Northern Arabia Research Articles

Tectonic events, continental intraplate volcanism, and mantle plume activity in northern Arabia: Constraints from geochemistry and Ar‐Ar dating of Syrian lavas

New 40Ar/39Ar ages combined with chemical and Sr, Nd, and Pb isotope data for volcanic rocks from Syria along with published data of Syrian and Arabian lavas constrain the spatiotemporal evolution of volcanism, melting regime, and magmatic sources contributing to the volcanic activity in northern Arabia. Several volcanic phases occurred in different parts of Syria in the last 20 Ma that partly correlate with different tectonic events like displacements along the Dead Sea Fault system or slab break‐off beneath the Bitlis suture zone, although the large volume of magmas and their composition suggest that hot mantle material caused volcanism. Low Ce/Pb (<20), Nb/Th (<10), and Sr, Nd, and Pb isotope variations of Syrian lavas indicate the role of crustal contamination in magma genesis, and contamination of magmas with up to 30% of continental crustal material can explain their 87Sr/86Sr. Fractionation‐corrected major element compositions and REE ratios of uncontaminated lavas suggest a pressure‐controlled melting regime in western Arabia that varies from shallow and high‐degree melt formation in the south to increasingly deeper regions and lower extents of the beginning melting process northward. Temperature estimates of calculated primary, crustally uncontaminated Arabian lavas indicate their formation at elevated mantle temperatures (Texcess ∼ 100–200°C) being characteristic for their generation in a plume mantle region. The Sr, Nd, and Pb isotope systematic of crustally uncontaminated Syrian lavas reveal a sublithospheric and a mantle plume source involvement in their formation, whereas a (hydrous) lithospheric origin of lavas can be excluded on the basis of negative correlations between Ba/La and K/La. The characteristically high 206Pb/204Pb (∼19.5) of the mantle plume source can be explained by material entrainment associated with the Afar mantle plume. The Syrian volcanic rocks are generally younger than lavas from the southern Afro‐Arabian region, indicating a northward progression of the commencing volcanism since the arrival of the Afar mantle plume beneath Ethiopia/Djibouti some 30 Ma ago. The distribution of crustally uncontaminated high 206Pb/204Pb lavas in Arabia indicates a spatial influence of the Afar plume of ∼2600 km in northward direction with an estimated flow velocity of plume material on the order of 22 cm/a.

Lineated valley fill and lobate debris apron stratigraphy in Nilosyrtis Mensae, Mars: Evidence for phases of glacial modification of the dichotomy boundary

The Nilosyrtis Mensae region is important among dichotomy boundary fretted terrain outcrops, as it provides evidence of overprinting of ancient landscapes by a suite of glacial features, providing a composite view of the variety of midlatitude glacial modification processes that can occur during recent Martian ice ages. On the basis of a series of criteria developed for the identification of a glacial origin for lineated valley fill and lobate debris aprons, we interpret stratigraphic, topographic, and textural relationships between lineated valley fill and lobate debris apron morphological units as evidence of local and regional glacial overprinting of the landscape during the recent Amazonian. We document (1) stratigraphic relationships between lineated valley fill subunits, including the presence of apparently superposed and small‐scale lobate features, (2) the regional integration and flow of lineated valley fill material, (3) lineated valley fill degradation, and (4) the nature and stratigraphic position of lobate debris aprons. These observations suggest multiple phases or episodes of midlatitude valley glacier activity. These observations, together with those of surface units elsewhere in northern Arabia Terra interpreted as glacially modified landforms, suggest the possibility of midlatitude glacial deposits extending over broad portions of the Martian dichotomy boundary within the past several hundred million years.

Tethyan oceanic currents and climate gradients 300 m.y. ago

We reconstruct the oceanic circulation pattern of the Tethys Ocean 300 m.y. ago by placing Late Carboniferous–Early Permian climate-sensitive biotic associations from Gondwana and Laurasia on a Pangea paleogeography constrained by selected paleomagnetic data. Warm-climate fossils and facies from Iran, located at that time along the Gondwanan margin of Arabia, are compatible with the existence in the Tethys Ocean of a warm subtropical surface current gyre, whereas cold surface currents swept the glaciated Gondwanan margin at higher southern latitudes, redistributing cold biota toward the tropics. This Tethyan surface current system and the associated narrow zonal barrier show similarities to recent glacial climate patterns. When placed on a large-scale paleogeographic reconstruction of Pangea of the B type, it neatly explains the otherwise problematic observation that the Carboniferous–Permian biota of Iran and northern Arabia is dominated by warm Euramerican and/or Russian taxa that are strikingly different from typical cold Gondwanan associations.

