STUDIES BY CLASSICAL WRITERS SHOW THAT MECCA COULD NOT HAVE BEEN
BUILT BEFORE THE 4TH CENTURY A.D.
THEOPHRASTOS' SURVEY
Theophrastos' survey also excludes the existence of Mecca during the end of the 3rd century B.C.
We
continue our study by looking at the works of other classical writers who wrote
on the geography of Arabia. If we really study these works, we'll learn
that they prove that Mecca did not exist until after the 4th century A.D.
An important Greek historian, Theophrastos, lived in the 4th century B.C.
He wrote about the Sabaeans – their trade, their land and
their marine routes. He wrote in detail about the region but he never
mentioned Mecca. That is significant, because Muslims claim that, in ancient
history, Mecca was a center of commerce with Yemen and the Sabaeans. In spite of
this claim, we find that Theophrastos, who specialized in describing
details about the region – especially trade connections and the routes – did
not mention Mecca.
Eratosthenes’
Survey
After the death of Alexander the Great, many classical
writers and historians arose who were concerned about the geography and history
of Arabia. Most of these historians and geographers lived in the city of
Alexandria, which was the capital of the Ptolemies. The first university in the
world was established in Alexandria, and it boasted of a famous library, the
Library of Alexandria. One of the most important
historical figures of Alexandria was the famous geographer, Eratosthenes. He lived between 275-195 B.C.,
he contributed greatly to documenting the geography of Arabia. Eratosthenes
gathered important information from various resources.
We
know of many authors who visited and wrote about the Red Sea region during
the 3rd century B.C. Among them are: Pythagoras,[xiv]
who was an admiral under Ptolemy II, Basilis, Dalion, Bion of Soli, Simonides the Younger, Aristocreon, and Philon. Those books were available in
the famous Library of Alexandria. In fact, we understand from the
narration of Strabo, that Eratosthenes made a collection of these
books.[xv]
He
examined the data obtained by the explorers who were sent by Alexander the
Great, and data by geographical expeditions initiated by the Alexander
Ptolemaic successors.[xvi] These
Greek expeditions continued through the 3rd century B.C.[xvii]
Information from the expeditions of Ptolemy II in 278 B.C. encompassed the
southern and middle regions of the Red Sea and the African coast. They were
used to help in the control of the spice route coming from India and Yemen.
This information was also used to facilitate elephant hunts. Elephants
were used in the Ptolemies wars against the Seleucids, the royal Greek family which
dominated Syria. These factors opened the door for a systematic
collection of geographical data of the African coast of the Red Sea and the
Arabian coast. The results of this geographical activity was the book of
Eratosthenes, and an important map.[1]
Eratosthenes measured the length of the Red Sea. He also gave a complete survey of the land and marine routes which connect southern Arabia with Aqaba, or Ilat on the north, which is the Israeli port on the Red Sea. He described all the people and centers in the region, but he didn't mention Mecca, even though he followed the land route upon which Mecca was eventually built.
Classical Geographers Describe the Area Where Mecca was Eventually Built as “Uninhabitable.”
Among the things which Eratosthenes described is the Arabian region, which corresponds to Africa's coastal region along the Red Sea called the Troglodytic Land.[xviii] This African region is an important region for our study because there is a huge desert area opposite it on the Arabian coast of the Red Sea. This was described by the classical geographers. The southern part of this Arabian region was an arid area without cities or villages. It was a dangerous region where savage nomads roamed from time to time, attacking caravans. This area was described by the classical writers as uninhabitable, dividing the region of Northern Arabia from Southern Arabia. Yet, it was the most fearful tract in the land route. Beginning of the 3rd century B.C., they began using the land route in commerce with Israel and Syria; I mean the land route, which lies adjacent to the Red Sea, passing through the area where Mecca was eventually built. It continued to be the most dangerous tract of land until after the Christian era.
Eratosthenes mentioned the area of Arabia, opposite to the African Red Sea region called Troglodytic Land. While geographers, who came in the centuries following Eratosthenes, described some areas near this one . The historian Eratosthenes failed to find or describe inhabitants who lived close to this region. This tells us that in 275-195 B.C., at the time of Eratosthenes, many areas around this one were not inhabited. They were part of a huge desert. Since the land route beside the Red Sea from Yemen toward Palestine was scarcely used in Eratosthenes' time, we can conclude that no villages were yet established in the middle of western Arabia, along the land route.
We know that Eratosthenes’ report expresses not only his time – starting from the end of the 3rd century B.C. – but also the various geographers who ventured and visited the area before, starting with the explorers of the Alexander the Great during the last part of the 4th century B.C. If Mecca had existed in Eratosthenes' time, how had he failed to put it on his map of that region? It would have become a refuge for the travelers and their caravans, and would have become the pride of the Red Sea. No villages or cities were described by him, or by those who explored before him, because no villages or cities existed. Mecca would have become a center of rest and hope for the geographers and those who crossed that arid and terrible tract of the desert. If Mecca had existed in Eratosthenes’ time it would likely have been the main reference point for his map to fill in the arid area of central western Arabia, a region which later maps also depicted without cities and villages. If the Muslim claim that Mecca was a pilgrimage city for all Arabians, why would Eratosthenes portray central western Arabia as a void area both in his description and on his map, making no mention of Mecca?
But, unfortunately, geographers such as Eratosthenes did not have any city or
village to use as a reference in the area where Mecca was eventually built. Since there were no
villages in that arid desert region, there could be no temple to attract
pilgrims from all over the world to worship, as Mohammed claimed. Nor were there religious or
non-religious tribes which would require a temple to be built for their
worship. In reality,
reports of the geographers confirm that the Kaabah
of Mecca was a pagan temple for tribes which emigrated to those regions in the
centuries after the Christ.
How ironic it is to build a historical, monotheistic faith on this arid uninhabited tract of the desert. And how strange that it shifted people’s attention from the Truth to Arabian paganism in the centuries following the Christian era.
If this is the picture
of this neglected part of the desert in the 4th and 3rd
centuries B.C., even when the initiated land route had just scarcely started, then
how unrealistic it is to conclude that this part of the desert was a center of
the monotheism in the 21st century B.C. at the time of the patriarch
Abraham, where no land routes were known, Yemen, itself, was unknown to the
contemporaries of the patriarch. To build an eternal hope on this tract of
sand, which did not express life through history to help anyone create a religious
legacy, is fatal for the soul. However, the tribe of Mohammed came to live on this unimportant
region of sand in the 5th century A.D. After emigrating from
Yemen, and after Mohammed claimed himself as prophet of Allah, he wanted to
shift the legacy of the Bible to his tribe’s new location;
yet, it did not affect the historical reports about such tract of the desert.
