The position of Arabia between the river valleys of the Nile, the Euphrates, and the Tigris, which had been the seats of the oldest industries and where agriculture and civilisation had early begun to flourish, brought the Arabs, who were continually wandering about the frontiers of their land, into close connection with Egypt and Babylon. What robbery failed to supply could be obtained by barter. The wandering herdsmen had need of corn, tools, and weapons; the Egyptians and Babylonians, of horses, camels, skins, and wool. By giving in exchange for what they required cattle and skins, the Arabs kept the Egyptians and Babylonians supplied with raw materials for their industries. According to Hebrew tradition Abraham went into Egypt, and the sons of Jacob bought grain in Egypt when “there was a famine in the land.” The fact that the Egyptians gained possession, in 3000 B.C., of the valley of Maghara in the Sinai peninsula, and that a thousand years later certain nomad tribes of the northwest of Arabia obtained supremacy over Egypt, served but to strengthen the later relations between the two countries. That there had long been intercourse is certain; and contact with the superior culture of Egypt had so multiplied the wants of the Arabs as greatly to increase their trading relations. They could offer not alone their cattle to the Egyptians in barter but the costly products of their southern coasts, the frankincense and perfumes that had already attained a high celebrity in Egypt as early as 2500 B.C.
It is no wonder then, in view of this ancient and active trade, that Queen Ramaka (Maat-ka-Ra or Hatshepsu) of Egypt made the attempt to import the products of southern Arabia direct by way of the Red Sea; and it must have been this same intention that caused Ramses II to project a canal that should connect the Nile with the Red Sea. Later, Ramses III caused ships to be built especially for the trade with “the land of Punt” (Arabia) and “the land of the gods” (the far East). Great as was the demand of Egypt for incense and perfumes, that of Babylon seems to have been no less. Herodotusb tells us that at the annual feast of Belos a thousand talents of incense was burned on the altar of the great Babylonian temple.
[ca. 1225 B.C.-100 A.D.]
The demand for Arabian products must have greatly increased when the Phœnician cities planted along the coast of Syria, grew to be important trade centres.
That the Babylonian talent was current among the Sabæans is evidence of the extent and activity of Babylonian trade. First passing their goods from one to another of their own tribes until the market at Damascus was reached, or the Euphrates and the Nile for shipping, the Arabs permitted or refused passage to the caravans of the Babylonians and the Phœnicians. They lay in wait for the merchant-trains, and either plundered them or forced them to pay for safe passage and convoy.
An Arab Archer
The beauty and fertility of the portion of Arabia occupied by the Sabæans and the Chatramites must have early served to fix them there as permanent settlers, and their constantly growing commerce with Egypt, Syria, and Babylonia unquestionably resulted in a great influx of wealth to these tribes. Thus even the tales current among western nations of the splendour of their cities—the sixty temples of Sabbatha, and the gold and silver vessels, pillars, and couches of Mareb—must have had strong foundation in fact. Ruins of mighty aqueducts, dams, and basins remain, which are the wonder and admiration of our tourists for the excellence of their plan and the solidity of their construction. They reveal to us not only the skill of the ancient Sabæans and Chatramites in erecting important works, but their complete understanding of the subject of irrigation; since the whole system of canals and basins was evidently designed to utilise upon their own lands the streams rushing down from the mountains. Remains of magnificent structures, not alone near Mareb but near Nejran, Ghorab, Nakb-el-Hajara, go far towards confirming what western and Arab tradition tell us of the glories of ancient times; and inscriptions on these and other ruins in the southwest of Yemen give us, though they do not go back further than the year 120 B.C., an insight into the life and culture of the tribes of South Arabia. We also learn the earlier forms of their spoken and written language, and discover that their alphabet was derived from that of the Phœnicians, developing later independently side by side with it. Of a more recent date (the first century A.D.) are inscriptions on the rocks of the Sinai peninsula in the extreme northwest of Arabia, which are written in the north Arabian language and characters.
A glance at the meagre array of facts made known to us reveals the basis of the religious conceptions of the Semitic tribes in Arabia to be almost the same as that of the Semitic tribes in Syria, or those by the Euphrates and Tigris. It can readily be believed that the rites of those tribes nearest Syria partake somewhat of the character of the Syrian rites and that the worship of the southern tribes is closely allied to that of the Babylonians.
That the tribes of the desert should pay particular reverence to the stars cannot occasion much wonder. With the refreshing dews of night came not only Venus and the moon but the entire splendour of the firmament, to dazzle the eye and touch the spirit of the Arab. High above the silent desert, the tents, and sleeping flocks, looking down on the midnight ride and the waiting ambuscade, the stars swung on their glittering way. They were the source of a varied knowledge to the Arab; they marked out his path through the trackless desert, foretold the coming of the rain for which he had prayed, indicated the change of the seasons and the time for breeding in his flocks. Since these stars could at one time provide good pasturage and all that was needful for flocks, and at another dry up the wells and grass, why could they not also bring joy and pain, happiness and sorrow to mankind? Thus to the tribes of the desert the stars that shone brightest became living spirits, that ruled supreme over nature and the destinies of men.
The life of the nomad tribes of the interior (included by the Arabs under one name, Badawi [Bedouins] “children of the desert”) has suffered but few changes; up to the present day there have been no very radical departures from the customs and conditions of the olden time, which are fully described elsewhere.
In the Arabs the qualities peculiar to the Semitic character have attained their soundest and most strongly marked development. Their wandering life in the desert, exposed to burning sun and tempests of wind and sand, has steeled and strengthened them. In a land of trackless wastes, surrounded by beasts of prey and hostile tribes, each man was dependent for safety on his own watchfulness and keenness of vision, on his own courage and resolution, on his horse and lance. Soberly and frugally nourished, the body became lean and spare, but supple, sinewy, and capable of great endurance, and within these hardened frames dwelt a spirit of indomitable resolution. Thus the Arabs are characterised by a freer bearing, a more steadfast good faith, a more umbrageous pride, a greater love of independence, and a bolder daring than any other tribes of their race. The nature of their country and of their life has saved them from the excesses of greed of luxury and sensuality into which the Semitic populations on the Euphrates and the Tigris, as well as those on the Mediterranean, frequently fell, though they share in the cruelty and blood-thirstiness common to their race. It was the Arabs on whose unused strength it was possible to found an empire, a new Semitic civilisation in the Middle Ages, after Babel and Asshur, Tyre and Carthage, Jerusalem and Palmyra, had long passed away.k