The Arabs of North Arabia in later Pre-Islamic Times:Qedar, Nebaioth, and Others

306 Pages·2014·5.04 MB·English

The Arabs of North Arabia in later Pre-Islamic Times:
Qedar, Nebaioth, and Others

A thesis submitted to The University of Manchester for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities

2014

Marwan G. Shuaib

School of Arts, Languages and Cultures
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The Contents

List of Figures ……………………………………………………………….. 7
Abstract ………………………………………………………………………. 8
Declaration …………………………………………………………………… 9
Copyright Rules ……………………………………………………………… 9
Acknowledgements .….……………………………………………………… 10
General Introduction ……………………………………………………….. 11
Chapter One: Historiography ……………………………………….. 13
1.1 What is the Historian’s Mission? ……………………………………….. 14
1.1.1 History writing ………………………...……....……………….…... 15
1.1.2 Early Egyptian Historiography …………………………………….. 15
1.1.3 Israelite Historiography ……………………………………………. 16
1.1.4 Herodotus and Greek Historiography ……………………………… 17
1.1.5 Classical Medieval Historiography …………………….…………... 18
1.1.6 The Enlightenment and Historiography …………………………… 19
1.1.7 Modern Historiography ……………………………………………. 20
1.1.8 Positivism and Idealism in Nineteenth-Century Historiography…… 21
1.1.9 Problems encountered by the historian in the course of collecting
material ……………………………………………………………………… 22
1.1.10 Orientalism and its contribution ………………………………….. 24

1.2 Methodology of study …………………………………………………… 26
1.2.1 The Chronological Framework ……………………………………. 27
1.2.2 Geographical ……………………………………………………….. 27

1.3 Methodological problems in the ancient sources…...………………….. 28
1.3.1 Inscriptions ………………………………………………………… 28
1.3.2 Annals ……………………………………………………………… 30
1.3.3 Biblical sources ...…………………………………………………... 33
a. Inherent ambiguities of the Bible ……………………………… 35
b. Is the Bible history at all? ……………………………………… 35
c. Difficulties in the texts …………………………………………. 36
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1.4 Nature of the archaeological sources …………………………………... 37
1.4.1 Medieval attitudes to Antiquity ……………………………………. 37
1.4.2 Archaeology during the Renaissance era …………………………... 38
1.4.3 Archaeology and the Enlightenment ………………………………. 39
1.4.4 The nineteenth century and the history of Biblical archaeology……. 39
1.4.5 Digging in civilized areas …………………………………..………. 40

1.5 Important written sources for this research ……………………….… 42
1.5.1 Cuneiform and Related Sources …………………………………… 42
1.5.2 Classical sources ………………………………………………….. 44
1.5.3 Islamic sources ……………………………………………………. 45
1.5.4 Modern Studies of Arabs in Antiquity ……………………………... 46

Chapter two: Ethnicity, Social structure and Representation ....……… 49
2.1. Ethnicity ………………………………………………………………… 50
2.1.1 Interpreting Ethnicity ………………………………………………. 50
2.1.2 Foundations of the Ethnic Community ……………………………. 52
2.1.3 The Boundaries of Ethnicity Groups ………………………………. 54
2.1.4 Arab Ethnicity ……………………………………………………… 55
2.1.5 Ishmael and the Arabs in the Bible ………………………………… 59
2.1.6 Ibn Khaldūn’s perspective on the Ethnicity of the Arabs ..………… 60
2.1.7 Conclusion …………………………………………………………. 63

2.2 Social structure ………………………………………………………….. 65
2.2.1 Nomadic people ……………………………………………………. 65
2.2.2 Sedentary people …………………………………………………… 68
2.2.3 The relationship between Sedentaries and Nomads …..……………. 71
2.2.4. Kingship…………………………….……………………………… 74

2.3 Representation ………………………………………………………….. 87
2.3.1 The Assyrians and their view of others ……………………………. 87
2.3.2 Representation in the Roman world ……………………………….. 90
2.3.3 Western scholars and the representation of Orientals …………….... 92
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Chapter Three: Historical Background ………………………………… 93
3.1 Assyrian Period …………………………………………………………. 94
3.1.1 The Great Kings of the Neo-Assyrian Empire ……………………... 95
3.1.2 Ashur-dan II ……………………………………………………….. 96
3.1.3 Adad-nirari II ………………………………………………………. 97
3.1.4 Tukulti-Ninurta II ………………………………………………….. 97
3.1.5 Ashurnasirpal II …………………………………………………….. 98
3.1.6 Shalmaneser III …………………………………………………….. 98
a. The Battle of Qarqar …………………………………………………... 99