Tribes and Tribulations: Bedouin Losses in the Saudi and Iraqi Struggles Over Kuwait's Frontiers, 1921–1943

In the years following World War One the pastoral populations of northern Arabia were subjected to political pressures and economic hardships arising from the creation of French and British spheres of influence in the territories that would become the states of Jordan, Syria and Iraq, and by the aggressive expansion of the domains of the ruler of Najd, ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman Al Saud. Year by year the nascent states in the region asserted more control over the vast stretches of desert and steppe that had heretofore been the domains of powerful bedouin tribes and confederations. New borders often cut across tribal territories creating complications and conflict in such matters as sovereignty, citizenship, migration, raiding and political refuge. The establishment of new customs regimes and economic policies meant that age-old patterns of trade between the settled and nomadic populations were altered, curtailed or criminalized as ‘smuggling’. This article examines two sets of policies that Iraqi and Saudi forces employed to express political domination in the desert and steppes of Kuwait and beyond in the guise of controlling trade: the Saudi blockade of overland trade with Kuwait; and Iraq's aggressive ‘anti-smuggling’ measures that often victimized innocent bedouin. In both cases, members of bedouin tribes were harassed, attacked, pillaged and forced to alter their normal patterns of trade and migration. The eventual rise and dominance of state power resulted in the historic defeat of bedouin control in the deserts and steppes and a gradual loss of their traditional economic options. This article provides detailed evidence showing how part of this large transformation in bedouin society took place.

Putative shorelines in northern Arabia Terra, Mars

Three putative shorelines first proposed by Parker et al. [1989] are topographically and morphologically evaluated within a 700,000 km2 study area in northern Arabia Terra, Mars. Results are consistent with a shoreline interpretation for the Arabia and Deuteronilus contacts but do not support the proposed Acidalia shoreline. The Arabia contact follows an equipotential surface with a mean elevation of −3707 m and a mean deviation of ±13 m. For Deuteronilus, results suggest that the originally proposed shoreline represents two distinct, regional shorelines, because two separate portions of the original Deuteronilus contact approximate equipotential surfaces of −4200 m ± 5 m and −4000 m ± 6 m. For both the Deuteronilus and Arabia contacts, there is geomorphic evidence for erosion, and some landforms are similar to analogous terrestrial coastal landforms. These results permit, but do not prove, the past existence of an ocean ponded within the northern lowlands, possibly as recently as the Amazonian.

Tomographic Pn velocity and anisotropy structure beneath the Anatolian plateau (eastern Turkey) and the surrounding regions

We use Pn phase travel time residuals to invert for mantle lid velocity and anisotropy beneath northern Arabia‐eastern Anatolia continent‐continent collision zone. The primary phase data were obtained from the temporary 29‐station broadband PASSCAL array of the Eastern Turkey Seismic Experiment. These data were supplemented by phase data from available stations of the Turkish National Seismic Network, the Syrian National Seismic Network, the Iranian Long Period Array, and other stations around the southern Caspian Sea. In addition, we used carefully selected catalog data from the International Seismological Centre and the National Earthquake Information Center bulletins. Our results show that low (<8 km/s) to very low (<7.8 km/s) Pn velocity zones underlie the Anatolian plateau, the Caucasus, and northwestern Iran. Such low velocities are used to infer the presence of partially molten to absent mantle lid beneath these regions. In contrast, we observed a high Pn velocity zone beneath northern Arabia directly south of the Bitlis‐Zagros suture indicating the presence of a stable Arabian mantle lid. This sharp velocity contrast across the suture zone suggests that Arabia is not underthrusting beneath the Anatolian plateau and that the surface suture extends down to the uppermost mantle. Pn anisotropy orientations within a single plate (e.g. Anatolia plate) show a higher degree of lateral variation compared to Pn velocity. Areas of coherent Pn anisotropy orientations are observed to continue across major fault zones such as the EAF zone.

Pastoral Tribes in the Middle East and Wildlife Conservation Schemes: the Endangered Species?

