CLASSICAL WRITERS SHOW MECCA COULD NOT HAVE BEEN BUILT BEFORE THE 4th CENTURY AD

[Peter]

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http://religionresearchinstitute.org/mecca/index.htm
    *  The Classical Writers and Mecca<Archaeology  and Mecca<The Bible and Mecca- By Dr. Rafat Amari
    * The Kaabah and the Arabian Star Worship<The Role of the Temple at Mecca in the Jinn Religion and in the Arabian Family Star Religion<The True Story of the Construction of the Temple of Mecca<STUDIES BY CLASSICAL WRITERS SHOW THAT MECCA COULD NOT HAVE BEEN BUILT BEFORE THE 4TH CENTURY A.D.

By Dr. Rafat Amari

We refer the reader to the book of Dr. Amari, Islam in light of History, for more arguments on the true history of Mecca

(you can purchase the book here http://religionresearchinstitute.org/)

Accurate data from Greek geography  excludes the appearance of Mecca before the 4th century A.D.

There is no mention of Mecca in the writings of any classical writer or geographer.  This fact is an important argument against Islam's claim that Mecca has existed since the time of Abraham.  We have complete records of Greek and Roman writers, as well as many geographers who visited Arabia from the end of the 5th century B.C. through the 3rd century A.D.  Some of these people drew maps of Arabia telling us about every city, village, mountain, and temple existing there, yet none mentioned Mecca.  If Mecca did indeed exist at the time of any of these geographers and writers, surely someone would have told us about this city.

    To give you a better understanding, we'll look at the work of some of these classical writers. Greeks were well known for their accuracy in geography. So much so, that they didn't put much stock in reports provided by merchants. We can see this in the writings of Strabo, a famous Greek geographer and historian of the 1st century A.D. He emphasized how important it is to not depend on reports from merchants, but, to depend upon the official findings provided by geographers and historians who visited the regions themselves.[1]  This makes the research on the geography of Arabia provided by ancient Greek geographers and historians a valuable resource, especially when they tell us which  cities existed in West Arabia since the end of the 5th century B.C. through the 4th century AD.  We see, then, that facts gathered by Greek geographers and historians are extremely important in establishing the dates when these cities first appeared.  Since those geographers provided us with accurate reports dated between the end of the 5th century B.C. and the 3rd century A.D., scholars can easily determine within approximately 20 years the date of each city built in West Arabia. With reliable accuracy, we find that Mecca is absent from all the years documented by the Greek and Roman geographers. How ironic it is to claim that a city like Mecca existed as early as the Muslims claim, when it was never mentioned by the historians who documented that time period. So, the case for Mecca existing as a city since Abraham's time is more than a lost cause. It's the most unhistorical assertion that anyone could claim or  insert into history.

 

Herodotus, an Ancient Greek Historian, Visits Arabia

Greeks have been interested in the Red Sea and its Western coast region since the 6th century B.C.[iTHE GEOGRAPHERS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT AND ARABIA

A survey prepared by two geographers commissioned by Alexander the Great also excludes the presence of Mecca from accounts in the 4th century B.C.THEOPHRASTOS' SURVEY

Theophrastos' survey also excludes the existence of Mecca during the end of the 3rd century B.C.
    Information from the expeditions of Ptolemy II in 278 B.C. encompassed the southern regions of the Red Sea and the African coast. They were used to help in the control of the spice route coming from India and Yemen.  This information was also used to facilitate elephant hunts.  Elephants were used in the Ptolemies wars against  the Seleucids, the royal Greek family which dominated Syria.  These factors opened the door for a systematic collection of geographical data of the African coast of the Red Sea and the Arabian coast. The results of this geographical activity was the book of Eratosthenes, and an important map.[1][a]

     Eratosthenes measured the length of the Red Sea. He also gave a complete survey of the land and marine routes which connect southern Arabia with Aqaba, or Ilat on the north, which is the  Israeli port on the Red Sea.  He described all the people and centers in the region, but he didn't mention Mecca, even though he followed the land route upon which Mecca was eventually built.

 

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[Peter]

AGATHARCHIDES' SURVEY ON WESTERN ARABIA, AND THE ACCURACY OF HIS SURVEY AS A RELIABLE SOURCE FOR OUR STUDY.

