"Some Views of Arabs and Islam by Others Through the Ages" There are many references in literature outside of the Palestine region that show what life was experienced and viewed by the people who visited. We can analyse these comments to gain a picture of what was current in European circles at the time of their writing. Some of these go back centuries, sometimes even before Islam emerged. This is the case with Herodotus' "The Histories", written from 450BCE to 420BCE, putting it into Antiquity. Other references can be found in travel literature through the Middle Ages and into the Modern Period. The places where the documents are to be found, are also interesting in their own right because some came from far away places that had no substantial contact with Islam, while others had direct contact on a day-to-day basis that continually shaped their perception of Islam. Herodotus' views of the Arabs and their customs can be found mainly in his book three, with some other points of information in books one and two. The first few points that strike the reader are the references to "flying snakes" (2:75-76) and their spice trade (3:107-113). These "flying snakes" go through a mountain pass every year to Egypt, but the ibises do not let them pass so the snakes are killed (2:75). They also have many gods and they have counter-parts in Greek, Egyptian and Phoenician deities. This we can take to be the first reference to an Arabian belief system. He also describes where they live and the Arabian mountain range. This range goes along the side of Egypt and into the Arabian Gulf, which is today called the Red Sea (2:8). He also says "that its greates length from east to west is a two months' journey, and that towards its eastern limit frankincense is produced" (2:8). A little later he says of the Arabian Gulf/Red Sea: In Arabia not far from Egypt there is a very long narrow gulf running up from the Red Sea (as it is called). It is only half a day's voyage across in its narrowest part, but its length from its extrme limit to the open sea is a voyage of forty days for a vessel under oars. It is tidal. (2:11) The mention of "forty days" should tell us that he is using the magic number of forty and that we can decipher it as meaning "a long time". Probably the next reference to Arabs or people related to them would be the Bible, being the Ishmaelites and Midianites. These are best known for being descendants of Abraham and also the captors of Joseph in the Genesis narrative. Various genealogies appear in Gen and 1 Chr. Ishmael is said to have 12 sons and sometimes these sons or their descendants appear in later books of the Bible (Gen 25:13-15; 1 Chr 1:29-31). Some of Esau's wives are supposed to be Ishmaelites: Mahalath (Gen 28:9) and Basemath (Gen 36:3). Midian is Abraham's son through Keturah, while Ishmael is through Hagar. Midian's genealogy appears in Gen and 1 Chr as well (Gen 25:2-4; 1 Chr 1:32-33). Also of note is that the Bible says that Abraham "sent [his sons through Keturah] away from his son Isaac, eastward to the east country" (Gen 25:6), indicating that their geographical area is supposed to be east of the Palestine region, perhaps near to Mesopotamia or Assyria. Esau and his descendants, the Edomites, can also be considered to be Arabs since they lived east of Palestine and the Israelites in the "hill country of Seir" (Gen 36:8, 9). They soon come to be identified with Herodians in the Second Temple period (6th cent. BCE - 70 CE). And after that, the Byzantine Empire is seen as Edom the Wicked. It seems that with the two Arabs in the family being the brothers of each generation (Isaac and Jacob) is not a coincidence. Perhaps they were once one person each and later split up, for what reason is unknown. Josephus, the first century CE Jewish historian, priest, and military commander, writes a bit about Ishmael in his "Antiquities of the Jews". The birth of Ishmael is the same as the Biblical version (Ant. 1:10:4) and the convenant of circumcision account also the same (1:10:5). He gives an account directly referencing the Arabs about why the Jews and Arabs circumcise when they do: And they circumcised him upon the eighth day and from that time the Jews continue the custom of circumcising their sons within that number of days. But as for the Arabians, they circumcise after the thirteenth year, because Ismael, the founder of their nation, who was born to Abraham of the concubine, was circumcised at that age; concerning whom I will presently give a particular account, with great exactness. (1:12:2) The account lasts for two paragraphs, showing the affection that Sarah had for Ishmael, her jealousy, Hagar and Ishmael's going with "a bottle of water, and a loaf of bread" (1:12:3) the same as the Bible when it says, "[Abraham] took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar" (Gen 21:14). The same story of Ishmael passing out and being put "under a fig-tree" (Ant. 1:12:3), differing only from the Bible's "bushes" (Gen 21:15). The angel from heaven comes and tells Hagar to give the boy some water from a nearby well/fountain and Hagar found a wife for Ishmael in "the land of Egypt" (Gen 21:21), or as Josephus says, "When the lad was grown up, he married a wife, by birth an Egyptian, from whence the mother was herself derived originally" (Ant. 1:12:4). Two genealogies follow, differing in the members listed. Gen and 1 Chr list: Nebaioth, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah (Gen 25:13-15; 1 Chr 