Everything about Pre-islamic Arabia totally explained
The history of
Pre-Islamic Arabia before the rise of
Islam in the
630s isn't known in great detail. Archaeological exploration in the
Arabian peninsula has been sparse; indigenous written sources are limited to the many inscriptions and coins from southern Arabia. Existing material consists primarily of written sources from other traditions (such as
Egyptians,
Greeks,
Persians,
Romans, etc.) and
oral traditions later recorded by Islamic scholars.
The study of Pre-Islamic Arabia is important to
Islamic studies as it provides the context for the development of Islam.
There are epigraphic
Old South Arabian sources from about the 9th century BC, and
Old North Arabian one from about the 6th century BC. From the 3rd century AD, Arabian history becomes more tangible with the rise of the
Himyarite Kingdom, and with the appearance of the
Qahtanis in the
Levant and the gradual assimilation of the
Nabateans by the Qahtanis in the early centuries AD, a tendency of expansion that finally culminated in the explosive
Muslim conquests of the 7th century.
Bronze Age Arabia
Early Semitic migrations
The earliest known events in Arabian history are migrations from the peninsula into neighbouring areas. In the 3rd millennium BC,
Semitic-speaking peoples migrated from the Arabian peninsula into
Mesopotamia, settled in
Sumer, and eventually established the
Akkadian Empire under
Sargon of Akkad (c. 2300). The
Babylonians and
Assyrians were later descended from the
Semitic Akkadians.
The
East Semitic group established itself at
Ebla. The
Amorites were
West Semitic speakers who left Arabia in the late 3rd millennium and settled along the
Levant. Some of these migrants evolved into the
Amorites and
Canaanites of later times.
Magan and A'ad
- Magan is attested as the name of a trading partner of the Sumer. It is often assumed to be located in Oman.
- The A'adids established themselves in South Arabia settleing to the East of the Qahtan tribe. They established the Kingdom of A'ad around the 10th century BC to the 3rd century AD.
The
A'ad nation were known to the Greeks and Egyptians.
Claudius Ptolemy's
Geographos (2nd century AD) refers to the place by a
Hellenized version of the inhabitants of the capital
Ubar.
Thamud
The
Thamud (
Arabic: ثمود) were a people of ancient Arabia, either a tribe or group of tribes that created large kingdom and flourished from the 3000 BC to 200 BC. Recent archaeological work has revealed numerous
Thamudic rock writings and pictures not only in Yemen but also throughout central
Arabia.
They are mentioned in sources such as the
Quran, Old Arabian poetry, Assyrian annals (Tamudi), in a Greek temple inscription from the northwest
Hijaz of 169 AD, in a 5th-century Byzantine source, in Old North Arabian graffiti around
Tayma.
They are mentioned in the victory annals of the Babylonian King,
Sargon II (8th Century BC), who defeated these people in a campaign in northern Arabia. The Greeks also refer to this people as "Tamudaei", for example "Thamud", in the writings of
Aristo,
Ptolemy, and
Pliny. Before the rise of Islam, approximately between 400-600 AD, they totally disappeared.
Iron Age South Arabia
Kingdom of Ma'in (9th century BC – 1st century BC)
During
Minaean rule the capital was at Karna (now known as
Sadah). Their other important city was Yathill (now known as Baraqish). The Minaean Kingdom was centered in northwestern Yemen, with most of its cities laying along the
Wadi Madhab. Minaic inscriptions have been found far afield of the Kingdom of Ma'in, as far away as
al-`Ula in northwestern
Saudi Arabia and even on the island of
Delos and in
Egypt. It was the first of the South Arabian kingdoms to end, and the Minaic language died around 100 CE.
Kingdom of Saba (9th century BC – 275AD)
During Sabaean rule, trade and agriculture flourished generating much wealth and prosperity. The Sabaean kingdom is located in what is now the Aseer region in southwestern Yemen, and its capital, Ma'rib, is located near what is now Yemen's modern capital,
Sana'a. According to
South Arabian tradition, the eldest son of
Noah,
Shem, founded the city of Ma'rib.
During Sabaean rule, Yemen was called "Arabia Felix" by the Romans who were impressed by its wealth and prosperity. The Roman emperor
Augustus sent a military expedition to conquer the "Arabia Felix", under the orders of Aelius Gallus. After an unsuccessful siege of Ma'rib, the Roman general retreated to
Egypt, while his fleet destroyed the port of
Aden in order to guarantee the Roman merchant route to
India.
The success of the Kingdom was based on the cultivation and trade of spices and aromatics including frankincense and myrrh. These were exported to the Mediterranean, India, and Abyssinia where they were greatly prized by many cultures, using camels on routes through Arabia, and to India by sea.