In our study, we now come to the 2nd century B.C. Without doubt, the most important geographer and historian of the time was Agatharchides of Alexandria, who wrote between 145-132 B.C. He was believed to be a major figure in compiling Egypt's political history in the late 2nd century B.C.[vi][6]

    Because he was very close to the royal palace of the Ptolemies, he had first-hand knowledge of the results of the expeditions which took place throughout the 3rd and 2nd centuries, especially in the regions around the Red Sea, the African shore and West and South Arabia.  He had access to sources which documented the achievements of the Ptolemies. These were mainly reports presented by the envoys of the kings during the 3rd and the beginning of the 2nd centuries B.C.[vii][7] Agatharchides coordinated all the information as a keen synthesizer and analyzer. He documented the names of the explorers who visited the region. Among those he mentioned was the name of the geographer, Ariston. That geographer is the one Ptolemy dispatched in the 3rd century B.C. to explore Arabia, especially the regions of West Arabia near the Red Sea where Mecca was later built.[viii][8]

Agatharchides mentioned the name of other explorers, such as Simmias, whom Ptolemy  III sent to explore the region.   Agatharchides told how Simmias described the region, and how this had become an important resource.[ix][9]

    Agatharchides also studied books written by other geographers sent by the Ptolemies.

• [10]  Scholars think he drew heavily from Anaxicrates' voyage to South and West Arabia.[xi][11] We know of at least seven authors who visited and wrote about the Red Sea region during the 3rd century B.C.  Among them are: Pythagoras,[xii][12]  who was an admiral under Ptolemy II, Basilis, Dalion, Bion of Soli, Simonides the Younger, Aristocreon, and Philon. Scholars assert that Agatharchides consulted all of their writings. Those books were available in the famous Library of Alexandria. In fact, we understand from the narration of Strabo, that Eratosthenes made a collection of these books.[xiii2]<3][c]

    One example scholars give to defend Agatharchides' accuracy is how he described the shores and adjoining water.  Agatharchides tells us that the color of the water opposite Saba Land, South Arabia, was white, like river water. The phenomenon is still true today.[xv][15]  Another element which proves the accuracy and value of his writings is the similarity between his descriptions of tribes and people living in the area, and the description of the same people in later reports.[xvi][16]  Agatharchides gives measurements of various tracts along the shores of the Red Sea in West Arabia.  This tells us that his writing depended on testimony from expert geographers who examined the shore and the regions of Arabia connected to it.

    Ptolemies wanted an exact study of the region to protect their trade in the Red Sea, and to know how to deal with various groups of population or tribes living in regions connected with the Red sea. They also wanted to know the exact lengths of regions where the trade might find uninhabited areas, or areas with savage tribes or Bedouins. This justified the quantity and the quality of a prolonged, intensive and accurate study through the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C., where the Ptolemies started to control the movement of trade on the Red Sea, and deal with piracy which threatened such trade coming from the interior Arabian regions.  The book of Agatharchides reflected the success of the Greek geographers in providing to the Ptolemies accurate and detailed geographical and geographical information of the region of West Arabia.

 

Although Agatharchides wrote about locations along the Red Sea, including all the temples and routes which pass through the area where Mecca was eventually built, he never mentioned Mecca, nor its temple.

In his description of West Arabia, Agatharchides mentions each of the populations present in the 3rd century and the first half of the 2nd century B.C. in the regions adjacent to the Red Sea. He began with the Nabataeans, who had their capital in south Jordan and then penetrated into north Arabia, and he went on to describe each population, city, port, temple and mountain, until he reached Yemen. Here's what we learn from Agatharchides' accounts: He passed through the region where Mecca was later built, but he never mentioned Mecca, nor did he mentioned a single temple in that region, although temples were a central subject in his study. We find him stopping to give the origin of the Poseidon Temple, in the northwest coast of Sinai. He tells who built it and for whom it was built. We find him also giving much attention to the temple located in the Negev desert, saying:

There is also an ancient altar that is made of hard stone and bears an inscription in lettering that is archaic and unintelligible. The sanctuary is cared for by a man and a woman who occupy their sacred office for life.[xvii][17]  

Agatharchides accurately reports the Greek trend to know about the temples existing in each region, especially in Sinai and West Arabia, where a temple is a rarity. The Greeks had a passion to know the origin of each temple. In the temple in the Negev, the Greeks made an effort to analyze the archaic inscription carved in the stone altar. They also described the source of the priesthood who served in the temple.

