ARBC 210: History of the Arabian PeninsulA: A Synopsis

ARBC 210:History of the Arabian PeninsulA: A Synopsis

Who are the ‘Arabs’?

Earliest use of term “Arab”

Assyrian King, Shalmaneser III (853 BC), Kurkh Monolith Inscription: “[defeated] Jindinbu the Arab and his 1000 camels”.

Hebrew Bible, II Chronicles 9:14 (during King Solomon’s reign, 970-931 BC): “[to King Solomon] all the Arab kings and the provincial governors brought gold and silver.”

In accounts from the first half of millenium BC, “Arab” = desert dwelling pastoralist (from Syrian Desert).“Do not show to an Arab the sea or to a Sidonian the desert, for their occupations are different” (Ahiqar 110, 7th century BC)

Occupational Definition!

Ethnic Definition?

Lost Arabs?

Qahtani Arabs (Hinnawi tribal confederation) ?

Adnani Arabs (Ghafiri tribal confederation)?

“An ethnic group is defined by its social structures, history and culture. So ethnicity, unlike race (which is biologically determined), is a human construct, but that does not mean that it is any the less real in the eyes of its members or less able to bind and motivate them” (Hoyland 2001, 248)

Linguistic Definition?

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/117464/Relationships-between-Semitic-languages, accessed 2/13/2014

More recent family tree…

http://mathildasanthropologyblog.wordpress.com/2009/02/08/proto-semitic-dating-and-locating-it/, accessed 2/13/2014.