ancient form probably sister to Hebrew and Aramaic. The Himyeritic is a mixture with an African language, as appears from the inscriptions; the Ekhili is its modern phase. Monuments with Himyeritic inscriptions are found in Hadramaut and the Yemen. There was a Cushite or Ethiopian Sheba, as well as a Shemitic Sheba (Gen_10:7; Gen_10:28).
The Himyerites had a Cushite descent. The Arabic is one of the most widely spoken languages. The Hebrew literature dates from the 15th century B.C, the Arabic only from the 5th century B.C. For this reason, and the greater simplicity of Hebrew modes of expression, it seems probable the Hebrew is the elder sister. A few Arabic forms are plainly older than the corresponding Hebrew The Book of Job in many of its difficult Hebrew roots receives much illustration from Arabic. The Arabic is more flexible and abounding in vowel sounds, as suits a people light hearted and impulsive; the Hebrew is weightier, and has more consonants, as suits a people graver and more earnest. The Arabic version of the Scriptures now extant was made after Mahomet's time. That in the London Polyglott was in part by R. Saadias Gaon (the Excellent).
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.

Ara'bia. (desert, barren). A country known in the Old Testament under two designations:
1. The East Country, Gen_25:6, or perhaps the East, Gen_10:30; Num_23:7; Isa_2:6, and Land of the Sons of the East, Gen_29:1. Gentile name, Sons of the East, Jdg_6:3; Jdg_7:12; 1Ki_4:30; Job_1:3; Isa_11:14; Jer_49:28; Eze_25:4.
From these passages, it appears that Land of the East and Sons of the East indicate, primarily, the country east of Palestine, and the tribes descended from Ishmael and from Keturah; and that this original signification may have become gradually extended to Arabia and its inhabitants generally, though without any strict limitation.
2. 'Arab and A'rab, whence Arabia. 2Ch_9:14; Isa_21:13; Jer_26:24; Eze_27:21. (Arabia is a triangular peninsula, included between the Mediterranean and Red seas, the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf. Its extreme length, north and south, is about 1300 miles, and its greatest breadth 1500 miles. Encyclopedia Britannica).
Divisions. Arabia may be divided into Arabia Proper, containing the whole peninsula as far as the limits of the northern deserts; Northern Arabia (Arabia Deserta), constituting the great desert of Arabia; and Western Arabia, the desert of Petra and the peninsula of Sinai, or the country that has been called Arabia Petraea,
I. Arabia Proper, or the Arabian penninsula consists of high tableland, declining towards the north. Most of it is well peopled, watered by wells and streams, and enjoys periodical rains. The moist fertile tracts are those on the southwest and south.
II. Northern Arabia, or the Arabian Desert, is a high, undulating, parched plain, of which the Euphrates forms the natural boundary from the Persian Gulf to the frontier of Syria, whence it is bounded by the latter country and the desert of Petra on the northwest and west, the peninsula of Arabia forming its southern limit.
It has few oases, the water of the wells is generally either brackish or unpotable and it is visited by the sand-wind called Samoom. The inhabitants principally descended from Ishmael and from Keturah, have always led a wandering and pastoral life. They conducted a considerable trade of merchandise of Arabia and India from the shore of the Persian Gulf. Eze_27:20-24.
III. Western Arabia includes the peninsula of Sinai, see Sinai, and the desert of Petra; corresponding generally with the limits of Arabia Petraea. The latter name is probably derived from that of its chief city, not from its stony character.
It was mostly peopled by descendants of Esau, and was generally known as the land of Edom or Idumea, see Edom, Idumaea or Idumea., as well as by its older appellation, the desert of Seir or Mount Seir. See Seir.
Inhabitants. (Arabia, which once ruled from India to the Atlantic, now has eight or nine millions of inhabitants, about one-fifth of whom are Bedouin or wandering tribes, and the other four-fifths settled Arabs. Encyclopedia Britannica).
3. The descendants of Joktan occupied the principal portions of the south and southwest of the peninsula, with colonies in the interior. The principal Joktanite kingdom, and the chief state of ancient Arabia, was that of the Yemen.
4. The Ishmaelites appear to have entered the peninsula from the northwest. That they have spread over the whole of it (with the exception of one or two districts on the south coast), and that the modern nation is predominantly Ishmaelite, is asserted by the Arabs.
5. Of the descendants of Keturah, the Arabs say little. They appear to have settled chiefly north of the peninsula in Desert Arabia, from Palestine to the Persian Gulf.
6. In northern and western Arabia are other peoples, which, from their geographical position and mode of life are sometimes classed with the Arabs, of these are Amalek, the descendants of Esau, etc.
(Productions The productions are varied. The most noted animal is the horse. Camels, sheep, cattle, asses, mules and cats are common. Agricultural products are coffee, wheat, barley, millet, beans, pulse, dates and the common garden plants. In pasture lands Arabia is peculiarly fortunate. In mineral products it is singularly poor, lead being most abundant.Encyclopedia Britannica).
Religion. The most ancient idolatry of the Arabs we must conclude to have been fetishism. Magianism, an importation from Chaldaea and Persia, must be reckoned among the religions of the pagan Arabs; but it never had very numerous followers.
Christianity was introduced into southern Arabia toward the close of the second century, and about a century later it had made great progress. It flourished chiefly in the Yemen, where many churches were built. Judaism was propagated in Arabia, principally by Karaites, at the captivity. They are now nominally Mohammedans.
Language. Arabic, the language of Arabia, is the most developed and the richest of Shemitic languages, and the only one of which we have an extensive literature; it is, therefore, of great importance to the study of Hebrew.
Government. Arabia is now under the government of the Ottoman empire.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863

A vast country of Asia, extending one thousand five hundred miles from north to south, and one thousand two hundred from east to west; containing a surface equal to four times that of France. The near approach of the Euphrates to the Mediterranean constitutes it a peninsula, the largest in the world. It is called Jezirat-el-Arab by the Arabs; and by the Persians and Turks, Arebistan. This is one of the most interesting countries on the face of the earth. It has, in agreement with prophecy, never been subdued; and its inhabitants, at once pastoral, commercial, and warlike, are the same wild, wandering people as the immediate descendants of their great ancestor Ishmael are represented to have been.
Arabia, or at least the eastern and northern parts of it, were first peopled by some of the numerous families of Cush, who appear to have extended themselves, or to have given their name as the land of Cush, or Asiatic Ethiopia, to all the country from the Indus on the east, to the borders of Egypt on the west, and from Armenia on the north to Arabia Deserta on the south. By these Cushites, whose first plantations were on both sides of the Euphrates and Gulf of Persia, and who were the first that traversed the desert of Arabia, the earliest commercial communications were established between the east and the west. But of their Arabian territory, and of the occupation dependent on it, they were deprived by the sons of Abraham, Ishmael, and Midian; by whom they were obliterated in this country as a distinct race, either by superiority of numbers after mingling with them, or by obliging them to recede altogether to their more eastern possessions, or over the Gulf of Arabia into Africa. From this time, that is, about five hundred and fifty years after the flood, we read only of Ishmaelites and Midianites as the shepherds and carriers of the deserts; who also appear to have been intermingled, and to have shared both the territory and the traffic, as the traders who bought Joseph are called by both names, and the same are probably referred to by Jeremiah , 25, as the mingled people that dwell in the desert. But Ishmael maintained the superiority, and succeeded in giving his name to the whole people.
Arabia, it is well known, is divided by geographers into three separate regions, called Arabia Petraea, Arabia Deserta, and Arabia Felix.
The first, or Arabia Petraea, is the northwestern division, and is bounded on the north by Palestine and the Dead Sea, on the east by Arabia Deserta, on the south by Arabia Felix, and on the west by the Heroopolitan branch of the Red Sea and the Isthmus of Suez. The greater part of this division was more exclusively the possession of the Midianites, or land of Midian; where Moses, having fled from Egypt, married the daughter of Jethro, and spent forty years keeping the flocks of his father-in-law: no humiliating occupation in those days, and particularly in Midian, which was a land of shepherds; the whole people having no other way of life than that of rearing and tending their flocks, or in carrying the goods they received from the east and south into Phenicia and Egypt. The word flock, used here, must not convey the idea naturally entertained in our own country of sheep only, but, together with these or goats, horned cattle and camels, the most indispensable of animals to the Midianite. It was a mixed flock of this kind which was the sole care of Moses, during a third part of his long life; in which he must have had abundance of leisure, by night and by day, to reflect on the unhappy condition of his own people, still enduring all the rigours of slavery in Egypt. It was a similar flock also which the daughters of Jethro were watering when first encountered by Moses; a trifling event in itself, but important in the history of the future leader of the Jews; and showing, at the same time, the simple life of the people among whom he was newly come, as well as the scanty supply of water in their country, and the strifes frequently occasioned in obtaining a share of it. Through a considerable part of this region, the Israelites wandered after they had escaped from Egypt; and in it were situated the mountains Horeb and Sinai. Beside the tribes of Midian, which gradually became blended with those of Ishmael, this was the country of the Edomites, the Amalekites, and the Nabathaei, the only tribe of pure Ishmaelites within its precincts. But all those families have long since been confounded under the general name of Arabs. The greater part of this district consists of naked rocks and sandy and flinty plains; but it contained also some fertile spots, particularly in the peninsula of Mount Sinai, and through the long range of Mount Seir.
The second region, or Arabia Deserta, is bounded on the north and north- east by the Euphrates, on the east by a ridge of mountains which separates it from Chaldea, on the south by Arabia Felix, and on the west by Syria, Judea, and Arabia Petraea. This was more particularly the country first of the Cushites, and afterward of the Ishmaelites; as it is still of their descendants, the modern Bedouins, who maintain the same predatory and wandering habits. It consists almost entirely of one vast and lonesome wilderness, a boundless level of sand, whose dry and burning surface denies existence to all but the Arab and his camel. Yet, widely scattered over this dreary waste, some spots of comparative fertility are to be found, where, spread around a feeble spring of brackish water, a stunted verdure, or a few palm trees, fix the principal settlement of a tribe, and afford stages of refreshment in these otherwise impassable deserts. Here, with a few dates, the milk of his faithful camel, and perhaps a little corn, brought by painful journeys from distant regions, or plundered from a passing caravan, the Arab supports a hard existence, until the failure of his resources impels him to seek another
oasis, or the scanty herbage furnished on a patch of soil by transient rains; or else, which is frequently the case, to resort, by more distant migration, to the banks of the Euphrates; or, by hostile inroads on the neighbouring countries, to supply those wants which the recesses of the desert have denied. The numbers leading this wandering and precarious mode of life are incredible. From these deserts Zerah drew his army of a million of men; and the same deserts, fifteen hundred years after, poured forth the countless swarms, which, under Mohammed and his successors, devastated half of the then known world.
The third region, or Arabia Felix, so denominated from the happier condition of its soil and climate, occupies the southern part of the Arabian peninsula. It is bounded on the north by the two other divisions of the country; on the south and south-east by the Indian Ocean; on the east by part of the same ocean and the Persian Gulf; and on the west by the Red Sea. This division is subdivided into the kingdoms or provinces of Yemen, at the southern extremity of the peninsula; Hejaz, on the north of the former, and toward the Red Sea; Nejed, in the central region; and Hadramant and Oman, on the shores of the Indian Ocean. The four latter subdivisions partake of much of the character of the other greater divisions of the country, though of a more varied surface, and with a larger portion capable of cultivation. But Yemen seems to belong to another country and climate. It is very mountainous, is well watered with rains and springs, and is blessed with an abundant produce in corn and fruits, and especially in coffee, of which vast quantities are exported. In this division were the ancient citrus of Nysa, Musa or Moosa, and Aden. This is also supposed to have been the country of the queen of Sheba. In Hejaz are the celebrated cities of Mecca and Medina.
Arabia Felix is inhabited by a people who claim Joktan for their father, and so trace their descent direct from Shem, instead of Abraham and Ham. They are indeed a totally different people from those inhabiting the other quarters, and pride themselves on being the only pure and unmixed Arabs. Instead of being shepherds and robbers, they are fixed in towns and cities; and live by agriculture and commerce, chiefly maritime. Here were the people who were found by the Greeks of Egypt enjoying an entire monopoly of the trade with the east, and possessing, a high degree, of wealth, and consequent refinement. It was here, in the ports of Sabaea, that the spices, muslins, and precious stones of India, were for many ages obtained by the Greek traders of Egypt, before they had acquired skill or courage sufficient to pass the straits of the Red Sea; which were long considered by the nations of Europe to be the produce of Arabia itself. These articles, before the invention of shipping, or the establishment of a maritime intercourse, were conveyed across the deserts by the Cushite, Ishmaelite, and Midianite carriers. It was the produce partly of India, and partly of Arabia, which the travelling merchants, to whom Joseph was sold, were carrying into Egypt. The balm and myrrh were probably Arabian, as they are still the produce of the same country; but the spicery was undoubtedly brought farther from the east. These circumstances are adverted to, to show how extensive was the communication, in which the Arabians formed the principal link: and that in the earliest ages of which we have any account, in those of Joseph, of Moses, of Isaiah, and of Ezekiel, the mingled people inhabiting the vast Arabian deserts, the Cushites, Ishmaelites, and Midianites, were the chief agents in that commercial intercourse which has, from the most remote period of antiquity, subsisted between the extreme east and west. And although the current of trade is now turned, caravans of merchants, the descendants of these people, may still be found traversing the same deserts, conveying the same articles, and in the same manner as described by Moses!
The singular and important fact that Arabia has never been conquered, has already been cursorily adverted to. But Mr. Gibbon, unwilling to pass by an opportunity of cavilling at revelation, says, The perpetual independence of the Arabs has been the theme of praise among strangers and natives; and the arts of controversy transform this singular event into a prophecy and a miracle in favour of the posterity of Ishmael. Some exceptions, that can neither be dissembled nor eluded, render this mode of reasoning as indiscreet as it is superfluous. The kingdom of Yemen has been successively subdued by the Abyssinians, the Persians, the Sultans of Egypt, and the Turks; the holy cities of Mecca and Medina have repeatedly bowed under a Scythian tyrant; and the Roman province of Arabia embraced the peculiar wilderness in which Ishmael and his sons must have pitched their tents in the face of their brethren. But this learned writer has, with a peculiar infelicity, annulled his own argument; and we have only to follow on the above passage, to obtain a complete refutation of the unworthy position with which it begins: Yet these exceptions, says Mr. Gibbon, are temporary or local; the body of the nation has escaped the yoke of the most powerful monarchies: the arms of Sesostris and Cyrus, of Pompey, and Trajan, could never achieve the conquest of Arabia; the present sovereign of the Turks may exercise a shadow of jurisdiction, but his pride is reduced to solicit the friendship of a people whom it is dangerous to provoke, and fruitless to attack. The obvious causes of their freedom are inscribed on the character and country of the Arabs. Many ages before Mohammed, their intrepid valour had been severely felt by their neighbours; in offensive and defensive war. The patient and active virtues of a soldier are insensibly nursed in the habits and discipline of a pastoral life. The care of the sheep and camels is abandoned to the women of the tribe; but the martial youth, under the banner of the emir, is ever on horseback and in the field, to practise the exercise of the bow, the javelin, and the scimitar. The long memory of their independence is the firmest pledge of its perpetuity; and succeeding generations are animated to prove their descent, and to maintain their inheritance. Their domestic feuds are suspended on the approach of a common enemy; and in their last hostilities against the Turks, the caravan of Mecca was attacked and pillaged by four score thousand of the confederates. When they advance to battle, the hope of victory is in the front, in the rear the assurance of a retreat. Their horses and camels, who in eight or ten days can perform a march of four or five hundred miles, disappear before the conqueror; the secret waters of the desert elude his search; and his victorious troops are consumed with thirst, hunger, and fatigue, in the pursuit of an invisible foe, who scorns his efforts, and safely reposes in the heart of the burning solitude. The arms and deserts of the Bedouins are not only the safeguards of their own freedom, but the barriers also of the happy Arabia, whose inhabitants, remote from war, are enervated by the luxury of the soil and climate. The legions of Augustus melted away in disease and lassitude; and it is only by a naval power that the reduction of Yemen has been successfully attempted. When Mohammed erected his holy standard, that kingdom was a province of the Persian empire; yet seven princes of the Homerites still reigned in the mountains; and the vicegerent of Chosroes was tempted to forget his distant country and his unfortunate master.
Yemen was the only Arabian province which had the appearance of submitting to a foreign yoke; but even here, as Mr. Gibbon himself acknowledges, seven of the native princes remained unsubdued: and even admitting its subjugation to have been complete, the perpetual independence of the Ishmaelites remains unimpeached. For this is not their country. Petra, the capital of the Stony Arabia, and the principal settlement of the Nabathaei, it is true, was long in the hands of the Persians and Romans; but this never made them masters of the country. Hovering troops of Arabs confined the intruders within their walls, and cut off their supplies; and the possession of this fortress gave as little reason to the Romans to exult as the conquerors of Arabia Petraea, as that of Gibraltar does to us to boast of the conquest of Spain.
The Arabian tribes were confounded by the Greeks and Romans under the indiscriminate appellation of Saracens; a name whose etymology has been variously, but never satisfactorily, explained. This was their general name when Mohammed appeared in the beginning of the seventh century. Their religion at this time was Sabianism, or the worship of the sun, moon, &c; variously transformed by the different tribes, and intermingled with some Jewish and Christian maxims and traditions. The tribes themselves were generally at variance, from some hereditary and implacable animosities; and their only warfare consisted in desultory skirmishes arising out of these feuds, and in their predatory excursions, where superiority of numbers rendered courage of less value than activity and vigilance. Yet of such materials Mohammed constructed a mighty empire; converted the relapsed Ishmaelites into good Musselmen; united the jarring tribes under one banner; supplied what was wanting in personal courage by the ardour of religious zeal; and out of a banditti, little known and little feared beyond their own deserts, raised an armed multitude, which proved the scourge of the world.
Mohammed was born in the year 569, of the noble tribe of the Koreish, and descended, according to eastern historians, in a direct line from Ishmael.
