refers to the Arabs. Josephus (37—100 B.C.) gives some valuable historical and geographical
details about the Arabs and Nabataeans. There are many more Greek and Latin writings of
pre-Islamic era, enumerating the tribes living in the Peninsula and giving their geographical
locations and historical details, which, notwithstanding the mistakes and inconsistencies in
them, are inestimable sources of information about ancient Arabia. Alexandria was also one
of those important commercial centers of antiquity which had taken a keen interest in
collecting data about Arabia, its people and the commodities produced in that country for
commercial purposes.
The classical writers first to mention the Arabians in the Greek literature were Aeschylus
(525-465 B. C.) and Herodotus (484-425 B. C.). Several other writers of the classical period
have left an account of Arabia and its inhabitants, of these, Claudius Ptolemaeus of Alexan-
dria was an eminent geographer of the second century, whose Almagest occupied an impor-
tant place in the curriculum of Arabic schools. Christian sources also contain considerable
details about Arabia during the pre-Islamic and early Islamic era although these were pri-
marily written to describe Christianity and its missionary activities in that country.
The numerous references made to the 'Ereb' in the Old Testament are synonymous with
the nomadic tribes of Arabia since the word means desert in Semitic and the characteristics
of the people described therein apply to the Bedouins. Similarly, the Arabs mentioned in the
writings of the Greeks and Romans as well as in the New Testament were Bedouins who
used to make plundering raids on the frontier towns of Roman and Byzantine empires,
despoiled the caravans and imposed extortionate charges on the traders and wayfarers
passing through their territories. Diodorus Siculus, a classical writer of Sicily in the second
half of the first century B.C., affirms that the Arabians are "Self reliant and independence-
loving, like to live in the open desert and highly prize and value their liberty." The Greek
historian Herodotus (484-425 B. C.) also makes a similar remark about them. "They revolt
against every power," he says, "which seeks to control their freedom or demean them." The
passionate attachment of the Arabs to their personal freedom had been admired by almost
all the Greek and Latin writers.
The acquaintance of the Arabs with the Indians and their commercial and cultural rela-
tions which India began in the days much before the advent of Islam and their conquest of
India. Modern researches on the subject show that of all the Asiatic countries, India was
closest to, Arabia and well-acquainted with it.