Wadi Sirhan
Wadi Sirhan (
Geography
Wadi Sirhan is a wide, enclosed depression that starts in the
History
Wadi Sirhan historically served as an important trade route between Arabia and Syria. The Assyrian king Esarhaddon launched a campaign against the Bazu and Khazu tribes in Wadi Sirhan in the 7th century BCE.[2]
Roman and Byzantine eras
The basin continued to serve as an important route during the Roman era, connecting the
Wadi Sirhan was the home region from which the Salihids entered Syria and became the principal Arab federates of the Byzantine Empire throughout the 5th century CE.[3] When the Salihids were succeeded by the Ghassanids at the beginning of the 6th century, Wadi Sirhan became dominated by the latter's allies, the Banu Kalb.[3] The Ghassanids were charged by the Byzantines with supervision over the region after Emperor Justinian I dismantled the Limes Arabicus, a series of garrisoned fortifications guarding the empire's eastern desert frontiers, c. 530.[3] The Ghassanids and the Kalb essentially supplanted the limes.[3] The Ghassanid phylarch Arethas passed through the depression on his way to defeating the Banu Tamim.[3] Likewise, Alqama, a poet of the latter tribe passed through Wadi Sirhan to meet with Arethas to lobby for his brother's release from captivity.[3]
Early Islamic era
Following the Muslim conquest in 634 CE, the basin became an often fought over frontier between the Banu Kalb and their distant kinsmen from the Banu al-Qayn.[5]
Modern era
The lowland gained its current name following the migration of the Sirhan tribe, purported descendants of the Banu Kalb, to the Dumat al-Jandal region from the Hauran c. 1650.[6] Before their migration, Wadi Sirhan was known as Wadi al-Azraq after the Azraq oasis.[7]
By the late 19th century, the
See also
- Al Harrah, Saudi Arabia
References
- ^ Lancaster & Lancaster 1999, p. 109.
- ^ a b c van Donzel 1997, p. 673.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Shahid 2009, p. 25.
- ^ a b c Shahid 2009, p. 26.
- ^ a b c d van Donzel 1997, p. 693.
- ^ Peake Pasha 1958, pp. 219–220.
- ^ Peake Pasha 1958, p. 220.
- ^ Lawrence, T.E. (1935). Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Garden City: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc. pp. 258.
Bibliography
- Lancaster, William; Lancaster, Fidelity (1999). People, Land and Water in the Arab Middle East: Environments and Landscapes in the Bilad ash-Sham. Harwood Academic Publishers. ISBN 90-5702-322-9.
- Peake Pasha, F. G. (1958). A History of Jordan and its Tribes. Miami: University of Miami Press.
- Shahid, Irfan (2009). Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century, Volume 2, Part 2. Washington, D. C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. ISBN 978-0-88402-347-0.
- van Donzel, E. (1997). "Sirhan". In ISBN 978-90-04-10422-8.