His person is represented as beautiful, his manners engaging, and his eloquence powerful; but he was illiterate, like the rest of his countrymen, and indebted to a Jewish or Christian scribe for penning his Koran. Whatever the views of Mohammed might have been in the earlier part of his life, it was not till the fortieth year of his age that he avowed his mission as the Apostle of God: when so little credit did he gain for his pretensions, that in the first three years he could only number fourteen converts; and even at the end of ten years his labours and his friends were alike confined within the walls of Mecca, when the designs of his enemies compelled him to fly to Medina, where he was favourably received by a party of the most considerable inhabitants, who had recently imbibed his doctrines at Mecca. This flight, or Hegira, was made the Mohammedan aera, from which time is computed, and corresponds with the 16th of July, 622, of the Christian aera. Mohammed now found himself sufficiently powerful to throw aside all reserve; declared that he was commanded to compel unbelievers by the sword to receive the faith of one God, and his prophet Mohammed; and confirming his credulous followers by the threats of eternal pain on the one hand, and the allurements of a sensual paradise on the other, he had, before his death, which happened in the year 632, gained over the whole of Arabia to his imposture. His death threw a temporary gloom over his cause, and the disunion of his followers threatened its extinction. Any other empire placed in the same circumstances would have crumbled to pieces; but the Arabs felt their power; they revered their founder as the chosen prophet of God; and their ardent temperament, animated by a religious enthusiasm, gave an earnest of future success, and encouraged the zeal or the ambition of their leaders. The succession, after some bloodshed, was settled, and unnumbered hordes of barbarians were ready to carry into execution the sanguinary dictates of their prophet; and, with the Koran, tribute, or death, as their motto to invade the countries of the infidels. During the whole of the succeeding century, their rapid career was unchecked; the disciplined armies of the Greeks and Romans were unable to stand against them; the Christian churches of Asia and Africa were annihilated; and from India to the Atlantic, through Persia, Arabia, Syria, Palestine, Asia Minor, Egypt, with the whole of northern Africa, Spain, and part of France, the impostor was acknowledged. Constantinople was besieged; Rome itself was plundered; and nothing less than the subjection of the whole Christian world was meditated on the one hand, and tremblingly expected on the other.
All this was wonderful; but the avenging justice of an incensed Deity, and the sure word of prophecy, relieve our astonishment. It was to punish an apostate race, that the Saracen locusts were let loose upon the earth; and the countries which they were permitted to ravage were those in which the pure light of revelation had been most abused. The eastern church was sunk in gross idolatry; vice, and wickedness prevailed in their worst forms; and those who still called themselves Christians trusted more to images, relics, altars, austerities, and pilgrimages, than to a crucified Saviour.
About a hundred and eighty years from the foundation of Bagdad, during which period the power of the Saracens had gradually declined, a dreadful reaction took place in the conquered countries. The Persians on the east, and the Greeks on the west, were simultaneously roused from their long thraldom, and, assisted by the Turks, who, issuing from the plains of Tartary, now for the first time made their appearance in the east, extinguished the power of the caliphate, and virtually put an end to the Arabian monarchy in the year 936. A succession of nominal caliphs continued to the year 1258: but the provinces were lost; their power was confined to the walls of their capital; and they were in real subjection to the Turks and the Persians until the above year, when Mostacem, the last of the Abbassides, was dethroned and murdered by Holagou, or Hulaku, the Tartar, the grandson of Zingis. This event, although it terminated the foreign dominion of the Arabians, left their native independence untouched. They were no longer, indeed, the masters of the finest parts of the three great divisions of the ancient world: their work was finished; and returning to the state in which Mohammed found them three centuries before, with the exception of the change in their religion, they remained, and still remain, the unconquered rovers of the desert.
It is not the least singular circumstance in the history of this extraordinary people, that those who, in the enthusiasm of their first successes, were the sworn foes of literature, should become for several ages its exclusive patrons. Almansor, the founder of Bagdad, has the merit of first exciting this spirit, which was encouraged in a still greater degree by his grandson Almamon. This caliph employed his agents in Armenia, Syria, Egypt, and at Constantinople, in collecting the most celebrated works on Grecian science, and had them translated into the Arabic language. Philosophy, astronomy, geometry, and medicine, were thus introduced and taught; public schools were established; and learning, which had altogether fled from Europe, found an asylum on the banks of the Tigris. Nor was this spirit confined to the capital: native works began to appear; and by the hands of copyists were multiplied out of number, for the information of the studious, or the pride of the wealthy. The rage for literature extended to Egypt and to Spain. In the former country, the Fatimites collected a library of a hundred thousand manuscripts, beautifully transcribed, and very elegantly bound; and in the latter, the Ommiades formed another of six hundred thousand volumes; forty-four of which were employed in the catalogue. Their capital, Cordova, with the towns of Malaga, Almeria, and Murcia, produced three hundred writers; and seventy public libraries were established in the cities of Andalusia. What a change since the days of Omar, when the splendid library of the Ptolemies was wantonly destroyed by the same people! A retribution, though a slight one, was thus made for their former devastations; and many Grecian works, lost in the original, have been recovered in their Arabic dress. Neither was this learning confined to mere parade, though much of it must undoubtedly have been so. Their proficiency in astronomy and geometry is attested by their astronomical tables, and by the accuracy with which, in the plain of Chaldea, a degree of the great circle of the earth was measured. But it was in medicine that, in this dark age, the Arabians shone most: the works of Hippocrates and Galen had been translated and commented on; their physicians were sought after by the princes of Asia and Europe; and the names of Rhazis, Albucasis, and Avicenna are still revered by the members of the healing art. So little, indeed, did the physicians of Europe in that age know of the history of their own science, that they were astonished, on the revival of learning, to find in the ancient Greek authors those systems for which they thought themselves indebted to the Arabians!
The last remnant of Arabian science was found in Spain; from whence it was expelled in the beginning of the seventeenth century, by the intemperate bigots of that country, who have never had any thing of their own with which to supply its place. The Arabians are the only people who have preserved their descent, their independence, their language, and their manners and customs, from the earliest ages to the present times; and it is among them that we are to look for examples of patriarchal life and manners. A very lively sketch of this mode of life is given by Sir R. K. Porter, in the person and tribe of an Arab sheik, whom he encountered in the neighbourhood of the Euphrates. I had met this warrior, says Sir R. K. P., at the house of the British resident at Bagdad; and came, according to his repeated wish, to see him in a place more consonant with his habits, the tented field; and, as he expressed it, at the head of his children.' As soon as we arrived in sight of his camp, we were met by crowds of its inhabitants, who, with a wild and hurrying delight, led us toward the tent of their chief. The venerable old man came forth to the door, attended by his subjects of all sizes and descriptions, and greeted us with a countenance beaming kindness, while his words, which our interpreter explained, were demonstrative of patriarchal welcome. One of my Hindoo troopers spoke Arabic, hence the substance of our succeeding discourse was not lost on each other. Having entered, I sat down by my host; and the whole of the persons present, to far beyond the boundaries of the tent, (the sides of which were open,) seated themselves also, without any regard to those more civilized ceremonies of subjection, the crouching of slaves, or the standing of vassalage. These persons, in rows beyond rows, appeared just as he had described, the offspring of his house, the descendants of his fathers, from age to age; and like brethren, whether holding the highest or the lowest rank, they seemed to gather round their common parent. But perhaps their sense of perfect equality in the mind of their chief could not be more forcibly shown, than in the share they took in the objects which appeared to interest his feelings; and as I looked from the elders or leaders of the people, seated immediately around him, to the circles beyond circles of brilliant faces, bending eagerly toward him and his guest, (all, from the most respectably clad to those with hardly a garment covering their active limbs, earnest to evince some attention to the stranger he bade welcome,) I thought I had never before seen so complete an assemblage of fine and animated countenances, both old and young: nor could I suppose a better specimen of the still existing state of the true Arab; nor a more lively picture of the scene which must have presented itself, ages ago, in the fields of Haran, when Terah sat in his tent door, surrounded by his sons, and his sons' sons, and the people born in his house. The venerable Arabian sheik was also seated on the ground with a piece of carpet spread under him; and, like his ancient Chaldean ancestor, turned to the one side and the other, graciously answering or questioning the groups around him, with an interest in them all which clearly showed the abiding simplicity of his government, and their obedience. On the smallest computation, such must have been the manners of these people for more than three thousand years; thus, in all things, verifying the prediction given of Ishmael at his birth, that he, in his posterity, should be a wild man,' and always continue to be so, though he shall dwell for ever in the presence of his brethren.' And that an acute and active people, surrounded for ages by polished and luxurious nations, should from their earliest to their latest times, be still found a wild people, dwelling in the presence of all their brethren, (as we may call these nations,) unsubdued and unchangeable, is, indeed, a standing miracle: one of those mysterious facts which establish the truth of prophecy. But although the manners of the Arabians have remained unaltered through so many ages, and will probably so continue, their religion, as we have seen, has sustained an important change; and must again, in the fulness of time, give place to a faith more worthy of the people.
St. Paul first preached the Gospel in Arabia, Gal_1:17. Christian churches were subsequently founded, and many of their tribes embraced Christianity prior to the fifth century; most of which appear to have been tinctured with the Nestorian heresy. At this time, however, it does not appear that the Arabians had any version of the Scriptures in their own language, to which some writers attribute the ease with which they were drawn into the Mohammedan delusion; while the Greeks, Syrians, Armenians, Abyssinians, Copts, and others, who enjoyed that privilege, were able to resist it.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.

Only rarely does the Bible mention Arabia by name. It usually refers to the peoples of the region by the family or tribal groups to which they belonged. Often it refers to Arabia simply as the east (Gen_10:30; Gen_25:6; Jdg_6:3; Isa_2:6; Eze_25:4).
Many of the people descended from Noah (Genesis 10), Abraham (through his concubine Keturah; Gen_25:1-6), and Esau (Genesis 36) settled as tribal groups in Arabia. They were wandering shepherds rather than farmers, since most of the land was not suitable for cultivation and some of it was desert. Among the better known tribal groups were Joktam and Sheba in the south (Gen_10:25-29; 1Ki_10:1-13; Psa_72:10; Psa_72:15; Isa_60:6) and Dedan and Kedar in the north (Isa_21:13-17; Isa_42:11; Jer_25:23-24; Jer_49:28; Eze_25:13; Eze_27:21).

These people camped at different places and lived in tents while looking after their flocks of sheep and goats (2Ch_17:11; Psa_120:5; Isa_13:20; Isa_60:7). Many of them were merchants who carried on profitable trading in gold, precious stones, cloth, spices and other goods (Gen_37:25; Gen_37:28; 1Ki_10:1-2; 1Ki_10:10-15; Job_6:19; Jer_6:20; Eze_27:20-22; Eze_38:13). They were also well known for their raiding and plundering of farms and villages (2Ch_21:16-17; 2Ch_22:1; Job_1:15; Eze_25:4-5).
In New Testament times northern Arabia was occupied by an Arab tribe called the Nabateans, who at various times extended their power west to the Mediterranean and north to the Syrian capital, Damascus. They are mentioned once in the New Testament. After Pauls conversion, the Jews in Damascus opposed him violently. At the time of the unsuccessful attempt to capture him in Damascus, the city was under the control of the Nabateans (Act_9:1-8; Act_9:23-25; 2Co_11:32-33).
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary by Don Fleming
PRINTER 1990.

a-rā?bi-a (ארב , ‛ărābh, Ἀραβία, Arabı́a):
I. Name and Situation
1. Name
2. Situation and Configuration
II. Physical Features
1. The Desert
2. Climate
3. Mountains
4. Rivers
5. Oases and Wells
III. Political Divisions
1. Ancient Divisions
2. Modern Divisions
3. Political Situation
4. Chief Towns
IV. Flora and Fauna
1. Flora
2. Fauna
V. Inhabitants
1. Classification
2. Extinct Tribes
3. South Arabian Tribes
4. Migration of Tribes
5. North Arabian Tribes
6. Other Tribes
7. Foreign Elements
VI. Religion
1. Monotheism
2. The Ka'bah, Pilgrimages and Fairs
3. Judaism
4. Christianity
5. Sabianism
6. Seekers after Truth: Islam
Literature
I. Name and Situation
1. Name
The Hebrew word ‛ărābh always denotes, strictly speaking, not the country, but the people of Arabia taken collectively, and especially the nomadic Arabs. The name of the country does not occur in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament it is used to denote the Syrian desert or the peninsula of Sinai.
2. Situation and Configuration
Surrounded as it is on three sides by the sea - by the Indian Ocean on the south, and its two branches, the Red Sea on the west and the Persian Gulf on the east - and on the fourth side by the desert of Syria, the country of Arabia is to all intents and purposes an island; and it is named by its inhabitants and by those who speak their language ?the Island of the Arabs.? In configuration the country is roughly of the form of a parallelogram, about 1,000 miles in length by 500 or 600 miles broad. This parallelogram is not of uniform altitude, but the generally even surface is tilted to one corner in such a way that the most southerly point contains mountains rising to 10,000 feet in height, whilst the Northeast corner is almost on a level with the sea. The altitudes of the intervening portions are in proportion to their situation with respect to these extremes. Thus the mountains of the Southeast corner have an altitude of from 5,000 to 6,000 feet, those of the Northwest of 4,000 or 5,000, whereas those which are situated near the middle of the West coast rise to 8,000 feet, and the plateau which forms the northern half of the interior of the peninsula is between 3,000 and 4,000 feet above sea-level. In consequence of this configuration the main watershed of the country runs parallel to the West coast at a distance of between 50 and 100 miles from the sea, with a subsidiary watershed running along the south; and the principal outlets for the drainage run in a Northeast direction. The whole of Arabia stretches from about 13 degrees to about 36 degrees north of the equator, and it lies between 33 degrees and 60 degrees east of Greenwich. Its area is about eight times that of the British Isles, or nearly 1,000,000 square miles.
II. Physical Features
1. The Desert
Although Arabia is considered by geographers as part of the continent of Asia, it belongs in almost every respect to Africa. The great bulk of the country is desert, of fine sand in the southern part, but consisting of coarse sand (the nefūd), gravel and flints in the northern. It is in fact an offshoot from the great African Sahara. Of the southern half little is known, and it has never been crossed by the foot of European. The northern has been traversed in many directions; it has numerous caravan routes, and some important towns are situated in the heart of it. Arabian fancy has peopled the desert with strange creatures not of human kind (compare Isa_13:21; Isa_34:14), and fancy has been justified by the common phenomena of the mirage and the Fata Morgana (Isa_35:7; Isa_49:10). To the keen sight of the nomad the glowing desert heat is visible as a fine gossamer (Isa_18:4). Perhaps this is the meaning of shārābh in Isa_35:7; Isa_49:10 also. It is quite certain, however, that the whole of Arabia and especially the northern borders in the neighborhood of the Sinai peninsula and eastward to the south of Palestine and the country of Edom, were at one time very much better watered than they are at the present day. For centuries a constant process of desiccation has been going on. Indeed, persons now living can remember the existence of wells one or two generations ago, where now there are none. It follows that this district must formerly have supported a very much larger population that it does at present.
2. Climate
It will be obvious that the climate of Arabia must vary greatly in its different parts, the temperature and rainfall depending not so much upon latitude as upon latitude, so that within a few miles the greatest extremes co-exist. In the southern angle where the mountains are highest there are two rainy seasons, one in spring the other in autumn, so that this province well deserves its Grecian name of Arabia Felix. In the higher reaches of this province, for example, at its capital San'a, snow falls in December; while on the coast of the Red Sea at Loheia, scarcely 100 miles distant, thermometer rarely falls below 80 degrees. In the Red Sea 93 degrees is a common reading in the shade in summer, while the heat of the Persian Gulf, owing to its steep shores and great evaporation, is hardly endurable by a European. In the Northwest province, in which are situated the two sacred cities of Mecca and Medina, the rainfall is unreliable and takes the form of heavy thunder showers which occasion frequent floods in the former town, and are, owing to the arborial denudation of the country, of little use for the purpose of agriculture or irrigation. These winter rains may commence as early as September, and by December at latest the new pasture will have covered the ground. Hence the true spring in northern Arabia, or in Syria, falls in our autumn, but there is not the distinction of former and latter rain (compare Hos_6:3) which obtains in Palestine. The climate of the northern central plateau is described by Palgrave as one of the most salubrious in the world.
3. Mountains
As has been indicated above, the backbone of the peninsula is the mountain range which runs down its western side. In its northern parts this is said to be an extension of the limestone ranges of the Lebanon and Anti-Libanus. In its midmost reaches it attains an elevation of between 8,000 and 9,000 feet, and at its southern extremity it spreads out into the plateau of Arabia Felix, where its highest peaks have an altitude of as much as 11,000 feet. In the Southeast corner of the peninsula the range of Jebel Akhdar runs parallel to that on the West, and is connected with it along the South coast by a range of less elevation. In the interior the northern plateau is intersected by numerous irregular mountain ranges of moderate length, of which the most frequently mentioned are Jebel Aja and Jebel Selma, which face one another in the Shammar country.
4. Rivers
The course of the rivers is determined by the direction of the mountain ranges. As has been said the drainage is mainly from West to East, but the fact is that Arabia is a land almost without rivers. The only quarter in which perennial streams are found is Arabia Felix, and to some extent they occur along the South coast. The rest of the peninsula is destitute of rivers and lakes. The scour (seyl) from the winter thunder showers cuts out for itself a torrent bed (wādı̄), which, however, may be filled only once or twice in a generation, and even so dries up as soon as the rain ceases. The most important of these wadis is the West Sirhan, which runs from the Hauran in a Southeast direction to the Jauf (see DUMAH), the West el-Kora to the North of Medina, the West el-Hamth between Medina and Mecca, and the West Duweisir to the South of Mecca. Larger than any of these however is the West er-Rumma, which extends from the neighborhood of Medina to the head of the Persian Gulf. It has never been explored, and is filled with water only at long intervals.
5. Oases and Wells
In these circumstances the Arabs have to seek their water supply elsewhere than in their rivers. In many places the surface of the country sinks into a depression down to the level of permanent water, thus forming an oasis, which word is probably none other than the Arabic wādı̄. The best known of these occur at Kheibar and Teima (see TEMA) to the North of Medina, and also at Tabuk to the Northwest. The West Duweisir is itself practically an oasis of a length of three days' journey. In addition to these natural depressions there are also dotted over all the inhabited parts of Arabia and along the caravan routes numerous wells, these routes following naturally the course of the wādı̄s. These wells are plentiful in the West Sirhan, and a number were sunk by command of Zubeida the wife of Harun al-Rashid, along the Pilgrim way from Persia to Mecca; but the most famous of all is the well of Zemzem in the Holy City itself. It is said that the water in it flows, so that it is probably one of those subterranean rivers which are not uncommon in Arabia. Its water, however, is heavy and brackish and causes indigestion, and the sweetest water obtainable in Mecca for drinking purposes was originally brought by Zubeida from a source some 15 miles distant. The purest water of all is that which collects after rain in the hollows of the numerous outcrops of lava which occur at frequent intervals and in great masses along the western mountain ranges. A spot where lava predominates is called a harrah (from the Arabic verb ?to be hot?), and several of these volcanic regions still show signs of activity.