 
Agatharchides Describes a Temple Along the Gulf of Aqaba.<[xviii][18]


Next after this section of the coast is a bay which extends into the interior of the country for a distance of not less than five hundreds stades. Those who inhabit the territory within the gulf are called Batmizomaneis and are hunters of land animals.

 

The stade, or stadia, according to the system of Eratosthenes, equals one tenth of an English mile,[xxxxi][21] The Thamud tribe was known in history to inhabit northern Arabia close to the Aqaba gulf, they never reached to the south, toward the area where Mecca was later built. So the temple described by Diodorus was between the Thamud region and the city of Petra, within the Gulf of Aqaba region.

      After Photius mentioned the Thamud region, he mentioned the next segment to the south of Thamud. [xxii][22]  Scholars have identified this segment as the portion of the coast between Ras karama (25 54 N, 36 39 E.) and Ras Abu Madd (24 50 N, 37 08 E). [xxiii][23] Ras Abu Madd is about 450 kilometers (280 miles) north of Mecca. This accurate study shows clearly that the Temple mentioned by Diodorus was in the Aqaba Gulf region, north to the Thamud region, and could not be identified with the temple of Mecca. (See Fig.2, at the end of the article )

     Nonnosus, another classical writer, seems to speak about the same temple at the same place close to Petra. This temple is built to honor the Arabian deities. Nonnosus says:

Most of the Saracens, those Phoinikon and those beyond the Taurenian mountains, consider as sacred a place dedicated to I do not know what god and they assemble there twice a year. [xxiv][24]

 

The Saracens are a people mentioned by Pliny in Natural History, Book V, Chapter 12, as people who live in the Gulf of Aqaba not far from the city of Petra. Crone studied the locations and tribes who venerated this temple. She has located the temple in the northern region of the Gulf of Aqaba. The Saracens are people in northern Arabia. Since the Taurenian Mountains are Jabal Tayyi', the sanctuary is located in the northern area of the Gulf of Aqaba. [xxv][25]  This leads us to assume that Nonnosus was speaking about the same temple mentioned by Diodorus.

    This temple mentioned by Diodorus is built to honor the Arabian deities.<The fact is that neither Mecca, nor its temple, is mentioned by Agatharchides, although he to pursue with such passion all temples existent until his time;This is a clear indication that Mecca, nor its temple, did not exist   during such times.

    Agatharchides covered the narrations of geographers of the 3rd century and his time which was the first part of the 2nd century B.C. Scholars today confirm the fact that the temple near the Aqaba Gulf, close to the border with South Jordan, was revered by Arabian tribes, just as the classical authors had written.

    Scholars today believe that even Quraish, which is the tribe of Mohammed, traveled north every year to a revered temple. There are many proofs that Quraish neglected the temple of Mecca and made their Hajj to the north. Wellhausen quotes the words of al-Kalbi, [xxvi][26] In their thinking, another temple had pre-eminence over Kaabah, the temple at Mecca.

     Mohammed also prohibited people from making this religious trip after he occupied Mecca. Quraish used to go to Taif in the summer. This is attested to by a saying of Ibn Abbas, as reported in the Tabari. [xxvii][27] The other trip may be toward a northern temple.

      Agatharchides' survey, along with what we have discussed, confirms the fact that Mecca and its temple didn't exist during the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C.  Even when the temple was eventually built in later centuries A.D., it was a local temple of secondary importance, disregarded even by the tribe to which Mohammed belonged.  Mohammed's tribe used to make a pilgrimage with other Arabian tribes to a temple in the far northern part of Arabia.

    It's unhistorical to believe the Islamic claim that the temple in Mecca was built by Abraham and Ishmael as a center of monotheistic worship for Arabia.  Muslims today need to renounce this claim and return to the true monotheism of history, the revelation of God, which the Bible alone represents. Such Biblical revelation has been documented in all epochs since the time Moses received the first five books of the Bible until Revelation, the last book of the New Testament.  

[Peter]

Nonnosus Reports on the Temple in the Gulf of Aqaba Area

This temple mentioned by Agatharchides in northern Arabia in the Aqaba Gulf region is attested to by Nonnosus. Previously, I quoted the words of Nonnosus regarding this temple, as we find them in the book of Photius:

Most of the Saracens , those Phoinikon and those beyond the Taurenian mountains, consider a place dedicated to I do not know what god as sacred, and assemble there twice a year.

