Confusion
Despite the nice clear classifications that modern historians put onto these different terms, it is obvious that the ancient historians did not all agree on them.
According to Strabo, XVI.iv.21 "The Nabataeans and Sabaeans, situated above Syria, are the first people who occupy Arabia Felix. They were frequently in the habit of overrunning this country before the Romans became masters of it, but at present both they and the Syrians are subject to the Romans. The capital of the Nabataeans is called Petra …"
Today many people believe that the term Arabia Felix referred only to southern Yemen. However, Cl. Ptolemaeus lists places like Wadi Rumm (Iram) in southern Jordan, in his list of cities in Arabia Felix. (Aramava-Geogr. 6.7.27). Thus, many of the characteristics that ancient writers attributed to Arabia Felix can also be applied to the Nabataeans, and southern Nabataea in particular.
Origin of the Word 'Arabs'
As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, one of the issues that have often puzzled Middle Eastern historians is the proper use of the word 'Arab.' To the uneducated outsider, Arabs are the people who live in the deserts of the Middle East. To the informed Middle Easterner however, the situation is somewhat more complex. While the Middle East is the crossroad of history, it is more than that. This region has long been the crossroad of trade and commerce between the eastern and the western world. Indians, Persians, Phoenicians, Africans, Europeans, and even Gypsies have moved into the Middle East at various times and made it their home. Added to this, the armies of the major civilizations of the world have swept back and forth across the sands of the Middle East, thoroughly mixing the various ethnic groups and erasing many of their historical records.
To this confusion, we must add yet another difficulty. Many of the preserved historical records have come to us from the pens of outside writers. Greek, Roman and European historians have all commented about the Arabs, but their understanding of the ethnic makeup of the peoples of the Middle East has often been confused and confusing. This may seem a trivial thing, but it presents great difficulties for the Middle Eastern historian who is trying to glean information from them. For instance, when the Perplex Marcus tells us that it was the Arabs who traded with India, not the Romans, the question immediately arises, "Which Arabs?" Was it the Nabataean Arabs? Was it the Yemeni Arabs? Was it the Omani Arabs? Or who?
So it is vital to understand just exactly who each ancient historian was talking about when he referred to people known as 'Arabs.' It would be very unfair to force a modern definition onto what was intended, and probably understood by the ancient readers of the ancient historians.
Below, I want to examine the use of the word 'Arab' linguistically, historically, biblically, according to Muslim traditions, according to Arab genealogies, and finally through the records of other civilizations. Then at the end of the paper I will attempt to explore what I believe each of the ancient historians was referring to when he used the word 'Arabia' and 'Arab.'
While I cannot give conclusive proof as to the origin of the Arabs, or who today should be considered as an Arab, the information in this paper should be of interest to those tracing the roots of the Arab people.
Etymological Use
Etymologically speaking the word 'Arab' means desert dwellers, without reference to nationality or ethnic descent. This term has been applied to the nomads who dwell mainly in the Arabian Peninsula, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Syro-Arabian desert. It has been used for many years, stretching back to the Aramaean Bedouins of 880 BC who interfered in the affairs of Bet Zamani on the Euphrates River and helped overthrow the local ruler of the Assyrian king Assur Nasipal. It has also been used to describe the ancient twelve tribes of Ishmael who dwelt in the Arabian deserts. (See Finding the Twelve Lost Tribes of Ishmael, The Nabataean Collection, Dan Gibson).
Linguistical Use
Linguistically speaking an Arab would be anyone who considers Arabic as his mother tongue. Some modern researchers have even defined Arabs as "An Arab… is one who spoke a form of Arabic as at last one of his languages or whose direct ancestors did." (Chris Dawson, Christian Arabic Culture in the Middle East before the Coming of Islam with especial Reference to the Transjordan)
If we use the Arabic language as a key component of our definition of Arab, then we must wrestle with the question of when and where did Arabic first emerge. Linguistically, there are two classifications of ancient Arabic, the northern dialects, and the southern dialects. The use of the term 'Arab' in the southern dialects comes much later than that of the northern dialects, demonstrating that the northern Arabian tribes identified themselves as 'Arabs' much sooner than the south Arabian people. In this case, we must consider the twelve tribes of Ishmael to be among the first Arabs, and the peoples of Yemen and Oman as becoming Arabs at a much later period.
As I mentioned earlier, while it may be possible today to label everyone in the Middle East who speaks the Arabic language as an Arab, many Middle Easterners take objection to this, vehemently denying that they are Arabs. (E.g.: Kurds, Chaldaeans, Assyrians, etc.) However, in an ancient setting this classification becomes clearer. The twelve tribes of Ishmael along with several tribes from southern Arabia (e.g. Sheba) all spoke an early form of Arabic. Arabic as a well recognized language in the west did not emerge until Nabataean traders made it the trade language for much of the east/west trade. However, by 85 BC Nabataean Arabic began to be displaced by Greek, until eventually Greek and Latin became the languages of the educated in the Middle East.
Ancient Historical Records
The first clear occurrence of the world 'Arab' in Assyrian records is found in the records of King Shalmaneser III who recorded the history of a battle at Qarqar, north of Hamath during the sixth year of his reign (853 BC). At the end of the list of his adversaries, Shalmaneser mentioned Gindibu (Arabic Jundub), the Arabian and his 1000 camels. Later in the records of the Assyrian kings from Tiglath Pileser III through to Ashurbanipal (745-627 BC) Arabs appear as foes, and as allies. Sargon II claimed to have resettled some Arab nomadic groups in Samaria as part of the Assyrian deportation scheme. Most of the time, the term 'Arab' is applied to tribes living in north and central Arabia. The Ishmaelites were a prominent part of these nomads.
The Assyrian records mostly apply the term 'Arab' to the north Arabian nomadic tribes, and is specifically applied to the Qedarites, the people of Sumu, and to the tribes of Idiba'ilu, (biblical Adbeel) Thamud, Ibadidi, Marsimani, and 'Ephah. The term Arab is also applied to the people of Tema, Sheba, Massa, the Me'unites, the Nebaioth (Nabataeans) and the Teeme. These tribes can almost all be traced back to a common ancestor, Ishmael. Those that support the northern tribe theory point to the failure of the south Arabian inscriptions to include any reference to themselves as 'Arabs.' It seems that gradually the south Arabians took on the Arab name and so by the first century AD they too were called Arabs. This is attributed to the expansion of the northern nomads into the south part of Arabia. However, Herodotus III, 107-8 (written fifth century BC) distinctly labels the people of southern Arabia, who dealt with frankincense and myrrh as Arabs.