ARABS IN SYRIA : DEMOGRAPHY AND EPIGRAPHY
Arab presence in pre-Islamic Syria is signaled by Gindibü\ the « Arab » commander of a thousand camels, who fought with a Damascene coalition of Syrian and Palestinian allies against the Assyrian army of Shalmaneser III at the battle of Qarqar near the Orontes in 853 B.C. Although the homeland of Gindibü5 has been located in the vicinity of Dumah in the Wadi Sirhän in North Arabia, local Arabs in the Syrian heartland are mentioned later. In the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III (744-727 B.C.), the Arbäy are included among the Syrians integrated into the Assyrian administrative system, and are located in the region between Homs, Damascus and Palmyra 1 . Thereafter, « Arabs » appear in an even wider geographical sphere that includes the regions of the northern Sinai, southern Palestine, southern Transjordan, the Syrian desert, and the southwestern border region of Mesopotamia. In the Hellenistic period, the term « Arab » enjoys an even more far-reaching currency, embracing peoples extending from Egypt in the west to the Iranian plateau in the east. For example, during Alexander the Great's conquests, « Arabs » are encountered at various places and stages during his expedition 2. While conducting the siege at Tyre, Alexander led a campaign against the marauding « Arabian peasants » harassing his troops from their bases in the Anti-Lebanon (Curtius 4.2.24, Arabum agrestes, cf. Arrian 2.20.5, and Plut. Al. 24.6). During the siege of Gaza, « Arab » merce¬ naries of the Persian commander Betis were particularly troublesome for Alexander's Macedonian army (Arrian 2.25.4), and an attack by one of these Arabs pretending to be a deserter almost cost him his life (Curtius 4.6.15-16) 3. Curtius also designates the land east of the Euphrates as « a region famous for its
1 . EPH‘ al 1982, p. 75-76.
2. Högemann 1985, emphasizes the «Arabian Expedition » that was part of Alexander's Last Plans, but the focus is the Arabian peninsula, not Arabs per se.
3. For the Arab character of the region see Rappaport 1970. See also Diodorus 20.73.3, for Arabs providing camels for Antigonus' crossing of the North Sinai.
Topoi, Suppl. 4 (2003) p. 319-340