During the 8th and 7th century BCE, there was a close contact of cultures between the Kingdom of
Dʿmt in northern Ethiopia and Eritrea and Saba'. Though the civilization was indigenous and the royal inscriptions were written in a sort of proto-
Ethiosemitic, there were also some Sabaean immigrants in the kingdom as evidenced by a few of the Dʿmt inscriptions.
Agriculture in Yemen thrived during this time due to an advanced irrigation system which consisted of large water tunnels in mountains, and dams. The most impressive of these earthworks, known as the
Ma'rib Dam was built ca.
700 BCE, provided irrigation for about of land and stood for over a millennium, finally collapsing in
570 CE after centuries of neglect.
Kingdom of Hadhramaut (8th century BC – 3rd century AD)
The first known inscriptions of Hadramaut are known from the 8th century BCE. It was first referenced by an outside civilization in an
Old Sabaic inscription of Karab'il Watar from the early 7th century BCE, in which the King of Hadramaut, Yada`'il, is mentioned as being one of his allies. When the Minaeans took control of the caravan routes in the 4th century BCE, however, Hadramaut became one of its confederates, probably because of commercial interests. It later became independent and was invaded by the growing kingdom of
Himyar toward the end of the first century BCE, but it was able to repel the attack. Hadramaut annexed Qataban in the second half of the 2nd century AD, reaching its greatest size. The kingdom of Hadramaut was eventually conquered by the Himyarite king Shammar Yuhar`ish around 300 CE, unifying all of the South Arabian kingdoms.
Kingdom of Awsan (8th century BC – 6th century BC)
The ancient
Kingdom of Awsan in South Arabia (modern
Yemen), with a capital at Hagar Yahirr in the wadi Markha, to the south of the wadi Bayhan, is now marked by a
tell or artificial mound, which is locally named
Hagar Asfal.
The Achaemenids in Northern Arabia
Achaemenid Arabia corresponded to the lands between
Egypt and
Mesopotamia, later known as
Arabia Petraea. According to
Herodotus,
Cambyses didn't subdue the bedouins when he attacked Egypt in 525 BCE. His successor
Darius the Great doesn't mention the bedouins in the
Behistun inscription from the first years of his reign, but mentions them in later texts. This suggests that Darius conquered this part of Arabia.
Nabateans
The Nabateans are not to be found among the tribes that are listed in Arab genealogies because the Nabatean kingdom ended a long time before the coming of Islam. They settled east of the Syro-African rift between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea, that is, in the land that had once been
Edom. And although the first sure reference to them dates from 312 BC, it's possible that they were present much earlier.
Petra (from the Latin
petrae, meaning 'of rock') lies in a great rift valley east of Wadi `Araba in Jordan about 80 kilometers south of the Dead Sea. It came into prominence in the late first century BCE (BC) through the success of the spice trade. The city was the principal city of ancient Nabataea and was famous above all for two things: its trade and its hydraulic engineering systems. It was locally autonomous until the reign of Trajan, but it flourished under Roman rule. The town grew up around its Colonnaded Street in the first century and by the mid-first century had witnessed rapid urbanization. The quarries were probably opened in this period, and there followed virtually continuous building through the first and second centuries CE.
Palmyra
»
Palmyra was made part of the
Roman province of
Syria during the reign of
Tiberius (
14–
37). It steadily grew in importance as a trade route linking Persia, India, China, and the Roman empire. In 129,
Hadrian visited the city and was so enthralled by it that he proclaimed it a free city and renamed it
Palmyra Hadriana.
In the mid-first century, Palmyra, a wealthy and elegant city located along the caravan routes linking
Persia with the
Mediterranean ports of Roman Syria and Phoenicia, came under Roman control. During the following period of great prosperity, the Arab citizens of Palmyra adopted customs and modes of dress from both the
Iranian Parthian world to the east and the
Graeco-Roman west.
Qataban & Himyar in South Arabia
Kingdom of Qataban (4th century BC – 3rd century AD)
Qataban was one of the ancient Yemeni kingdoms which thrived in the Baihan valley. Like the other Southern Arabian kingdoms it gained great wealth from the trade of frankincense and myrrh incense which were burned at altars. The capital of Qataban was named Timna and was located on the trade route which passed through the other kingdoms of Hadramaut, Saba and Ma'in. The chief deity of the Qatabanians was Amm, or "Uncle" and the people called themselves the "children of Amm".
Kingdom of Himyar (2nd Century BC – 525 AD)
The
Himyarites rebelled against Qataban and eventually united Southwestern Arabia, controlling the Red Sea as well as the coasts of the Gulf of Aden. From their capital city, the Himyarite Kings launched successful military campaigns, and had stretched its domain at times as far east to the Persian Gulf and as far north to the Arabian Desert.
During the 3rd century CE, the South Arabian kingdoms were in continuous conflict with one another.
