ON THE EVE OF THE RISE
OF ISLAM
"Island" though it was, the Arabian peninsula did not escape the attentions of the outside world. The first unmistakable reference to the Arabians as such occurs in an inscription of the Assyrian Shalmaneser III, who in 854 b.c. led an expedition against the king of Damascus and his allies, among whom was an Arabian sheikh. It is typical of the spirit and of most of the events of the time: "Karkar, his royal city, I destroyed, I devastated, I burned with fire. 1,200 chariots, 1,200 cavalry, 20,000 soldiers of Hadad-ezer, of Aram [Damascus] . . . 1,000 camels of Gindibu, the Arabian." It is also significant that the first Arabian in rcc6rded history should be associated with the camel.
We have thus far used the term Arabian for all the inhabitants of the peninsula without regard for geographic location. But we must differentiate between the Arabians of the South and the North, the latter including the Najdis of Central Arabia. The geographical division of the land by the trackless desert into northern and southern sections has its counterpart in the peoples who inhabit it.
The racial affinities of the people of the north are with the Mediterranean race; those of the south arc with the Alpine type styled Armenoid, Hittite or Hebrew and characterized by a broad jaw and aquiline nose, flat cheeks and abundant hair. The South Arabians were the first to rise to prominence and to develop a civilization of their own. The North Arabians did not step on to the stage of international affairs until the advent of Islam in medieval times.
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