3.2 The Period of Assyrian Expansion and Domination of the Near East 101
(745-610 BCE)
3.2.1 Tiglath-Pileser III ……………...…………………………………… 101
a. Tiglath-Pileser III’s dealings with the Arabs ...…………….………… 103
3.2.2 Sargon II …………………………………………………………. 110
a. Sargon II’s dealings with the Arabs ……………....…………………. 111
3.2.3 Sennacherib ………………………………………………………… 114
a. Sennacherib’s dealings with the Arabs ...…………..………………… 114
b. Notes on Assyrian Inscriptions during the Sennacherib Period …….. 118
3.2.4 Esarhaddon ………………………………………………………… 118
a. Esarhaddon’s dealings with the Arabs ...……………..………………. 119
3.2.5 Ashurbanipal ……………………………………………………….. 122
a. Ashurbanipal’s dealings with the Arabs ……..………………………. 122

3.3 The Neo-Babylonian Period (626-539 BCE) …………………………... 130
3.3.1 Nebuchadnezzar II …………………………………………………. 130
a. Nebuchadnezzar II’s dealings with the Arabs …...……………..…….. 131
3.3.2 Nabonidus ………………………………………………………….. 132
a. Nabonidus in Tayma …………………………………………………. 132
b. Nabonidus’s dealings with the Arabs …..……………………………. 134

3.4 The Achaemenid Empire (550-330 BCE) ……………………………… 136
3.4.1 Cambyses II’s dealings with the Arabs …………………………….. 136
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Chapter four: The groups of nomads in north Arabia ………………… 139

4.1 The Arabs as seen through analysis of their tributes as described in
Assyrian inscriptions …….………………………………………………….. 140

4.2 The sources for Qedarite history ………………………………………. 149
4.2.1 Qedarites in biblical texts ………………………………………….. 149
4.2.2 Qedar in Minaean inscriptions …………………………………….. 151
4.2.3 Qedar in classical works ……………………………………………. 152
4.2.4 Qedar in Arabic sources …………………………………………. 153

4.3 Qedar …………………...………………………………………………... 155
4.3.1 The History of Qedar ………………………………………………. 155
4.3.2 Ashurbanipal’s first campaign against Qedar ……………………… 163
4.3.3 The second campaign of Ashurbanipal against Qedar …………….. 169
4.3.4 Nebuchadnezzar and Qedar ………………………………………… 173
4.3.5 Gashmu king of Qedar and his son Qaynu …………………………. 174

4.4 Nebaioth and Na-ba-a-a-ti and their relationship with the
Nabataeans ………………………………………………………………....... 177

4.5 Massa’ …………………………………………………………………… 184

4.6 Sheba or Saba including the question of the queen of Sheba ………… 185
4.6.1 Sabaeans in the Biblical texts ………………………………………. 188
4.6.2 The Queen of Sheba and her visit to king Solomon ……………….. 193

Chapter five: The main settlement centres in the North of Arabia……. 198
5.1 The Oasis of Tayma …………………………………………………….. 201
5.1.1 Modern visitors to Tayma and Archaeological remains ..………….. 203
5.1.2 The Relationship between Tayma and Mesopotamia ……………… 206
5.1.3 Tayma in Classical and Islamic works ……………………………... 213

5.2 The Oasis of Adummatu……………………………………………..…. 216
5.2.1 The Relationship between Adummatu and Mesopotamia….………. 218
5.2.2 Adummatu in Classical and Islamic works………………..………... 224
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5.2.3 Archaeological remains in Adummatu …………………………….. 226

5.3 The Oasis of Dedan ……………………………………………………... 229
5.3.1 Modern visitors to al-‘Ulā oasis …………………………………… 230
5.3.2 Introduction to Dedan ……………………………………………… 230
5.3.3 Dedan in Biblical sources ………………………………………….. 232
5.3.4 Dedan through the inscriptions ……………………………………. 236

Chapter six: Society ………………………………………………………. 243
6.1 Social Structure …………………………………………………………. 244
6.1.1 Families and Clans …………………………………………………. 245
6.1.2 Men ………………………………………………………………… 246
6.1.3 Women ……………………………………………………………... 248
6.1.4 Children ……………………………………………………………. 250
6.1.5 The System of Succession to the Qedarite Throne ………………… 252

6.2 Religion ………………………………………………………………….. 254
6.3 Law ………………………………………………………………………. 261
6.4 Arts ………………………………………………………………………. 262

General Conclusion ……………………………………………...………… 271

Bibliography ………………………………………………………………… 277

Word Count: 79,540
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List of Figures