Our Muslim friends need to return to the real legacy of monotheism known in
history. They need to acquire a Biblical view, where it is prophesied many
times that the true Savior of the world is Jesus Christ. This is the only trustworthy
legacy through which all people are called by God to seek Him and His
salvation. Many, many people in every generation have received salvation when
they have believed in the atoning death of Christ as prophesied in the Old
Testament.
Isaiah, who prophesied in 750 B.C.
concerning the suffering of Christ, said in chapter 53, verses 4 and
5:
He
was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the
chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
This
is an invitation for every person who longs to be healed from his or her sin,
to look to the righteous Lamb who was slain for us on the cross. Jesus did not refuse to be led to the
place where He would be slain, as Isaiah also prophesied in the next
verse:
He
was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as sheep before its shearers is silent,
so He opened not His mouth.
He
was willing to be slain, though He is the all-powerful One about whom Isaiah said in chapter 9, verse 6:
For
unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be
upon His shoulder. And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the
Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace.
The
powerful God went to the Cross – though He was able to avoid it –
because He was willing to pay the penalty for our sins so that we can live
forever.
In Isaiah 53, we read a detailed prophecy regarding the death and resurrection
of Christ, as prophesied by Isaiah in the 8th century B.C.
AGATHARCHIDES' SURVEY ON WESTERN ARABIA
THE
ACCURACY OF HIS SURVEY AS A RELIABLE SOURCE FOR OUR STUDY.
In our study, we now come to the 2nd century B.C. Without doubt, the
most important geographer and historian of the time was Agatharchides of Alexandria,
who wrote between 145-132 B.C. He was born at the Greek city of Cnidus. He was
believed to be a major figure in compiling Egypt's political history in the
late 2nd century B.C.[xix]
Because he was very close to the royal palace of the Ptolemies, he had first-hand
knowledge of the results of the expeditions which took place throughout the 3rd
and 2nd centuries B.C., especially in the regions around the Red
Sea, the African shore and West and South Arabia. He had access to
sources which documented the achievements of the Ptolemies. These were
mainly reports presented by the envoys of the kings during the 3rd
and the beginning of the 2nd century B.C.[xx]
Agatharchides coordinated all the information
as a keen synthesizer and analyzer. He documented the names of the explorers
who visited the region. Among those he mentioned was the name of the
geographer, Ariston. That geographer is the one whom Ptolemy dispatched in the 3rd
century B.C. to explore Arabia, especially the regions of West Arabia near the
Red Sea where Mecca was later built.[xxi]
Agatharchides mentioned the name of other
explorers, such as Simmias, whom Ptolemy III sent to explore the region.
Agatharchides told how Simmias described the region, and how this had become an
important resource.[xxii]
Agatharchides also studied books written by
other geographers sent by the Ptolemies.[xxiii]
Scholars think he drew heavily from Anaxicrates' voyage to South and West
Arabia.[xxiv]
We know, as I previously mentioned, that at least seven authors who visited
and wrote about the Red Sea region during the 3rd century B.C.
Among them are: Pythagoras,[xxv]
Basilis, Dalion, Bion of Soli, Simonides the Younger, Aristocreon, and Philon. Scholars assert that
Agatharchides consulted all of their writings. Agatharchides synthesized and
gathered information from reports and books which explorers and geographers had
written before his time. He also depended upon people he encountered whom
he called “eyewitnesses.” Among them were envoys of the king – traders and
explorers who visited the regions surrounding the Red Sea.[2]
Unfortunately, the original documented survey of Agatharchides on the
Erythraean Sea disappeared, but almost the
entire book has survived in the writings of three classical writers: Strabo,
Photius and Diodorus(Diodorus Siculus). The most significant summary of
Agatharchides' book is found in Photius' book, Bibliotheca. [3]
The accuracy of his survey is very much accepted by scholars. The expeditions
and discoveries from the 7th and 8th centuries A.D. confirmed
the accuracy of the writings of Agatharchides, as they corresponded completely
to his writings. Burstein, in his book
Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea, describes it this way, “they have vindicated its
basic accuracy so that, once again, it is recognized by scholars as one of the
most important sources for the study of the history and human geography of
ancient northeast Africa and western Arabia to survive from antiquity.”[xxvi]
One
example scholars give to defend Agatharchides' accuracy is how he described
the shores and adjoining water. Agatharchides tells us that the color of
the water opposite Saba Land, South Arabia, was white,
like river water. The phenomenon is still true today.[xxvii]
Another element which proves the accuracy and value of his writings is the
similarity between his descriptions of tribes and people living in the area,
and the description of the same people in later reports.[xxviii]
Agatharchides gives measurements of various tracts along the shores of the Red
Sea in West Arabia. This tells us that his writing depended on testimony
from expert geographers who examined the shore and the regions of Arabia
connected to it.
Ptolemies wanted an exact study of the
region to protect their trade in the Red Sea, and to know how to deal with
various groups of population or tribes living in regions connected with the Red
Sea. They also wanted to know the exact lengths of regions where the trade
might find uninhabited areas, or areas with savage tribes or Bedouins. This
justified the quantity and the quality of a prolonged, intensive and accurate
study through the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C., where the
Ptolemies started to control the movement of trade on the Red Sea, and deal
with piracy which threatened such trade coming from the interior Arabian
regions. The book of Agatharchides reflected the success of the
Greek geographers in providing to the Ptolemies accurate and detailed
geographical and geographical information of the region of West Arabia.
Although Agatharchides wrote
about locations along the Red Sea, including all the temples and routes which
pass through the area where Mecca was eventually built, he never mentioned
Mecca, nor its temple.
