The Hagarites/Gerrhaeans
Most of us are familiar with the ancient story of Abraham and
his desire to have a son. In the Biblical account of his story,
Abraham first has a son through his 'handmaiden' Hagar. This son
is named Ishmael and is Abraham's first born son. When Abraham's
second son is born, this son named Isaac, is declared the 'son
of promise.' The Jews today claim decent from Abraham through
this second son, Isaac. Few people today, however, know what happened
to the descendants of Ishmael. It is often assumed that they simply
became the Arabs of the Middle East, but to most of us, our knowledge
of them stops there. It appears that Hagar had more children than
simply Ishmael. Several scholars have suggested that she later
remarried and had children, who became known as the Hagarites.
The Biblical record tells us that during the time of King Saul,
Saul fought with the Hagarites who were living east of Gilead.
This would place them in the hills near Amman Jordan, or farther
east in the desert. Apparently, they must have moved from this
location to present day Iraq because they are mentioned later
in the Assyrian records.
The great historian, W.W. Muller proposed that a city of the
people of Hagar would have become 'han-Hagar' when written
in Aramaic and possibly 'Hagara.' When Helenized it would
have become 'Gerrha.' H. von Wissmann proposed that the
term 'Hagar' could be used to describe a walled city with
towers and bastions. Based on these ideas, archeologists have
speculated that the east Arabian kingdom of the Gerrhaeans can
be attributed to the descendants of Hagar. If this is true, then
history tells us much more of the Hagarites, who would have been
known as the Gerrhaeans in the Greek world.
Hagarites in Babylon
One of the earliest mentions of these people is found in a poem
written in the third century BC by Nicander of Colophon. He mentions
the 'nomads of Gerrha and those who plough their fields by
the Euphrates.' (A.S.F. Gow and A.F. Scholfield, Nicander,
The poems and Poetical Fragments, Cambridge, 1952, p. 111)
Subsequently, there is little mention of nomadic Gerrhaeans in
Chaldaean and Assyrian records. The historian, F. C. Movers suggested
in 1856 that it might have been Nebuchadnezzar who exiled the
nomadic Gerrhaeans as part of a policy to protect his country
from menacing Arab tribes. (F. C. Movers, Das phonizische Alterthum,
Berlin 1856, iii. 308)
On the other hand, H.G. Rawlinson dates the Chaldaean exodus
to the Neo-Assyrian period, He suggested that after Sennacherib
had exterminated the Chaldaeans in 694 BC he then expelled a number
of people to Gerrha. This would have included the 'nomads of
Gerrha.' (H. G. Rawlinson, I< > between Indian and
the Western World from the Earliest Times to the Fall of Rome,
Cambridge, 1926).
Most historians however, favor a date during the reign of Achaemenids.
Two dates have been suggested. The first would have been during
the fall of the Chaldaeans to Achaemenids (A.H. L. Heeren, A
manual of Ancient History, Oxford 1833; A.W. Stiffe, 'Ancient
Trading Centres of the Persian Gulf, iii: Pre-Mohammedan Settlements",
GJ9 1897). The second would have been later at some point in the
Achaemenid period. (Kennedy, The Early Commerce of Babylon",
271) Kennedy believed that the Gerrahaeans left Babylon after
Darius I retook the city in 488 BC. C. F Shiwek on the other hand
suggests that the expulsion of the Gerraheans took place during
the reign of Xerxes. This would have taken place as a result of
the brutal repression that took place due to Megabyzus' revolt
in Babylon around in 482 BC. (Der Persische Golf, 64).
M. Amer suggested that because Gerrha is not mentioned by Herodotus,
their exodus from Babylon would have taken place at a much later
date. (Amer, M., The Ancient Trans-Peninsular Routes of Arabia,
135)
Some years later, during the time that Strabo
wrote his history, the Gerrhaeans had earned fame as merchants
on incense. Strabo 16.4.19 tells us that "from their trafficking
both the Sabaeans and the Gerrhaeans have become richest of all
(the Arabians). " Strabo also recorded in 16.3.3: "The
Gerrhaeans import most of their cargo on rafts to Babylonia and
thence sail up the Euphrates with them, and then convey them by
land to all parts of the country." and "The Gerrhaeans
traffic by land for the most part, in the Arabian merchandise
and aromatics..."
Agatharchides (200 - 131 BC) mentions
"... Sela and Palestine where the Gerrhaeans and Minaeans
and all the Arabs who live in the region bring incense from the
highlands, it is said, and their aromatic products."
Juba (25 BC - 25 AD) and later Pliny
(AD 77)records: "For this trade (with Elymais and
Marmania) they opened the city of Carra (Gerrha) where their market
was held. For they all used to set out on the twenty-day march
to Babba and Syria-Palestine. According to Juba's report,
they began later for the same reason to go to the empire of the
Parthians. It seems to me that still earlier they brought their
goods to the Persians rather than to Syria and Egypt,"
which Herodotus confirms, who says "the Arabs paid 1,000
talents of incense yearly to the kings of Persia." (NH
12.40.80)
- Gerrha
- The location of Gerrha has long been a mystery, and many
scholars have guessed at it's location. The list of these would
be too long to mention here. Needless to say, the in 1990, D.T.