III. Political Divisions
1. Ancient Divisions
The peninsula of Arabia was divided by the ancient geographers into three parts: Arabia Petrea, Arabia Deserta and Arabia Felix. The first of these names, which is found in Ptolemy, means, not Arabia the Rocky, but that part of Arabia in which is situated the city of Petra (see SELA), and it also includes the peninsula of Sinai. It is identical with the desert of the Wanderings. Arabia Deserta is a translation from the Greek Arabia érēmos of Strabo (circa 24 ad). It denotes the extreme north of the continent of Arabia which is thrust in like a wedge between the fertile lands which drain into the Euphrates on the East and into the Jordan valley on the West. It is thus equivalent to the Syrian Desert. The third term, Arabia Felix, is also a translation from the Greek - Arabia eudaı́mōň - which is again a translation, or rather a mistranslation of the Arabic El-Yemen. This last name denotes the country to the right hand, i.e. the S, just as the Arabic Es-Shem (Syria) means the country to the left hand, or to the North El-Yemen, however, was interpreted as equivalent to El-Eyman, the Fortunate or Happy, a name which the district truly deserves.
2. Modern Divisions
Since before the time of Mohammed (6th century) Arabia has been divided into seven or eight tribal or political states, the boundaries of which are for the most part clearly defined by intervening deserts or uninhabited tracts. The most important of these from a religious point of view is the Hijāz, which may be described as the northern half of the western coast, stretching from the Red Sea to a distance of between 100 and 200 miles inland. The whole of the coast line, indeed, where the land is low lying is called the Tihāma. This may, however, be considered as belonging to the adjacent high land beneath which it lies. Hijāz means ?Barrier,? and the district is so called because it consists mainly of the mountain ranges which separate the great northern central plateau from the Tihāma. This last name is connected with a root meaning ?to be unwholesome.? Whether the district gave its origin to the verb, or the verb gave its denomination to the district, the name is equally appropriate. The chief importance of the Hijāz arises from the fact that in it are situated the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina - the cradle and the grave of the Prophet. It is thus the religious center of the Islamic world. The Yemen forms the southern corner of the peninsula. It is identical with Arabia Felix, and its physical characteristics have been described above. The Hijāz often fell to the sovereign of Egypt, but for the last four centuries it has, like Egypt, been subject to the Turk. It is only within the last fifty years, on the other hand, that the sultan has attempted to enforce his sovereign rights in the Yemen. The southern coast of Arabia is generally designated as Hadramaut, although in strictness that appellation is properly applicable to a section of it only. The eastern corner of Arabia is taken up by Omān, a state which has generally claimed and secured a position of independence. Both it and the southern states are now under the protection of the Indian government. The country adjacent to Omān toward the North formed the province of El-Bahrein (?the Two Seas?), but this name is now restricted to a large island at the western end of it and some smaller islands famous for their pearl fishery. The remaining province of El-Hasa is occupied by practically independent tribes. From many points of view the most interesting province of Arabia is the great northern central plateau called Nejd, that is, ?high land.? From its situation it is least susceptible to foreign influence. It contains some fairly large towns, but the bulk of its population live, as their fathers have done from time immemorial, the life of the Bedawi. Two small provinces remain to be noticed. Between the Yemen and the Hijāz lies the district of ‛Ası̄r, which largely resembles the first-named province in its physical features. To the East of Nejd lies the district of Yemāma, which used to be the territory of an important tribe.
3. Political Situation
On the whole the political situation in Arabia today bears a considerable resemblance to that which obtained immediately before the mission of Mohammad. At that time (about 600 ad) the Northwest parts of the peninsula were more or less subject to the Byzantine emperor, while the whole East and South coasts were under the sway of Persia. Today the West coast of Arabia is again subject to Constantinople, and the East and South coasts are under the protection of an eastern power - in this case the government of India.
4. Chief Towns
The principal towns of Arabia and the other centers of population owe their existence to the natural features of the country and have probably remained the same in all ages, just as those of Palestine have, and even their population does not seem to have altered much. Thus Mecca owes its existence to the presence of the famous well Zemzem; Teima, Kheibar and Tabuk to their oases; Mascat, the capital of Omān, to its natural harbor; and so on. An exception is the ancient town of Saba (see SHEBA) or Marib, which probably sprang up as the result of the building in prehistoric times of a gigantic dam for the purposes of irrigation. When the dam burst in the 2nd or 3rd Christian century, the population dispersed. Owing to the absence of a census it is not possible to make accurate statements regarding the population of an eastern town, and estimates by European travelers always vary greatly. Speaking generally, the cities of Arabia of the first magnitude appear to have some 35,000 inhabitants, though Mascat is said to have as many as 60,000.
IV. Flora and Fauna
1. Flora
The peninsula of Arabia belongs, as has been said, in its physical features to Africa, and its flora and fauna are those of that continent. Of all the products of the soil by far the most important is the date palm. It flourishes in every oasis. In the Wadi Duweisir alone it is said one may ride straight on for three days without leaving the shelter of the palm groves. The dates, which are the staff of life of the Arab, differ in quality in each locality, each district producing a variety of its own. In the Yemen, with its varied altitudes, almost every kind of fruit and vegetable known in temperate latitudes is cultivated on the terraced mountain sides. Vines are grown, as Ibn Khaldun remarks, for the sake of the berry, not for the purposes of wine making. The vine is common to Arabia and Palestine, whereas the date palm has almost gone out of cultivation in the latter country. On the other land the olive, which is so important in the northern country is almost unknown in the southern. The olive is constantly referred to in the Bible (Jdg_9:8 and often), the date never. From the South coast especially are exported frankincense, balsam, myrrh and other aromatic plants; and cotton is cultivated in the province of Omān. Cereals flourish in the Yemen and tobacco is grown wherever possible in Arabia The coffee of the Yemen is famous; it is exported to Constantinople and named from the port of export Mokha coffee; but the bulk of it is consumed within Arabia itself. Coffee and tobacco are the only two articles of consumption which are used in Arabia today, and which have not been used from time immemorial. Coffee was probably introduced into Arabia from Gallaland on the African mainland two or three centuries ago. The Arabs are most inveterate coffee drinkers. Tobacco was probably first brought from English ships at Constantinople in the reign of James I. It is cultivated in every oasis, unless in the interior in Nejd, where its use is discouraged on religious grounds. There is only one other point in regard to which the Arabs of today differ from the Arabs of Mohammed's time - the use of gunpowder. Except in respect of the three commodities just mentioned, everyday life in the desert today goes on exactly as it did 1,600 years ago. Forest trees are extremely rare in Arabia, but a species of tamarisk called ghada which grows in the northern nefūd is proverbial for the quality of charcoal it affords and is a favorite food of the camel. An acacia called katād is likewise a by-word on account of its long spines. The wood is used for making camels' saddles; it grows in the Tihāma. As in Palestine and in most countries which have been inhabited for many thousands of years, the larger trees have long been cut down for fuel or for building purposes.
2. Fauna
Among beasts of prey panthers, wolves, hyenas, jackals and (it is said) even lions are found in Arabia Many of the tribes are named after these and other animals. The wild ox or oryx (see UNICORN) is rarely seen, but gazelles are plentiful. Apes abound in the Yemen, as they do all along the North of Africa, and are kept as pets (compare 1Ki_10:22). By far the most important domestic animal is the camel. Without it many parts of the country would be uninhabited. It is commonly supposed that the best breed of horses comes from Nejd, but this appears to be an error. In Nejd the camel is the indispensable beast of burden and mount; horses are comparatively useless there. The best Arabian horses are reared in Mesopotamia. Studs are, indeed, kept by the emirs of Nejd, but the horses are small and of little use. The pedigrees of the best horses go back, according to tradition, to the time of Solomon (1Ki_10:28). Dogs are trained to hunt the wild ox, to tend sheep and to watch the camp. All domestic animals - dogs, horses, mules, asses - receive names as with us. The ostrich is rarely met with, but is found as far north as the Jauf; it no doubt found its way into Arabia from Africa. A common bird is the kata or sand grouse. It is noted for going straight to its watering place. ?Better guided than a kata? is a common proverb. Hawks and falcons are found, and falconry among the Arabs was a favorite sport. In Arabia the locust, so far from being a scourge wherever it appears, is a valuable article of food. It is eaten not only by human beings (Mat_3:4), but also by dogs, horses and even beasts of prey. As might be expected in a rocky and sun-scorched land like Arabia, scorpions and various sorts of serpents abound. The chameleon (Lev_11:30) is common here. It is used as a simile for fickle people and those who do not fulfill their promises. It may be regarded as a substitute for thermometer, as on very hot days it ascends trees or any high places. Another sign of extreme heat is that the vipers writhe on the ground.
The Persian Gulf, especially the Bahrein archipelago, is famous for its pearls, while the Red Sea is noted for its coral reefs, which have caused many a shipwreck. It is believed that in the interior of Hadramaut there are many mineral deposits including gold.
V. Inhabitants
1. Classification
The inhabitants of Arabia are divided into three classes. There are in the first place a number of tribes which became extinct, and which are not connected genealogically with those which survived. The latter are divided into two great stems, the south Arabian and indigenous branch descended from Kahtan, and the north Arabian or immigrant tribes descended from Ishmael, the son of Abraham. There is naturally a good deal of inconsistency in the various traditions of the origins of these tribes and their subsequent history.
2. Extinct Tribes
Of the extinct tribes the most familiar name is that of Amlāk or Amlı̄k (Amalek). By the Arabian genealogists he is variously described as a grandson of Shem and as a son of Ham. In Gen_36:12 he is a son of Esau's son, Eliphaz, by Timna. They are said to be first met with in Chaldea, from which they were expelled on the rise of the Assyrian power under Nimrod. They migrated into Ar, occupying in turn the Bahrein, Omān, the Yemen, and finally the Hijāz, where they are said to have been the first settlers at Yathrib (Medina) and also to have occupied land round Mecca and Kheibar. In the time of Abraham they were expelled from Mecca on the arrival of two new tribes from the South, those of Jurhum and Katūra (Gen_25:1). Later, it is said, David, during the rebellion of Absalom, took up his quarters in Kheibar and ruled over the surrounding districts. According to another tradition Moses sent an expedition against the Amalekites in the Hijāz, on which occasion the Israelites, disobeying his orders, spared their king Arkam (compare Rekem, Num_31:8; Jos_13:21) - a reminiscence of the incident in the life of Saul (1 Sam 15). In any case the Amalekites were supplanted in the northern Hijāz by Jewish tribes, who continued there until the time of Mohammad. The Amalekites migrated into Egypt and southern Palestine. The Pharaohs of the time of Abraham, Joseph and Moses are represented to have been Amalekites. Finally, broken up by Josh, they fled into northern Africa, where they are said to have grown into the Berber races. The rest of the tribes which became extinct like the Amalekites are of less interest for the present purpose, being unconnected with the Bible narrative. They are mentioned in the Koran, in which book their destruction is attributed to their idolatrous proclivities and to their rejection of the monotheistic prophets. The best known and most important are ‛Ad and Thamūd.‛Ad is variously named the son of Amalek and the son of Uz (Gen_10:23). The tribe dwelt in the deserts behind the Yemen. They became polytheists; the prophet Hūd was sent to them; they rejected him, and were destroyed by a hurricane. The remnant grew into a new tribe, whose chief, Lokmān, built the great dam at Marib. In the end they were conquered by a tribe of Kahtan. Thamūd was closely related to ‛Ad, being a son of Aram the father of Uz. They were driven out of the Yemen and settled in the northern Hijāz; they rejected their prophet Salih and were destroyed by an earthquake accompanied by a loud noise. The rock-cut sepulchral monuments of Medain Salih in the Wadi el-Kora are still pointed out as their dwellings. They were, therefore, considered to have been troglodites like the Horites of the Bible. A second pair were the brother tribes of Tasm and Jadı̄s, grandsons of Aram. Tasm oppressing Jadı̄s, the latter rose and almost exterminated the former, only to be in turn destroyed by a king of the Yemen. Their home was Yemāma.
3. South Arabian Tribes
The southern Arabs claim to be descended from an ancestor called Kahtan son of 'Abir, son of Shalikh, son of Arfakhshad, son of Shem, son of Noah. Kahtan is undoubtedly the Biblical Joktan (Gen_10:26), and the names of his descendants reappear as Arabic place names. Indeed the tenth chapter of Gen throws much light on the earliest history of Arabia and the movements of the tribes. Thus the fact that Sheba and Dedan appear as grandsons of Cush, that is, as Abyssinian tribes descended from Ham, in Gen_10:7 and again as descendants of Keturah and Abraham in Gen_25:3 points to the fact that parts of these tribes migrated from the one country to the other. Havilah in Gen_10:7 may similarly be connected with Havilah in Gen_10:29, the intercourse between Southwest Arabia and the opposite coast of Africa being always very close. Among the sons of Joktan are mentioned Almodad, Hazarmaveth, Uzal (Izal), Sheba, Ophir, Havilah. In Almodad we have probably the Arabic El-Mudād, a name which occurs among the descendants of Jurhum, son of Yaktan (Joktan). Hazarmaveth is obviously Hadramaut. Uzal is the ancient name of San'a, the capital of the Yemen. Sheba is the Arabic Saba or Marib. Ophir and Havilah were probably in South or East Arabia. In Gen_10:30 it is said that the camping grounds of these tribes stretched from Mesha as you go toward Sephar, the mountain of the East, that is, probably from the North of the Persian Gulf to the center of South Arabia, Sephar being Zafār, the capital of the South Arab kingdom near to the present Mirbat.
4. Migration of Tribes
Many of the most illustrious tribes are descended from Kahtan, and some of them still survive. A constant stream of migration went on toward the North. Thus the tribe of Jurhum left the Yemen on account of drought and settled in the Hijāz and the Tihāma, from which they drove out the Amalekites, and were in turn driven out by Koda'a, another Kahtanite tribe. After that they disappear from history and are reckoned among the extinct tribes. Koda'a was a descendant of Himyar. The Himyarites founded, about the 1st century bc, a kingdom which lasted for five centuries. The king bore the title of Tubba', and the capital was successively Marib (Saba), Zafār and San'a. One of their monarchs was the queen Bilkı̄s whom the Arabian historians identify with the queen of Sheba who visited Solomon, though she must have lived much later. The story of the meeting is given in the Koran, chapter 38. A chief occasion on which many of the tribes left the district Northeast of the Yemen was the bursting of the great dam, built by Lokman at Marib, about the 2nd century ad. A section of these grew into the Arabian kingdom of Ghassan, whose capital was Damascus and many of whose kings bore the name Al-Harith (Aretas, 2Co_11:32). This kingdom lasted till the time of Mohammad (7th century) and was in alliance with the Roman and Greek empires. On the opposite side of the Syrian desert the Lakhmid kingdom of Al-Hira on the Euphrates (also of Kahtanite origin) was allied to Persia. The two Arabian ?buffer-states? were almost constantly at war with one another.
5. North Arabian Tribes
Among the Arabs Ishmael holds the place occupied by Isaac in the Hebrew tradition. It was to the valley, afterward the site of the town of Mecca, that Abraham conducted Hagar and her son, and that Ishmael grew up and became the father of a great nation. The locality is full of spots connected by tradition with his life history, the ground where Hagar searched for water, the well Zemzem of which Gabriel showed her the place, the mount Thabı̄r where Abraham would have sacrificed his son (Ishmael), and the graves of Hagar and Ishmael. The Jurhum, among whom Ishmael grew up, gave him seven goats: these were the capital with which he began life. He married a woman of Jurhum. He had twelve sons (Gen_25:16) of whom Kaidar and Nabat are the best known, perhaps the Cedrei and Nabataei of Pliny; other sons were Dumah and Tema (which see). The subsequent history of the Ishmaelites is lost for several generations until we come to ‛Adnān, who is said to have been defeated by Nebuchadnezzar, when the latter invaded Arabia. All the Ishmaelite tribes are descended from ‛Adnān. They are the north Arabian tribes, as opposed to the Kahtanite or south Arabian. One of them, Koreish, under their chief, Kosay, became master of Mecca, driving out Koda'a. Later, as the tribe of the Prophet, they became the rulers of Arabia and the aristocracy of the Muslim empire; and the descendants of Mohammad remain to this day the only hierarchy known to Islam.
6. Other Tribes
There are one or two other branches which are not included in the above classification: such are the Nabateans (see NEBAIOTH), and the descendants of Esau and Keturah. The Nabateans are not generally reckoned among the Arabian tribes. They were an Aramean stock, the indigenous inhabitants of Mesopotamia, and spoke not Arabic but Aramaic. They founded a kingdom in Arabia of which the capital was Petra (see SELA). This was the most famous of their colonies, and it endured, at first in alliance with the Romans and later in subjection to them, for 500 years - from the 2nd century bc to the 3rd century ad. Petra was an important trading emporium, but, when the trade left the overland routes and was carried by way of the Red Sea, it quickly fell into poverty and oblivion. The descendants of Esau are named in Gen_36:1; they were allied to the Hittites and Ishmaelites. Among the tribes descended from Keturah are Jokshan and Midian, Sheba and Dedan (Gen_25:2).
7. Foreign Elements
In Arabia there was and still, in spite of religious disabilities, is a large Jewish population. Before the age of Mohammad they lived chiefly in the Northwest, the two best known tribes - An-Nadı̄r and Koreiza - occupying Yathrib (Medina). After the rise of Islam they were expelled from Arabia; but at the present time there are probably some 60,000 Jews in the Yemen alone. There has always been a close connection between the South and West of Arabia and the opposite African coast. Especially in the 6th century there was a large influx of Abyssinians into the Yemen, as there still is into the western districts. A like intermixture of population went on between Zanzibar and Omān.
VI. Religion
1. Monotheism
The religion of the greater part of the Arabs before the time of Mohammad consisted of a vague deism combined with a primitive form of stone-worship. This is chiefly true of the Ishmaelite tribes descended from Modan, a great-grandson of ‛Adnān, and among them it is especially true of Koreish. The origin of this stone worship may have been that as each family was forced to hive off from the main stock and quit the sacred territory around Mecca, it carried with it a stone as a monument of the homeland. This stone soon became a fetich. It was worshipped by stroking it with the hand. Before setting out on a journey a man would perform this religious duty, and also immediately on his return, before even visiting his wife and family. The best known idols of the pagan Arabs, from the mention of them in the Koran, are Al-Lāt, Al-Ozza and Al-Manāt (Kor 53 19.20), worshipped by the Thakı̄f at Ta?f, by the two tribes of Medina, the Aus and the Khazraj, and by Koreish, in a shrine near Mecca, respectively. Koreish had also a great idol named Hubal in the ?house of God? at Mecca, which contained other idols besides. The deity in each case was probably at first a large boulder of stone, then a portable image was made, apparently in human form. They were regarded as feminine and called the daughters of God. Indeed, Al-Lāt is apparently merely the feminine of Allah (God). The deities mentioned in the Koran (71:23), Yaghūth, Ya‛uk and Nesr, were worshipped in the Yemen. It is certain, however, that the idolatry of the Arabs of ?the Ignorance? (Jāhilı̄yah, ?roughness,? ?ignorance?; compare Act_17:30) - so native writers name the ages before Mohammad (Koran 3 148, etc.) - has been greatly exaggerated by Mohammadan historians. It is remarkable that the words denoting an idol, sanam and wethen, are not Arabic roots, and the practice of idolatry seems also to have been an importation from without. Even the idolatrous Arabs believed in a supreme deity, whose daughters the idol deities were, and with whom they had powers of intercession. They therefore were rather images of saints than of gods. As Renan has said, the desert is monotheistic; it is too empty to give birth to a pantheon, as the fruitful plains of India could do. At the present day the desert Arabs are more strictly monotheistic than the Muslims themselves. Their religion consists in nothing save a vague belief in God.
