We have already considered the history and characteristics of the populations that were living at the time of the Neo-Assyrian empire, and were then conquered and destroyed by the latter (the Arameans, Neo-Hittites, Phoenicians, Israelites, Babylonians and Chaldeans). However, since every empire generates a periphery, the end of the Neo-Assyrian empire saw the survival of several ethnic groups and political formations. Some of them were old neighbours of Assyria that had managed to resist annexation by the empire. Others were new entities emerging with unique characteristics or, better, whose ‘civilised’ centre was becoming more consolidated in this phase.
This is what we see in the case of the Arabs, who came into contact with the Assyrian empire along its southern border. The latter extended from the Euphrates river mouth to Palestine, separating the ‘Fertile Crescent’ from the Arabian Peninsula. The central section of this border, located to the south-west of the Euphrates, was the least accessible, due to the presence of the desert. For this reason, this area was largely barren and rarely crossed throughout the Bronze Age. However, thanks to the new technological developments of the Iron Age (from the dromedary to wells in oases), this inaccessibility was partly overcome, especially for nomadic groups. Nonetheless, commercial routes and settlements remained rooted elsewhere. Therefore, the edges of this southern border remained the easiest to cross in both directions. The eastern side was relatively narrow and less important. There, the Arabian Desert ended on the coast of the Persian Gulf. Consequently, Lower Mesopotamian centres reached Dilmun (Bahrain) and Oman following the coast or by sea, and from there reached the Indian Ocean. However, during the Iron Age, both the Lower Mesopotamian cities and the populations settled in Oman (and in the Gulf in general) were in crisis.
The wealth of contacts characterising this network in the third millennium bc was now completely lost and forgotten, so much so that the names of Magan and Meluhha were re-used in Neo-Assyrian texts to designate Egypt and Nubia. Only with the Achaemenid empire (fifth century bc) would commercial interactions (especially maritime ones) in the Gulf be revived. In the Neo-Assyrian period, the most resounding attempt in this area was Esarhaddon’s expedition. After a long journey through the desert, his troops reached the land of Bazu, where they defeated some local kings (and queens), destroyed settlements, and brought back booty and prisoners. Bazu was located on the coast opposite Dilmun and extended as far as Qatar. Therefore, the Assyrian expedition managed to campaign far into the peninsula. This indicates that the Assyrian interest in the area and its local political formations were far more important than what the lack of evidence on the matter would lead us to believe.
Be that as it may, the most consistent interaction between Arabs and Assyrians was without a doubt the one frequently mentioned earlier. The caravans (or series of caravans) travelled from Yemen to the north along the western border (Hejaz) of the Arabian Peninsula, and reached the Transjordan plateau and mainland Syria. From an Assyrian perspective, the Arabs were associated with the mainland Syro-Palestin-ian states, with which they engaged in commercial interactions. In the battle of Qarqar, Shalmaneser III already had to face a thousand camel riders belonging to the Arab Gindibu. From Tiglath-pileser III to Sargon II and Sennacherib, the military and commercial presence of the Arabs in the west is repeatedly documented. Their clashes with the Assyrians thus became frequent. With Ashurbanipal, the entire southern border, from Chaldea to Palestine, seems in movement, with the western side of the border remaining the main point of contacts and clashes. The great Assyrian attack and raid east of Damascus severely damaged the Arabic tribes, leading to a fall of the price of camels and slaves in the Assyrian markets.
For a long time, the Assyrian written evidence on the Arabian tribes and political formations of the eighth and seventh centuries bc lacked any supporting archaeological evidence. Until recently, archaeological excavations in the Arabian Peninsula mainly focused on the search of South Arabian inscriptions, neglecting the rest or being limited by the political restrictions imposed by Saudi Arabia. Hopefully, current excavations (especially the one of Tayma) will soon uncover some useful evidence. It is clear that the Proto-Arabian world of the first half of the first millennium bc had its own prehistory, whose traces are coming back to light in several sites, from Yemen to the Hejaz and Oman. We know that the Neolithic cultures documented in particular near the Persian Gulf were succeeded by a sequence of Bronze Age cultures (covering the second millennium bc). These Bronze Age cultures established relations with Mesopotamia in the east, and Syria and the Levant along the Hejaz-Yemen axis. However, they were relatively poor in terms of settlements and technological developments, which remained those typical of transhumant farmers. Historically, this Bronze Age ‘Proto-Arabian’ context remained relatively marginal, becoming more the object rather than the protagonist of commercial interactions.
