The Ghassanids were devout Christians (Shahîd, Irfan. Byzantium And The Arabs In The Sixth Century (BASIC) II, Part 2. The Ghassanid Identity. p.338). Of all the Arab groups before the rise of Islam who converted to that faith, it was the Ghassanids whose lives were most fully permeated by Christianity. The importance of Christianity to…

The Omrid Dynasty of Ancient Israel (885-841 BC) is of Arab origin. Many Historians support this proposition. The name of their Founder, Omri, has no Hebrew root. Omri is Likely related to the Arabic names Omar/Amr عمر, his son’s name, Ahab, appears Arabic. Retsö even suggested that what brought Gindibu to the coalition against Assyria…

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…