2. The Ka'ba, Pilgrimages and Fairs
Though there were many houses of God in the country, the chief religious resort even before the time of Mohammad was Mecca. The House of God (see BETHEL) here was called the Ka'ba, which is the English word ?cube,? the building being so called from its shape. It was believed to have been built by Abraham and Ishmael. The honor of acting as guardians of the House was a subject of rivalry among the tribes. The office was held consecutively by the tribes of Jurhum, Koda'a and Koreish, and last by the grandfather and uncles of Mohammad. These, therefore, correspond to the tribe of Levi in Israel. It is said to have contained a large number of images, but it is remarkable that the nearer our authorities get to the time of Mohammad the smaller is the number of images mentioned. The chief of these, Hubal, is not named in the Koran. The worship took the form of circumambulation (tawāf), running or marching round the sanctuary (compare Psa_26:6). An annual visitation was and still is made by those living at a distance, and sacrifices are offered. This is the hajj or pilgrimage; the same name is used for the corresponding rite among the Hebrews (Exo_10:9 and often). These religious assemblies were combined with fairs, at which markets were held and a considerable trade carried on. Before the time of Mohammad the great annual fair was held at Okāz, a place still pointed out about three days' journey East of Mecca and one day West of Ta?f. Here were not only all kinds of commercial transactions carried on - auctions, sales, settling of accounts and payment of blood-wit, but an academy was held at which poets recited their odes, and received judgment upon their merits. These fairs were generally held in the sacred months, that is, the first, seventh, eleventh and twelfth months, in which fighting was forbidden. They had therefore a great civilizing and pacifying influence.
3. Judaism
Before the time of Mohammad Judaism prevailed extensively in Arabia, especially in the Hijāz. It began no doubt with the migration of families due to disturbed political conditions at home. The conquest of Palestine by Nebuchadnezzar, by the Seleucids, by the Romans under Pompey, Vespasian and finally Hadrian, drove many Jews to seek peace and safety in the deserts out of which their forefathers had come. Thither Paul also withdrew after his conversion (Gal_1:17). Two of these emigrant tribes, the Nadir and Koreiza, settled at Medina, first in independence, then as clients of the Aus and Khazraj. In the end they were harried and destroyed by Mohammad. The Jewish colony at Kheibar met the same fate. Several free Arab tribes also professed the Jewish faith, especially certain branches of Himyar and Kinda, both descendants of Kahtan, the former in southern, the latter in central Arabia. Judaism was introduced into the Yemen by one of the Tubbas, probably in the 3rd century ad, but it was not until the beginning of the 6th century that it made much headway. At that epoch the Tubba Dhu Nuwās became a fierce protagonist of this creed. He seems to have attacked the Aus and Khazraj to whom the Jews of Yathrib (Medina) were subject. He instituted against the Christians of Nejran, a territory lying to the Northeast of the Yemen, a persecution which brought upon him the vengeance of the Byzantine emperor and of the Negus of Abyssinia and involved his kingdom and dynasty in ruin.
4. Christianity
Judaism did not hold such a large place in Arabia as did Christianity. The apostle Bartholomew is said to have carried the gospel thither. One of the Jurhum kings who may have lived about the beginning of the 2nd century ad is named Abd el-Ması̄h (?Christ's slave?). There is said to have been a representation of the Virgin Mary and her Son in the Ka'ba. The Christian emperor Constans (337-50) sent the Bishop Theophilus into South Arabia in order to obtain toleration for the Christians. The mission was successful. Churches were built at Zafār, at Aden, and on the shore of the Persian Gulf. The emperor's real object was doubtless political - to counteract the influence of Persia in these regions. Most of the Yemenite tribes were at this time pagan: they worshipped the idols mentioned above (Koran 71 23). Some time after we find the Abyssinian sovereign describing himself in the inscriptions at Axum as king of the Himyarites. This supremacy would be favorable to the spread of Christianity. One of the chief seats, however, of the Christian religion, was at the above-mentioned Nejran, the territory of the tribe Harith ibn Ka'b, whom ecclesiastical writers seem to denote by Arethas son of Caleb. It was this tribe that Dhu Nuwās, Tubba of the Yemen, on his conversion to Judaism, attacked. He threw all the Christians who held by their faith into a trench of fire in which they were burned (Koran 85 4). News of this atrocity was either carried by those who escaped or sent by the Lakhmid, king of Al-Hira, to the emperor Justin I, who, in turn, either directly or through the patriarch of Alexandria, invoked the co?peration of the Axumite king. The result was that the Abyssinians invaded the Yemen and overthrew the Himyarite dynasty. Christianity then became the prevailing religion of South Arabia. The Abyssinians were in their turn, however, expelled by the Persians, under whom all religions - Christianity, Judaism and paganism - were tolerated, until they all disappeared before Islam. Several of the Lakhmid kings of Al-Hira, although they were from circumstances under the influence of the Persian Zoroastrianism, professed Christianity. Nu‛mān I who reigned at the end of the 4th and beginning of the 5th century, perhaps under the influence of Simon Stylites, retired from the world and became an ascetic. Mundhir II, in the middle of the 6th century, seems to have come temporarily under the influence of the Eutychian heresy. Nu‛mān V, one of his successors, was also converted to Christianity. But the kingdom in which Christianity flourished most was naturally that in closest contact with the Byzantine empire - the kingdom of the Ghassanids, although it seems not to have been until after the conversion of Constantine that this was the case. From his reign date the monasteries of which the ruins are still visible in the Ghassanid country. The powerful Ishmaelite tribe of Taghlib, whose settlements were in Mesopotamia was also converted to Christianity through similar influences, but not until the end of the 6th century. Some members of the Kahtanite Koda'a professed the same religion, as did the Kelb in the Jauf.
5. Sabianism
In the Koran a third creed is bracketed with those of the Jews and Christians as entitled to toleration - that of the Sabians. These are monotheists who also worshipped the stars or the angels. The name Sabian has no connection with Sabean which is derived from the name of the town of Saba. An account of their religion, taken from Abu'l Faraj (Bar Hebraeus), the Jacobite bishop, who wrote about the middle of the 13th century, will be found in Sale's Koran, Preliminary Discourse, section I. Sale, however, identified Sabianism with the primitive religion of the Arabs, which Mohammad sought to supplant. This is impossible, however, in view of the fact that Mohammad tolerated the one and proscribed the other. Since the publication of Chwolson's Ssabier und Ssabismus it has been recognized that under the term Sabians are included two very different groups of people. In the first place the devotees of the old Semitic idolatry which flourished at Harran assumed the name Sabian to enable them to claim the protection afforded by the Koran. It is the tenets of these Harranians of which Chwolson's work contains an exposition. The true Sabians, however, were a survival of primitive Christian Gnosticism; whence they were also called Mandeans. From their frequent ablutions they received their name derived from the Aramaic cebha‛, to ?baptize,? the 'ayin being softened to 'ālēph, and connected with John the Baptist.
The Jews, Christians and Sabians are called in the Koran ?the people of the book,? that is, those to whom a revelation had been vouchsafed, and who were in consequence of this tolerated. In one passage of the Koran (22 17) a fourth religion is added to these - the Magian, or Zoroastrian, introduced from Persia.
6. Seekers After Truth: Islam
Shortly before the appearance of Mohammad a number of thinking persons had become dissatisfied with the old Arabian religion of their ancestors, and yet had not joined the Christian or Jewish faith. They gave up the worship of idols, studied the various sacred books, and sought to find out the true way. They are considered in the Koran as having been of the true faith even before Mohammad had appeared. About a dozen are mentioned by the historians, of whom the most important are four - Waraka the cousin of Mohammad's wife Khadija; Othman who became a Christian; Obeidallah who became a Christian and then a Muslim; Zeid who traveled in pursuit of Truth, but did not attach himself to any one faith. The Hebrew prophets and those who accepted their doctrines are regarded as belonging to the same class. A person who is a monotheist, and who yet does not attach himself to any particular creed is called in the Koran a Hanı̄f. This pure religion is called the religion of Abraham. Mohammad claimed to restore this primeval religion in Islam. By John of Damascus Mohammad was regarded as the founder of a Christian sect. It is probable that but for his appearance Christianity would have spread over the whole of Arabia.
Literature
Causinn de Perceval, Essai sur l'histoire des Arabes; Sprenger, Die alte Geographie Arabiens; Hamdani, ed., M?ller, Geographic der arabischen Halbinsel; Niebuhr, Travels through Arabia; Burckhardt, Travels in Arabia; Wellsted, Travels in Arabia; Burton, Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah; Palgrave, Journey through Central and Eastern Arabia; Blunt, A Pilgrimage to Nejd; Hurgronje, Mecca; Doughty, Travels in Arabia Deserta; Harris, A Journey through the Yemen; Brunnow and Domazewski, Die Provincia Arabia; Musil, Arabia Deserta; Glaser, Skizze der Geschichte und Geographic Arabiens.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.

Ara?bia, an extensive region occupying the south-western extremity of Asia, between 12? 45? and 34?? N. lat., and 32?? and 60? E. long., from Greenwich; having on the W. the Isthmus of Suez and the Red Sea (called from it the Arabian Gulf), which separate it from Africa; on the S. the Indian Ocean; and on the E. the Persian Gulf and the Euphrates. The boundary to the north has never been well defined. It is one of the few countries of the south where the descendants of the aboriginal inhabitants have neither been extirpated nor expelled by northern invaders. They have not only retained possession of their ancestral homes, but have sent forth colonies to all the adjacent regions, and even to more distant lands, both in Africa and Asia.
With the history of no country save that of Palestine are there connected so many hallowed and impressive associations as with that of Arabia. Here lived and suffered the holy patriarch Job; here Moses, when 'a stranger and a shepherd,' saw the burning, unconsuming bush; here Elijah found shelter from the rage of persecution; here was the scene of all the marvelous displays of divine power and mercy that followed the deliverance of Israel from the Egyptian yoke, and accompanied their journeyings to the Promised Land; and here Jehovah manifested Himself in visible glory to His people. From the influence of these associations, combined with its proximity to Palestine, and the close affinity in blood, manners, and customs between the northern portion of its inhabitants and the Jews, Arabia is a region of peculiar interest to the student of the Bible; and it is chiefly in its relation to subjects of Bible study that we are now to consider it.
In early times the Hebrews included a part of what we call Arabia among the countries, they vaguely designated as 'the East,' the inhabitants being numbered among the 'Sons of the East,' i.e. Orientals. But there is no evidence to show that these phrases are ever applied to the whole of the country known to us as Arabia. They appear to have been commonly used in speaking of those parts which lay due east of Palestine, or on the north-east and south-east; though occasionally they do seem to point to tracts which lay indeed to the south and southwest of that country, but to the east and southeast of Egypt.

Fig. 45?Bedouin Arabs
We find the name Arab first beginning to occur about the time of Solomon. It designated a portion of the country, an inhabitant being called Arabi, an Arabian (Isa_13:20), or in later Hebrew, Arbi (Neh_2:19), the plural of which was Arbim (2Ch_21:16), or Arbiim (Arabians) (2Ch_17:11). In some places these names seem to be given to the Nomadic tribes generally (Isa_13:20; Jer_3:2) and their country (Isa_21:13). The kings of Arabia from whom Solomon (2Ch_9:14) and Jehoshaphat (2Ch_17:11) received gifts were, probably, Bedouin chiefs; though in the place parallel to the former text (1Ki_10:15), instead of Arabwe find Ereb, rendered in Jer_25:20; Jer_25:24, 'mingled people,' but which Gesenius, following the Chaldee, understands to mean 'foreign allies.' It is to be remarked, however, that in all the passages where the word Arab occurs it designates only a small portion of the territory known to us as Arabia. Thus in the account given by Ezekiel (Eze_27:21) of the Arabian tribes that traded with Tyre, mention is specially made of Arab (comp. Jer_25:24). In 2Ch_21:16; 2Ch_22:1; 2Ch_26:7; Neh_4:7, we find the Arabians classed with the Philistines, the Ethiopians (i.e. the Asiatic Cushites, of whom they are said to have been neighbors), the Mehunims, the Ammonites, and Ashdodites. At what period this name Arab was extended to the whole region it is impossible to ascertain. From it the Greeks formed the word Arabia, which occurs twice in the New Testament; in Gal_1:17, in reference probably to the tract adjacent to Damascene Syria, and in Gal_4:25, in reference to the peninsula of Mount Sinai. Arabs are mentioned among the strangers assembled at Jerusalem at the Pentecost (Act_2:11).
The early Greek geographers mention only two divisions of this vast region, Happy and Desert Arabia. But after the city of Petra, in Idumaea, had become celebrated as the metropolis of a commercial people, the Nabathaeans, it gave name to a third division, viz. Arabia Petraea (improperly translated Stony Arabia); and this threefold division has obtained throughout Europe ever since.
Arabia Felix
Arabia Felix, i.e.Happy Arabia. This part of Arabia lies between the Red Sea on the west and the Persian Gulf on the east, the boundary to the north being an imaginary line drawn between their respective northern extremities, Akaba and Basra or Bussora. It thus embraces by far the greater portion of the country known to us as Arabia.
Arabia may be described generally as an elevated table-land, the mountain ranges of which are by some regarded as a continuation of those of Syria. In Arabia Felix the ridges, which are very high in the interior, slope gently on the east towards the Persian Gulf, and on the northeast towards the vast plains of the desert. On the west the declivities are steeper, and on the north-west the chains are connected with those of Arabia Petraea. Commencing our survey at the north end of the Red Sea, the first province which lies along its shore is the Hedjaz. This was the cradle of Mohammedan superstition, containing both Mecca, where the prophet was born, and Medina, where he was buried; and hence it became the Holy Land of the Muslim, whither they resort in pilgrimage from all parts of the East. It is on the whole a barren tract, consisting chiefly of rugged mountains and sandy plains. Still more unproductive, however, is the long, flat, dreary belt, of varying width, called Teh?ma, which runs along the coast to the south of Hedjaz, and was at no distant period covered by the sea. But next to this comes Yemen, the true Arabia Felix of the ancients, 'Araby the Blest' of modern poets, and doubtless the finest portion of the peninsula. Yet if it be distinguished for fertility and beauty, it is chiefly in the way of contrast, for it is far from coming up to the expectations which travelers had formed of it. Turning from the west to the south coast of the peninsula, we next come to the extensive province of Hhadramaut (the Hazarmaveth of the Bible), a region not unlike Yemen in its general features, with the exception of the tracts called Mahhrah and Sahar, which are dreary deserts. The south-east corner of the peninsula, between Hhadramaut and the Persian Gulf, is occupied by the important district of Oman, which has been in all ages famous for its trade, which has been greatly extended by the present imam of Muscat. Along the Persian Gulf northward stretches the province of Lahsa, or rather El Hassa, to which belong the Bahrein Islands, famous for their pearls. The districts we have enumerated all lie along the coasts, but beyond them in the south stretches the vast desert of Akhaf, or Roba-el-Khali, i.e. 'the empty abode,' a desolate and dreary unexplored waste of sand. To the north of this extends the great central province of Nedched or Nejd. It may be described as having been the great officina gentium of the south, as were Scandinavia and Tartary of the north; for it is the region whence there issued at different periods those countless hordes of Arabs which overran a great part of Asia and Africa. Here too was the origin and the seat of the Wahabees (so formidable until subdued in 1818 by Mehemet Ali, pasha of Egypt), their chief town being Dereyeh.
The geological structure and mineralogical productions of this part of Arabia are in a great measure unknown. In the mountains about Mecca and Medina the predominant rocks are of grey and red granite, porphyry, and limestone. This is also the case in the great chain that runs southward towards Maskat; only that in the ridge that rises behind the Tehama there is found schistus and basalt instead of granite. Traces of volcanic action may be perceived around Medina, as also at Aden and in many other parts of the peninsula. Hot-springs are of frequent occurrence on the Hadjee or pilgrim road to Mecca. The ancients believed that Arabia yielded both gold and precious stones, but Niebuhr doubts if this ever was the case. The most valuable ore found now is the lead of Oman: what is called the Mocha stone is a species of agate that comes from India. The native iron is coarse and brittle; at Loheia and elsewhere there are hills of fossil salt. Arabia Felix has always been famous for frankincense, myrrh, aloes, balsam, gums, cassia, etc.; but it is doubtful whether the last-mentioned and other articles supposed to be indigenous were not imported from India. Here are found all the fruits of temperate and warm climates, among which the date, the fruit of the palm-tree, is the most, common, and is, along with the species of grain called dhourra, the staple article of food. But the most valuable vegetable production is coffee; for Yemen, if not its native country, is the habitat where it has reached the greatest state of perfection. In the animal kingdom Arabia possesses, in common with the adjacent regions, the camel, panthers, lynxes, hyenas, jackals, gazelles, asses (wild and tame), monkeys, etc. But the glory of Arabia is its horse. As in no other country is that animal so much esteemed, so in no other are its noble qualities of swiftness, endurance, temper, attachment to man, so finely developed. Of the insect tribes, the locust, both from its numbers and its destructiveness, is the most formidable scourge to vegetation. The Arabian seas swarm with fish, sea-fowl, and shells; coral abounds in the Red Sea, and pearls in the Persian Gulf.
Arabia Deserta
This takes in that portion of the country which lies north of Arabia Felix, and is bounded on the north-east by the Euphrates, on the north-west by Syria, and on the west by Palestine and Arabia Petraea. So far as it has yet been explored, Desert Arabia appears to be one continuous, elevated, interminable steppe, occasionally intersected by ranges of hills. Sand and salt are the chief elements of the soil, which in many places is entirely bare, but elsewhere yields stunted and thorny shrubs or thinly-scattered saline plants. That part of the wilderness called El Hhammad lies on the Syrian frontier, extending from the Hauran to the Euphrates, and is one immense dead and dreary level, very scantily supplied with water, except near the banks of the river, where the fields are irrigated by wheels and other artificial contrivances.
The sky in these deserts is generally cloudless, but the burning heat of the sun is moderated by cooling winds, which, however, raise fearful tempests of sand and dust. Here, too, as in other regions of the East, occasionally prevails the burning, suffocating south-east wind, called by the Arabs El Hharur (the Hot), but more commonly Samum, and by the Turks Samyeli (both words meaning 'the Poisonous'), the effects of which, however, have by some travelers been greatly exaggerated. This is probably 'the east wind' and the 'wind from the desert' spoken of in Scripture. Another phenomenon, which is not peculiar, indeed, to Desert Arabia, but is seen there in greatest frequency and perfection, is what the French call the mirage, the delusive appearance of an expanse of water, created by the tremulous, undulatory movement of the vapors raised by the excessive heat of a meridian sun. It is called in Arabic serab, and is no doubt the Hebrew sarab of Isa_35:7, which our translators have rendered 'the parched ground.'