Gadarat of Aksum began to interfere in South Arabian affairs, signing an alliance with Saba', and a Himyarite text notes that Hadramaut and Qataban were also all allied against the kingdom. As a result of this, the
Kingdom of Aksum was able to capture the Himyarite capital of
Thifar in the first quarter of the 3rd century. However, the alliances didn't last, and Sha`ir Awtar of Saba' unexpectedly turned on Hadramaut, allying again with Aksum and taking its capital in 225. Himyar then allied with Saba' and invaded the newly taken Aksumite territories, retaking Thifar, which had been under the control of Gadarat's son Beygat, and pushing Aksum back into the
Tihama.
Aksumite occupation of Yemen (525 AD – 570 AD)
They established their capital at
Thifar (now just a small village in the
Ibb region) and gradually absorbed the Sabaean kingdom. They traded from the port of
Mawza'a on the Red Sea.
Dhu Nuwas, a Himyarite king, changed the state religion to
Judaism in the beginning of the
6th century and began to massacre the Christians. Outraged,
Kaleb, the Christian King of
Aksum with the encouragement of the Byzantine Emperor
Justin I invaded and annexed Yemen. The Aksumites controlled Himyar and attempted to invade Mecca in the year 570CE, Eastern Yemen remained allied to the Sassanids via tribal alliances with the Lakhmids, which brought the Sassanid army into Yemen ending the Aksumite period.
Sassanid period (570 AD – 630 AD)
The
Persian king
Khosrau I, sent troops under the command of
Vahriz (Persian اسپهبد وهرز), who helped the semi-legendary
Saif bin Dhi Yazan to drive the Ethiopian
Aksumites out of Yemen. Southern Arabia became a Persian dominion under a Yemenite vassal and thus came within the sphere of influence of the
Sassanid Empire. After the dissolvment of the
Lakhmids another army was sent to Yemen making it a province of the Sassanid Empire under a Persian
satrap. Following the death of Khosrau II in 628, then the Persian governor in Southern Arabia,
Badhan, converted to Islam and Yemen followed the new religion.
Qahtani expansion to the North
In
Sassanid times,
Arabia Petraea was a border province between the Roman and Persian empires, and from the early centuries AD was increasingly affected by
South Arabian influence, notably with the
Ghassanids migrating north from the 3rd century.
Ghassanids, Lakhmids and Kindites
The
Ghassanids,
Lakhmids and
Kindites were the last major migration of non-muslims out of Yemen to the north and southwestern borders.
The Ghassanids revived the Semitic presence in the then Hellenized Syria. They mainly settled the Hauran region and spread to modern Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan. The Ghassanids held Syria until engulfed by the expansion of Islam.
Greeks and Romans referred to all the nomadic population of the desert in the Near East as Arabi. The Greeks called Yemen "Arabia Felix".(External Link
), The Romans called the vassal nomadic states within the Roman Empire "Arabia Petraea" after the city of Petra, and called unconquered deserts bordering the empire to the south and east Arabia Magna.(External Link)
The Lakhmids settled the mid Tigris region around their capital Al-hira they ended up allying with the Sassanid against the Ghassanids and the Byzantine Empire. The Lakhmids contested control of the Central Arabian tribes with the Kindites with the Lakhmids eventually destroying Kinda in 540 after the fall of their main ally Himyar. The Sassanids dissolved the Lakhmid kingdom in 602.
The Kindites migrated from Yemen along with the Ghassanids and Lakhmids, but were turned back in Bahrain by the Abdul Qais Rabi'a tribe. They returned to Yemen and allied themselves with the Himyarites who installed them as a vassal kingdom that ruled Central Arbia from Qaryah dhat Kahl (the present-day Qaryat al-Faw) in Central Arabia. They ruled much of the Northern/Central Arabian peninsula until the fall of the Himyarites in 525AD.
Bedouin tribes
»
Much of the Arab lineages provided before Ma'ad relies on biblical genealogy. The general consensus among 14th century Arabic genealogists was that Arabs are of three kinds:
"Perishing Arabs": These are the ancients of whose history little is known. They include ‘Ad, Thamud, Tasm, Jadis, Imlaq and others. Jadis and Tasm perished because of genocide. Ad and Thamud perished because of their decadence. Some people in the past doubted their existence, but Imlaq is the singular form of 'Amaleeq and is probably synonymous to the biblical Amalek.
"Pure Arabs": They allegedly originated from the progeny of Ya‘rub bin Yashjub bin Qahtan so were also called Qahtanian Arabs.
"Arabized Arabs": They allegedly originated from the progeny of Ishmael Son of the biblical patriarch Abraham and were also called ‘Adnani Arabs.
Religion
There is very little material on which to base a description of pre-Islamic religion, particularly in Mecca and the Hijaz. The Qur'an and the hadith, or recorded oral traditions, give some hints as to this religion. Islamic commentators have elaborated these hints into a coherent account that most academics doubt in part or in whole.
Christianity is known to have been active in the region prior to the rise of Islam, especially unorthodox, possibly gnostic forms of it.
Rise of Islam
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