In
his description of West Arabia, Agatharchides mentions each of the populations
present in the 3rd century B.C. and the first half of the 2nd
century B.C., in the regions adjacent to the Red Sea. He began with the
Nabataeans, who had their capital in south
Jordan and then penetrated into north Arabia, and he went on to describe each
population, city, port, temple and mountain, until he reached Yemen. Here's
what we learn from Agatharchides' accounts: He passed through the region where
Mecca was later built, but he never mentioned Mecca, nor did he mention a
single temple in that region, although temples were a central subject in his
study. We find him stopping to give the origin of the Poseidon Temple, in the northwest coast
of Sinai. He tells who built it and for
whom it was built. We find him also giving much attention to the temple located
in the Negev desert, saying:
There
is also an ancient altar that is made of hard stone and bears an inscription in
lettering that is archaic and unintelligible. The sanctuary is cared for by a
man and a woman who occupy their sacred office for life.[xxix]
Agatharchides accurately reports the Greek
trend to know about the temples existing in each region, especially in Sinai and West Arabia, where a temple
is a rarity. The Greeks had a passion to know the origin of each temple.
In the temple in the Negev, the Greeks made an effort to
analyze the archaic inscription carved in the stone altar. They also described
the source of the priesthood who served in the temple.
If Mecca and its temple existed in that period, it would have
been of great interest to the Greeks because the location where Mecca was built
was on a land route which the Greek explorers used. If Mecca and its Kaabah
existed then, as the Muslims claim, every Greek geographer would have stopped
there to describe it. It stands to reason that they would have mentioned who
built the temple and what was its religious purpose. Yet, that arid uninhabited
area did not host any temple or religious tradition for those who lived in
Palestine thousands of years earlier such as Abraham and Ishmael.
Agatharchides describes a temple along the Gulf of Aqaba.
Agatharchides told about another temple close
to Ilat in the Aqaba gulf area. It is in a land
belonging to a tribe called “Batmizomaneis.” Agatharchides emphasizes that
the temple, in his own words, “is highly revered by all the Arabs.”[xxx]
Many Muslims claim that Agatharchides’ temple was actually the Temple
of Mecca. To fix the exact place of that temple, let’s follow the narration of Agatharchides, as
reported by Photius and Diodorus. Agatharchides began
to describe regions north of this temple, including the Nabataeans around the Gulf of
Aqaba. The Northern part of the Gulf of Aqaba was called the
Laeanites Gulf. In Photius and
Diodorus, Agatharchides says:
One
encounters the Laeanites Gulf around which there are
many villages of the so-called Nabataean Arabs. They occupy much of the coast
and not a little of the adjacent country which extends into the interior and
contains a population that is unspeakably great as well as herds of animals
that are unbelievably numerous. In ancient times they led a just life and were
satisfied with livelihood provided by their flocks, but later, after the kings
in Alexandria had made the gulf navigable for merchants, they attacked those
who suffered shipwreck. They also built pirate vessels and plundered sailors,
imitating the ferocity and lawlessness of the Tauri in the Pontus. But later they were caught at
sea by quadriremes and properly punished. After what is called the Laeanites
Gulf, around which Arabs live, is the land of the Bythemaneas.
The Gulf of Ilat was called Alenites or Aelaniticus. The gulf of
Laeanites, which is in the northern part of the Gulf of Aqaba, is thought to be
the Gulf of Ilat.
Notice
that the land of Bythemaneas is connected to the south of the
Nabataeans' region, which extended during
the second and third centuries B.C. to the northern part of the Gulf of Aqaba. ( see fig. 2). Musil, a famous scholar on
Arabia, declared that this land was the “lower portion of the Wadi al- Abjaz, namely the so-called Wadi al
'efal[4],
a lowland 50 Km long by 20 km wide just east of the Gulf of Aqaba.”[xxxi]
The narration of Agatharchides continues:
Next
after this section of the coast is a bay which extends into the interior of the
country for a distance of not less than five hundreds stades. Those who inhabit
the territory within the gulf are called Batmizomaneis and are hunters of land animals.
The stade, or stadia,
according to the system of Eratosthenes, equals one tenth of
an English mile,[xxxii] thus making the land
of Bythemaneas only about 50 miles.
He is placing the inhabitants of Batmizomaneis within the gulf
region, as we see from his statement, “Those who inhabit the territory within
the gulf are called Batmizomaneis.” referring to the bay, which he described previously to be near the
Gulf of Aqaba, adjacent to the land of the Nabataeans. The Nabataean’s domain still existed during the
second and third centuries B.C. around the city of Petra and into the northern
part of the Gulf of Aqaba. It is clear that the people called Batmizomaneis
inhabited the northern part of the Gulf of Aqaba.
The
narration of Diodorus is parallel to that
of Photius because both copied
the writings of Agatharchides in his fifth book On
the Erythraean Sea. Diodorus says:
The
people who inhabit the country beside the gulf, who are named the Banizomenes, support themselves by hunting
and eating the flesh of land animals. A very sacred temple has been established
there which is highly revered by all the Arabs.
We see that both Photius and Diodorus placed the people of
Banizomenes (or Batmizomaneis) beside the gulf of
the Laeanites, or Ilat that is the
northern part of Gulf of Aqaba, a great distance
from where Mecca was eventually built. Mecca is in central western Arabia, very close to Yemen.
Following their comments on Banizomenes, the two authors
speak of another area in the south, the Thamud territory. They
describe it in these words,
“after these it is the territory of the Thamoudeni Arabs.” [xxxiii]
The
Thamud tribe was known in history to inhabit northern Arabia close to the Aqaba gulf; they never
reached to the south, toward the area where Mecca was later built. So the
temple described by Diodorus was between the Thamud region and the city of
Petra, within the Gulf of
Aqaba region.
After
Photius mentioned the Thamud region, he mentioned
the next segment to the south of Thamud. [xxxiv] Scholars have identified this segment
as the portion of the coast between Ras karama (25 54 N, 36 39 E)
and Ras Abu Madd (24 50 N, 37 08 E). [xxxv] Ras Abu Madd is
about 450 kilometers (280 miles) north of Mecca. This accurate study shows
clearly that the temple mentioned by Diodorus was in the Aqaba Gulf region, north
to the Thamud region, and could not be identified with the Temple of Mecca (see
Fig.2 ).
