RELG 203 Lecture 12: RELG 203 Nov 14
Midterms
• essays= much better or much worse overall
• If they used an argument you got over 50%
• just think more on the essays
Pre Islamic Arabia and the Setting of Islamic Reform
Contextualizing Arabia
• often islam studies start looking at Islam from the 7th Century CE and onwards when Islam
emerged with pre-islamic Arabia is a foil for religion yet to come
• this is problematic because the surrounding area is connected
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sui generis approach to Islam hides how embedded it is with west and east
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so in our class we will start by looking at the surroundings of pre islam Arabia
The Nabateans
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Nabateans loved Greco Roman architecture but just chose to carve it in to stone in the most
famous city of Petra
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Nabatean kingdom is a kingdom that emerged out of the conquests of Alexander the Great
was an early reference from 312 BCE
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there was originally nomadic and settled in the achaemenid empire then after Alexander the
Great they controlled the modern Jordan
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it is a connected world (Judea is especially important because of trade routes)
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The Nabatean Kingdom in about 100 BC spanned from the Mediterranean sea to the red sea
and a significant amount of space outwards
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They rule up to the south boundary of the Hasmonean dynasty
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The Kingdom is the pre-existing version of what happened in a millennium (18th Century
BCE) with the arabs
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It lasted 400 years before it was annexed by row but was very important in a political and
social life in the Hasmonean days because it gave them control of the mediterranean sea and
important trade routes
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It slowly got surrounded by Rome after annexation of Egypt by Judea Nabatean became a
client kingdom of the roman empire
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Roman civil war was a big problem for Egypt because Egypt allied with Marc Anthony
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after Marc Anthony lost, Egypt was taken over by Rome
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The Nabatean kingdom fell to the same thing
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By 117 CE the Nabatean kingdom was taken away by Rome
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Romans annexed the Nabatean Kingdom
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Transport, communication, and trade groundwork was put down
Roman Arabia
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Romans in North Arabia since Augustus during the reign of his son Tiberius the city of
Palmyra was added to the roman province of Syria
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It became and end point for trade routes that connected empire with Persia, India, and China
with Arab inhabitants
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The idea of isolated nomadic pre islamic people is wrong
find more resources at oneclass.com
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