Arabia Petraea
Arabia Petraea appears to have derived its name from its chief town Petra (i.e. a rock), although (as is remarked by Burckhardt) the epithet is also appropriate on account of the rocky mountains and stony plains which compose its surface. It embraces all the northwestern portion of the country; being bounded on the east by Desert and Happy Arabia, on the north by Palestine and the Mediterranean, on the west by Egypt, and on the south by the Red Sea. This division of Arabia has been of late years visited by a great many travelers from Europe, and is consequently much better known than the other portions of the country. Confining ourselves at present to a general outline, we refer for details to the articles Sinai Exodus Edom Moab etc. Beginning at the northern frontier, there meets the elevated plain of Belka to the east of the Dead Sea, the district of Kerak (Kir), the ancient territory of the Moabites, their kinsmen of Ammon having settled to the north of this, in Arabia Deserta. The north border of Moab was the brook Arnon, now the Wady-el-Modjeb; to the south of Moab, separated from it by the Wady-el-Ahsy, lay Mount Seir, the do minion of the Edomites, or Idumaea, reaching as far as to Elath on the Red Sea. The great valley which runs from the Dead Sea to that point consists, first, of el-Ghor, which is comparatively low, but gradually rises by a succession of limestone cliffs into the more elevated plain of el Arabah, formerly mentioned. 'We were now,' says Professor Robinson (Biblical Researches, vol. 2, p. 502), 'upon the plain or rather the rolling desert, of the Arabah; the surface was in general loose gravel and stones, everywhere furrowed and torn with the beds of torrents. A more frightful desert it had hardly been our lot to behold. The mountains beyond presented a most uninviting and hideous aspect; precipices and naked conical peaks of chalky and gravelly formation rising one above another without a sign of life or vegetation.' The character of the mountains on the east of Arabah is quite different from those on the west. The latter, which seemed to be not more than two-thirds as high, are wholly desert and sterile; while these on the east appear to enjoy a sufficiency of rain, and are covered with tufts of herbs and occasional trees. This mountainous region is divided into two districts: that to the north is called Jeb?l (i.e. mountains, the Gebal of Psa_83:7); that to the south Esh-Sherah. To the district of Esh-Sherah belongs Mount Hor, the burial-place of Aaron, towering above the Wady Mousa (valley of Moses), where are the celebrated ruins of Petra (the ancient capital of the Nabathaeo-Idumaeans), the mountainous tract immediately west of the Arabah, is a desert limestone region, full of precipitous ridges, through which no traveled road has ever passed.
To the west of Idumaea extends the 'great and terrible wilderness' of et-T?h, i.e. 'the Wandering,' so called from being the scene of the wanderings of the children of Israel. It consists of vast interminable plains, a hard gravelly soil, and irregular ridges of limestone hills. It appears that the middle of this desert is occupied by a long central basin, extending from Jebel-et-T?h (i.e. the mountain of the wandering, a chain pretty far south) to the shores of the Mediterranean. This basin descends towards the north with a rapid slope, and is drained through all its length by Wady-el-Arish, which enters the sea near the place of the same name, on the borders of Egypt.
This description of the formation of the northern desert will enable us to form a more distinct conception of the general features of the peninsula of Sinai, which lies south of it, being formed by the two arms of the Red Sea, the Gulfs of Akaba and Suez. If the parallel of the north coast of Egypt be extended eastward to the great Wady-el-Arabah, it appears that the desert, south of this parallel, rises gradually towards the south, until on the summit of the ridge Et-T?h, between the two gulfs, it attains the elevation of 4322 feet. The waters of all this great tract flow off northward either to the Mediterranean or the Dead Sea. The T?h forms a sort of offset, and along its southern base the surface sinks at once to the height of only about 3000 feet, forming the sandy plain which extends nearly across the peninsula. After this the mountains of the peninsula proper commence, and rise rapidly through the formations of sandstone, gr?nstein, porphyry, and granite, into the lofty masses of St. Catherine and Um Shaumer, the former of which has an elevation of 8168 Paris feet, or nearly double that of the T?h. Here the waters all run eastward or westward to the Gulfs of Akaba and Suez.
The soil of the Sinaitic peninsula is in general very unproductive, yielding only palm-trees, acacias, tamarisks, coloquintida, and dwarfish, thorny shrubs. Among the animals may be mentioned the mountain-goat, gazelles, leopards, a kind of marmot called wabber [CONEY], the sheeb, supposed by Col. C. Hamilton Smith to be a species of wild wolf-dog, etc.: of birds there are eagles, partridges, pigeons, the katta, a species of quail, etc. There are serpents, as in ancient times (Num_21:4; Num_21:6), and travelers speak of a large lizard called dhob, common in the desert, but of unusually frequent occurrence here. The peninsula is inhabited by Bedouin Arabs, and its entire population was estimated by Burckhardt at not more than 4000 souls.
Though this part of Arabia must ever be memorable as the scene of the journeying of the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land, yet very few of the spots mentioned in Scripture can now be identified; nor, after the lapse of so many centuries, ought that to be occasion of surprise. According to Niebuhr, Robinson, etc. they crossed the Red Sea near Suez, but the tradition of the country fixes the point of transit eight or ten miles south of Suez, opposite the place called Ayoun Mousa, i.e. the Fountains of Moses, where Robinson recently found seven wells, some of which, however, were mere excavations in the sand. About 15? hours (33 geographical miles) south-east of that is the Well of Haw?rah, the Marah of Scripture, whose bitter water is pronounced by the Arabs to be the worst in these regions. Two or three hours south of Haw?rah the traveler comes to the Wady Gh?rundel, supposed to be the Elim of Moses. From the plain of El-kaa, which Robinson takes to be the desert of Sin (not to be confounded with that of Zin, which belonged to the great desert of Kadesh), they would enter the Sinaitic range, probably along the upper part of Wady Feiran and through the Wady-esh-Sheikh, one of the principal valleys of the peninsula. The Arabs call this whole cluster of mountains Jebel-et-T?r; the Christians generally designate it as 'Sinai,' and give the name of Horeb to a particular mountain, whereat in Scripture the names are used interchangeably [SINAI].
Having now taken a rapid survey of this extensive region in its three divisions, let us advert to the people by whom it was at first settled, and by whose descendants it is still inhabited. There is a prevalent notion that the Arabs, both of the south and north, are descended from Ishmael; but the idea of the southern Arabs being of the posterity of Ishmael is entirely without foundation, and seems to have originated in the tradition invented by Arab vanity, that they, as well as the Jews, are of the seed of Abraham?a vanity which, besides disfiguring and falsifying the whole history of the patriarch and his son Ishmael, has transferred the scene of it from Palestine to Mecca. If we go to the most authentic source of ancient ethnography, the book of Genesis, we there find that the vast tracts of country known to us under the name of Arabia gradually became peopled by a variety of tribes of different lineage, though it is now impossible to determine the precise limits within which they fixed their permanent or nomadic abode. We shall here exhibit a tabular view of these races in chronological order, i.e. according to the successive eras of their respective progenitors:?
I. Hamites, i.e. the posterity of Cush, Ham's eldest son, whose descendants appear to have settled in the south of Arabia, and to have sent colonies across the Red Sea to the opposite coast of Africa; and hence Cush became a general name for 'the south,' and specially for Arabian and African Ethiopia. The sons of Cush (Gen_10:7) were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah or Ragma (his sons, Sheba and Dedan), and Sabtheca.
II. Shemites, including the following:
A. Joktanites, i.e. the descendants of Joktan, the second son of Eber, Shem's great-grandson (Gen_10:25-26). According to Arab tradition Joktan, after the confusion of tongues and dispersion at Babel, settled in Yemen, where he reigned as king. Joktan had thirteen sons, some of whose names may be obscurely traced in the designations of certain districts in Arabia Felix. Their names were Almodad, Shaleph, Hhazar-maveth (preserved in the name of the province of Hhadramaut), Jarach, Hadoram, Uzal (believed by the Arabs to have been the founder of Sanaa in Yemen), Dikla, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab.
B. Abrahamites, divided into?
(a) Hagarenes or Hagarites, so called from Hagar the mother; otherwise termed Ishmaelites from her son. The twelve sons of Ishmael (Gen_25:13-15), who gave names to separate tribes, were Nebaioth (the Nabathseans in Arabia Petraea), Kedar, Abdeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad or Hadar, Thema, Jetur, Naphish (the Ituraeans and Naphishaeans near the tribe of Gad: 1Ch_5:19-20), and Kedmah. They appear to have been for the most part located near to Palestine on the east and southeast.
(b) Keturahites, i.e.the descendants of Abraham and his second wife Keturah, by whom he had six sons (Gen_25:2): Simram, Jokshan (who, like Raamah, son of Cush, was also the father of two sons, Sheba and Dedan), Medan, Midian, Jishbak, and Shuach. Among these, the posterity of Midian became the best known.
(c) Edomites, i.e. the descendants of Esau, who possessed Mount Seir and the adjacent region, called from them Idumaea. They and the Nabathaeans formed in later times a flourishing commercial state, the capital of which was the remarkable city called Petra.
C. Nahorites, the descendants of Nahor, Abraham's brother, who seem to have peopled the land of Uz, the country of Job, and of Buz, the country of his friend Elihu the Buzite, these being the names of Nahor's sons (Gen_22:1).
D. Lotites, viz.:
(a) Moabites, who occupied the northern portion of Arabia Petraea, as above described; and their kinsmen, the?
(b) Ammonites, who lived north of them, in Arabia Deserta.
Besides these, the Bible mentions various other tribes who resided within the bounds of Arabia, but whose descent is unknown, e.g. the Amalekites, the Kenites, the Horites, the inhabitants of Maon, Hazor, Vedan, and Javan-Meusal (Eze_27:19).
In process of time some of these tribes were perhaps wholly extirpated (as seems to have been the case with the Amalekites), but the rest were more or less mingled together by inter-marriages, by military conquests, political revolutions, and other causes of which history has preserved no record; and thus amalgamated, they became known to the rest of the world as the 'Arabs,' a people whose physical and mental characteristics are very strongly and distinctly marked. In both respects they rank very high among the nations; so much so, that some have regarded them as furnishing the prototype?the primitive model form?the standard figure of the human species.
The inhabitants of Arabia have, from remote antiquity, been divided into two great classes, viz. the townsmen (including villagers), and the men of the desert, such being the meaning of the word 'Bedawees' or Bedouins, the designation given to the 'dwellers in the wilderness.' From the nature of their country, the latter are necessitated to lead the life of nomads, or wandering shepherds; and since the days of the patriarchs (who were themselves of that occupation) the extensive steppes which form so large a portion of Arabia, have been traversed by a pastoral but warlike people, who, in their mode of life, their food, their dress, their dwellings, their manners, customs, and government, have always continued, and still continue, almost, unalterably the same. They consist of a great many separate tribes, who are collected into different encampments dispersed through the territory which they claim as their own; and they move from one spot to another (commonly in the neighborhood of pools or wells) as soon as the stinted pasture is exhausted by their cattle. It is only here and there that the ground is susceptible of cultivation, and the tillage of it is commonly left to peasants, who are often the vassals of the Bedawees, and whom (as well as all 'townsmen') they regard with contempt as an inferior race. Having constantly to shift their residence, they live in movable tents (comp. Isa_13:20; Jer_49:29), from which circumstance they received from the Greeks the name of Scenites, dwellers in tents [TENT]. The heads of tribes are called sheikhs, a word of various import, but used in this case as a title of honor; the government is hereditary in the family of each sheikh, but elective as to the particular individual appointed. Their allegiance, however, consists more in following his example as a leader than in obeying his commands; and, if dissatisfied with his government, they will depose or abandon him. As the independent lords of their own deserts, the Bedawees have from time immemorial demanded tribute or presents from all travelers or caravans (Isa_21:13) passing through their country; the transition from which to robbery is so natural, that they attach to the latter no disgrace, plundering without mercy all who are unable to resist them, or who have not secured the protection of their tribe. Their watching for travelers 'in the ways,' i.e. the frequented routes through the desert, is alluded to Jer_3:2; Ezr_8:31; and the fleetness of their horses in carrying them into the 'depths of the wilderness,' beyond the reach of their pursuers, seems what is referred to in Isa_63:13-14. Their warlike incursions into more settled districts are often noticed (e.g. Job_1:15; 2Ch_21:16; 2Ch_26:7). The acuteness of their bodily senses is very remarkable, and is exemplified in their astonishing sagacity in tracing and distinguishing the footsteps of men and cattle. The law of blood-revenge sows the seeds of perpetual feuds; and what was predicted (Gen_16:12) of the posterity of Ishmael, the 'wild-ass man' (a term most graphically descriptive of a Bedawee), holds true of the whole people [BLOOD-REVENGE]. They show bravery in repelling a public enemy, but when they fight for plunder, they behave like cowards. Their bodily frame is spare, but athletic and active, inured to fatigue and capable of undergoing great privations: their minds are acute and inquisitive; and though their manners are somewhat grave and formal, they are of a lively and social disposition. Of their moral virtues it is necessary to speak with caution. They were long held up as models of good faith, incorruptible integrity, and the most generous hospitality to strangers; but many recent travelers deny them the possession of these qualities; and it is certain that whatever they may have been once, the Bedawees, like all the unsophisticated 'children of nature,' have been much corrupted by the influx of foreigners, and the national character is in every point of view lowest where they are most exposed to the continual passage of strangers.
In the language of the Arabians we find the full and adult development of the genius of that group of languages of Western Asia which is now usually distinguished as the Syro-Arabian. In the abundance of its roots, in the manifold variety of its formations, in the syntactical delicacies of its construction, it stands pre-eminent as a language among all its sisters. Every class of composition also: the wild and yet noble lyrics of the son of the desert, who had 'nothing to glory in but his sword, his guest, and his fervid tongue;' the impassioned and often sublime appeals of the Koran; the sentimental poetry of a Mutanabbi; the artless simplicity of their usual narrative style, and the philosophic disquisition of an Ibn Chald?n; the subtleties of the grammarian and scholiast; medicine, natural history, and the metaphysical speculations of the Aristotelian school?all have found the Arabic language a fitting exponent of their feeling and thought. And, although confined within the bounds of the Peninsula by circumstances to which we owe the preservation of its pure antique form, yet Islam made it the written and spoken language of the whole of Western Asia, of Eastern and Northern Africa, of Spain, and of some of the islands of the Mediterranean; and the ecclesiastical language of Persia, Turkey, and all other lands which receive the Mohammedan faith; in all which places it has left sensible traces of its former occupancy, and in many of which it is still the living or the learned idiom. The close affinity, and consequently the incalculable philological use, of the Arabic with regard to the Hebrew language and its other sisters, may be considered partly as a question of theory, and partly as one of fact. The former would regard the concurrent records which the Old Testament and their own traditions have preserved of the several links by which the Arabs were connected with different generations of the Hebrew line, and the evidences which Scripture offers of persons speaking Arabic being intelligible to the Hebrews; the latter would observe the demonstrable identity between them in the main features of a language, and the more subtle, but no less convincing traces of resemblance even in the points in which their diversity is most apparent. Thus springing from the same root as the Hebrew, and possessing such traces of affinity to a late period of Scripture history, this dialect was further enabled, by several circumstances in the social state of the nation, to retain its native resemblance of type until the date of the earliest extant written documents. These circumstances were, the almost insular position of the country, which prevented conquest or commerce from debasing the language of its inhabitants; the fact that so large a portion of the nation adhered to a mode of life in which every impression was, as it were, stereotyped, and knew no variation for ages; and the great and just pride which they felt in the purity of their language, which is still a characteristic of the Bedouins.
The principal source of the wealth of ancient Arabia was its commerce. So early as the days or Jacob (Gen_37:28) we read of a mixed caravan of Arab merchants (Ishmaelites and Midianites) who were engaged in the conveyance of various foreign articles to Egypt, and made no scruple to add Joseph, 'a slave,' to their other purchases. The Arabs were, doubtless, the first navigators of their own seas, and the great carriers of the produce of India, Abyssinia, and other remote countries to Western Asia and Egypt. Various Indian productions thus obtained were common among the Hebrews at an early period of their history (Exo_30:23; Exo_30:25). The traffic of the Red Sea was to Solomon a source of great profit; and the extensive commerce of Sabaa (Sheba, now Yemen) is mentioned by profane writers as well as alluded to in Scripture (1Ki_10:10-15). In the description of the foreign trade of Tyre (Eze_27:19-24) various Arab tribes are introduced (comp. Isa_60:6; Jer_6:20; 2Ch_9:14). The Nabathaeo-Idumaeans became a great trading people, their capital being Petra. The transit-trade from India continued to enrich Arabia until the discovery of the passage to India by the Cape of Good Hope; but the invention of steam-navigation has now restored the ancient route for travelers by the Red Sea.
Arabia, in ancient times, generally preserved its independence, unaffected by those great events which changed the destiny of the surrounding nations; and in the sixth century of our era, the decline of the Roman Empire and the corruptions and distractions of the Eastern Church favored the impulse given by a wild and warlike fanaticism. Mahomet arose, and succeeded in gathering around his standard the nomadic tribes of central Arabia; and in less than fifty years that standard waved triumphant 'from the straits of Gibraltar to the hitherto unconquered regions beyond the Oxus.' The khalifs transferred the seat of government successively to Damascus, Kufa, and Bagdad; but amid the distractions of their foreign wars, the chiefs of the interior of Arabia gradually shook off their feeble allegiance, and resumed their ancient habits of independence, which, notwithstanding the revolutions that have since occurred, they for the most part retain. At present, indeed, the authority of Mehemet Ali, the Pasha of Egypt, is acknowledged over a great portion of the northern part of Arabia, while in the south the Imam of Maskat exercises dominion over a much greater extent of country than did any of his predecessors.
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.

Arabia
(Heb. Arab', עֲרָב. 2Ch_9:14; Isa_21:13; Jer_25:24; Eze_27:21; Α᾿ραβία, Gal_1:17; Gal_4:23; also 2Es_15:29; 1Ma_11:16; 2Ma_12:11), the name of an extensive region occupying the south-western extremity of Asia, having on the west the Isthmus of Suez and the Red Sea (called from it the Arabian Gulf), which separate it from Africa; on the south the Indian Ocean; and on the east the Persian Gulf and the Euphrates. The boundary to the north has never been well defined, for in that direction it spreads out into interminable deserts, which meet those of Palestine and Syria on the west, and those of Irak-Arabi (i, e. Babylonia) and Mesopotamia on the east; and hence some geographers include that entire wilderness in Arabia. The form of the peninsula is that of a trapezoid, whose superficial area is estimated at four times the extent of France. It is one of the few countries of the south where the, descendants of the aboriginal inhabitants have neither been extirpated nor expelled by northern invaders. They have not only retained possession of their ancestral homes, but have sent forth colonies to all the adjacent regions, and even to more distant lands, both in Africa and Asia (Ritter, Erdkunde, 2, 172).