Wildlife conservation schemes, which by design set out to protect endangered fauna and flora, have a relatively recent history in northern Arabia. Their philosophical underpinnings, though, stem from a long African colonial and post-independence tradition. In East Africa and elsewhere, pastoral populations were long ago forced off their grazing lands, in order to create parks and sanctuaries for wildlife and tourists (Howell 1987, McCabe et al. 1992, Turton 1987). The assumption then was that local populations overstocked and overgrazed the natural environment and were thereby obstacles to effective natural resource management. `Scientific' management of these areas required the removal of the indigenous population for the long-term benefit of these wildlife preserves. Over the past decade however, there appears to have been a change of heart, and some conservationist circles do now hold conceptual discussions of `conservation with a human face' (Bell 1987), and the need for community participation (Cernea 1991, IIED 1994). Studies based on a few promising examples of African conservation efforts are now emerging, where indigenous human populations appear to be effectively integrated into conservation and development projects (IIED 1994). When transposed to the Middle East, Africa's new-found conservation wisdom loses something in the translation (Figure 1). As I shall demonstrate, using a case study of an internationally-supported, wildlife reintroduction project in Oman, conservation schemes in Arabia have continued to regard local populations as obstacles to be overcome--either with monetary compensation or with special terms of local employment--instead of partners in sustainable conservation and development. Without partnership, these conservation efforts are doomed either to ultimate failure or, at the least, to costly programmes which `guard' the wildlife from the human element. Syria is now developing its own protected wildlife reintroduction area in a part of the desert that provides crucial winter and spring grazing for the herds of a number of Bedouin tribes. The current well-being and subsistence of these communities is at stake. If the Bedouin can be drawn into the planning and implementation of an efficient land-use and water management system, which incorporates them and their livestock into the equation, there is a chance that the wildlife reintroduction project will succeed. On the other hand, if the final design and implementation of the wildlife project ignore the human element then the outcome will be very costly and unsatisfactory. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Recent Historical Precursors to Current Conservation Paradigms Government organised parks and protected areas first made their appearance in America and Europe during the last century. Significant areas of land were set aside as wilderness, to be preserved `untouched by humans', for the good of man. In 1872 a tract of hot springs and geysers in northwestern Wyoming was set aside to establish Yellowstone National Park. The inhabitants of the area, mainly Crow and Shoshone native American Indians, were driven out by the army, which took over management of the area (Morrison 1993). In the United Kingdom, conservationists were mainly foresters whose philosophy stressed that the public good was best served through the protection of forests and water resources, even if this meant the displacement of local communities (McCracken 1987: 190). This expertise and philosophy was transferred abroad to all of Great Britain's colonial holdings. Now, a century later, most national parks in the developing world have been and, to a certain extent, continue to be, created on the model pioneered at Yellowstone and built upon by the early British colonial conservationists. The fundamental principal of operation remains to protect the park or reserve from the damage which the indigenous local communities inflict. In Africa problems like soil erosion, degradation of rangelands, desertification, and the destruction of wildlife have been viewed as principally due to local, indigenous misuse of resources. …

Evidence for extensive denudation of the Martian highlands

High-resolution topographic data from the Mars Orbiter laser altimeter reveal evidence for widespread denudation from Margaritifer Sinus to northern Arabia Terra, an area of ∼1 × 107 km2. A major resurfacing event is indicated by: (1) a heavily degraded landscape hosting numerous inliers, (2) truncation or absence of valley networks, and (3) a break in slope at the edge of early to middle Noachian plateau materials. Geomorphic mapping was completed on the type locale of denudation (0°–30°S, 0°–30°W). Superposition relations and crater counts for geomorphic units indicate that large-scale resurfacing took place in the late Noachian, eroding the Martian highlands and resulting in transportation and deposition of ∼4.5 × 106 km3 of sediment in the northern plains. This is equivalent to a 120-m-thick uniform layer of sediment on the surface of Mars north of 30°N. Geomorphic mapping and crater counts limit the timing of denudation to the late Noachian, an interval of 350–500 m.y. Using this limit, we estimate a minimum rate of denudation of 2.0 μm/yr, comparable to denudation of typical slopes in a temperate maritime climate on Earth. The morphology, rate of denudation, and extensive nature of upland degradation suggest that precipitation-fed surface runoff is the most likely geomorphic agent capable of such a process, indicative of a warm, wet Mars during the late Noachian Epoch.