The first of these gatherings lasts a whole month and goes on until the middle of Spring. The other lasts two months. While these gathering last, they live in complete peace not only with each other, but also with all the people who live in their country.  They claim that even the wild beasts live in peace with men and, what is more, among themselves.[xxviii][28]

 

This tells us that the northern temple was a place where many tribes would perform a pilgrimage twice a year. During this pilgrimage, the tribes abstained from fighting each other. If one of the religious trips of Quraish was to this temple, It is clear that Mohammed tried to stop this famous and historical Arabian temple pilgrimage. He directed Quraish, the tribe of Mecca, as well as other tribes, to make the pilgrimage to Mecca instead.

    From the quotation of Nonnosus, we see that the northern temple had similarities between their rituals and the rituals we encounter in the temple at Mecca and in other temples of Arabia. These rituals included the Hajj, and abstinence from war during the Hajj. These rituals performed in the temple of Mecca reflect those of pagan Arabian religions. The temple of Mecca was built in the 5th century A.D. by Tubb'a, the Himyarite leader of Yemen. However, the Quraish tribe, like many Arabian tribes, continued to make a pilgrimage twice a year. The word "Hajj" means pilgrimage.  Scholars think the Quraish were regularly traveling on these pilgrimages to the temple at Taif and to a temple located in the far north of Arabia. These travels were performed long before Mohammed imposed worship at the Temple of Mecca on all Muslims and annulled worship at the other temples of Arabia. Therefore, with the accuracy of Agatharchides and the geographers of that time, we see that neither the temple of Mecca nor the city of Mecca existed at that time.  Instead, there was another temple, which attracted the Arabian tribes. That temple was located near the border between northern Arabia and Jordan.

     Quraish, the tribe of Mohammed, occupied Mecca after it was built around the 4th century A.D. by another tribe called Khuzaa'h who had come from Yemen. So the Quraish tribe did not find a revered ancient temple in the city. Even after the temple of Mecca was built in the city later, the Quraish continued the practice of many Arabian tribes and made a pilgrimage twice a year.<The Kaabah of Mecca was Part of a Religious System Involving Many Kaabahs of Arabia That Belonged to Arabian Star Worship

The Kaabah of Mecca was no exception.  Each Kaabah had the same basic cubic form, with the same structural details on the inside as are found in the temple at Mecca. For example, each temple had a well where gifts were placed.  Also, each temple had a well which provided holy water for use in the rites of the pilgrimage.  In the case of Mecca, this well is called Zamzam.

   The Main element in the Kaabahs are the black stones, a key element in worship. These stones are meteorites that the Arabians found and revered. Wherever one of these stones was found, a temple was built around it. So each Kaabah has one black stone which is held in esteem as a deity representing the family star.  Pilgrims visiting any of these Kaabahs perform many of the same rites we encounter in the rites at Mecca. For example, men and women wearing special clothing circle around the black stone.The tribe of Khuzaa'h emigrated from Yemen in the 2nd century A.D. to the area where Mecca was later built. In the 4th century A.D. they built the city of Mecca.<Through the report of Agatharchides , we know that the area where Mecca was eventually built as uninhabited during his time.< Although sites in this area were well documented, Mecca is absent in the descriptions of all the Greek and Roman geographers from this time who explored and described this strip of land.
 