Nonnosus[5], seems to speak about the same temple at the same place close to Petra. This temple is built to honor the Arabian deities. Nonnosus wrote:
Most
of the Saracens, those Phoinikon and those beyond the Taurenian mountains, consider as sacred a place
dedicated to I do not know what god and they assemble there twice a
year.[xxxvi]
The Saracens are a people
mentioned by Pliny in Natural
History, Book V, chapter 12,
as people who live in the Gulf of Aqaba not far from the
city of Petra. The Romans called
them “Saracenus.” They were tribes who inhabited the desert connected with
Edom, south of Jordan, near to the city of Petra[xxxvii]. Ptolemy
in the 2nd century A.D. mentioned “Saracene” as part of Arabia Petraea,[6]
and placed it in Sinai between southern Palestine and Egypt. This suggests that
in the 2nd century A.D. the Saracens had spread into regions around about
Sinai. Epiphanius Scholasticus, a translator of many Greek works, in his Christian histories compiled in the middle
of the 6th century, placed Saracens east of the Gulf of Aqaba but beyond the Roman province of Arabia. [xxxviii]
Epiphanius described the Saracens in the 6th century as they became restricted
to their original home, which was east of the Gulf of Aqaba.
To
locate Phoinikon, which was mentioned by Nonnosus, we have to consult the works
of the historians of the 6th century (Nonnosus’ day) who mentioned Phoinikon.
Among those was Procopius. Procopius wrote that Abochorabus gave the oasis of
Phoinikon to Justinian, the Byzantine Emperor, as a gift. Abochorabus was Abu
Karib, a Ghassanide leader over the Saracens in the area of Gulf of Aqaba. Abu
Karib was the son of Jabla, the Ghassanide king of Bilad al Sham (Southern
Syria), which was under the Byzantine Empire. Jabla died in the year 529 A.D.
He had two sons: Arethas, who became successor of his father on Bilad al Sham,
and Abu Karib, who reigned over the regions toward the Gulf of Aqaba. Dr. Irfan
al Shahid wrote: “We
know from epigraphy that Procopius’ Abochorabus is in fact Abu Karib, son of
Jabala and brother of Arethas” [xxxix]
To
determine the location of Phoinikon, which was also described in the writing
of Procopius by the name of Palm
Groves, we return to the following writing of Procopius:
“This coast immediately beyond
the boundaries of Palestine is held by Saracens, who have been settled from
old in the Palm Groves. These groves are in the interior, extending over a
great tract of land, and there absolutely nothing grows except palm trees.
Abochorabus (Abu Karib) presented Emperor Justinian with the Palm Grove,
Phoinikon. Abochorabus was the ruler of the Saracens there, and he was
appointed by the emperor captain over the Saracens in Palestine. And he guarded the
land from plunder constantly, for both to the barbarians over whom he ruled and
no less to the enemy, Abochorabus always seemed a man to be feared and an
exceptionally energetic fellow. Formally, therefore, the emperor holds the Palm
Groves, but for him really to possess himself of any of the country there is
utterly impossible. For a land completely destitute of human habitation and
extremely dry lies between, extending to the distance of a ten days’ journey;
moreover the Palm Groves themselves are by no means worth anything, and
Abochorabus only gave the form of a gift, and the emperor accepted it with full
knowledge of the fact. So much then for the Palm Groves.”[xl]
Procopius
continued: “Adjoining this people there are Maddeni.”[xli] Those
are the Midianites, whose homeland was east of the Gulf of Aqaba. This confirms
that the Saracens of the Palm Groves, Phoinikon, lived adjacent to the
Midianites in the east of Aqaba Gulf.
We
know from a document found in al-Nabk (between Palmyra and Damascus) that Abu
Karib was an important figure in the history of the Monophysite church.[xlii] Later,
Abu Karib’s main city was Sadaqa, some 25
kilometers southeast of Petra. A Petra papyri, Roll 83, called the King’s
Scroll, reports that he was involved in arbitrating a dispute between some
citizens of the area.[xliii]
After
Abu Karib presented Phoinikon to the emperor Justinian as a gift, the emperor
appointed him as phylarch on the Saracens
of Palestine.[xliv] Phoinikon became a part of the province of Palestine,
governed by Abu Karib for the Byzantines. This province included Sinai and
Negev. Before this, however, Abu Karib governed the Saracens of Phoinikon. [xlv]
Two oases have been proposed most
often as the
location of Phoinikon:
Dumat al-Jandal and Tabuk. Both had established connections with Byzantium.
In his campaign to the city of
Tabuk, Mohammed prayed in the temple of Tabuk[xlvi] This
temple was known to the people of the caravans who came from Hejaz and other
regions of Arabia traveling toward Syria and Palestine. No doubt this temple
was known to Mohammed who led the caravans of Khadijeh to Syria, before she
became his first wife. This was before he claimed to be a prophet. He had to
pass by and stop in Tabuk. On his incursion to Tabuk, he went to the temple
there. (Muslims used to call the temples mosques.) According to al Waqidi’s
book Maghazi (the first narration about the incursions of Mohammed)
Mohammed placed a stone in front of the temple area.
“when
the apostle of Allah reached Tabuk, he placed a stone in front of the Mosque of
Tabuk, …then he said: ‘from here is al- Sham.’”[xlvii] He
wanted to say that his incursion had set new boundaries. Tabuk was part of
Al-Sham, a possession of the Ghassanides who governed al-Sham (southern Syria)
under the Byzantines. Mohammed wanted to say that the boundaries of the
Ghassanides after his incursion became beyond that stone and that everything he
reached in his incursion became his.
In fact, Tabuk was the farthest
southern place of the Byzantines. In the year 628-629 A.D. the Ghassanides and
the Byzantines recaptured Tabuk.
Therefore, the temple that
Nonnosus mentioned was in an oasis where, he said, Saracens and the people of
Phoinikon worshipped. We saw above that the Saracens inhabited the region east
of the Gulf of Aqaba. The oasis of Phoinikon was under the dominion of the
Ghassanides and was governed by the Ghassanide Abu Karib, who presented the
oasis as a gift to the Byzantine emperor Justinian. These facts mean that the
oasis cannot be identified with Mecca, for the Saracens never lived at Mecca
nor in its region. Mecca was never under the domain of the Ghassanides or the
Byzantines. Those descriptions are congruous with an oasis in the northern
extremity of Arabia where the Ghassanides governed for the Byzantines. Tabuk is
most likely the oasis and its temple is the temple of which Nonnosus wrote.
From
Procopius we know that “the Saracens always dedicated about two months to their
god, during which time they never undertook any inroad into the land of
others.”[xlviii] So the worship of the Saracens in
their main temple left its imprint on the Arabians who used to pass by on their
way to Syria with their caravans and stopped there to worship. Thus, the idea
of months Haram, where no wars are permitted, became a ritual observed by many
tribes in Arabia, including Quraish of Mecca.
