Herod the Great, an Arab as King of the Jews. Ironically, one of the most important figures in Jewish history was an Arab. Born to an Idumaean father and a Nabataean mother, Herod was a great king and is particularly known for the rebuilding of the Great Temple of Jerusalem. Despite of his significant gestures…

The Early Islamic Conquests by Fred Donner (1981): Certainly a bit dated, but one of the most comprehensive looks at the Islamic conquests of the seventh century as a whole. Donner very usefully dispels a number of Orientalist myths about the conquests, including the weakness of the “great empires” of antiquity and supposed ineffectiveness of…

Carthage: A History by Serge Lancel. It goes from the founding of the city to its destruction, using archeology and literary sources to back up his findings, noting where a topic isn’t conclusive and presents us with the evidence so as the reader can make their own conclusions (such as the child sacrifice debate). (http://amzn.to/2yflotr)…

Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the coming of Islam by Robert Hoyland. This book gives a very good overview of the history of the Arabian Peninsula prior to the Prophet and the rise of Islam, a time period and geographical area too often neglected. I highly recommend this book, along with…

The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years by Bernard Lewis -This is a very readable book by the field’s leading scholar. (http://amzn.to/2zeEApV) A History of the Arab Peoples by Albert Hourani, a classic in the discipline. (http://amzn.to/2xwIHjD) The Arabs: A History by Eugene Rogan – The most readable and up-to-date general…

In the introduction to his book (Arabia & the Arabs), historian Robert Holland denies the belief that the Arabian Peninsula was marginal in pre-Islamic times. Its geographical location made it a pivotal point of contact between Mesopotamia, Africa (Egypt), the Mediterranean region and India, which made it necessary for these parties to deal with its…

Between the late fourth millennium and the second millennium BC, two civilizations appeared on the eastern coasts of the peninsula. The first was Dilmun, which made the island of Bahrain its capital and extended from present-day Kuwait and the eastern coasts of Saudi Arabia all the way to Qatar.

During the invasion of the Babylonian Empire by Cyrus the Great in 540/539 BC. King Aragdos, king of Arabia, north of Mesopotamia, aided the Babylonians with 100 chariots, ten thousand cavalry, and a large number of infantry. According to the historian Xenophon, Arab fighters were described as being the most ferocious in battles because they…

Inscriptions on a basalt slab from the beginning of the eighth century BC. By a prince from the Kingdom of Carchemish (Jarabulus) called Yariri, in which he talks about his mastery of several languages, mentioning one of them a language called “Timani”; Referring mostly to the Timaic and ancient North Arabic languages ​​primarily or to…

An arch decorated with busts of prominent figures from the Arab Kingdom of Hatra, each bearing a palm leaf, a sign of victory. In the middle of these figures is a flag and an eagle draped with necklaces. The statues include a depiction of one of the kings of Hatra and his crown prince. They…