1:29-31). Josephus lists the sons of Ishmael as: Nabaioth, Kedar, Abdeel, Mabsam, Idumas, Masmaos, Masaos, Chodad, Theman, Jetur, Naphesus, and Cadmas. (The differing lettering for some of the names owes to the fact that there are a few different ways of writing the letters; for eg. Cadmas is the same as Kedemah, and Chodad is the same as Hadad.) The differences in the two lists are Adbeel becomes Abdeel in Josephus (perhaps reflected the original spelling; signifying "servant of El"), and Dumah/Idumas are in reverse order with Mishma/Masmaos. What is interesting is the note after the genealogy of Ishmael's sons. He says, "These inhabited all the country from Euphrates to the Red Sea, and called it Nabatene. They are an Arabian nation, and name their tribes from these, both because of their own virtue, and because of the dignity of Abraham their father" (Ant. 1:12:4). This seems similar to what Herodotus described above with the Arabs living in the area around the Red Sea. The main problem is that Nabatene is the name in the Roman period and does not reflect the Biblical times. As far as what they called themselves or where they lived, we do not know. The Joseph story concerns us now because that is probably the most famous account of the Ishmaelites outside of the account of Abraham (not to mention the only one). We start with the Bible and then Josephus. Both of them agree that Joseph was lowered into a pit because it was empty. The relevant parts from Gen are quoted here: Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishamelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. [...] When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of sliver. And they took Joseph to Egypt. [...] Meanwhile [Jacob is mourning] the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard. (Gen 37:25, 28, 36) A note at the bottom of the page ("Harper Collins" 56-7) says that there are two different versions of the story: one where Reuben restrains his brothers and the Midianites sell Joseph, and the other where Judah restrains the brothers and the Ishmaelites sell Joseph. The sons of Ishmael and Midian play the same role indicating that the authors of the two accounts believed that they were possibly near identical to each other. Future confusions between these two pop-up later. A further note about Midianites comes from page 37 of "Harper Collins": "[Keturah's] best-known child is Midian, here ancestor of a powerful nomadic people that biblical passages place in Sinai, Canaan, the Jordan Valley, Moab, and Transjordan" putting them in a similar area as the Ishmaelites, adding more confusion to the mix leading me to believe that Midian and Ishmael are one and the same person. Josephus says: But Judas, being one of Jacob's sons also, seeing some Arabians, of the posterity of Ismael, carrying spices and Syrian wares out of the land of Gilead to the Egyptians, after Rubel was gone, advised his brethren to draw Joseph out of the pit, and sell him to the Arabians; for if he should die among strangers a great way off, they should be freed from this barbarous action. (Ant. 2:3:3) By this time (Josephus is writing around 95 CE) that the part played by the Midianites no longer exists and the Ishmaelites are the only other Abrahamic descendants who are of any consequence. They are still from Gilead, but they carry "spices and Syrian wares" in the 1st cent. CE creating a lasting stereotype of the "spice trader" for centuries to come. The twenty pieces of silver are now twenty pounds, possibly a Roman monetary unit, showing Josephus' prowess in bringing the story into the units of the day. Other than these two differences, the basic story has stayed the same. We shall jump now to the Second Temple period and the coming of the Herodian dynasty. As above we start with the apocryphal books and go to the New Testament (NT), and finally to Josephus and other contemporary Roman historians. Unfortunately there are no references to the Herodians or to Arabs/Ishmaelites in the apocrypha, so we cannot use them. Josephus is helpful because his books are like a microscopic view of the events near the end of the Second Temple period. In book 11:3:8 of the Antiquities, he mentions the Idumeans (Edomites) together with the Samaritans being ordered to help rebuild the Jews' villages that they had taken (during the time of King Cyrus). If the Samaritans were working together with the Idumeans, then they lived in the north of Palestine and to the east of the Jordan river. This doesn't fit in with the mountains that are in Egypt mentioned by Herodotus above, but they do show that the area where the Arabs lived then (and subsequently after) was to the east of Palestine and not to the south (which includes the peninsula). Further along, he mentions Arabs, Arab kings, Idumeans, and Idumean plains where battles were fought (Ant. 13). In Josephus' earlier book, "Jewish War", he mentions the Arabs, some kings and Roman dealings with them, with some regularity. This means that the Arabs were not just some wandering tribal groups as we have come to think of them today. Robert Eisenman calls the Herodians "Greco-Arab" (Eisenman 49). In addition, to the keen eye of the modern historian, he also says: Herod himself was primarily what today we would call "Arab" in origin. In fact his behaviour, particularly where sexual mores and marital practices are concerned, is still very much that of what might be called a typical Middle Eastern chieftain or potentate. (104) Throughout