Jews and Others
ing in the fourth century.^9 Much more important, they are recorded in both
Greek and Nabataean in an important inscription of the s..from Ruw-
wāfa in the northern Hedjaz: the ‘‘tribe’’ appears as ‘‘the nation [ethnos]of
theThamoudēnoi’’ in Greek and as SRKT TMWDW in Nabataean.^10 They are
thus localised exactly in the region where Ptolemy, at about the same mo-
ment, puts them. The inscription, naming Marcus Aurelius and Verus, and
twogovernorsoftheRomanprovinceofArabia,showstheThamudenial-
ready within the orbit of the Roman imperial power; that they remained so,
and continued to be a definite ‘‘tribal’’ group, is clearly implied by the fact
that cavalry units calledEquites Saraceni Thamudeniare found serving in the
late Roman army.^11
At least for the nearer peoples, therefore, Graeco-Roman literary sources
couldembody a reasonably consistent record of locality and identity. In other
words Graeco-Roman culture did exhibit some curiosity about the peoples,
designated by a considerable variety of ‘‘tribal’’ names, who inhabited the
Syrian steppe and the Arabian peninsula. But, as was only to be expected,
Graeco-Roman writers recorded rather more information about the settled
population of Arabia Felix (the Yemen), to some extent about the inhabi-
tants of the mountain chain (and trade route) of the Hedjaz, and particularly
about theNabataioi, the inhabitants of the kingdom which would in..
become the Roman province of ‘‘Arabia.’’ Graeco-Roman writers (particu-
larly Diodorus and Strabo) had no hesitation in describing theNabataioias
Arabes.^12 The same does not however seem to have applied to theItouraioi
who lived on and around Anti-Lebanon; references to them by pagan writers
are few, and Strabo for instance speaks of ‘‘ItouraioiandArabes’’ as inhabit-
ing this mountain region. Indeed Cassius Dio, writing in the first half of the
third century.., seems to be the only pagan writer who is attested, in a
single passing reference, as describing the ‘‘Itouraioi’’ as ‘‘Arabes.’’^13
In other words Graeco-Roman observers applied the term ‘‘Arab’’ to a
variety of peoples, both settled and nomadic, in the vast area stretching from
northern Mesopotamia to the Arabian peninsula, while also being aware of
. Diodorus , , ; Pliny,NH, ; Ptolemy,Geog. , (see n. ); Uranius,FGrH,
F. .
. The best treatment remains G. W. Bowersock, ‘‘The Greek-Nabataean Bilingual In-
scription at Ruwwāfa, Saudi Arabia,’’ in J. Bingen, G. Cambier, and G. Nachtergael, eds.,
Le monde grec: hommages à Claire Préaux(), .
.Not. Dign.,Or. , , ed. Seeck.
. See n. above.
. Strabo,Geog. , , (); Dio , , : ‘‘The Ituraeans, namely the Arabs.’’ Cf. ,
, .