16 - The Arabs and the desert peoples

Summary

THE UNITY AND DIVERSITY OF ARAB SOCIETY

In modern times the Arabs are identified solely by means of a linguistic criterion. Their way of life is not important, since an Arab may be a sedentary agriculturalist, a herdsman, a craftsman or a caravan leader. For the ancients on the other hand, their way of life took priority over their language, and the name Arab designated above all the man who was capable of living in the desert, as a nomad or an inhabitant of an oasis. With this lifestyle was associated a social and political organization, in which the group, the tribe and the family played a crucial role. In these circumstances, Arabia was the name applied to any desert region, and Arab to any inhabitant of the desert, regardless of his actual ethnic origin. The Arabs for the ancients were those whom we today call Bedouins.

At the end of the second century the majority of the groups inhabiting the desert between the Antitaurus and the Red Sea were in fact Arabs in the modern sense. South of the Euphrates they were almost the only inhabitants, though some of the population of the oases may have been Aramaic (at Palmyra). On the other hand, north of the Euphrates at Edessa, Hatra or Assur, the Arabs were in a minority. Although they were distributed throughout the area, the dominant culture there was clearly Aramaic: the language, writing and a significant proportion of the names and cults are northern Aramaic (Edessene).Nevertheless the region was called Arbayestan by the Persians, Beth Arbaye by the Aramaeans, and Arabia by the Roman historians.