Section The Figure Page
2.2.4 Figure no. 1 Assurnasirpal Hunting Lions (British Museum) 85
2.2.4 Figure no. 2 Ramses II in His War Chariot (Abu Simbel) 86
3.4.1 Figure no. 3 Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III in the British 138
Museum
4.1 Figure no. 4 Major ancient routes and Caravan cities 142
4.3.5 Figure no. 5 one of the bowls from Tell El-Maskhuta bearing an 176
Aramaic inscription
5.1 Figure no.6 The location of Tayma 202
5.1.1 Figure no. 7 Tayma Stele 205
5.2 Figure no.8 The location of Dumat al-Jandal 216
5.3 Figure no. 9 The location of al-‘Ulā oasis 229
6.4 Figure no. 10 The Hellenistic-style "Treasury" at Petra 265
6.4 Figure no. 11 tomb facade no. A 6 at Madā’in S̩ ālih 266
6.4 Figure no. 12 Mārib castle at Adummatu al-Jawf 267
6.4 Figure no. 13 Statue of a Liḥyânite king from al-‘Ulā 268
604 Figure no. 14 Anthropomorphic stele from al-‘Ulā 268
6.4 Figure no. 15: Anthropomorphic stele from Tayma 269
6.4 Figure no. 16: Petroglyph from the Arabian Peninsula 270
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Abstract
This study discusses the history of the Arabs of north Arabia in later pre-Islamic
times. This study provides an in-depth discussion of Arab ethnicity, which contributes to
the improvement of our knowledge regarding this controversial issue. This study argues
that the Arab nation is, in fact, a very old one of great importance, but the Arabs
themselves had no consciousness of their unity and did not leave inscriptions proclaiming
their identity as Arabs or claim to be the rightful proprietors of specific territories.
An examination is made of the reasons behind the emergence of kingship in
different communities through the course of history, in order to determine the general
features of kingship. This study demonstrates that kingship in north Arabia had almost
every feature of kingship as it appeared in other places.
Particular attention is paid in the study to delivering a full and coherent account of
the history of Qedar. Although, some scholars have tried to write the history of Qedar,
their works remain fragmentary or inconsistent. Basing the examination not merely on
most of the previous works, we subject those works to a comparison with the Assyrian
inscriptions. By so doing, it has proved possible to critique the previous works and
clarify many ambiguous issues in Qedarite history.
Moreover, this study contributes to the improvement of our knowledge regarding
Nebaioth and Na-ba-a-a-ti and their relationship with the Nabataeans. This study finds
that the Nebaioth and Nabataeans were different, contemporary groups living during the
sixth century BCE, even though the first direct and uncontested evidence of the
Nabataeans of Petra comes from the late fourth century BCE, when the Nabataeans made
their first clear appearance in Diodorus Siculus in connection with the expansion of the
Seleucid Empire (312 BCE).
The main settlement centres in north Arabia are discussed in depth in Chapter
Five. This study traces the history of Tayma, Adummatu and Dedan, establishing the
importance of those oases and their relationship with Mesopotamia. The discussion of
those oases produces useful results, which contribute to improving our knowledge and
assist in our understanding of issues relating to the history of those sites.
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Declaration
No portion of the work referred to in the thesis has been submitted in support of
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other institute of learning.
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10

Acknowledgements
It is my pleasure to record my warm thanks to my supervisor Prof. John F.
Healey, whose guidance and support helped me through every stage of my studies. Prof.
Healey gave of his time to teach me Syriac and other ancient languages. During years
working together he proved patient, humble, and always helpful. He guided me through
difficult moments and challenged me to develop my skills in critical reasoning. It is his
encouragement, criticism, and friendship that have made this work possible.
I additionally owe a great debt to King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah for
granting me a scholarship to conduct this research. I am also grateful to authorities in the
University of Manchester for having granted me this opportunity to become one of the
fortunate students from around the world to graduate from this respected institution. My
warm thanks go to the staff of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, which
served as the main location through which I have been able to access all the necessary
resources to undertake the present study.
I am also extremely grateful to a number of scholars, who have helped me
throughout my study; they include Dr. Ronald Buckley, my co-supervisor, and Prof.
Alexander Samely, my second co-supervisor, from both of whom I have learned a great
deal. In fact, their advice given during many panel meetings has contributed significantly
to improving this work.
I owe a debt of gratitude to my wife Maram Najjar and our beloved children
Aliyah, Ghazal, Ghazi and Abdulmalik who have shared with me the difficulties involved
in living abroad. My warm thanks are also due to my parents, my only brother Tariq, and
my four lovely sisters for their support and their prayers for my success. Last but not
least, I would like to express my thanks to all my friends and to everyone who has helped
me in one way or another during the period of my study.
Finally and pre-eminently, before and after, I should say, al-ḥamdu li-Allah.