With the history of no country save that of Palestine are there connected so many hallowed and impressive associations as with that of Arabia. Hero lived and suffered the holy patriarch Job; here Moses, when a stranger and a shepherd, saw the burning,. unconsuming bush; here Elijah found shelter from the rage of persecution; here was the scene of all the marvelous displays of Divine power and mercy that followed the deliverance of Israel from the Egyptian yoke, and accompanied their journeyings to the promised land; and here Jehovah manifested himself in visible glory to his people. From the influence of these associations, combined with its proximity to Palestine, and the close affinity in blood, manners, and customs between the northern portion of its inhabitants and the Jews, Arabia is a region of peculiar. interest to the student of the Bible; and it is chiefly in its relation to subjects of Bible study that we are now to consider it. SEE ASIA.
I. Names.
1. In early times the Hebrews included a part of what we call Arabia among the countries they vaguely designated as קֶדֶם, Ke'dem, the East, the inhabitants being numbered among the Beney'Ke'dem, Sons of the East, i.e. Orientals. But there is no evidence to show (as is asserted by Rosenmüller and some other Bible geographers) that these phrases are ever applied to the whole of the country known to us as Arabia. They appear to have been commonly used in speaking of those parts which lay due east of Palestine, or on the north-east and southeast; though occasionally they do seem to point to tracts which lay indeed to the south and south-west of that country, but to the east and south-east of Egypt. Accordingly we find that whenever the expression kedem has obviously a reference to Arabia, it invariably points to its northern division only. Thus in Gen_25:6, Abraham is said to have sent away the sons of Hagar and Keturah to the E'rets-Ke'dem -Kedmah, i.e. the East country, eastward; and none of them, so far as we know, were located in peninsular Arabia; for the story which represents Ishmael as settling at Mecca is an unsupported native tradition. The patriarch Job is described (Job_1:3) as the greatest of all the men of the east, and though opinions differ as to the precise locality of the land of Uz, all are agreed that it was in some part of Arabia, but certainly not in Arabia Felix. In the Book of Judges (Jdg_6:3; Jdg_7:12; Jdg_8:10) among the allies of the Midianites and Amalekites (tribes of the north) are mentioned the Bene-Kedem," which Josephus translates by
῎Αραβας, the Arabs. In Isa_11:14, the parallelism requires that by sons of the east we understand the nomades of Desert Arabia, as corresponding to the Philistines on the west; and with these are conjoined the Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites, who were all northern Arabians. The command was given (Jer_49:28) to the Babylonians to smite the Bene-Kedem, who are there classed with the Kedarenes, descendants of Ishmael (comp. 1Ki_4:30). In more modern times a name of similar import was applied to the Arabs generally; they were called Saracens (Sharakiyun, i.e. Orientals), from the word shark, the east, whence also is derived the term sirocco, the east wind. The name of Saracens came into use in the West in a vague and undefined sense after the Roman conquest of Palestine, but does not seem to have been adopted as a general designation till about the eighth century. It is to be remarked here that though in Scripture Kedem most commonly denotes Northern Arabia, it is also used of countries farther east, e.g. of the native country of Abraham (Isa_41:2; comp. Gen_29:1), of Balaam (Num_23:7), and even of Cyrus (Isa_46:11); and, therefore, though the Magi who came to Jerusalem (Mat_2:1) were ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν, from the east, it does not thence follow that they were natives of Arabia. SEE BENE-KEDEM.
2. We find the name עֲרָב, Arab, first beginning to occur about the time of Solomon. It designated a portion of the country, an inhabitant being called Arabi, an Arabian (Isa_13:20), or, in later Hebrew, עִרְבַּי, Arbi' (Neh_2:19), the plural of which was Arbim' (2Ch_21:16), עִרבַּים, orArbiim' (עִרְבַּיאַים, Arabians) (2Ch_17:11). In some places these names seem to be given to the nomadic tribes generally (Isa_13:20; Jer_3:2) and their country (Isa_21:13). The kings of Arabia from whom Solomon (2Ch_9:14) and Jehoshaphat (2Ch_17:11) received gifts were probably Bedouin chiefs; though in the place parallel to the former text (1Ki_10:15), instead of Arab we find עֶרֶבor עֵרֶב, E'reb, rendered in Jer_25:20; Jer_25:24, mingled people, but which Gesenius, following the Chaldee, understands to mean foreign allies. It is to be remarked, however, that in all the passages where the word Arab occurs it designates only a small portion of the territory known to us as Arabia. Thus, in the account given by Ezekiel (Eze_27:21) of the Arabian tribes that traded with Tyre, mention is specially made of Arab (comp. Jer_25:24). In 2Ch_21:16; 2Ch_22:1; 2Ch_26:7; Neh_4:7, we find the Arabians classed with the Philistines, the Ethiopians (i.e. the Asiatic Cushites, of whom they are said to have been neighbors), the Mehunim, the Ammonites, and Ashdodites. At what period this name Arab was extended to the whole region it is impossible to ascertain. From it the Greeks formed the word Α᾿ραβία, which occurs twice in the New Testament; in Gal_1:17, in reference probably to the tract adjacent to Damascene Syria, and in Gal_4:25, in reference to the peninsula of Mount Sinai. Among the strangers assembled at Jerusalem at the Pentecost there were ῎Αραβες, Arabs (Act_2:11), the singular being ῎Αραψ.
3. The modern name, Jezirat el-Arab, i.e. the peninsula of the Arabs,
applies to the southern part of the region only. Another native appellation is Belad el-Arab, i.e. the land of the Arabs; the Persians and Turks call it Arabistan. Mr. Lane informs us that in Egypt the term Arab is now generally limited to the Bedouins, or people of the desert; but formerly it was used to designate the towns-people and villagers of Arabian origin, while those of the desert were called Aarab; the former now call themselves Oulad el-Arab, or sons of the Arabs.
II. Geography.
1. The early Greek geographers, such as Eratosthenes and Strabo, mention only two divisions of this vast region, Happy and Desert Arabia. But after the city of Petra, in Idumaea, had become celebrated as the metropolis of a commercial people, the Nabathaeans, it gave name to a third division, viz. Arabia Petroea (improperly translated Stony Arabia); and this threefold division, which first occurs in the geographer Ptolemy, who flourished in the second century, has obtained throughout Europe ever since. It is unknown, however, to native or other Eastern geographers, who reckon Arabia Deserta as chiefly belonging to Syria and to Irak-Arabi, or Babylonia, while they include a great part of what we call Arabia Petrasa in Egypt.
a. ARABIA FELIX (in Gr. Α᾿ραβία ηΕ῾ὐδαίμων, the Arabia Eud(emon of Pliny), i.e. Happy Arabia. The name has commonly been supposed to owe its origin to the variety and richness of the natural productions of this portion of the country, compared with those of the other two divisions. Some, however, regard the epithet happy as a translation of its Arabic name Yemen, which, though primarily denoting the land of the right hand, or south, also bears the secondary sense of happy, prosperous. This part of Arabia lies between the Red Sea on the west and the Persian Gulf on the east, the boundary to the north being an imaginary line drawn between their respective northern extremities, Akabah and Basra or Bussora. It thus embraces by far the greater portion of the country known to us as Arabia, which, however, is very much a terra incognita: for the accessible districts have been but imperfectly explored, and but little of the interior has been as yet visited by any European traveler. b. ARABIA DESERTA, called by the Greeks Σκηνῖτις Α᾿ραβία or ἡ
῎Ερημος Α᾿ραβία, and by the Arabs ElBadieh, i.e. the Desert. This takes in that portion of the country which lies north of Arabia Felix, and is bounded on the north-east by the Euphrates, on the north-west by Syria, and on the west by Palestine and Arabia Petraea. The Arabs divide this great wilderness into three parts, so called from their proximity to the respective countries, viz. Badieh esh-Shem (Syria), Badich el-Jeshirah (the peninsula, i.e. Arabia), and Badieh el-Irdk (Babylonia). From this word Badieh comes the name of the nomadic tribes by whom it is traversed, viz. Bedawees (better known to us by the French corruption of Bedouins), who are not, however, confined to this portion of Arabia, but range throughout the entire region. So far as it has yet been explored, Desert Arabia appears to be one continuous, elevated, interminable steppe, occasionally intersected by ranges of hills. Sand and salt are the chief elements of the soil, which in many places is entirely bare, but elsewhere yields stinted andtthorny shrubs or thinly-scattered saline plants. That part of the wilderness called El-Hammad lies on the Syrian frontier, extending from the Hauran to the Euphrates, and is one immense dead and dreary level, very scantily supplied with water, except near the banks of the river, where the fields are irrigated by wheels and other artificial contrivances. The sky in these deserts is generally cloudless, but the burning heat of the sun is moderated by cooling winds, which, however, raise fearful tempests of sand and dust. Here, too, as in other regions of the East, occasionally prevails the burning, suffocating south-east wind, called by the Arabs El- Harur (the Hot), but more commonly Sammum, and by the Turks Samyeli (both words meaning the Poisonous), the effects of which, however, have by some travelers been greatly exaggerated. This is probably the east wind. and the wind from the desert spoken of in Scripture. Another phenomenon, which is not peculiar, indeed, to Desert Arabia, but is seen there in greatest frequency and perfection, is what the French call the mirage, the delusive appearance of an expanse of water, created by the tremulous, undulatory movement of the vapors raised by the excessive heat of a meridian sun. It is called in Arabic serab, and is no doubt the Hebrew sharab of Isa_35:7, which our translators have rendered the parched ground. SEE MIRAGE.
c. ARABIA PETRAEA (Gr. Πετραία) appears to ha e derived its name from its chief town Petra (i. o. a rock), in Heb. Sela; although (as is remarked by Burckhardt) the epithet is also appropiate on account of the rocky mountains and stony plains which compose its surface. It embraces all the north-western portion of the country; being bounded on the east by Desert and Happy Arabia, on the north by Palestine and the Mediterranean. on the west by Egypt, and on the south by the Red Sea. This division of Arabia has been of late years visited by a great many travelers from Europe, and is consequently much better known than the other portions of the country. Confining ourselves at present to a general outline, we refer for details to the articles SINAI SEE SINAI , EDOM SEE EDOM , MOAB SEE MOAB , etc. Beginning at the northern frontier, there meets the elevated plain of Belka, to the east of the Dead Sea, the district of Kerak V(Kir), the ancient territory of the Moabites, their kinsmen of Ammon having settled to the north of this, in Arabia Deserta. The north border of Moab was the brook Arnon, now the Wady-el-Mojeb; to the south of Moab, separated from it by the Wady-el-Ashy, lay Mount Seir, the dominion of the Edomites, or Idumaea, reaching as. far as to Elath on the Red Sea. The great valley which runs from the Dead Sea to that point consists, first, of El-Ghor, which is comparatively low, but gradually rises by a succession of limestone cliffs into the more elevated plain of El-Arabah above mentioned. We were now, says Dr. Robinson (Biblical Researches, 2, 502), upon the plain, or rather the rolling desert, of the Arabah; the surface was in general loose gravel and stones, everywhere furrowed and torn with the beds of torrents. A more frightful desert it had hardly been our lot to behold. The mountains beyond presented a most uninviting and hideous aspect; precipices and naked conical peaks of chalky and gravelly formation rising one above another without a sign of life or vegetation. This mountainous region is divided into two districts: that to the north is called Jebal (i.e. mountains, the Gebal of Psa_83:7); that to the south Esk-Sherah, which has erroneously been supposed to be allied to the Hebrew Seir; whereas the latter (written with a ע) means hairy, the former denotes a tract or region. To the district of Esh-Sherah belongs Mount Hor, the burial-place of Aaron, towering above the Wady Mousa (valley of Moses), where are the celebrated ruins of Petra (the ancient capital of the Nabathaeo-Idumaeans), brought to light by Seetzen and Burckhardt, and now familiar to English readers by the illustrations of Irby and Mangles, Laborde, etc. As for the mountainous tract immediately west of the Arabah, Dr. Robinson describes it as a desert limestone region, full-
of precipitous ridges, through which no traveled road has ever passed. SEE ARABAH. To the west of Idumaea extends the great and terrible wilderness of Et-Tih, i.e. the Wandering, so called from being the scene of the wanderings of the children of Israel. It consists of vast interminable plains, a hard gravelly soil, and irregular ridges of limestone hills. The researches of Robinson and Smith furnish new and important information respecting the geography of this part of Arabia and the adjacent peninsula of Sinai. It appears that the middle of this desert is occupied by a long central basin, extending from Jebel-et-Tih (i.e. the mountain of the wandering, a chain pretty far south) to the shores of the Mediterranean. This basin descends toward the north with a rapid slope, and is drained through all its length by Wady-el-Arish, which enters the sea near the place of the same name on the borders of Egypt, The soil of the Sinaitic peninsula is in general very unproductive, yielding only palm-trees, acacias, tamarisks (from which exudes the gum called manna), coloquintida, and dwarfish, thorny shrubs. Among the animals may be mentioned the mountain-goat (the beden of the Arabs), gazelles, leopards, a kind of marmot called waber, the sheeb, supposed by Colonel Hamilton Smith to be a species of wild wolf-dog, etc.: of birds there are eagles, partridges, pigeons, the katta, a species of quail, etc. There are serpents, as in ancient times (Num_21:4; Num_21:6), and travelers speak of a large lizard called dhob, common in the desert, but of unusually frequent occurrence here. The peninsula is inhabited by Bedouin Arabs, and its entire population was estimated by Burckhardt at not more than 4000 souls. Though this part of Arabia must ever be memorable as the scene of the journeying of the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land, yet very few of the spots mentioned in Scripture have been identified; nor after the lapse of so many centuries ought that to be occasion of surprise. Kitto, s.v. SEE EXODE.
2. Modern geographers find it more convenient to divide the country, agreeably to the natural features and the native nomenclature, into Arabia Proper, or Jezirat el-Arab, containing the whole peninsula as far as the limits of the northern deserts; Northern Arabia, or El-Badieh, bounded by the peninsula, the Euphrates, Syria, and the desert of Petra, constituting properly Arabia Deserta, or the great desert of Arabia; and Western Arabia, the desert of Petra and the peninsula of Sinai, or the country that has been called Arabia Petrea, bounded by Egypt, Palestine, Northern Arabia, and the Red Sea. (For further geographical details, see the Penny Cycloped. s.v.; M'Culloch's Gaz. s.v.; on Aden, see Wilson, Bible Lands, 1, 9 sq.).
(1.) Arabia Proper, or the Arabian peninsula, consists of high table-land, declining toward the north; its most elevated portions being the chain of mountains running nearly parallel to the Red Sea, and the territory east of the southern part of this chain. The high land is encircled from Akabah to the head of the Persian Gulf by a belt of low littoral country; on the west and south-west the mountains fall abruptly to this low region; on the opposite side of the peninsula the fall is generally gradual. So far as the interior has been explored, it consists of mountainous and desert tracts, relieved by large districts under cultivation, well peopled, watered by wells and streams, and enjoying periodical rains. The water-shed, as the conformation of the country indicates, stretches from the high land of the Yemen to the Persian Gulf. From this descend the torrents that irrigate the western provinces, while several considerable streams there are no navigable rivers reach the sea in the opposite direction: two of these traverse Oman; and another, the principal river of the peninsula, enters the Persian Gulf on the coast of El-Bahrein, and is known to traverse the inland province called Yemameh. The geological formation is in part volcanic; and the mountains are basalt, schist, granite, as well as limestone, etc.; the volcanic action being especially observable about El-Medinah on the north-west, and in the districts bordering the Indian Ocean. The most fertile tracts are those on the south-west and south. The modern Yemen is especially productive, and at the same time, from its mountainous character, picturesque. The settled regions of the interior also appear to be more fertile than is generally believed to be the case; and the deserts afford pasturage after the rains. The principal products of the soil are datepalms, tamarind-trees, vines, fig-trees, tamarisks, acacias, the banana, etc., and a great variety of thorny shrubs, which, with others, afford pasture for the camels; the chief kinds of pulse and cereals (except oats), coffee, spices, drugs, gums and resins, cotton and sugar. Among the metallic and mineral products are lead, iron, silver (in small quantities), sulphur, the emerald, onyx, etc. The products mentioned in the Bible as coming from Arabia will be found described under their respective heads. They seem to refer, in many instances, to merchandise of Ethiopia and India, carried to Palestine by Arab and other traders. Gold, however, was perhaps found in small quantities in the beds of torrents (comp. Diod. Sic. 2:93; 3, 45, 47); and the spices, incense, and precious stones brought from Arabia (1Ki_10:2; 1Ki_10:10; 1Ki_10:15; 2Ch_9:1; 2Ch_9:9; 2Ch_9:14; Isa_60:6; Jer_6:20; Eze_27:22) probably were the products of the southern provinces, still celebrated for spices, frankincense, ambergris, etc., as well as for the onyx and other precious stones. Among the more remarkable of the wild animals of Arabia, besides the usual domestic kinds, and. of course, the camel and the horse, for both of which it is famous, are the wild ass, the muskdeer, wild goat, wild sheep, several varieties of the antelope, the hare, monkeys (in the south, and especially in the Yemen); the bear, leopard, wolf, jackal, hyena, fox; the eagle, vulture, several kinds of hawk, the pheasant, red-legged partridge (in the peninsula of Sinai), sand-grouse (throughout the country), the ostrich (abundantly in central Arabia, where it is hunted by Arab tribes); the tortoise, serpents, locusts, etc. Lions were formerly numerous, as the names of places testify. The sperm-whale is found off the coasts bordering the Indian Ocean. Greek and Roman writers (Herod., Agatharch. ap. Muller, Strab., Diod. Sic., Q. Curt., Dion. Perieg., Heliod. AEthiop., and Plin.) mention most of the Biblical and modern products, and the animals above enumerated, with some others (see Smith's Dict. of Class. Geog. s.v.).
Arabia Proper may be subdivided into five principal provinces: the Yemen; the districts of Hadramaut, Mahreh, and Oman, on the Indian Ocean and the entrance of the Persian Gulf; El-Bahrein, toward the head of the gulf just named; the great central country of Nejd and Yemameh; and the Hejaz and Tehameh on the Red Sea. The Arabs also have five divisions, according to the opinion most worthy of credit (Marasid, ed. Juynboll, s.v. Hejaz; comp. Strabo): Tehameh, the Hejaz, Nejd, El-Arud (the provinces lying toward the head of the Persian Gulf, including Yemameh), and the Yemen (including Oman and the intervening tracts). They have, however, never agreed either as to the limits or the number of the divisions. It will be necessary to state in some detail the positions of these' provinces, in order to the right understanding of the identifications of Biblical with Arab names of places and tribes.