Crustal history of north central Arabia Terra, Mars

Detailed geological studies across the highland‐lowland boundary in north central Arabia Terra, Mars provide constraints on the age and nature of processes responsible for a complex array of structures and landforms. The area studied is bounded by 27.5° and 47.5°N, 330° and 335°W. Highland basement was formed in Early Noachian and was extensively resurfaced in Late Noachian. Materials underlying highland plateaus were emplaced in Middle Noachian. Erosion responsible for fretted terrane and fretted channels most likely occurred in Early Hesperian but definitely prior to the middle of the Hesperian and during or after Middle Noachian. There is good evidence for the involvement of liquid water in fretted channel formation. Within the area mapped, the presence of fretted terrane correlates with evidence for extensive development of large grabens. All lowland materials were emplaced after the erosion that formed fretted terrane and channels; the earliest of these materials were emplaced in mid‐Hesperian, and the youngest were emplaced in Late Amazonian. Morphological evidence supports debris flow or rock glacier processes for the formation of the youngest materials. Debris flow materials on the floors of fretted channels are much too young to be related to channel formation. The entire region exhibits a northerly tilt of ∼0.1°–0.15° that formed after deposition of the oldest lowland materials but before emplacement of Upper Hesperian and younger debris flow/rock glacier materials. The nature and ages of structures and landforms in this region are not consistent with the presence of a Late Noachian to Early Hesperian convergent plate boundary in northern Arabia Terra.

Matchlocks, Flintlocks, and Saltpetre: The Chronological Implications for the Use of Matchlock Muskets among Ottoman-Period Bedouin in the Southern Levant

This paper examines the chronological implications for the prolonged use of matchlock muskets by the Bedouin during the Ottoman Period (1453–1918). Although the technology behind the matchlock ignition system is from the fifteenth century, this weapon was used by many Bedouin until the beginning of the twentieth century. As a result, the presence of gun parts from matchlock muskets poses a potential problem for identifying Bedouin occupations from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in the southern Levant and in northern Arabia. This issue is heightened by the paucity of diagnostic artifacts found at archaeological sites associated with the Bedouin during the Ottoman Period.

Trading autonomy for integration.

During the first decades of Saudi Arabian rule in the kingdom's present south-western provinces (Jîzân, 'Asîr), several local tribes were granted various kinds of local autonomy, particularly regarding customary law. This "soft" tribal policy stood in marked contrast to the king's dealing with tribes in central and northern Arabia during previous years. The present article examines for the Rijâl Alma' tribe of western 'Asîr some of the underlying local factors which, in addition to regional and international politics, were at work in those developments.

Histocompatibility Antigens in Omanis: Comparison with Other Gulf Populations and Implications for Disease Association

This is the first comprehensive report of HLA antigens in Omanis, and the first application of HLA sequence-specific primer (SSP) DNA typing in a Gulf population. The objective was to compare the findings with other Gulf populations and assess their implications for disease association. HLA typing was carried out on 321 healthy Omanis. One hundred and twenty-six of these were typed for Class II antigens by low-resolution SSP DNA typing. The results were compared with other HLA antigen frequencies recorded from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The Omani population was characterized by a very high incidence of HLA-DR2 (66%), with associated HLA-DQ1 (76%) and a reduced incidence of DR4, DR7 and DR53. The incidence of DR2 is the highest recorded worldwide. HLA-A11, A32, B17, B35 and B40 were significantly higher than in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and A9, B21(B50) significantly lower (Pc<0.05). HLA-B27 is very low in the Omani population (0.3%). The high incidence of HLA-DR2 in Oman and disparities in the frequency of other antigens would indicate that there has not been any significant migration from northern Arabia. Class II DNA typing revealed that DR16 was the predominant split of DR2 (63%), with DR15 being 18% and both DR15 and 16 being found in 6%, giving a total of 87% for A centAADR2A centAA-associated antigens (serology of the same individuals gave a DR2 incidence of 74%). The major disparity between serology and DNA typing was in the definition of DR4 (serology 8%, DNA 14%) and DR51 (53% vs. 70%). The frequency of many HLA antigens in Omanis differs significantly from frequencies found in the populations of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, possibly reflecting different migration patterns. The high incidence of HLA-DR2 in Oman may have important implications for disease association.

