A Literary History of the Arabs Part 45

(_Ma.s.sa?u 'l-ar?_) by Hamdani, _Jaziratu 'l-'Arab_, p. 46, l. 10.

If I may step for a moment outside the province of literary history to discuss the mythology of these verses, it seems to me more than probable that Dhu 'l-Qarnayn is a personification of the Sabaean divinity 'Athtar, who represents "sweet Hesper-Phosphor, double name" (see D. H. Muller in _S.B.W.A._, vol. 97, p. 973 seq.). The Minaean inscriptions have "'Athtar of the setting and 'Athtar of the rising" (_ibid._, p. 1033). Moreover, in the older inscriptions 'Athtar and Almaqa are always mentioned together; and Almaqa, which according to Hamdani is the name of Venus (_al-Zuhara_), was identified by Arabian archaeologists with Bilqis. For _qarn_ in the sense of 'ray' or 'beam' see Goldziher, _Abhand. zur Arab.

Philologie_, Part I, p. 114. I think there is little doubt that Dhu 'l-Qarnayn and Bilqis may be added to the examples (_ibid._, p. 111 sqq.) of that peculiar conversion by which many heathen deities were enabled to maintain themselves under various disguises within the pale of Islam.

[56] The Arabic text will be found in Von Kremer's _Altarabische Gedichte ueber die Volkssage von Jemen_, p. 15 (No. viii, l. 6 sqq.).

?a.s.san b. Thabit, the author of these lines, was contemporary with Mu?ammad, to whose cause he devoted what poetical talent he possessed.

In the verses immediately preceding those translated above he claims to be a descendant of Qa??an.

[57] Von Kremer, _Die Sudarabische Sage_, p. vii of the Introduction.

[58] A prose translation is given by Von Kremer, _ibid._, p. 78 sqq. The Arabic text which he published afterwards in _Altarabische Gedichte ueber die Volkssage von Jemen_, p. 18 sqq., is corrupt in some places and incorrect in others. I have followed Von Kremer's interpretation except when it seemed to me to be manifestly untenable. The reader will have no difficulty in believing that this poem was meant to be recited by a wandering minstrel to the hearers that gathered round him at nightfall. It may well be the composition of one of those professional story-tellers who flourished in the first century after the Flight, such as 'Abid b. Sharya (see p. 13 _supra_), or Yazid b. Rabi'a b. Mufarrigh ( 688 A.D.), who is said to have invented the poems and romances of the ?imyarite kings (_Aghani_, xvii, 52).

[59] Instead of Hinwam the original has Hayyum, for which Von Kremer reads Ahnum. But see Hamdani, _Jaziralu 'l-'Arab_, p. 193, last line and fol.

[60] I read _al-jahdi_ for _al-jahli_.

[61] I omit the following verses, which tell how an old woman of Medina came to King As'ad, imploring him to avenge her wrongs, and how he gathered an innumerable army, routed his enemies, and returned to ?afar in triumph.

[62] Ibn Hisham, p. 13, l. 14 sqq.

[63] Ibn Hisham, p. 15, l. 1 sqq.

[64] _Ibid._, p. 17, l. 2 sqq.

[65] Arabic text in Von Kremer's _Altarabische Gedichte ueber die Volkssage von Jemen_, p. 20 seq.; prose translation by the same author in _Die Sudarabische Sage_, p. 84 sqq.

[66] The second half of this verse is corrupt. Von Kremer translates (in his notes to the Arabic text, p. 26): "And bury with me the camel stallions (_al-khilan_) and the slaves (_al-ruqqan_)." Apart, however, from the fact that _ruqqan_ (plural of _raqiq_) is not mentioned by the lexicographers, it seems highly improbable that the king would have commanded such a barbarity. I therefore take _khilan_ (plural of _khal_) in the meaning of 'soft stuffs of Yemen,' and read _zuqqan_ (plural of _ziqq_).

[67] Ghayman or Miqlab, a castle near ?an'a, in which the ?imyarite kings were buried.

[68] The text and translation of this section of the _Iklil_ have been published by D. H. Muller in _S.B.W.A._, vols. 94 and 97 (Vienna, 1879-1880).

[69] _Aghani_, xx, 8, l. 14 seq.

[70] Koran, lx.x.xv, 4 sqq.

[71] ?abari, i, 927, l. 19 sqq.

[72] The following narrative is abridged from ?abari, i, 928, l. 2 sqq. = Noldeke, _Geschichte der Perser und Araber zur Zeit der Sasaniden_, p. 192 sqq.

[73] The reader will find a full and excellent account of these matters in Professor Browne's _Literary History of Persia_, vol. i, pp. 178-181.

[74] Goldziher, _Muhammedanische Studien_, Part I, p. 225.

[75] Maydani's collection has been edited, with a Latin translation by Freytag, in three volumes (_Arab.u.m Proverbia_, Bonn, 1838-1843).