From an inscription which Nabonidus left at his original city Harran, we know that during his sojourn at Teima he also ruled the cities of Hijaz existing at that time. Among them were Yathrib (Medina) and Khaybar,[xxx][30]  but he did not mention Mecca. (See Fig. 4, at the end of the article) Mecca, if it existed at that time, would have been the only city of Hijaz which he did not conquer. This would have been strange for a strong Babylonian king to conquer so deep and far into the land of Hijaz, reaching as far as Yathrib, and then spare Mecca. The fact is that he did not mention Mecca because it did not exist in his time, which was the middle of the 6 th century B.C. In this land Agatharchides mentioned the temple which all the Arabs used to revere, the temple that I discussed previously. This temple is not the temple of Mecca; geographers had placed the temple in the land of the Batmizomaneis, close to Petra, about 700 miles distant from where Mecca was built.
    After describing the place identified today as Ras Abu Madd, Agatharchides seemed to pass through uninhabited areas. Previously, he would stop to describe the inhabitants of each area, but after leaving the area which the geographers identified with the region that ends with Ras Abu Madd, there are no description of inhabitants. It is unusual for Agatharchides and the other geographers upon whom he depended to fail to describe an area if it was inhabited. To fail to tell about the inhabitants of an area allows us to conclude that the area was uninhabited. This segment without inhabitants corresponds to the strip where Mecca was built in later times. This fact is reconfirmed by other geographical facts; not only by scholars recognizing the tract that it precedes it, namely, the tract between Ras Karkama and Ras Abu Madd, the two cities which we find today on the map of Arabia. But it is also identifiable by the tract, which follows in the description of Agatharchides, which he describes with the following words:

The next part of the coast is dominated by dunes which are infinite in their length and breadth and black in color.

 

This is identified by scholars with (the black basalt Harat Shama half way between Jeddah and the lagoon of al-Sharifa.)[xxxiiixxxiTHE ROMANS EXPLORE WESTERN AND SOUTHERN ARABIA

The Roman expedition into western and southern Arabia accurately described the villages which were built in the area of central western Arabia , but they never mentioned a city called Mecca.
    After Leuce Come, Gallus marched to the south, through Nabataean-controlled lands. Strabo describes the nature of the region with these words:

Gallus moved his army from Leuce Come and marched through regions where water had to be carried by camels.

 

Gallus marched until he reached the desert assigned to Aretas, his kinsman, by King Obodas of Nabataean. We assume that Gallus was marching toward the village of Egra about 1100 Greek stadia from Leuce Come (about 137 miles).  Strabo described this part under Aretas, as follows:

It afforded only zea, a kind of coarse grain, a few palm trees and butter instead of oil.[xIf Mecca existed at the time of the expedition, it would have been impossible to be missed by a weary army which needed a city in which to rest and replenish supplies

[Peter]

MECCA WAS ABSENT FROM THE HISTORICAL TRAVELS AND WRITINGS OF STRABO

The historian Strabo shows us clearly that the city of Mecca could not have existed during the time of Christ and, therefore, not when the Muslims claim.

We will continue to refute the Islamic claim that Mecca has existed since the time of Abraham. To this end we will now study the works of Strabo, a Greek geographer who lived between 64 B.C. and 23 A.D. In his geographical study, Strabo summarized the most important works written by geographers before him and reported writings done by his contemporaries.  Among those whose work he referenced were: Artemidorus, Eratosthenes and Agatharcides.[xliixliiixlivxl"THE PERIPLUS OF THE ERYTHRAEAN SEA"
   The dating of the book is important to our study, and many external evidences attest to the dating. For example, Pliny copied some of the ideas of Periplus into his book, Natural History.  Natural History was written between 72 and 76 A.D., [6xlvii][47] The author of The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea mentioned Eleazus as a title of the king of Frankincense country, that is, Hadramuot.[xlviii][48]  He also mentions Charibael as title for the king of two Yemeni tribes, the Himyarites and the Sabaeans.[xlix][49]  This information is attested to be true by inscriptions discovered in southern Arabia by archaeologist Glaser.[

PLINY'S SURVEY

Pliny's Survey covered all of Arabia, mentioning all the cities, villages and tribes of Arabia, but he never mentioned Mecca, or any tribe which the Islamic tradition claims inhabited Mecca since ancient times.Ibn Ishak Invented False History, and Revealed his Ignorance
    According to Ibn Ishak, Christianity originated in Rome through a Roman emperor who was converted to Christianity by the twelve disciples of Christ. Ibn Ishak thought that the Roman emperor Constantine, who lived in the 4th century, was a contemporary of Jesus.[livlPTOLEMY'S SURVEY AND THE LOCATION OF MACORABAIn book six, chapter seven, of his work titled Geography, Ptolemy documents the latitude and longitude coordinates of several landmarks in Arabia.[lix][59]  By studying these locations and coordinates, we notice once again that the city of Mecca is never mentioned.<

[Peter]

THE ABSENCE OF MECCA IN THE ETHIOPIAN, SYRIAN, ARAMAIC AND COPTIC LITERATURE

Religion Research Institute -Home

(Pete note - Some maps here but didn't transfer to this page.)