Abstract: The Basin Configuration, Tectonic History and Hydrocarbon Potential of Northern Arabia

Abstract: The Basin Configuration, Tectonic History and Hydrocarbon Potential of Northern Arabia

Evidence for igneous activity and implications for the origin of a fretted channel in southern Ismenius Lacus, Mars

Northern Arabia Terra, Mars is characterized by a complex landscape that includes fretted terrain, fretted channels, completely closed canyons, shallow troughs, and fracture‐bounded depressions. The importance of ground ice in the initiation and development of these features, and of large impact structures in controlling channel courses, has long been recognized. The development of the fretted channel systems, including the integration of closed canyons, craters, and surface depressions into throughgoing channels, has previously been attributed primarily to mass‐wasting processes. The two channel systems in southern Ismenius Lacus quadrangle, Mamers Valles and Ismeniae Fossae, incorporate craters of probable impact origin, but both also include irregular crater‐like features and scalloped channel reaches that have characteristics not consistent with an impact origin. Some of these are, by analogy with morphologically similar features on Earth and elsewhere on Mars, reasonably interpreted as of volcanic origin. The detailed morphologies of a few diagnostic features associated with Ismeniae Fossae suggest a hydrovolcanic origin, an inference supported by the probable presence of abundant ground ice or groundwater at the time of their formation. The evidence described here for hydrovolcanism supports the inference that, in addition to mass‐wasting processes, explosive excavation, intrusion‐driven sublimation, subsurface erosion, and erosion by running water may have played important roles in channel formation and evolution as well. All of these processes are consistent with magma interacting with groundwater or ground ice.

Senonian basin inversion and rejuvenation of rifting in Africa and Arabia: synthesis and implications to plate-scale tectonics

The late Paleozoic to Tertiary stratigraphic record of much of the African plate reflects the effects of continental rifting and passive margin development. Several short-lived, but widespread and tectonically important, compressional or wrench-dominated events occurred, however, during the Permian to Recent evolution of Africa. We focus here on the best documented of these events, which occurred during the late Santonian. At that time, older sedimentary basins, mostly ENE-WSW trending, were folded and inverted, including some basins along the Tethyan margin from Morocco to the Syrian Arc and the intraplate Benue-southern Chad basins and the Lugh-Mandera basin. In Oman, ophiolites were obducted. Following the Santonian tectonism, an extensive phase of rifting occurred in Central and North Africa and northern Arabia, spanning from Campanian to Maastrichtian or Paleocene times. Rejuvenation or acceleration of subsidence occurred in several basins located along the Tethyan margin, along the Atlantic and Indian Ocean margins, as well as within the intraplate domain. Rifting was sometimes accompanied by magmatic activity, especially in offshore northern Libya and along the Indian Ocean margin. Compressional deformations rejuvenated or developed by latest Maastrichtian times along the Tethyan margin and locally within the intraplate domain. One of the most remarkable attributes of the Santonian tectonic event, which we consider representative of the major trans-African stress field changes, is the rapidity with which the change was reflected stratigraphically across North and Central Africa, and its short duration. The cause of the Santonian compressional event is directly linked to the change in poles of rotation for the opening of the Atlantic at ∼83–85 Ma, the end of the Cretaceous Normal Magnetic Quiet Zone. This was also synchronous with the obduction of ophiolites along the northeast margin of Arabia (Oman), the onset of separation between India and Madagascar with formation of the Mascarene oceanic basin, and the development of the European Alpine Chain. We interpret these phenomena as causally related aspects of a global tectonic event. The Santonian compressional event, as well as the Campanian-Maastrichtian rifting event and the end Cretaceous compressional event, illustrate the critical connection between intraplate tectonic histories and processes occurring at sometimes very distant plate boundaries.

Pleistocene sites in southern Yemen

In the autumn months of 1992 a small team conducted an archaeological survey in southwest Yemen in search of Pleistocene sites dating back to the early colonisation of the Arabian peninsula. The survey focused on those escarpments and terraces with exposed Pleistocene sediments. The team discovered thirty‐seven sites, most of them multicomponent, with sixteen having a pebble‐tool industry called Mode 1 and twenty‐seven with a bifacial industry called Mode 2. Both industries were represented side by side on some sites. These thirty‐seven sites, together with others found in northern Arabia and eastern Yemen, contribute to the growing recognition of a Pleistocene occupation of the Arabian peninsula.

The Roman Near East, 31 B.C.-A.D. 337.