We have seen that Nonnosus said
this about the worship of that temple: “Most
of the Saracens, those Phoinikon and those beyond the Taurenian mountains, consider as sacred a place
dedicated to I do not know what god and they assemble there twice a
year.”[xlix]
Crone contends that the Taurenian Mountains were Jabal Tayyi’,[l] which are in northern Najed in North Arabia. In
this case this temple located in the east of the Gulf of Aqaba would have
attracted worshippers from the east of that region. It is most likely, however,
that the Taurenian Mountains are al Tor mountains,
which are located in southern part of Sinai close to the Red Sea. We know that
some Saracens lived there. This region was part of the province that the
emperor Justinian assigned to Abu Karib.
Diodorus
and Nonnosus spoke of the
same temple
Diodorus
mentioned a temple in the land of a small tribe, Banizomenes, in the area of
the Gulf of Aqaba where “all Arabs worshipped.” Knowing that the Greeks and
Romans used the term “Arabs” for all the peoples of Arabia, including
Trans-Jordan and Sinai, helps us understand Diodorus’ statement that the temple
was honored by all Arabs. This leads us to assume that Nonnosus was speaking about the same
temple that Diodorus mentioned.
Diodorus
wrote that the temple was built to honor the Arabian
deities. The Greek historians’ and geographers’ remarks about this temple,
though situated on the extreme north of Arabia and within the secondary tribe’s
domain, are very significant. At
a certain time there were tribes in northern Arabia (on the southern border
with Jordan) who worshipped at this temple with other Arabian tribes as well.
Obviously, the temple’s location became well-known because of the caravans that
came from the interior of Arabia and passed through the land of Banizomenes,
which was situated on the northern part of the Gulf of Aqaba near the city of
Petra. We saw above how Mohammed and his companions entered the Tabuk temple to
worship during his incursion to Tabuk.
The
Greeks are very careful to distinguish the temple, which has special importance
and is revered by many, in a land, regardless of where it is located.
With such propensity of the Greek historians and geographers, it seems
impossible that they could fail to mention a temple with a special claim such
as to draw worshippers from all tribes, as Islam claims, for the Temple of
Mecca. The fact is that neither Mecca, nor its temple, is mentioned by
Agatharchides, although he pursued with such
passion all temples existent until his time. This is a clear indication that
Mecca, and, its temple, did not exist during such times.
Agatharchides covered the narrations of
geographers of the 3rd century B.C., and of his time, which was the first part of the 2nd
century B.C. Scholars today confirm the fact that the temple near the Aqaba Gulf, close to the border with
South Jordan, was revered by Arabian tribes, just as the classical authors had
written.
Arabian
sources confirm the pilgrimage of the Arabian tribes to a temple in the north
of Arabia
Through a phrase attributed to Amru bin Luhy, we understand that
the tribes in north western Arabia performed the Hajj to two main
places. Luhy’ phrase
is, “The
Lord passes his winters in al Taif with Ellat, and his summers with al
Uza." [li] Which reveals that many tribes in that area made the Hajj to the
city of Taif, where there was a Kaaba dedicated to Ellat. Tribes went at other
times during the year to other Kaabas dedicated to al Uza.
Scholars today believe that
even Quraish, which is the tribe of Mohammed, traveled north every year to a
revered temple. There are many proofs that Quraish neglected the temple
of Mecca and made their Hajj to the north. Wellhausen quotes the words of
al-Kalbi, “people would go on
a pilgrimage and then disperse, leaving Mecca empty.” [lii] In their thinking,
another temple had pre-eminence over Kaabah, the temple at Mecca.
Verses in the Qur’an tell us that the citizens of Mecca used to make a trip
“far away,” but later the Qur’an put a stop to the practice. Mohammed also prohibited people from
making this religious trip after he occupied Mecca. Quraish used to go to Taif in the summer. This
is attested to by a saying of Ibn Abbas, as reported in the
Tabari.
[liii] The other trip may
be toward a northern temple.
Agatharchides' survey, along with
what we have discussed, confirms
the fact that Mecca and its temple didn't exist during the 3rd and 2nd
centuries B.C. Even when the temple was eventually built in later
centuries A.D., it was a local temple of secondary importance, disregarded even
by the tribe to which Mohammed belonged. Mohammed's tribe
used to make a pilgrimage with other Arabian tribes to a temple in the far
northern part of Arabia.
It is unhistorical to believe the Islamic claim that the temple in Mecca was
built by Abraham and Ishmael as a center of monotheistic
worship for Arabia. Muslims today need to renounce this claim and return to
the true monotheism of history, the revelation of God, which the Bible alone represents. Such Biblical
revelation has been documented in all epochs since the time Moses received the first
five books of the Bible until Revelation, the last book of the New Testament.
The temple that Nonnosus wrote about in
the Gulf of Aqaba area was twice
a year a center of Hajj for some Arabian tribes. Quraish went there once a
year.
This
temple mentioned by Agatharchides in northern Arabia in the Aqaba Gulf region is attested to by
Nonnosus. Previously, I quoted the words
of Nonnosus regarding this temple, as we find them in the book of Photius:
Most
of the Saracens, those Phoinikon and those beyond the Taurenian mountains, consider a place
dedicated to I do not know what god as sacred, and assemble there twice a year.
The
first of these gatherings lasts a whole month and goes on until the middle of
Spring. The other lasts two months. While these gatherings last, they
live in complete peace not only with each other, but also with all the people
who live in their country. They claim that even the wild beasts live in
peace with men and, what is more, among themselves.[liv]
This
tells us that the northern temple was a place where many tribes would perform a
pilgrimage twice a year. During this pilgrimage, the tribes abstained from
fighting each other. If one of the religious trips of Quraish was to this temple, it is clear
that Mohammed tried to stop this famous and
historical Arabian temple pilgrimage. He directed Quraish, the tribe of
Mecca, as well as other tribes, to make the pilgrimage to Mecca instead.
From the quotation of Nonnosus, we see that the northern temple
had similarities between their rituals and the rituals we encounter in the
temple at Mecca and in other temples of Arabia. These rituals included the
Hajj, and abstinence from war during the Hajj. These rituals performed in the
temple of Mecca reflect those of pagan Arabian religions. The Temple of Mecca
was built in the 5th century A.D. by Tubb'a, the Himyarite leader of Yemen. However,
the Quraish tribe, like many Arabian tribes,
continued to make a pilgrimage twice a year. The word "Hajj"
means pilgrimage. Scholars think the Quraish were regularly traveling on
these pilgrimages to the temple at Taif and to a temple located in the
far north of Arabia. These travels were performed long before Mohammed imposed worship at the Temple of
Mecca on all Muslims and annulled worship at the other temples of Arabia.