the book, he shows time and time again that the Herodians/Idumeans/Arabs are one and the same, although the Herodians are Hellenized Arabs. The Herodians were not very good Jews, indicated by the quote above of their sexualities. To dwell further on the Arabs from Josephus would take us beyond our purpose, which is to not where the references are in documents that we examine and what they tell us of their beliefs, where they live, and what they do. We will end with a quote from another book by Eisenman (co-wrote with Michael Wise) that: Josephus describes [the] unwillingness to accept gifts from and sacrifices on behalf of foreigners in the Temple as an "innovation" which "our forefathers" were unacquainted with before (2.409-14). This would include, not only the Roman Emperor, on whose behalf sacrifices were made daily, but also Herodians, looked upon by "zealot" groups such as [the Jewish Zealots] as "foreigners" because of their Arab and Idumaean origins. (Eisenman and Wise 147) The NT does refer to the Herodians because they were in command of Judaea at the time of Jesus and as a result, are intrinsic to the Gospels' narratives. Paul, too, speaks of going into Arabia. There is not much reference to the Herodians, except that Herod tried to massacre male Jewish babies so that they would not usurp the throne (Matt 2:16). Acts is the next place to look. There is mention of an Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:27) and he is a servant of the queen Candace (the actual Greek letter being "k"), but at this time there was no kingdom of Ethiopians, but there was a kingdom in Edessa that had a queen and her son's name was Kenedaeos (Eisenman 917). Eisenman also gives evidence that the Edessenes were called Arabs by the Romans as a pejorative term, and that all dark skinned people were considered to be Arabs. Philo is our next source on Arabs, Midianites and Ishmaelites. He gives the meaning of Midian's name in his work "On the Change of Names/De Mutatione Nominum" as "out of judgement" (18), reflecting the letters m-d-y-n, the m indicating 'from' and the d-y-n judgement. The d-y-n is also the root for the Arabic of later times 'religion'. This is just about all he has to say about Midian, besides his seven daughters and the seven indicating "the irrational part of the soul, the power of generation and the voice, and the five outward senses" (19). The biblical verse in question is Ex. 2:16 and the Hebrew of the first two words is: ulcohen midyan, which means 'and to the priest of judgement'. He says of Ishmael that "Ishmael, being interpreted, means 'the hearing of God;' and hearing is considered as entitled to only the second prize after seeing; but seeing is the inheritance of the legitimate and first-born son, Israel; for the name Israel, being interpreted, means 'seeing God'" (On Flight and Finding: 38). The following paragraph that he philosophizes about Ishmael is equally important because he tells what is so bad about hearing: For it is possible for a man to hear false statementsas though they were true, because hearing is a deceitful thing; but seeing is a sense which cannot be deceived, by which a man perceives existing things as they really are. But the angel describes the characteristics of the disposition which is born of Hagar; by saying that he will be a rude man; as if he had said that he would be a man wise about rude matters, and not as yet thought worthy of that which is the truly divine and political portion of life: and this is virtue, by means of which it is the nature of the moral character to be humanised. And by his saying, "His hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him," he means to describe the design and plan of life of a sophist, who professes an overcurious scepticism, and who rejoices in disputatious arguments. (38) This is certainly very interesting that Ishmaelites should be sceptical and argue as if they were an elite class of intellectuals. Perhaps he is describing those in his midst in Alexandria and other parts of Egypt where they had integrated with society. What he says of Arabs (a total of two mentions in the whole corpus) is this: when Moses was a herder after he had fled Egypt near the beginning of the book of Exodus, his actions can be likened to the Arabs. I will mention one action which was done by him at that time, even although it may be but a trifling one in appearance, but still it proceeded from a lofty spirit. The Arabs are great breeders of cattle, and they all feed their flocks together; not merely men, but also women, and youths, and maidens with them, and this, too, not merely in the obscurer classes and lower ranks of life, but also among the most eminent persons of the nation. (On the Life of Moses 1:10) His second mention of the Arabs is in his "Questions and Answers on Genesis 3" and he says that people of the southern climates all circumcise their boys: Jews, Egyptians, Arabs and Ethiopians (48). And that is the sum total of Arabs, Ishmaelites and Midianites in Philo. Paul is our next source on 1st century Arabia. 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Transl. Yonge, C. D. Hendrickson Publishers, 1993. "Sefer Torah, Neviim, ve-Ketuvim." Ed. Snaith, Norman Henry. The British and Foriegn Bible Society, n.d. Suetonius. "The Twelve Caesars." Transl. Graves, Robert. London, England: Penguin Books, 2003. Ed. Wright, Thomas. "Early Travels in Palestine." Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 2003.