[1.] The Yemen embraced originally the most fertile districts of Arabia, and the frankincense and spice country. Its name, signifying the right hand (and therefore south, comp. Mat_12:42), is supposed to have given rise to the appellation εὐδαίμων (Felix), which the Greeks applied to a much more extensive region. At present it is bounded by the Hejaz on the north and Hadramaut on the east, with the sea-board of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean; but formerly, as Fresnel remarks (comp. Sale, Prelim. Disc.), it appears to have extended at least so as to include Hadramaut and Mahreh (Yakut's Mushtarak, ed. Wiistenfeld, and Marasid, passim). In this wider acceptation it embraced the region of the first settlements of the Joktanites. Its modern limits include, on the north, the district of Khaulan (not, as Niebuhr supposes, two distinct districts), named after Khaulan (Kamoos) the Joktanite (Marasid, s.v., and Caussin de Perceval, Essai sur l'Hist. des Arabes avant l'lslamisme, 1, 113); and that of Nejran, with the city of that name founded by Nejran the Joktanite (Caussin, 1:60, and 113 sq.), which is, according to the soundest opinion, the Negra of Alius Gallus (Strab. 16:782; see Jomard, Eltudes giogr. et hist. sur e'Arabie, appended to Mengin, Hist. de l'Egypte, etc., 3, 385-386).
[2.] Hadramaut, on the coast east of the Yemen, is a cultivated tract contiguous to the sandy deserts called El-Ahkaf, which are said to be the original seats of the tribe of Ad. It was celebrated for its frankincense, which it still exports (El-Idrisi, ed. Jaubert, 1:54), and formerly it carried on a considerable trade, its principal port being Zafari, between Mirbat and Ras Sajir, which is now composed of a series of villages (Fresnel, 4e Lettre, Journ. Asiat. iiie serie, 5, 521). To the east of Hadramaut are the districts of Shihr, which exported ambergris (Marasid, s.v.), and Mahreh (so called after a tribe of Kudaah [Id. s.v.], and therefore Joktanite), extending from Seihut to Karwan (Fresnel, 4e Lettre, p. 510). Oman forms the easternmost corner of the south coast, lying at the ei trance of the Persian Gulf. It presents the same natural characteristics as the preceding districts, being partly desert with large fertile tracts. It also contains some considerable lead-mines.
[3.] The highest province on the Persian Gulf is El-Bahrein, between Oman and the head of the gulf, of which the chief town is Hejer according to some, the name of the province also (Kamoos; Marasid, s.v.). It contains the towns (and districts) of Katif and ElAhsa (El- Idrisi, 1:371; Marasid, s.v.; Mushtarak, s.v. El-Ahsa), the latter not being a province, as has been erroneously supposed. The inhabitants of El-Bahrein dwelling on the coast are principally fishermen and pearl- divers. The district of El-Ahsa abounds in wells, and possesses excellent pastures, which are frequented by tribes of other parts.
[4.] The great central province of Nejd, and that of Yemameh, which bounds it on the south, are little known from the accounts of travelers. Nejd signifies high land, and hence its limits are very doubtfully laid down by the Arabs themselves. It consists of cultivated table-land, with numerous wells, and is celebrated for its pastures; but it is intersected by extensive deserts.: Yemameh appears to be generally very similar to Nejd. On the south lies the great desert called Er-Ruba el-Khali, uninhabitable in the summer, but yielding pasturage in the winter after the rains. The camels of the tribes inhabiting Nejd are highly esteemed in Arabia, and the breed of horses is the most famous in the world. In this province are said to be remains of very ancient structures, similar to those east of the Jordan.
[5.] The Hejaz and Tehameh (or El-Ghor, the low land) are bounded by Nejd, the Yemen, the Red Sea, and the desert of Petra, the northern limit of the Hejaz being Eileh (El-Makrizi's IKhitat, s.v. Eileh). The Hejaz is the holy land of Arabia, its chief cities being Mekkeh and El- Medinah; and it was also the first seat of the Ishmaelites in the peninsula. The northern portion is ingeneral sterile and rocky; toward the south it gradually merges into the Yemen, or the district called El- Asir, which is but little noticed by either eastern or western geographers (see Jomard, 245 sq.). The province of Tehameh extends between the mountain chain of the Hejaz and the shore of the Red Sea; and is sometimes divided into Tehameh of the Hejaz and Tehameh of the Yemen. It is a parched, sandy tract, with little rain, and fewer pasturages and cultivated portions than the mountainous country.
(2.) Northern Arabia, or the Arabian Desert, is divided by the Arabs (who do not consider it as strictly belonging to their country) into Badiet esh- Shem, the Desert of Syria, Badiet el-Jezireh, the Desert of Mesopotamia (not of Arabia, as some suppose), and Badiet el-Irak, the Desert of El-Irak. It is, so far as it is known to us, a high, undulating, parched plain, of which the Euphrates forms the natural boundary from the Persian Gulf to the frontier of Syria, whence it is bounded by the latter country and the desert of Petra on the north-west and west, the peninsula of Arabia forming its southern limit. It has few oases, the water of the wells is generally either brackish or unpotable, and it is visited by the sand-wind called Samoom, of which, however, the terrors have been much exaggerated. The Arabs find pasture for their flocks and herds after the rains, and in the more depressed plains; and the desert generally produces prickly shrubs, etc., on which the camels feed. The inhabitants were known to the ancients as σκηνῖται, dwellers in tents, or perhaps so called from their town αἱ Σκηναί (Strab. 16:747, 767; Diod. Sic. 2:24; Amm. Marc. 23:6; comp. Isa_13:20; Jer_49:31; Eze_38:11); and they extended from Babylonia on the east (comp. Num_23:7; 2Ch_21:16; Isa_2:6; Isa_13:20) to the borders of Egypt on the west (Strab. 16:748; Plin. 5, 12; Amm. Marc. 14:4; 22:15). These tribes, principally descended from Ishmael and from Keturah, have always led a wandering and pastoral life. Their predatory habits are several times mentioned in the O.T. (2Ch_21:16-17; 2Ch_26:7; Job_1:15; Jer_3:2). They also conducted a considerable trade of merchandise of Arabia and India from the shores of the Persian Gulf (Eze_27:20-24), whence a chain of oases still forms caravan-stations (Burckhardt, Arabia, Appendix 6); and they likewise traded from the western portions of the peninsula. The latter traffic appears to be frequently mentioned in connection with Ishmaelites, Keturahites, and other Arabian peoples (Gen_37:25; Gen_37:28; 1Ki_10:15; 1Ki_10:25; 2Ch_9:14; 2Ch_9:24; Isa_9:6; Jer_6:20), and probably consisted of the products of Southern Arabia and of the opposite shores of Ethiopia; it seems, however, to have been chiefly in the hands of the inhabitants of Idumaea; but it is difficult to distinguish between the references to the latter people and to the tribes of Northern Arabia in the passages relating to this traffic. That certain of these tribes brought tribute to Jehoshaphat appears from 2Ch_17:11; and elsewhere there are indications of such tribute (comp. the passages referred to above).
(3.) Western Arabia includes the peninsula of Sinai (q.v.) and the desert of Petra, corresponding generally with the limits of Arabia Petraea. The latter name is probably derived from that of its chief city; not from its stony character. It was in the earliest times inhabited by a people whose genealogy is not mentioned in the Bible, the Horites, or Horim (Gen_14:6; Gen_36:20-21; Deu_2:12; Deu_2:22; Deut 36:20-22). SEE HORITE. Its later inhabitants were in part the same as those of the preceding division of Arabia, as indeed the boundary of the two countries is arbitrary and unsettled; but it was mostly peopled by descendants of Esau, and was generally known as the .land of Edom, or Idumaea (q.v.), as well as by its older appellation, the desert of Seir, or Mount Seir (q.v.). The common origin of the Idumaeans from Esau and Ishmael is found in the marriage of the former with a daughter of the latter (Gen_28:9; Gen_36:3). The Nabathaeans succeeded to the Idumaeans, and Idumea is mentioned only as a geographical designation after the time of Josephus. The Nabathaeans have always been identified with Nebaioth, son of Ishmael (Gen_25:13; Isa_60:7), until Quatremere (Memoire sur les Nabatheens) advanced the theory that they were of another race, and a people of Mesopotamia. SEE NEBAITH. Petra was in the great route of the western caravan-traffic of Arabia, and of the merchandise brought up the Elanitic Gulf. SEE ELATH; SEE EZIONGEBER; SEE PETRA, etc.
3. Inhabitants.
1. Scriptural Account. There is a prevalent notion that the Arabs, both of the south and north, are descended from Ishmael; and the passage in Gen_16:12, he (Ishmael) shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren, is often cited as if it were a prediction of that national independence which, upon the whole, the Arabs have maintained more than any other people. But this supposition (in so far as the true meaning of the text quoted is concerned) is founded on a misconception of the original Hebrew, which runs literally, he shall dwell before the faces of all his brethren, i.e. (according to the idiom above explained, in which before the face denotes the east), the habitation of his posterity shall be to the east of the settlements of Abraham's other descendants. This seems also to be the import of Gen_25:18, where, in reference to Ishmael, it is said in our version, he died in the presence of all his brethren; but the true sense is, the lot of his inheritance fell to him before the faces (i.e. to the east) of all his brethren. These prophecies found their accomplishment in the fact of the sons of Ishmael being located, generally speaking, to the east of the other descendants of Abraham, whether by Sarah or by Keturah. But the idea of the southern Arabs being of the posterity of Ishmael is entirely without foundation, and seems to have originated in the tradition invented by Arab vanity that they, as well as the Jews, are of the seed of Abraham a vanity which, besides disfiguring and falsifying the whole history of the patriarch and his son Ishmael, has transferred the scene of it from Palestine to Mecca. If we go to the most authentic source of ancient ethnography, the book of Genesis, we there find that the vast tracts of country known to us under the name of Arabia gradually became peopled by a variety of tribes of different lineage, though it is now impossible to determine the precise limits within which they fixed their permanent or nomadic abode. SEE ETHNOLOGY.
a. HAMITES, i.e. the posterity of Cush, Ham's eldest son, whose descendants appear to have settled in the south of Arabia, and to have sent colonies across the Red Sea to the opposite coast of Africa; and hence Cush became a general name for the south, and specially for Arabian and African Ethiopia. The sons of Cush (Gen_10:7) were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah or Ragma (his sons Sheba and Dedan), and Sabtecah. SEE CUSH.
b. SHEMITES, including the following:
(a) Joktanites, i.e. the descendants of Joktan (called by the Arabs Kahtan), the second son of Eber, Shem's great-grandson (Gen_10:25-26). According to Arab tradition, Kahtan (whom they also regard as a son. of Eber), after the confusion of tongues and dispersion at Babel, settled in Yemen, where he reigned as king. Ptolemy speaks of an Arab tribe called Katanites, who may have derived their name from him; and the richest Bedouins of the southern plains are the Kahtan tribe on the frontiers of Yemen. Joktan had thirteen sons, some of whose names may be obscurely traced in the designations of certain districts in Arabia Felix. Their names were Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth (preserved in the name of the province of Hadramaut, the Hebrew and Arabic letters being the same), Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal (believed by the Arabs to have been the founder of Sanaa in Yemen), Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba (father of the Sabieans, whose chief town was Mariaba or Mareb; their queen, Balkis, supposed to be the queen who visited Solomon), Ophir (who gave name to the district that became so famous for its gold), Havilah, and Jobab.
(b) Abrahamites, divided into:
[1.] Hagarenes or Hagarites, so called from Hagar the mother, otherwise termed Ishmaelites from her son; and yet in course of time these names appear to have been applied to different tribes, for in Psa_83:6, the Hagarenes are expressly distinguished from the Ishmaelites (comp. 1Ch_5:10; 1Ch_5:19; 1Ch_5:22, and the apocryphal book of Baruch 1:35; 3:23). The twelve sons of Ishmael (Gen_25:13-15), who gave names to separate tribes, were Nebaioth (the Nabathbeans in Arabia Petraea), Kedar (the Kedarenes, sometimes also used as a designation of the Bedouins generally, and hence the Jewish rabbins call the Arabic language the Kedarene"), Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad or Hadar, Tema, Jetur, Naphish (the Ituraeans and Naphishaeans near the tribe of Gad; 1Ch_5:19-20), and Kedemah. They appear to have been for the. most part located near Palestine on the east and south-east. [2.] Keturahites, i.e. the descendants of Abraham and his concubine Keturah, by whom he had six sons (Gen_25:2): Zimram, Jokshan (who, like Raamah, son of Cush, was also the father of two sons, Sheba and Dedan), Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. Among these the posterity of Midian became the best known. Their principal seat appears to have been in the neighborhood of the Moabites, but a branch of them must have settled in the peninsula of Sinai, for Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, was a priest of Midian (Exo_3:1; Exo_18:5; Num_10:29). To the posterity of Shuah belonged Bildad, one of the friends of Job.
[3.] Edomites, i.e. the descendants of Esau, who possessed Mount Seir and the adjacent region, called from them Idumaea. They and the Nabathaeans formed in later times a flourishing commercial state, the capital of which was the remarkable city called Petra.
(c) Nahorites, the descendants of Nahor, Abraham's brother, who seem to have peopled the land of Uz, the country of Job, and of Buz, the country of his friend Elihu the Buzite, these being the names of Nahor's sons (Gen_22:21).
(d) Lotites, viz.:
[1.] Moabites, who occupied the northern portion of Arabia Petriea, as above described, and their kinsmen, the
[2.] Ammonites, who lived north of them, in Arabia Deserta.
c. Besides these the Bible mentions various other tribes who resided within the bounds of Arabia, but whose descent is unknown, e.g. the Amalekites, the Kenites, the Horites, the inhabitants of Maon, Hazor, Vedan and Javan- Meuzzal (Eze_27:19), where the English version has, Dan also and Javan going to and fro.
In process of time some of these tribes were perhaps wholly extirpated (as seems to have been the case with the Amalekites), but the rest were more or less mingled together by intermarriages, by military conquests, political revolutions, and other causes of which history has preserved no record; and, thus amalgamated, they became known to the rest of the world as the ARABS, a people whose physical and mental characteristics are very strongly and distinctly marked. In both respects they rank very high among the nations; so much so that some have regarded them as furnishing the prototype the primitive model form the standard figure of the human species. This was the opinion of the famous Baron de Larrey, surgeon- general of Napoleon's army in Egypt, who, in speaking of the Arabs on the east side of the Red Sea, says (in a Memoir for the Use of the Scientific Commission to Algiers, Paris, 1838), They have a physiognomy and character which are quite peculiar, and which distinguish them generally from all those which appear in other regions of the globe. In his dissections he found their physical structure in all respects more perfect than that of Europeans; their organs of sense exquisitely acute; their size above the average of men in general; their figure robust and elegant (the color brown); their intelligence proportionate to that physical perfection, and, without doubt, superior, other things being equal, to that of other nations.
2. Native History. The Arabs, like every other ancient nation of any celebrity, have traditions representing their country as originally inhabited by races which became extinct at a very remote period. These were the tribes of Ad, Thamud, Umeiyim, Abil, Tasm, Jedis, Emlik (Amalek), Jurhum (the first of this name), and Webari: some omit the fourth and the last two, but add Jasim. The majority of their historians derive these tribes from Shem; but some from Ham, though not through Cush. Their earliest traditions that have any obvious relation to the Bible refer the origin of the existing nation in the first instance to Kahtan, whom they and most European scholars identify with Joktan; and secondly to Ishmael, whom they assert to have married a descendant of Kahtan, though they only carry up their genealogies to Adnan (said to be of the 21st generation before Mohammed). They are silent respecting Cushite settlements in Arabia; but modern research, we think, proves that Cushites were among its early inhabitants. Although Cush in the Bible usually corresponds to Ethiopia, certain passages seem to indicate Cushite peoples in Arabia; and the series of the sons of Cush should, according to recent discoveries, be sought for in order along the southern coast, exclusive of Seba (Meroe), occupying one extreme of their settlements, and Nimrod the other. The great ruins of Mareb or Seba, and of other places in the Yemen and Hadramaut, are not those of a Semitic people; and farther to the east, the existing language of Mahreh, the remnant of that of the inscriptions found on the ancient remains just mentioned, is in so great a degree apparently African as to be called by some scholars Cushite; while the settlements of Raamah and those of his sons Sheba and Dedan, are probably to be looked for toward the head of the Persian Gulf, bordered on the north by the descendants of Keturah, bearing the same names as the two latter. In Babylonia also independent proofs of this immigration of Cushites from Ethiopia have, it is thought, been lately obtained. The ancient cities and buildings of Southern Arabia, in their architecture, the inscriptions they contain, and the native traditions respecting them, are of the utmost value in aiding a student of this portion of primeval history. Indeed they are the only important archaic monuments of the country; and they illustrate both its earliest people and its greatest kingdoms. Mareb, or Seba (the Mariaba of the Greek geographers), is one of the most interesting of these sites (see Michaelis's Questions, No. 94, etc., in Niebuhr's Arabia). It was founded, according to the general agreement of tradition, by Abd-esh-Shems Seba, grandson of Yaarub the Kahtanite (Mushtarak, in loc.; Abulfeda, Hist, anteisl. ed. Fleischer, p. 114); and the Dike of El-Arim, which was situate near the city, and the rupture of which (A.D. 150-170, according to De Sacy; 120, according to Caussin de Perceval) formed an era in Arabian history, is generally ascribed to Lukman the Greater, the Adite, who founded the dynasty of the second Ad (Ibn-el-Wardee, MS.; Hamza Ispahanensis, ap. Schultens, p. 24, 25; El-Mesudi, cited by De Sacy, Mem. de l'Acad. 48, 484 sq.; and Ibn Khaldun in Caussin's Essai, 1:16). Adites (in conjunction with Cushites) were probably the founders of this and similar structures, and were succeeded by a predominantly Joktanite people, the Biblical Sheba, whose name is preserved in the Arabian Seba, and in the Sabcei of the Greeks. It has been argued (Caussin, Essai, 1:42 sq.; Renan, Langues Semitiques, 1, 300) that the Adites were the Cushite Seba; but this hypothesis, which involves the question of the settlements of the eldest son of Cush, and that of the descent of the Adites, rests solely on the existence of Cushite settlements in Southern Arabia, and of the name of Seba in the Yemen (by these writers inferentially identified with סְבָא; by the Arabs, unanimously, with Seba the Kahtanite, or שְׁבָא; the Hebrew shin being, in by far the greater number of instances, sin in Arabic); and it necessitates the existence of the two Biblical kingdoms of Seba and Sheba in a circumscribed province of Southern Arabia, a result which we think is irreconcilable with a careful comparison of the passages in the Bible bearing on this subject. SEE CUSH; SEE SEBA; SEE SHEBA. Neither is there evidence to indicate the identity of Ad and the other extinct tribes with any Semitic or Hamitic people: they must, in the present state of knowledge, be classed with the Rephaim and other peoples whose genealogies are not known to us. SEE ADITES. The only one that can possibly be identified with a scriptural name is Amalek, whose supposed descent from the grandson of Esau seems inconsistent with Gen_14:7, and Num_24:20. SEE AMALEK.