Therefore, with the accuracy of Agatharchides and the geographers of that
time, we see that neither the temple of Mecca nor the city of Mecca existed at
that time. Instead, there was another temple, which attracted the Arabian
tribes. That temple was located near the border between northern Arabia and
Jordan.
Quraish, the tribe of Mohammed, occupied Mecca after it was
built around the 4th century A.D. by another tribe called Khuzaa'h which had come from Yemen. Even
after the Temple of Mecca was built in the city later, the Quraish continued
the practice of many Arabian tribes and made a pilgrimage twice a year.
The Qur’an in Sura Quraish 106, verses 1-3, prohibits the
tribe to do their “covenant” for two journeys. I think the two pilgrimages to a
northern temple and to the temple of Taif are intended in the Qur’anic
verse and, instead, compel them to worship Allah in the Temple of Mecca. Sura
Quraish 106, verses 1-3, says:
for
the covenants by the Quraish; their covenants covering
journeys by winter and summer. Let them adore the lord of this house.
Islamic
tradition confirms that Quraish used to have two religious Hajj
to other places in northern Arabia. Scholars think that Quraish were traveling
on these pilgrimages to a temple located in the far north of Arabia and to the
Taif temple. These travels were
regularly performed before Mohammed imposed worship at the temple of
Mecca, called Kaabah, on all Muslims. Mohammed annulled worship at the other
temples of Arabia, many of which were also called Kaabah.
Were the two journeys that the
Quran prohibited Quraish to perform, commercial or religious Hajj journeys?
When
interpreting the Quranic chapter of Quraish about the two journeys of Quraish,
some Muslims contend that there were two annual commercial journeys—one caravan
to Syria and another to Yemen. The contend that the Quranic verse intended that
Quraish quit the commerce and dedicate itself to the service of the pilgrims at
Mecca. Historical evidence, however, contradicts this claim, given the true
size of commerce of Mecca at that time.
The
circumstances in Yemen in the 6th century prepared the way for Mecca to assume
the principal role in the trade in western Arabia. Political events caused the
Himyarite commercial activity to decline and Mecca to rise as a capital of
commerce. Among these events were the Ethiopian campaigns against the
Himyarites of Yemen in the year 525/526 A.D. in response to the Himyarite
persecutions against the Christians of Nijran in Yemen. In the year 575/577
A.D. the Himyarites, under Maad Karb the third (called Saif bin Dhi Yazan),
regained authority over Yemen. This effectively blocked the Himyarites’ trade
with Syria, Palestine, and Egypt because these regions were under the
Byzantines, who were allies of the Ethiopians. Then came the Persian occupation
of Yemen in 577 A.D., which ended the Himyarites’ domain. Thus it was not
possible for the Yemenites to carry the goods they brought from Asia and the
Persian Gulf to trade with the regions under the Byzantine control, such as
Syria, Gaza, Egypt, and Trans-Jordan.
Mecca
benefited from the deterioration of political conditions in Yemen, and the
Yemeni loss of control of Hejaz. Mecca rose as a central concourse on the land
routes. Scholars such as W.M. Watt, maintain that Mecca controlled the commerce
in western Arabia beginning in the first part of the 6th century A.D.[lv]
Mecca
formed alliances with the tribes in western Arabia and paid them to protect the
caravans from piracy[lvi] The Quraish merchants went to
southern Syria and Gaza. Gaza was an important commercial market for trade with
the nations of Europe and other nations on the Mediterranean Sea. The Quraish
merchants brought perfumes,
incense, and leather
goods, especially the gilded ones, from Yemen.[lvii] They traded various goods that came to Yemen from Asia
including spices. In return, they returned to Arabia from their trade in Syria
with various foodstuffs such
as olive oil and grain.
Quraish had caravans
that went to Hira in Iraq,[lviii] and
(as we understand from al Asfahani) they had commercial connections with
Ethiopia.[lix]
Quraish
made several journeys each year to Syria and Yemen. From the incursions of
Mohammed against the caravans of Quraish, we know that Quraish had at least one
extensive caravan traveling to Syria each month; some caravans included 2,500
camels. Mohammed often tried to plunder those caravans. For example he once
sent his uncle, Hamzeh bin Abdel Mutaleb, with 30 Muslims to ambush a caravan
of Quraish that was returning to Mecca from Syria. This was in the 7th month
after his emigration to Medina. In the 8th month one month later, he sent
Ubeidah bin al Harith with 60 Muslims to plunder another caravan of Quraish as
it was returning from Syria. That caravan was led by Abu Sifian accompanied by
200 people of Quraish. In the 9th month after his emigration, one month after
the last incursion, Mohammed sent Saad bin Abi Waqqas with a group of Muslims
to plunder another caravan coming from Syria. In the 12th month after his
emigration, three months after the last incursion, Mohammed himself led his
companions to al Abwa’, between Mecca and Medina, to plunder a caravan of Mecca
traveling to Syria. Two months later, Mohammed led 200 Muslims in another
incursion, known as the incursion of Buwat, to plunder a large Quraish caravan
of 2,500 camels returning from Syria. In the 16th month after his emigration he
led an incursion called the incursion of al-‘Ashirah with 150 Muslims seeking a
caravan of Quraish en route to Syria.
After
one month, he sent a group of Muslims under Abdellah bin Jahsh Al-Asadi to
plunder the caravans of Quraish that were returning to Mecca from Yemen. When
the caravan of Quraish passed close to them carrying goods to Mecca, the
Muslims ambushed the caravan, killing one man, taking two men as prisoners, and
plundering the caravan.
Those were the incursions in
which Mohammed tried to plunder the Quraish caravans. The historical fact is
that each month (not merely twice each year) the Quraish had a large caravan
whose camels reached 1,500-2,500. A number of wealthy residents of Mecca invested
their money and conducted business through these caravans. There were also many
smaller caravans owned by certain individuals of Mecca. Contending that Quraish
had only two journeys a year—one to Syria and another to Yemen—is simply
unhistorical. Therefore, it is inaccurate to contend that Mohammed prohibited
Quraish through the Quran to perform the two commercial journeys. Mohammed
intended to prohibit Quraish from conducting their own two religious
pilgrimages, which one was toward al Taif to worship Ellat, the sun, and the
other toward the temple of the north of Arabia, which was most likely the
famous temple of Tabuk. As we saw above, Tabuk was called in the past the oasis
of Phoinikon, where
existed the famous temple honored by the Arabian tribes.