[76] The _Kitabu 'l-Aghani_ has been published at Bulaq (1284-1285 A.H.) in twenty volumes. A volume of biographies not contained in the Bulaq text was edited by R. E. Brunnow (Leiden, 1888).

[77] _Muqaddima_ of Ibn Khaldun (Beyrout, 1900), p. 554, ll. 8-10; _Les Prolegomenes d' Ibn Khaldoun traduits par M. de Slane_ (Paris, 1863-68) vol. iii, p. 331.

[78] Published at Paris, 1847-1848, in three volumes.

[79] These are the same Bedouin Arabs of Tanukh who afterwards formed part of the population of ?ira. See p. 38 _infra_.

[80] Ibn Qutayba in Brunnow's _Chrestomathy_, p. 29.

[81] Properly _al-Zabba_, an epithet meaning 'hairy.' According to ?abari (i, 757) her name was Na'ila. It is odd that in the Arabic version of the story the name Zen.o.bia (Zaynab) should be borne by the heroine's sister.

[82] The above narrative is abridged from _Aghani_, xiv, 73, l. 20-75, l. 25. _Cf._ ?abari, i, 757-766; Mas'udi, _Muruju 'l-Dhahab_ (ed. by Barbier de Meynard), vol. iii, pp. 189-199.

[83] Concerning ?ira and its history the reader may consult an admirable monograph by Dr. G. Rothstein, _Die Dynastie der La?miden in al-?ira_ (Berlin, 1899), where the sources of information are set forth (p. 5 sqq.). The incidental references to contemporary events in Syriac and Byzantine writers, who often describe what they saw with their own eyes, are extremely valuable as a means of fixing the chronology, which Arabian historians can only supply by conjecture, owing to the want of a definite era during the Pre-islamic period.

Mu?ammadan general histories usually contain sections, more or less mythical in character, "On the Kings of ?ira and Gha.s.san." Attention may be called in particular to the account derived from Hisham b.

Mu?ammad al-Kalbi, which is preserved by ?abari and has been translated with a masterly commentary by Noldeke in his _Geschichte der Perser und Araber zur Zeit der Sasaniden_. Hisham had access to the archives kept in the churches of ?ira, and claims to have extracted therefrom many genealogical and chronological details relating to the Lakhmite dynasty (?abari, i, 770, 7).

[84] ?ira is the Syriac _?erta_ (sacred enclosure, monastery), which name was applied to the originally mobile camp of the Persian Arabs and retained as the designation of the garrison town.

[85] Sadir was a castle in the vicinity of ?ira.

[86] ?abari, i, 853, 20 sqq.

[87] Bahram was educated at ?ira under Nu'man and Mundhir. The Persian grandees complained that he had the manners and appearance of the Arabs among whom he had grown up (?abari, i, 858, 7).

[88] Ma' al-sama (_i.e._, Water of the sky) is said to have been the sobriquet of Mundhir's mother, whose proper name was Mariya or Mawiyya.

[89] For an account of Mazdak and his doctrines the reader may consult Noldeke's translation of ?abari, pp. 140-144, 154, and 455-467, and Professor Browne's _Literary History of Persia_, vol. i, pp. 168-172.

[90] Mundhir slaughtered in cold blood some forty or fifty members of the royal house of Kinda who had fallen into his hands. ?arith himself was defeated and slain by Mundhir in 529. Thereafter the power of Kinda sank, and they were gradually forced back to their original settlements in ?a?ramawt.

[91] On another occasion he sacrificed four hundred Christian nuns to the same G.o.ddess.

[92] See p. 50 _infra_.

[93] _Aghani_, xix, 86, l. 16 sqq.

[94] _Aghani_, xix, 87, l. 18 sqq.

[95] Hind was a princess of Kinda (daughter of the ?arith b. 'Amr mentioned above), whom Mundhir probably captured in one of his marauding expeditions. She was a Christian, and founded a monastery at ?ira.

See Noldeke's translation of ?abari, p. 172, n. 1.

[96] _Aghani_, xxi, 194, l. 22.

[97] Zayd was actually Regent of ?ira after the death of Qabus, and paved the way for Mundhir IV, whose violence had made him detested by the people (Noldeke's translation of ?abari, p. 346, n. 1).

[98] The Arabs called the Byzantine emperor '_Qay?ar_,' _i.e._, Caesar, and the Persian emperor '_Kisra_,' _i.e._, Chosroes.

[99] My friend and colleague, Professor A. A. Bevan, writes to me that "the story of 'Adi's marriage with the king's daughter is based partly on a verse in which the poet speaks of himself as connected by marriage with the royal house (_Aghani_, ii, 26, l. 5), and partly on another verse in which he mentions 'the home of Hind' (_ibid._, ii, 32, l. 1).

But this Hind was evidently a Bedouin woman, not the king's daughter."

[100] _Aghani_, ii, 22, l. 3 sqq.