History of Saudi Arabia from 3000 BC to 1 AD?
Which cultures or civilizations existed in Saudi Arabia between the years 3000 BC and 1 AD? What land did they occupy from the now Saudi Arabia. Was the civilization a superpower at all in the region? Were there just tribes living in Saudi Arabia during those times, if so, then which ones? I am really wanting to learn about the history of this world, and Saudi Arabia is a place that I want to learn about first. I will be moving onto the rest of the Middle East, and then to Africa afterwards. Thanks for answering! Could someone please answer, even if it is a link.
History - 1 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
There's this: "Until comparatively recent times knowledge of the Arabian Peninsula was limited to that provided by ancient Greek and Roman writers and by early Arab geographers; much of this material was unreliable. In the 20th century, however, archaeological exploration has added considerably to the knowledge of the area. The earliest known events in the history of the Peninsula are migrations into neighbouring areas [1]. Around 2500 BC, Semitic-speaking peoples of Akkadian origin migrated from the Arabian Peninsula into the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Mesopotamia,[2] mixed with the Sumerians, and became the Assyro-Babylonians.[3][4] Some archeologists argue that another group of Semites left Arabia around 2500 BC during the Early Bronze Age and settled along the Levant, mixing in with the local populations there. Some of these migrants became the Amorites and Canaanites of later times. Bernard Lewis mentions in his book The Arabs in History: "According to this, Arabia was originally a land of great fertility and the first home of the Semitic peoples. Through the millennia it has been undergoing a process of steady desiccation, a drying up of wealth and waterways and a spread of the desert at the expense of the cultivable land. The declining productivity of the peninsula, together with the increase in the number of the inhabitants, led to a series of crises of overpopulation and consequently to a recurring cycle of invasions of the neighbouring countries by the Semitic peoples of the peninsula. It was these crises that carried the Assyrians, Aramaeans, Canaanites (including the Phoenicians and Hebrews), and finally the Arabs themselves into the Fertile Crescent."[5] The better-watered, higher portions of the extreme south-west portion of the Arabian Peninsula supported three early kingdoms. The first, the Minaean, was centered in the interior of what is now Yemen, but probably embraced most of southern Arabia. Although dating is difficult, it is generally believed that the Minaean Kingdom existed from 1200 to 650 BC The second kingdom, the Sabaean (see Sheba), was founded around 930 BC and lasted until around 115 BC; it probably supplanted the Minaean Kingdom and occupied substantially the same territory. The Sabaean capital and chief city, Ma’rib, probably flourished as did no other city of ancient Arabia, partly because of its controlling position on the caravan routes linking the seaports of the Mediterranean with the frankincense-growing region of the Hadhramaut and partly because a large nearby dam provided water for irrigation. The Sabaean Kingdom was widely referred to as Saba, and it has been suggested that the Queen of Sheba mentioned in the Bible and the Quran, who visited King Solomon of Israel in Jerusalem in the 10th century BC, was Sabaean. The Himyarites followed the Sabaeans as the leaders in southern Arabia; the Himyarite Kingdom lasted from around 115 BC to around AD 525. In 24 BC the Roman emperor Augustus sent the prefect of Egypt, Aelius Gallus, against the Himyarites, but his army of 10,000, which was unsuccessful, returned to Egypt. The Himyarites prospered in the frankincense, myrrh, and spice trade until the Romans began to open the sea routes through the Red Sea." Saudi Arabia was never much of a "superpower" until the coming of Muhammed and the subsequent caliphs. But even then, the center of the Islamic conquests shifted quickly from Arabia to Damascus, Baghdad, Egypt and finally Turkey. In those times, there was only the Arab Peninsula; it wasn't divided into countries, such as Yemen, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, the Emirates, etc. as it is today. It had no central ruler but was primarily a tribal, nomadic society By the way, I lived and worked in Saudi Arabia (Jeddah and Riyadh) for 19 years. Let me know if you need any information about The Kingdom.
Read more discussions :