The kaabah of Mecca
was part of a religious system involving many kaabahs of
Arabia that belonged to Arabian Star Worship.
In
the worship before Mohammed's time, “Kaabah” was the name given to all the
temples of the so-called “Family Star Religion” of Arabia. The Kaabah of Mecca was no
exception. Each Kaabah had the same basic cubic form, with the same
structural details on the inside as are found in the Temple at Mecca. For
example, each temple had a well where gifts were placed. Also, each temple had
a well which provided holy water for use in the rites of the pilgrimage.
In the case of Mecca, this well is called Zamzam.
The Main element in the Kaabahs are the black stones, a key element in worship. These
stones are meteorites which the Arabians found and revered. Wherever one
of these stones was found, a temple was built around it. So each Kaabah
has one black stone which is held in esteem as a
deity representing the family star. Pilgrims visiting any of these Kaabahs
perform many of the same rites we encounter in the rites at Mecca. For example,
men and women wearing special clothing circle around the black stone. The custom was to circle nude around the Kaabah. Groups, such as
the Halah, would join the circle completely naked, including the women. [lx]
The Kaabahs originated in Yemen and spread northward. They were
dedicated to “The Star Family.” The name of Allah is derived from Hilal, the
Thamudi god of the moon. The
Kaabahs spread across Arabia with the emigration of many Yemeni tribes in the
north. The tribe of Khuzaa'h emigrated from Yemen
in the 2nd century A.D. to the
area where Mecca was later built. In the 4th century A.D., they built the city
of Mecca. Asa’d Abu Karb, the Yemeni leader
who occupied Mecca during his reign in Yemen from 410-435 A.D., built the
Temple of Mecca with the same specifications as Yemeni existing temples.
The Kaabah was dedicated to the worship of Ellat, the sun, and
Allah’s daughters, Manat and al-'Uzza. Ellat was also the wife of Allah.
Every Kaabah was dedicated to Arabian Star Worship. Sometimes it was
specifically dedicated to one member of the Star Family. For example, the
Kaabah in the city of Taif was dedicated to the worship of Ellat, the wife of
Allah.
Other idols were later added to the Kaabah at Mecca, that took
special prominence. Another example was Hubul, who was considered by scholars
to represent the moon. Two other important idols were Isaf and Naelah. As
priests for the Jinn, they were important Kuhhan for the Jinn inside the
Kaabah. They also were worshiped after they died. Because of the importance of
Isaf and Naelah both for the family of Mohammed and in the Hajj of Umrah, which
was dedicated to these two idols. We will later study them in greater detail.
Through the report of Agatharchides, we
know that the area where Mecca was eventually built was uninhabited during his
time.
We will now return to
our discussion of the works of Agatharchides. He is known for describing in
detail the regions of Arabia along the Red Sea. He identified all the peoples
that lived along the entire Arabian coast of the Red Sea. Agatharchides
described the geography from the coast of the Red Sea to 100 miles
inland. He mentioned cities like Petra, located about 80 miles from the
coast. This was the area that the caravans begin to use in the 3rd
century B.C. as their land trading route along the Red Sea.
The Greek and Roman geographers were very interested
with the strip of land which extended in depth from the shore of the Red Sea to
about 100 miles inland, and in length from Sinai to Yemen. This strip of land is
important to our study, because this is the place where Mecca was later built –
about 40 miles from the shore. Although sites in this area were well
documented, Mecca is absent in the descriptions of all the Greek and Roman
geographers from this time who explored and described this strip of land.
There is another historical strip of land which starts about 150-200 miles from
the Red Sea in northwestern Arabia. A few cities were built on some of the
oases in this region around the 9th century B.C. Among the first
cities built were Dedan and Qedar. Other cities were built later,
when a trading route developed between the oasis
cities and Yemen in the 8th century B.C. Among these cities
were Yathrib and Khaybar, which are mentioned in various
records of the kings and the people who occupied northwestern Arabia, an area
also called Hijaz. The location where Mecca
was later built is also located in Hijaz. Mecca is not mentioned in these
different records.
One
of the kings who ruled in the area of northwestern Arabia, known as Hijaz, was Nabonidus, the Babylonian king.
Nabonidus transferred his residence to the city of Teima in northern Arabia for 10 years
(550-540 B.C.). In what has been called, the
“Verse Account of Nabonidus” we read:
Nabonidus killed the prince of Teima and took his residency and built
there his palace like his palace in Babylonia.[lxi]
From an inscription which Nabonidus left at his original
city Harran, we know that during
his sojourn at Teima he also ruled the
cities of Hijaz existing at that
time. Among them
were Yathrib (Medina) and Khaybar,[lxii]
but he did not mention Mecca (see Fig. 4). Mecca, if it existed at that time,
would have been the only city of Hijaz which he did not conquer. This
would have been strange for a strong Babylonian king to conquer so deep and far
into the land of Hijaz, reaching as far as Yathrib, and then spare Mecca. The
fact is that he did not mention Mecca because it did not exist in his time,
which was the middle of the 6 th century B.C. Therefore, Mecca is
absent from the historical picture of the events of northern Arabia during the
aforementioned times.
This strip of land bordering the Red Sea holds yet another
key to the dating of Mecca. The land is historically attested to by
expeditions of Greeks and Romans. It is also attested to by
kingdoms that tried to control the trade across it from Yemen toward Palestine
and Syria. One of these kingdoms is the Nabataean kingdom, situated on the border
between Arabia and Jordan. Another is the Main Kingdom in Yemen. In all their
reports, Mecca is absent from the archaeological records.
Agatharchides’ survey covered, in detail, this
strip of land along the Red Sea where Mecca was built in later times. He
started systematically with the Nabataeans and mentioned a body of water
called the Laeanites Gulf.
Then Agatharchides tells us about the land
inhabited by people called the Batmizomaneis. He says:
Next
after this section of the coast is a bay which extends into the interior of the
country for a distance of not less than five hundred stades. Those who inhabit
the territory within the gulf are called Batmizomaneis and they are hunters of land
animals.[lxiii]
( A "stade" is one eighth of an
English mile.)