Preface Abbreviations 1. Prologue: In Search of the Orient I. Empire 2. The Bridgehead and the Dependent Kingdoms, 31 BC-AD 74 2.1. From the Battle of Actium to the Death of Herod the Great 2.2. From the Death of Herod the Great to the End of Tiberius' Reign 2.3. From the Reign of Gaius to the Outbreak of the Jewish War 2.4. The Jewish War and Its Aftermath 3. Imperialism and Expansion, AD 74-195 3.1. Vespasian: A New Near Eastern Empire 3.2. Trajan : Expansion and Rearrangement in the Southern Near East 3.3. The Roman Presence, AD 114-161 3.4. Emperors and Pretenders in the Near East from Lucius Verus to Septimius Severus: The Conquest of Mesopotamia 4. Rome And Mesopotamia: From Parthia To Persia 4.1. The Severan Near East as a Military Structure 4.2. Emperors on Campaign, from Caracalla to Philip the Arab Shapur's Invasions and the Empire of Palmyra, AD 252-273 5. The Tetrarchy and Constantine 5.1. The Tetrarchy: Persian Wars and Fortified Lines 5.2. The Near East in the Tetrarchic Empire, AD 284-312 5.3. Licinius and Constantine, AD 313-337: Retrospect from a Christianised Empire II. Regions and Communities 6. Communal and Cultural Identities 7. The Tetrapolis and Northern Syria 7.1. The Geographical Context 7.2. Local Cult-Centres: Hierapolis and Doliche 7.3. Villages and Rural Temples 7.4. The Major Cities: Apamea 8. The Phoenician Coast and Its Hinterland 8.1. History and Geography 8.2. Phoenicia: The Southern Region 8.3. The Northern Coastline and Its Hinterland 8.4. The Major Cities: Byblos and Berytus 8.5. Sidon and Tyre 9. Eastern Syria Phoenice: Mountain, Oasis and Steppe 9.1. Geographical Connections 9.2. Emesa and Elagabal 9.3. Damascus and Its Region Palmyra 10. From Judaea to Syria Palaestina 10.1. History, Religion and Geography 10.2. Judaea before the First Revolt 10.3. From the First Jewish Revolt to the Second 10.4. Syria Palaestina 11. Arabia 11.1. Regions and Cultures 11.2. The Kingdom of Nabataea 11.3. The Decapolis in the First Century 11.4. The New Province of Arabia 11.5. The Nomadic Presence 12. The Euphrates and Mesopotamia 12.1. Geography, Culture and Language 12.2. Dura-Europos in the Parthian Period 12.3. The Middle Euphrates and the Coming of Rome 12.4. Roman Dura-Europos 12.5. Edessa as a Kingdom and Roman Colony until the Middle of the Third Century 12.6. Social and Religious Currents in the Fourth Century 13. Epilogue: East and West 13.1. East? 13.2. West? Appendix A. The Inscriptions of the Tetrarchic Land-Surveyors Appendix B. Documents from the Bar Kochba War Appendix C. Materials for the History of Roman Edessa and Osrhoene, AD 163-337 Maps I. The Near East: Areas Covered by Maps II-XII II. The Roman Near East: Main Sites and Geographical Features III. Northwestern Syria and Mount Amanus IV. The Phoenician Coast and Western Syria Phoenice V. The Central Syrian Steppe, Pabnyra and the Euphrates VI. Judaea/Syria Palaestina, Western Arabia VII. Southeastern Syria Phoenice, Northern Arabia VIII. Petra and South-Central Arabia IX. Arabia, with Sinai, the Red Sea and the Hedjaz X. Eastern Syria, the Euphrates and Western Mesopotamia XI. Central Mesopotamia and Mons Masius XII. The Eastern Syrian Steppe and the Middle Euphrates General Index Index of Literary Sources Index of Documents

Bedouin Dialects as the Linguistic Ideal of Narrative Style

The contemporary Bedouin poetry of Northern Arabia continues an old tradition which harks back to pre-Islamic days. This tradition of mainly oral poetry was amazingly vigorous until the 1960s. The following socioeconomic changes, however, have not only weakened the tradition but even endangered its very existence. This paper aims to call attention to the narratives associated with Bedouin poetry. These narratives are intended to give the listeners background information necessary for the correct understanding of the poems. These narratives have historical and artistic values as well.

Ala Celerum Philippiana

In A. D. 244, after Gordian III had died in battle, his successor, Philip, brought thePersian war to a speedy end. Before returning to Rome from the East, Philip took time out to visit his birthplace, Shahba, in northern Arabia. He rebuilt the town magnificently and renamed it Philippopolis. There an inscription has come to light, dedicated by a most unusual cavalry regiment:

Multiple discourses among the Bedouin: Fieldwork and the invention of the ethnographic text

Abu‐Lughod, Lila. Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1986. vii + 317 pp. including appendix, notes, bibliography and index. No price. Ingham, Bruce. Bedouin of Northern Arabia: Traditions of the Al‐Dhafir. London: KPI Limited, 1986. vii +136 pp. including notes, bibliography, and index. $39.95 cloth.