Potts, in his two volume series entitled The Arabian Gulf
in Antiquity, (Volume II, From Alexander the Great to
the Coming of Islam, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1990) suggests
that Gerrha would have been located in the region of the modern
port of al-Jubayl in eastern Saudi Arabia. He bases this on Strabo's
description that Gerrha was located two hundred stadia distant
from the sea, and 2,400 stadia from Teredon (which would have
been located near modern day Basra). It is Potts suggestion that
there was both a city of Gerrha and also a port of Gerrha and
that they were located some twenty miles apart.
The Hagarites and the Son's of Ishmael.
The Hagarites are also mentioned in the Bible in: I Chronicles
5:10,19,20 and Psalm 83:6. The account in I Chronicles 5:10 tell
us: "And in the days of Saul they made war with the Hagarites,
who fell by their hand, and they dwelt in their tents throughout
all the land east of Gilead." It was the opinion of Dr.
C. I. Scofield (Notes in the New Scofield Reference Bible,
Oxford University Press, 1967) that the use of the word Hagarites
in this case refers to the tribes of the son's of Ishmael in general
and not to a specific group of people.
A few verses later the Biblical account tells us: "And
they made war with the Hagarites, with Jetur, and Naphish and
Nodab. And they were helped against them, and the Hagarites were
delivered into their hand, and all who were with them; for they
cried to God in the battle, and he was entreated by them because
they put their trust in him. And they took away their cattle,
of their camels fifty thousand, and of sheep to hundred and fifty
thousand, and of asses, two thousand, and of men a hundred thousand.
For there fell down many slain, because the war was of God. And
they dwelt in their stead until the captivity." (I Chronicles
5:19-22)
This passage can be taken in two ways. It can be understood
that King Saul fought with the Hagarites, and with the tribes
of Jetur, Naphish and Nodab. On the other hand, it can be understood
that King Saul fought with the Hagarite tribes of Jetur, Naphish
and Nodab. If the latter was true, then it may be that there was
no new specific group of people known as Hagarites, but that this
term simply refers to the tribes of the
sons of Ishmael.
The other Biblical reference to the Hagarites seems to fly
in the face of this reasoning. In Psalm 83, Asaph the songwriter
records for us a number of the enemies of the Jews. He mentions:
"The temples of Edom, the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagarenes,
Gebal, Ammon, Amalek, the Philistines with the inhabitants of
Tyre; Assyria also is joined with them, they have the children
of Lot."(Psalm 83:6-8) In this list, the Hagarenes appear
to be separate from the Ishmaelites. There can be several explanations
for this. The Hagarenes may not be the Hagarites. Or, Asaph the
poet may have been using poetical license when writing this Psalm.
Since he was interested in rhythm and beat, he may have needed
another enemy to add to his list, and so he would have split the
tribes of Ishmael into two. On the other hand, some of the tribes
of Ishmael may have been known as Hagarites, and some as Ishmaelites.
Whatever his reason, Asaph makes specific mention of two groups
of people, Hagarenes and Ishmaelites.
Interestingly enough, Muslim scholars and historians have no
record of any descendants of Hagar, other than the 12 sons of
Ishmael. Their view the history of the tribes of Arabia is illustrated
in the following chart.
- Keohane, Alan, Bedouin, Nomads
of the Desert, Kyle Kathi Ltd., London, 1994
Conclusion
To date no one has sufficiently solved the mystery of the Hagarites.
Did Hagar remarry and have children which became known as the
Hagarites or descendants of Hagar. Or did the children of her
firstborn son become known as Hagarites? We know from history
that the tribes of Ishmael were nomads. (See Finding
the 12 Tribes of Ishmael.) The Biblical record places the
Hagarites in the desert east of the Holy Land, over towards Babylon.
In the third century BC Nicander of Colophon mentions the 'nomads
of Gerrha,' and places them along the shores of the Euphrates
river. Later the entire eastern coast of Arabia appears to have
been given the name Gerrha. While it is impossible to be completely
certain, some of us here at Nabataea.net assume that the Hagarites
and subsequently the Gerrhaeans, (their Greek name) refer to the
twelve tribes that came from Ishmael, and subsequently from Hagar.
It is very probable that the Jews simply referred to them as the
descendants of Hagar, lumping together Ishmael's children and
any other children that Hagar may have had. In the male dominated
culture of the Middle East, it is doubtful that a tribe would
call itself after a female descendant. The Jews, however, may
have gladly done this in a derogatory sense.
| Who were
the Nabataeans? |
The Muslim Invasion |
| Arabia
in Ancient History |
The Crusades |
| Early
History |
Rediscovery |
| Middle
History |
The Hagarites/Gerrhaeans |
| Late
History |
The Twelve Tribes
of Ishmael |
| The Fall
of Petra |
- Nabajoth, Mibsam, Kedar,
Adbeel, Mishma,
Dumah,
- Massa, Hadad, Tema,
Jetur, Naphish,
Kedemah
|