Fig. 2 shows the Gulf of Aqaba where the land of
the Batmizom-aneis is located – south of the Nabataeans and north of the
Thamud.
In this land Agatharchides mentioned the temple which all
the Arabs used to revere, the temple that
I discussed previously. This temple is not the Temple of Mecca; geographers had
placed the temple in the land of the Batmizomaneis, close to Petra, about 700 miles distant from
where Mecca was built. It is interesting to note that Agatharchides describes
each group of people living on the strip along the Red Sea, and he explicitly
mentions how far each one's territory extended into the interior. As a
careful Greek geographer, he documented, in detail, all the people and the
geography of the strip, mentioning places at least 100 miles into the interior
of Arabia.
After describing land along the Red Sea, Agatharchides turns to the Thamud region, which covered a section
south of the strip about which we've been talking. He says this area is
inhabited by "Arabs called Thamoundeni," or
Thamud, a tribe which first appeared in the 8th century B.C. and
continued until the 5th century A.D. The existence of the Thamuds is also reflected in Assyrian
records, whose inscriptions proved that the Thamuds were scattered through a
wide part of northern Arabia, including the strip along the Red Sea.
Agatharchides describes many details about this part of strip – the length of the Thamudic coast, and other particulars.
This helped scholars to identify the coasts which come next after this Thamudic
coast, corresponding to today’s maps of the Red Sea. In fact, the next coast he
described has been identified by geographers as the coast between the following
current locations in Arabian peninsula: Ras Karkama located at 25 54’ N, 36 39’ E,
and Ras Abu Madd located at 24 50’ N, 37 08 E.[lxiv] Ras
Abu Madd is about 450 kilometers (280 miles) from Mecca.
After describing the place identified today as Ras Abu Madd, Agatharchides seemed to pass through
uninhabited areas. Previously, he would stop to describe the inhabitants of
each area, but after leaving the area which the geographers identified with the
region that ends with Ras Abu Madd, there are no descriptions of inhabitants.
It is unusual for Agatharchides and the other geographers upon whom he depended
to fail to describe an area if it was inhabited. To fail to tell about the
inhabitants of an area allows us to conclude that the area was
uninhabited. This segment without inhabitants corresponds to the strip
where Mecca was built in later times. This fact is reconfirmed by other
geographical facts not only by scholars recognizing the tract that precedes it,
namely, the tract between Ras Karkama and Ras Abu Madd, the two cities
which we find today on the map of Arabia. It is also identifiable by the tract,
which follows in the description of Agatharchides, which he describes with the
following words:
The
next part of the coast is dominated by dunes which are infinite in their length
and breadth and black in color.
This
is identified by scholars with the black basalt Harat Shama half way between Jeddah and the lagoon of al-Sharifa.[lxv]
Today, Jeddah is considered as the port of Mecca –
it is about 40 miles distant from it. Al-Sharifa is described by the
geographical books as “a very long inlet, parallel to the coast immediately
northwest of al-Lith, shut in by a long narrow
island, Jezirat Qishran.”[lxvi]
(See Fig. 3.)
After the area where Jeddah and Mecca were built,
Agatharchides described another arid,
uninhabited area in his time which extended about 86 miles to the south. From
his description, we can see a long tract, starting from Ras Abu Madd until half-way between Jeddah
and the Lagoon of al-Sharifa, which was uninhabited in the
time of Agatharchides. It is the tract where Mecca was built in later times.
This tract is estimated to be about 460 miles in length. Mecca was built in
the 4th century A.D., in the middle of this tract which divides
northwestern Arabia (particularly where some of the Thamuds came to live along the Red Sea)
from other tracts which connect central west Arabia with southern Arabia. It
was a huge arid geographical barrier between northwestern Arabia and the
southwest,
where no inhabitants lived at the time of Agatharchides, who wrote about the 3rd
century B.C., and about his times, the middle of the 2nd century B.C.
This observation of Agatharchides about this tract located in
central western Arabia is understandable historically,
because the tribes which inhabited the north of Arabia along the Red Sea were
mainly Lihyanites and Thamuds, along with the Nabataeans who extended their dominion
(sometimes) over Northwestern Arabia. None of these tribes were known in
history to have lived toward the central western portion of Arabia where this
uninhabited tract (that later became the city of Mecca) is situated. All this
tells us is that it would be easier for the people of Alaska to claim that
Abraham went to the frozen north and built a temple to establish a monotheistic
religion, than for Mohammed to claim that Abraham built a
temple in an arid tract along the Red Sea in central west Arabia – an area which never attracted people to inhabit it,
even the closest tribes of North Arabia. None of the tribes and nations closest
to such tract from the southern direction had ever inhabited such tract of
central western Arabia. Who would want to build a caravan station in such an arid area?
The Maini had already built stations in other regions like Dedan to oversee
their trade and protect their caravans. However, they never built a station in
the area where Mecca was later built because throughout ancient history, it was
known to have been an arid and uninhabited area.
ARTEMIDORUS’
SURVEY
Artemidorus’
survey showed that the tract on central
western Arabia, where
Mecca was later built, was still uninhabited as late as 103 B.C.
Another
Greek geographer and historian, Artemidorus of Ephesus, wrote a total of eleven
geography books. He lived around 103 B.C. and was quoted by the historian,
Strabo. Although Artemidorus included
extensive excerpts from the book of Agatharchides in his eleven-book survey of
world geography,[lxvii] he also included additional
information gathered by others in his time, and from his own travels, as well.[lxviii] Consequently, Artemidorus, as
well as Agatharchides, described the strip of land along the Red Sea. Just like
Agatharchides, Artemidorus described the nature of each tract along the coast
of the Red Sea and the population who lived there. When he came to the same
central western Arabian tract where Mecca was later built, he didn’t mention
any people living there, making it clear that around 103 B.C. this tract was
still uninhabited. He mentioned some islands near that area which were also
uninhabited.[lxix] He has to walk very much more to
the south of this region in order to find a small port. To the south of this
port was a land inhabited by the so-called “Debae” people. There were Bedouins
traveling in the area and a few farmers, but no cities were seen in that area.
Artemidorus had to travel much further south to near the border of Yemen to
find, as he said, “more civilized” people.[lxx] In other words, the tract of
central western Arabia where Mecca was built later was
still uninhabited as of 103 B.C. This tract is divided from Yemen by an area,
which is inhabited only by uncivilized Bedouin tribes.
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