The several nations that have inhabited the country are divided by the Arabs into extinct and existing tribes, and these are again distinguished as,
1. El-Arab el-Aribeh (Arab of the Arabs; comp. Paul's phrase, Hebrew of the Hebrews, Php_3:5), the pure or genuine Arabs;
2. El-Arab el-Mutaarribeh; and,
3. El-Arab el-Mustaaribeh, the insititious or naturalized Arabs. Of many conflicting opinions respecting these races, two only are worthy of note.
According to the first of these, El-Arab el-Aribeh denotes the extinct tribes, with whom some conjoin Kahtan; while the other two, as synonymous appellations, belong to the descendants of Ishmael. According to the second, El-Arab el-Aribeh denotes the extinct tribes; El-Arab el- Mutaarribeh the unmixed descendants of Kahtan; and El-Arab el- Mustaaribeh the descendants of Ishmael by the daughter of Mudad the Joktanite. That the descendants of Joktan occupied the principal portions of the south and south-west of the peninsula, with colonies in the interior, is attested by the Arabs, and fully confirmed by historical and philological researches. It is-also asserted that they have been gradually absorbed into the Ishmaelite immigrants, though not without leaving strong traces of their former existence. Fresnel, however (le Lettre, p. 24), says that they were quite distinct, at least in Mohammed's time, and it is not unlikely that the Ishmaelite element has been exaggerated by Mohammedan influence.
Respecting the Joktanite settlers we have some certain evidence. In Gen_10:30 it is said, and their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar, a mount of the east [Kedem]. The position of Mesha is very uncertain; it is most reasonably supposed to be the western limit of the first settlers, SEE MESHA: Sephar is undoubtedly Dhafari, or Zafari, of the Arabs (probably pronounced in ancient times without the final vowel, as it is at the present day), a name not uncommon in the peninsula, but especially that of two celebrated towns one being the seaport on the south coast near Mirbat, the other, now in ruins, near Sana, and said to be the ancient residence of the Himyarite kings (Mushtarak, s.v.; Marasid, ib.; El-Idrisi, 1:148). Fresnel (4e Lettre, p. 516 sq.) prefers the seaport, as the Himyarite capital, and is followed by Jomard (Etudes, p. 367). He informs us that the inhabitants call this town Isfor. Considering the position of the Joktanite races, this is probably Sephar; it is situated near a thuriferous mountain (Marasid, s.v.), and exports the best frankincense (Niebuhr, p. 148); Zafari in the Yemen, however, is also among mountains. SEE SEPHAR. In the district indicated above are distinct and undoubted traces of the names of the sons of Joktan mentioned in Genesis, such as Hadramaut for Hazarmaveth, Azal for Uzal, Seba for Sheba, etc. Their remains are found in the existing inhabitants of (at least) its eastern portion, and their records in the numerous Himyarite ruins and inscriptions.
The principal Joktanite kingdom, and the chief state of ancient Arabia, was that of the Yemen, founded (according to the Arabs) by Yaarub, the son (or descendant) of Kahtan (Joktan). Its most ancient capital was probably Sana, formerly called Azal, after Azal, son of Joktan (Yakut, ut sup.). SEE UZAL. The other capitals were Mareb, or Seba, and Zafari. This was the Biblical kingdom of Sheba. Its rulers, and most of its people, were descendants of Seba (= Sheba), whence the classical Saboi (Diod. Sic. 3:38, 46). Among its rulers was probably the queen of Sheba who came to hear the wisdom of Solomon (2Ki_10:2). The Arabs call her Balkis, a queen of the later Himyarites; and their traditions respecting her are otherwise not worthy of credit. SEE SHEBA. The dominant family was apparently that of Himyer, son (or descendant) of Seba. A member of this family founded the more modern kingdom of the Himyarites. The testimony of the Bible and of the classical writers, as well as native tradition, seems to prove that the latter appellation superseded the former only shortly before the Christian era; i.e. after the foundation of the later kingdom. Himyarite, however, is now very vaguely used. Himyer, it may be observed, is perhaps red, and several places in Arabia whose soil is reddish derive their names from Aafar, reddish. This may identify Himyer (the red man?) with Ophir, respecting whose settlements, and the position of the country called Ophir, the opinion of the learned is widely divided. SEE OPHIR. The similarity of signification with φοίνιξ and ἐρυθρός lends weight to the tradition that the Phoenicians came from the Erythraean Sea (Herod. 7:89). The maritime nations of the Mediterranean who had an affinity with the Egyptians such as the Philistines, and probably the primitive Cretans and Carians appear to have been an offshoot of an early immigration from Southern Arabia which moved northward, partly through Egypt. SEE CAPHTOR. It is noticeable that the Shepherd invaders of Egypt are said to have been Phoenicians; but Manetho, who seems to have held this opinion, also tells us that some said they were Arabs (Manetho, ap. Cory, Anc. Fragments, 2d ed. p. 171), and the hieroglyphic name has been supposed to correspond to the common appellation of the Arabs, Shasu, the camel-riding Shasu (Select Papyri, pl. 53), an identification entirely in accordance with the Egyptian historian's account of their invasion and polity. In the opposite direction, an early Arab-domination of Challdaea is mentioned by Berosus (Cory, p. 60), as preceding the Assyrian dynasty.
All these indications, slight as they are, must be borne in mind in attempting a reconstruction of the history of Southern Arabia. The early kings of the Yemen were at continual feud with the descendants of Kahlan (brother of Himyer) until the fifteenth in descent (according to the majority of native historians) from Himyer united the kingdom. This king was the first Tubbaa, a title also distinctive of his successors, whose dynasty represents the proper kingdom of Himyer, whence the Homeritce (Ptol. 6:7; Plin. 6:28). Their rule probably extended over the modern Yemen, Hadramaut, and Mahreh. The fifth Tubbaa, Dhu-l-Adhar, or Zu-l-Azar, is supposed (Caussin, 1:73) to be the Ilasarus of AElius Gallus (B.C. 24). The kingdom of Himyer lasted until A.D. 525, when it fell before an Abyssinian invasion. Already, about the middle of the fourth century, the kings of Axum appear to have become masters of part of the Yemen (Caussin, Essai, 1:114; Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. Morgenlind. Gesellschaft, 7, 17 sq.; 11:338 sq.), adding to their titles the names of places in Arabia belonging to Himyer. After four reigns they were succeeded by Himyarite princes, vassals of Persia, the last of whom submitted to Mohammed. Kings of Hadramaut (the people of this district are the classical Chatramotitce, Plin. 6:28; comp. Adramitce) are also enumerated by the Arabs (Ibn-Khaldun, ap. Caussin, 1:135 sq.), and distinguished from the descendants of Yaarub, an indication, as is remarked by Caussin (1. c.), of their separate descent from Hazarmaveth (q.v.). The Greek geographers mention a fourth people in conjunction with the Sabiei, Homeritae, and Chatramotite the Mincei (Strab. 16:768; Ptol. v. 7, §23; Plin. 6:32; Diod. Sic. 3:42), who have not been identified with any Biblical or modern name. Some place them as high as Mekkeh, and derive their name from Mina (the sacred valley north-east of that city), or from the goddess Minah, worshipped in the district between Mekkeh and El- Medinah. Fresnel, however, places them in the Wady Doan in Hadramaut, arguing that the Yemen anciently included this tract, that the Minaei were probably the same as the Rhabanitae or Rhamanit.e (Ptol. 6:7, § 24; Strab. 16:782), and that ῾Ραμανιτῶν was a copyist's error for Ι᾿εμανιτῶν. The other chief Joktanite kingdom was that of the Hejaz, founded by Jurhum, the brother of Yaarub, who left the Yemen and settled in the neighborhood of Mekkeh. The Arab lists of its kings are inextricably confused; but the name of their leader and that of two of his successors was Mudad (or El-Mudad), who probably represents Almodad (q.v.). Ishmael, according to the Arabs, married a daughter of the first Mudad, whence sprang Adnan the ancestor of Mohammed. This kingdom, situate in a less fertile district than the Yemen, and engaged in conflict with aboriginal tribes, never attained the importance of that of the south. It merged, by intermarriage and conquest, into the tribes of Ishmael. (Kutb- ed-Din, ed. Wistenfeld, p. 35 and 39 sq.; comp. authorities quoted by Caussin.) Fresnel cites an Arab author who identifies Jurhum with Hadoram (q.v.).
Although these were the principal Joktanite kingdoms, others were founded beyond the limits of the peninsula. The most celebrated of these were that of El-Hireh in El-Irak, and that of Ghassan on the confines of Syria; both originated by emigrants after the Flood of El-Arim. El-Hi-reh soon became Ishmaelitic: Ghassan long maintained its original stock. Among its rulers were many named El-Harith. Respecting the presumed identity of some of these with kings called by the Greeks and Romans Aretas, and with the Aretas mentioned by Paul (2Co_11:32), SEE ARETAS.
The Ishmaelites appear to have entered the peninsula from the north-west. That they have spread over the whole of it (with the exception of one or two districts on the south coast which are said to be still inhabited by unmixed Joktanite peoples), and that the modern nation is predominantly Ishmaelite, is asserted by the Arabs. They do not, however, carry up their genealogies higher than Adnan (as we have already said), and they have lost the names of most of Ishmael's immediate and near descendants. Such as have been identified with existing names will be found under the several articles bearing their names. SEE HAGARENE. They extended northward from the Hejaz into the Arabian desert, where they mixed with Keturahites and other Abrahamic peoples; and westward to Idumaea, where they mixed with Edomites, etc. The tribes sprung from Ishmael have always been governed by petty chiefs or heads of families (sheiks and emirs); they have generally followed a patriarchal life, and have not originated kingdoms, though they have in some instances succeeded to those of Joktanites, the principal one of these being that of El-Hireh. With reference to the Ishmaelites generally, we may observe, in continuation of a former remark, that although their first settlements in the Hejaz, and their spreading over a great part of the northern portions of the peninsula, are sufficiently proved, there is doubt as to the wide extension given to them by Arab tradition. Mohammed derived from the Jews whatever tradition he pleased, and silenced any contrary, by the Koran or his own dicta. This religious element, which does not directly affect the tribes of Joktan (whose settlements are otherwise unquestionably identified), has a great influence over those of Ishmael. They, therefore, cannot be certainly proved to have spread over the peninsula, notwithstanding the almost universal adoption of their language (which is generally acknowledged to have been the Arabic commonly so called), and the concurrent testimony of the Arabs; but from these and other considerations it becomes at the same time highly probable that they now form the predominant element of the Arab nation.
Of the descendants of Keturah the Arabs say little. They appear to have settled chiefly north of the peninsula in Desert Arabia, from Palestine to the Persian Gulf; and the passages in the Bible in which mention is made of Dedan (except those relating to the Cushite Dedan, Gen_10:7) refer apparently to the tribe sprung from this race (Isa_21:13; Jer_25:23; Eze_27:20), perhaps with, an admixture of the Cushite Dedan, who seems to have passed up the western shores of the Persian Gulf. Some traces of Keturahites, indeed, are asserted to exist in the south of the peninsula, where a king of Himyer is said to have been a Midianite (El-Mesudi, ap. Schultens, p. 1589); and where one dialect is said to be of Midian, and another of Jokshan son of Keturah (Moajam); but these traditions must be ascribed to the rabbinical influence in Arab history. Native writers are almost wholly silent on this subject; and the dialects mentioned above are not, so far as they are known to us, of the tribes of Keturah. SEE KETURAH, etc.
In Northern and Western Arabia are other peoples which, from their geographical position and mode of life, are sometimes classed with the Arabs. Of these are AMALEK SEE AMALEK , the descendants of ESAU SEE ESAU , etc.
Arabia, in ancient times, generally preserved its independence, unaffected by those great events which changed the destiny of the surrounding nations; and in the sixth century of our era, the decline of the Roman empire and the corruptions and distractions of the Eastern Church favored the impulse given by a wild and warlike fanaticism. Mohammed arose, and succeeded in gathering around his standard the nomadic tribes of Central Arabia; and in less than fifty years that standard waved triumphant from the straits of Gibraltar to the hitherto unconquered regions beyond the Oxus. The caliphs transferred the seat of government successively to Damascus, Kufa, and Bagdad; but amid the distractions of their foreign wars, the chiefs of the interior of Arabia gradually shook off their feeble allegiance, and resumed their ancient habits of independence, which, notwithstanding the revolutions that have since occurred, they for the most part retain (Crichton, Hist. of Arabia, Lond. 1852).
3. Religion. The most ancient idolatry of the Arabs we must conclude to have been fetichism, of which there are striking proofs in the sacred trees and stones of historical times, and in the worship of the heavenly bodies, or Sabeism. With the latter were perhaps I connected the temples (or palace- temples) of which I there are either remains or traditions in the Himyarite kingdom; such as Beit Ghumdan in Sana, and those of Reidan, Beinuneh, Ruein, Einein, and Riam. To the worship of the heavenly bodies we find allusions in Job (Job_31:26-28), and to the belief in the influence of the stars to give rain (Job_38:31), where the Pleiades give rain, and Orion withholds it; and again in Judges (Jdg_5:20-21), where the stars fight again t the host of Sisera. The names of the objects of the earlier fetichism, the stone-worship, tree-worship, etc., of various tribes, are too numerous to mention. One, that of Manah, the goddess worshipped between Mekkeh and El-Medinah has been compared with Meni (Isa_65:11), which is rendered in the A. V. number. SEE MENI. Magianism, an importation from Chaldea and Persia, must be reckoned among the religions of the pagan Arabs; but it never had very numerous followers. Christianity was introduced into Southern Arabia toward the close of the 2d century, and about a century later it had made great progress (Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 6, 19, 33, 37). It flourished chiefly in the Yemen, where many churches were built (see Philostorg. Hist. Ecclesiastes 3; Sozomen, 6; Evagr. 6). It also rapidly advanced in other portions of Arabia, through the kingdom of Hireh and the contiguous countries, Ghassan, and other parts. The persecutions of the Christians, and more particularly of those of Nejran by the Tubbaa Zu-n-Nuwas, brought about the fall of the Himyarite dynasty by the invasion of the Christian ruler of Abyssinia. SEE ARABIA, CHURCH OF. Judaism was propagated in Arabia, principally by Karaites, at the captivity, but it was introduced before that time: it became very prevalent in the Yemen, and in the Hejaz, especially at Kheibar and El- Medinah, where there are said to be still tribes of Jewish extraction. In the period immediately preceding the birth of Mohammed another class had sprung up, who, disbelieving the idolatry of the greater number of their countrymen, and not yet believers in Judaism, or in the corrupt Christianity with which alone they were acquainted, looked to a revival of what they called the religion of Abraham (see Sprenger's Life of Mohammed, 1, Calcutta, 1856). The promulgation of the Mohammedan imposture overthrew paganism, but crushed while it assumed to lead the movement which had been one of the cause of its success. and almost wholly superseded the religions of the Bible in Arabia (see Krehl, Relig. d. vorislamitischen Araber, Lpz. 1863). SEE MOHAMMED.
4. Language. Arabic, the language of Arabia, is the most developed and the richest of the Semitic languages, and the only one of which we have an extensive literature; it is, therefore, of great importance to the study of Hebrew. Of its early phases we know nothing; while we have archaic monuments of the Himyaritic (the ancient language of Southern Arabia), though we cannot fix their precise ages. Of the existence of Hebrew and Chaldee (or Aramaic) in the time of Jacob there is evidence in Genesis (Gen_31:47); and probably Jacob and Laban understood each other, the one speaking Hebrew and the other Chaldee. It seems also (Jdg_7:9-15) that Gideon, or Phurah, or both, understood the conversation of the Midianites, and the Amalekites, and all the children of the East. It is probable, therefore, that down to the 13th century B.C. the Semitic languages differed much less than in after times. But it appears from 2Ki_18:26, that in the 8th century B.C. only the educated classes among the Jews understood Aramaic. With these evidences before us, and making a due distinction between the archaic and the known phases of the Aramaic and the Arabic, we think that the Himyaritic is to be regarded as a sister of the Hebrew, and the Arabic (commonly so called) as a sister of the Hebrew and the Aramaic, or, in its classical phasis, as a descendant of a sister of these two, but that the Himyaritic is mixed with an African language, and that the other dialects of Arabia are in like manner, though in a much less degree, mixed with an African language. The inferred differences between the older and later phases of the Aramaic, and the presumed difference between those of the Arabic, are amply confirmed by comparative philology. The division of the Ishmaelite language into many dialects is to be attributed chiefly to the separation of tribes by uninhabitable tracts of desert, and the subsequent amalgamation of those dialects to the pilgrimage and the annual meetings of Okaz, a fair in which literary contests took place, and where it was of the first importance that the contending poets should deliver themselves in a language perfectly intelligible to the mass of the people congregated, in order that it might be critically judged by them; for many of the meanest of the Arabs, utterly ignorant of reading and writing, were of the highest of the authorities consulted by the lexicologists when the corruption of the language had commenced, i.e. when the Arabs, as Mohammedans, had begun to spread among foreigners. SEE ARABIC LANGUAGE.
Respecting the Himyaritic until lately little was known; but monuments bearing inscriptions in this language have been discovered in the southern parts of the peninsula, principally in Hadramaut and the Yemen, and some of the inscriptions have been published by Fresnel, Arnaud, Wellsted, and Cruttenden; while Fresnel has found a dialect still spoken in the district of Mahreh, and westward as far as Kishim, that of the neighborhood of Zafari and Mirbat being the purest, and called Ekhili; and this is supposed with reason to be the modern phasis of the old Himyaritic (4e Lettre). Fresnel's alphabet has been accepted by the learned. The dates found in the inscriptions range from 30 (on the dike of Mareb) to 604 at Hisn Ghorab, but what era these represent is uncertain. Ewald (Ueber die Himyarische Sprache in Hofer's Zeitschrift, 1, 295 sq.) thinks that they are years of the Rupture of the Dike, while acknowledging their apparent high antiquity; but the difficulty of supposing such inscriptions on a ruined dike, and the fact that some of them would thus be brought later than the time of Mohammed, make it probable that they belong rather to an earlier era, perhaps that of the Himnyarite empire, though what point marks its commencement is not determined. The Himyaritic in its earliest phasis probably represents the first Semitic language spoken in Arabia. SEE HIMYARITE; SHEMITIC LANGUAGES.
5. The manners and customs of the Arabs are of great value in illustrating the Bible; but supposed parallels between the patriarchal life of the Scriptures and the state of the modern Arabs must not be hastily drawn. It should be remembered that this people are in a degraded condition; that they have been influenced by Jewish contact, especially by the adoption through
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