A friend of mine shared this poem, which I enjoyed, but I was sceptical of the dating. Variants of this poem are quoted in books and magazines going back to the nineteenth century. Usually it is borrowed as… Continue Reading
The third in a series on pre-Islamic sources adduced for Mecca. Previous: 2) Macoraba. “a flumine Canis, ut Iuba, …gens Taludaei, Dabanegoris regio, mons Orsa cum portu…” “After the Dog’s River, according to Juba, there is… the Taludaei tribe, the Dabanegoris district, Mount Orsa with… Continue Reading
UPDATE: Following the success of this blog post, I developed it into a peer-reviewed article, which was published in Al-‘Usur al-Wusta: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists, vol. 26 (2018). You can read the article open-access here. Needless to say,… Continue Reading
The first in a series on pre-Islamic sources adduced for Mecca. Next: 2) Macoraba. “Hieron d’ hagiōtaton hidrutai, timōmenon hupo pantōn Arabōn perittoteron.” “A very sacred temple has been established there which is highly revered by all the Arabs.” —Diodorus Siculus,… Continue Reading