The Arabs in Antiquity

The history of the Arabs in antiquity from their earliest appearance around 853 BC until the first century of Islam. It traces the mention of people called Arabs in all relevant ancient sources and suggests a new interpretation of their history.

Auteur

Jan Retso was born in Norway but has been living in Sweden for more than 40 years. He got his Ph.D form Goteborg University in 1983 and was appointed full Professor of Arabic there in 1986. His main field of work is Arabic and Semitic linguistics, especially comparative and diachronic studies where he has published two monographs and a series of articles. He has also published several articles on the history of Pre-Islamic Arabia and the ancient east.

Contenu

Prologue - An introduction to the problem by showing how the word Arab is used among modern Bedouin

Part I. A Presentation of the use of the word in calssical Islamic sources

Part II. A Survey of all relevant occurrencies of the work in Akkadian, Hebrew, Greek, Latin

Part III. A Synthesis of the information we have about the living conditions of the groups called Arabs

Conclusion

Bibliography