The technological developments of the Iron Age paved the way to a new phase in the Arabian Peninsula. This provided its populations with commercial and military opportunities that the states of the Fertile Crescent were forced to take into account. The presence of a Yemenite ‘centre’ can be seen from the beginning of the first millennium bc (and the legend of Salomon and the queen of Sheba are a clear proof of this). In the ninth and eighth centuries bc, a South Arabian civilisation was gradually developing, with its own writing, walled cities, monumental temples and irrigation canals. This culture reached its classical style in the seventh century bc. On the one hand, the entire system was based on intensive agriculture. The latter was facilitated by the climate on the Yemenite highlands and the great dams between the mountain wadis and the desert. On the other hand, the system benefited from the trade of gold and spices.
Towards the end of the seventh century bc, Assyrian sources mention Ita’amar and Karibilu, kings of Sheba. to the available archaeological evidence, which have invalidated the previous short chronology based on the epigraphic sources, it is now certain that these kings should be identified with the mukkaribs of Sheba Yatha’-amar Bayyin and Karib’il Watar. The latter are well attested in monumental inscriptions and belong to a relatively long genealogy. Between 775 and 400 bc (the period belonging to the timeframe of this book), Yemen was ruled by the so-called mukkaribs (a royal and religious title). They resided in the region’s capital, Sheba. These rulers commissioned several urban and architectural interventions, as well as the construction of imposing dams (such as the first construction of the famous Marib Dam). Following a series of victories, they held a hegemonic position in Yemen and were involved in caravan trade. Later on, in the Achaemenid and Hellenistic period, the kings (not mukkaribs anymore) of Sheba, as well as other reigns and dynasties of Ma’in (the Minaeans), Qataban, Hadramawt, and Himyar would take over.
Overall, it is possible to provide some indications on the characteristics of those Arabs that were in contact with the Assyrians. Firstly, names of individuals and locations are entirely Arabic (both South and North Arabic). The Arabian population was Semitic and there are no indications of other linguistic substrates. Secondly, the image of these Arabs was very distinctive. For instance, several ‘queens’ are attested guiding (even in war) the north Arabian tribes. This aspect is so anomalous that is has to reflect some sort of historical reality, possibly misunderstood by the Assyrians. Overall, the technical repertoire (such as the use of dromedaries), the clothing and weaponry of the Arabs, as well as their combat style and their economic resources, were presented in marked contrast with the ‘normal’ Mesopotamian standards (Figure 30.1). The Arabs implemented particular strategies for political unification and organisation. The latter were based more on the ‘tribe’ and its mobility, rather than a precise geographic location. Naturally, there were some ‘cities’ in the Bazu area, in the Hejaz (with important centres, from Tayma to Dedan, and Yathrib), and in southern Arabia. These were all political and cultic centres dedicated to the management of caravan trade, either as terminals or as strategic points providing supplies along the commercial routes. Moreover, the sheer size of the site of Tayma indicates a considerable concentration of inhabitants, while the irrigated agriculture of the south Arabian cities indicates substantial levels of agricultural production.
Assyrian and Syro-Levantine interests in the Arabs were predominantly commercial. Trade was very specific both in terms of its products (gold, incense, spices and precious stones) and means of transport (caravans). The resources partly came from Yemen and partly from elsewhere, providing the Near Eastern ‘market’ with products from India and Africa. This allows us to catch a glimpse of a network of land and maritime commercial networks that went well beyond the Yemen-Hejaz-Transjordan-Syria route. It also included other lands around the Indian Ocean. This vast network, however, would only begin to be fully recorded in the sources in the Achaemenid and Hellenistic period.
Finally, there is another, far from secondary, aspect, namely the demographic pressure of the Arabian Peninsula over the Fertile Crescent. Despite the rejection of the anachronistic and simplistic belief that the Arabs ‘emigrated’ to the north, it has to be conceded that certain phases experienced ‘waves’ of movement. The latter led the areas along the border of the Fertile Crescent to be directly involved with the border of the Arabian Peninsula. The latter was a largely semi-arid and nomadic area. Waves such as the one of the Ghassulians or the Martu have already been considered. Now, a similar long-term wave appeared, which led the Arabian people closer to the north-western Semitic populations, namely, the Chadeans in Lower Mesopotamia and the groups living in the Transjordan plateau. The Nabayate that the Assyrian sources mentioned as living in the Transjordan plateau have a name that is vaguely similar to the one of the later Nabateans. Structurally speaking, they were both part of a similar development: North-Arabic speaking
Figure 30.1 An Assyrian depiction of the Arabs when they were defeated by Ashurbanipal’s troops (relief from Nineveh).
People, following the commercial caravans and the routes of transhumant farmers, began to concentrate close to the fertile lands of Syria and the Levant, gradually taking them over. The Nabayate and Qedarites (in the Wadi Sirhan) mentioned in the Assyrian texts or the Midianites of the Old Testament were therefore at the forefront of a pressure that would significantly increase in the following centuries.
World History