[345][e] Regarding the expedition of Gallus; He returned to Negrana  in nine days after he failed to occupy Marsiaba in Saba. Negrana is Najran, about 650 kilometers south of Mecca. On the 11th day he reached a village called Hepta phreata, then he went to another village named Chaalla, then on to another village named Malotha which, most probiblay, was Malothan located close to the actual city of Jadda, which is about 30 miles from Mecca. But between Malotha or Malothan and Egra (north of where Mecca was later built) there were no villages mentioned by Strabo who accompagned the expedition. Gallus badly needed urgent supplies of water and food, but he could not find villages which could give him rest, and re-supply his troops in the area where Mecca was eventually built.
See The Geography of Strabo,  Book XVI. 4 .  24

[6][f]  Scholars agree that Pliny wrote his Natural History after the compilation of The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, because Pliny seems to include many elements in the description of The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea of Arabia Felix. It is known that Pliny accomplished his work Natural History between 72-76 A.D.


[1][1] Strabo, Geography, xv.1:4

[ii][2] Stanley Burstein, Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea, The Hakluyt Society London, 1989 , page 1

[iii][3] Stanley Burstein , Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea, The Hakluyt Society London, 1989, page 30

[iv][4] Stanley Burstein , Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea, The Hakluyt Society London, 1989 , page 3

[v][5] The Geography of Strabo,  Book XVI .4:4
The Geography of Strabo, Volume VII, Harvard University Press, 1966, page 313

[vi][6] See C.Muller, Geographi Graeci Minores, Paris, 1855-1861, I,LIV-L,VIII; quoted by  Burstein, page 13

[viiviii][8] From book 5 of Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea, excerption  from  Photius, bibliotheca, cited by Burstein, page 147-fragment 87

 

[ix][9] From book 5 of Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea, excerption from Diodorus, library of history, cited by Burstein, page 79-fragment 40b

• [10] Peremans, W., " Diodore de Sicile et Agatharchide de Cnide', pp.447-55, cited by Burstein, page 32

[xi][11] Burstein, Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea, The Hakluyt Society London, 1989, page 160

[xii][12] There are fragments of the book of Pythagoras, kept by Aelian, NA 17.8-9 and Athenaeus, Deipnosophists 4 .183-4; citation of  Burstein

[xiiixiv][14] Burstein , Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea, The Hakluyt Society London, 1989 , page 36

[xv][15] From book 5 of Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea, excerption  from  Photius, bibliotheca, cited by Burstein, page 169-fragment  105a

 

[xvixvi][17] From book 5 of Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea, excerption  from  Photius, bibliotheca, cited by Burstein, page 148-fragment 87a

 

[xviii][18] From book 5 of Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea, excerption from Diodorus, library of history, cited by Burstein, page 153-fragment 92b

[xix][19] Musil, page 303

[xx][20] Wilfred Schoff , The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, Munshiram Manoharial Publishers Pvt Ltd., 1995, page 54

[xxixxii][22] From book 5 of Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea, excerption from Photius, bibliotheca, cited by Burstein, page 155-fragment   95a

[xxiii][23] cf.Woelk, p.223; cited by Burstein, page 155

[xxiv][24] Nonnosus cited by Photius, bibliotheca, 1,5

[xxv][25] Crone page 197

[xxvi][26] Noted by Wellhausen, Reste,  p.92,  cited by Crone, page 197

[xxvii][27] Ibn Abbas  in Tabari, Jami',  xxx,171, cited by Crone, page 205

[xxviii][28] Nonnosus cited by Photius, Bibliotheque, 1,5

[xxix][29] Sidney Smith, Babylonian Historical Texts, London 1924, Chapter III, page 27-97; Dougherty, Nab. And Bel., page 105-11; cited by F.V.Winnett and W.L.Reed, Ancient Records from North Arabia, University of Toronto Press, 1970, page   89

[xxx][30] C.J.Gadd, "The Harran Inscriptions of Nabonidus," ( Anatolian Studies, 8 ( 1958), page 59 ; cited by F.V.Winnett and W.L.Reed, Ancient Records from North Arabia, University of Toronto Press, 1970, page 91

