ABSTRACT
Abbreviations used throughout the maps and the texts of the Atlas are also defined here.
ARABI AN
SEA
n
e d
S
e
a
EGYPT
NUBIA H
L a k h m i d s G h
In the fifth and sixth centuries ce, the Arabian Peninsula gradually became more closely connected with the principal economic and political currents of the rest of the world. The Nabateans had ruled over an important trading civilisation based at Petra and Mada’in Salih between the fourth century bce and the fourth century ce; in the first century bce a Roman army reached Yemen, and parts of eastern Arabia were incorporated into the Persian empire in the third century ce. In the early centuries of the Christian era the authority of Yemen extended over much of central Arabia through its alliances with the tribal confederation of Kinda, until the latter’s destruction in 529. In addition, there were several communities of Jews and (Nestorian) Christians in Hijaz and Yemen, while farther north there were Christian Arab tribes living on the edge of the Syrian steppe. In the sixth century ce, outside powers again began to take an interest in the Arabian Peninsula. The Christian ruler of Aksum, in Ethiopia, conquered Yemen in the 520s, occupying the area for forty years. The last Ethiopian governor, Abraha, led an unsuccessful expedition to subdue Mecca in 570, the Year of the Elephant, traditionally designated as the year of the birth of the
Prophet Muhammad; shortly afterwards, Yemen came under Persian rule and remained so until the Islamic conquest in the 630s. Also in the course of the sixth century, there were movements of Arab tribal populations from southern to northern and northeastern Arabia. The Fertile Crescent, on the edges of northern Arabia, formed part of the frontier between the two rival empires of the day, the Sasanian (Persian) and the Byzantine (Eastern Roman), each of which had a client or vassal state lying between itself and its rival. The Ghassanids of Jabiya were the clients of the Byzantines, and the Lakhmids of Hira those of the Sasanians. Around 600 ce, the population of the Peninsula was divided into three main groups: the inhabitants of the small towns of the Hijaz (Mecca, Yathrib [Medina], Ta’if) and of Yemen (Ma’rib, Mukha, San‘a’); the settled cultivators in the vicinity of the oases in the Hijaz, Yemen and Oman; and the nomads, the majority of the population. Relations between the groups were often tense, but they shared similar social values, and a certain symbiosis developed through interdependence on goods and services. Furthermore, they all spoke varieties of Arabic, the common formal and poetic language. The qasida, or ode,
with its themes of honour, hospitality, bravery, loyalty, and the transience of human life, forms the main cultural product of this period. Almost all the inhabitants of the Peninsula claimed tribal origin, as an individual’s survival depended largely on having a tribe to protect him. There were no permanent political institutions among the tribes; alliances were based partly on kinship and partly on claims of common descent, either from the northern (Qaysi) or southern (Yamani) tribal confederations. By 600 ce, Mecca was functioning as the principal socio-economic and religious centre. Its sanctuary, the Ka‘ba, with its idols and tribal gods, attracted pilgrims, and the pilgrimage season was a time of tribal truce, when disputes were settled in the haram, or sacred enclave, of the Ka‘ba, and commerce was conducted in peace. In the second half of the fifth century ce, it is believed that Hashim ibn ‘Abd Manaf of Quraysh took control of the city and the shrine, and brokered a series of agreements (i‘tilaf) with neighbouring tribes. These agreements enabled Mecca to develop into a commercial centre, although probably on a more modest scale than has traditionally been thought.