[xxxi][31] From book 5 of Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea,  excerption  from  Photius, bibliotheca, cited by Burstein, page 152-fragment 92a

[xxxiixxxiii][33] H.Von Wissmann, Zaabram', Pauly's Realencyclopadie der Klassischen Altertumswissenschaft ( Stuttgart, 1894-1980)  supp., XI {1968}col.1310 ; cited by Stanley Burstein, Agatharchides of Cnidus, on the Erythraean Sea, The Hakluyt Society London, 1989 , page 155

[xxxiv][34] Western Arabia and the Red Sea, 1946, naval intelligence division, page 585

[xxxvxxxvixxxvii][37] The Geography of Strabo,  Book XVI .4.18
The Geography of Strabo, Volume VII, Harvard University Press, ( London, 1966), page  343

[xxxviii][38] The Geography of Strabo,  Book XVI .4.18

The Geography of Strabo, Volume VII, Harvard University Press, ( London, 1966), page 345

[xxxix][39] Wilfred Schoff on his comment on The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea,  Munshiram Manoharial Publishers Pvt Ltd. ( New Delhi, 1995), page 101

[xl][40] The Geography of Strabo,  Book XVI. 4 .  24

[xli][41] Dio Cassius: History of Rome,  Book LIII. xxix.3-8

[xlii][42] The Geography of Strabo,  Book XVI .4.20
The Geography of Strabo, Volume VII, Harvard University Press (London, 1966), page 349

[xliii][43] The Geography of Strabo, Book XVI .4.2

[xliv][44] The Geography of Strabo, Book XVI .4.22

[xlv][45] The Geography of Strabo,  Book XVI .4.22

[xlvi][46] Wilfred Schoff  on his introduction to The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea,  Munshiram Manoharial Publishers Pvt Ltd.( New Delhi, 1995), page 14, 15

[xlviixlviii][48] The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, section 27

[xlix][49] The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, section 23

[l][50] Inscription No. 1619 by Glaser, cited by Wilfred Schoff, page 11

• [51] The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, section 4
  
  [lii][52] )  H.Rackham,  Introduction to Pliny, Natural History, Cambrigde, Massachusetts,  Harvard University Press, William Heinemann Ltd. (London, 1979), page vii
  
  [liiiliv][54]Tarikh al-Tabari, first volume,  page 355
  
  [lv][55]Tarikh al-Tabari, I, 421
  
  [lvi][56] Josephi Fischer S.J., Commentatio de CL. Ptolemaci vita, operibus, influxu sacculari, pages 65-79 (in his introduction to Vatican publication of Ptolemy: Claudii Ptolemaci Geographiac Urbinas Codex graccus 82 phototypice depictus); the same mentioned by Josephi Fischer in his introduction to Claudius Ptolemy The Geography, translated by Edward Luther Stevenson, Dover Publications, INC, (New York, 1991, page 7
  
  [lvii][[lvii]57] Josephi Fischer in his  introduction to Claudius Ptolemy,  The Geography , translated by Edward Luther Stevenson, Dover Publications , INC, (New York, 1991), page 5
  
  [lviii][58] Claudius Ptolemy, The Geography, book II, Claudius Ptolemy, The Geography,  translated by Edward Luther Stevenson, Dover Publications , New York, 1991, page 47
  
  [lix][59] Claudius Ptolemy, The Geography,  book VI chapter VI, Claudius Ptolemy, The Geography,  translated by Edward Luther Stevenson, Dover Publications , New York, 1991, page 137-138
   
  
  [lx][60] Yaqut al-Hamawi, Mujam al-Buldan, iv, 587); quoted by Patricia  Crone, Meccan Trade, Princeton University Press, 1987, page, 136
  
  [lxi][61] ) The Geogrophy of Strabo, book 16, chapter iv, 2 (The Geogrophy of Strabo, volume vii, translated by Horace L. Jones , 1966, page 311 )
  
  [lxii][62] Natural history of Pliny; Book VI, chapter 32
  
  [lxiii][63] Patricia  Crone, Meccan Trade, Princeton University Press, 1987,  page 134,135
  
  [lxiv][64]  Nallino Carlo Alfonso , Raccolta di Scritti editti E ineditti, Roma, Istituto per l'Oriente, 1939-48 , Vol.III, page 122 ; Caetani, Annali Dell' Islam, I, (1907), page 125
  
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