Qedarites


The Qedarite Kingdom, or Qedar, was a largely nomadic, ancient Arab tribal confederation. Described as "the most organized of the Northern Arabian tribes", at the peak of its power in the 6th century BCE it had a kingdom and controlled a vast region in Arabia.
Biblical tradition holds that the Qedarites are named for Qedar, the second son of Ishmael, mentioned in the Bible's books of Genesis and 1 Chronicles, where there are also frequent references to Qedar as a tribe. The earliest extrabiblical inscriptions discovered by archaeologists that mention the Qedarites are from the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Spanning the 8th and 7th centuries BCE, they list the names of Qedarite kings who revolted and were defeated in battle, as well as those who paid Assyrian monarchs tribute, including Zabibe, queen of the Arabs. There are also Aramaic and Old South Arabian inscriptions recalling the Qedarites, who further appear briefly in the writings of Classical Greek, such as Herodotus, and Roman historians, such as Pliny the Elder, and Diodorus.
It is unclear when the Qedarites ceased to exist as a separately defined confederation or people. Allies with the Nabataeans, it is likely that they were absorbed into the Nabataean state around the 2nd century CE. In Islam, Isma'il is considered to be the ancestral forefather of the Arab people, and in traditional Islamic historiography, Muslim historians have assigned great importance in their accounts to his first two sons, with the genealogy of the Prophet Muhammad, alternately assigned to one or the other son, depending on the scholar.

Etymology

It has been suggested that the name of the Qedarites is derived from the name for Ishmael's second son Qedar. Though the tribal name is Arabic, it was first transcribed in Assyrian and Aramaic, as the Arabic alphabet had not yet been developed. In the Mareshah onomasticon, the Qedarites are listed as an ethnic group whose name in Aramaic transliteration is QDRYN.
The Arabic triliteral root q-d-r means "to measure, compute, estimate"; "to decree, appoint, ordain"; and "to have power, or ability." Qidr, a noun derived from the same root, means "cauldron, kettle", and also gives the verbal derivation, "to cook". Ernst Axel Knauf, a biblical scholar who undertook a historical study of the Ishmaelites and determined that they were known in Assyrian inscriptions as the Šumu'il, surmises that the name of the Qedarites was derived from the verb qadara, with its meaning of "to ordain, to have power". As this etymology is a deduction based solely on the prominence of the Qedar among the Šumu'il tribes, it is viewed as inconclusive by other scholars.

Geographical scope

The Qedarites were an "Arab tribal confederation," or "alliance of nomadic Arab tribes." According to Philip J. King, theologian and historian, they lived in the northwest Arabian desert and were "an influential force from the 8th to 4th centuries BCE." Geoffrey Bromiley, historical theologist and translator, transcribes their name as Kedar and states they lived in an area southeast of Damascus and east of the Transjordan.
8th century BCE Assyrian inscriptions place the Qedarites as living in the area to the east of the western border of Babylon. Moving further east into areas of the Transjordan and southern Syria in the 7th century BCE, by the 5th century BCE they had spread into the Sinai and as far as the Nile Delta. Qedarite domination of northwest Arabia involved alliances between the kings of Qedar and the kings of Dedan. Historian Israel Eph'al writes that the "breadth of Qedarite distribution suggests a federation of tribes with various sub-divisions."
Oases in the largely desert region lived in by the Qedarites - such as Dedan, Tayma, and Dumah - played an important role as sites of settlement, trade, and watering-places. Dumah, a remote desert city to the west, known later as Dumat Al-Jandal and today as al-Jawf, was the most important of these, sitting as it did between the empires of Babylonia and Assyria. Serving as the base for Qedarite religious ceremonies, Dumah's strategic position on the north-south trade route in the area meant that relations with its inhabitants were sought after by both empires, though Dumah and the Qedarites were closer in both geographical and political terms to Babylonia. Those coming from the south and wishing to access Mesopotamia were obliged to pass through Dumah, which also lay on an alternate route to the northwest, leading to the city of Damascus, and from there, on to Assyria and Anatolia.
During the period of Persian imperial rule in the region, the Qedarites exercised control over the desert areas bordering Egypt and Israel and the traffic related to Arabian incense trade upon which Gaza depended. Herodotus writes of their presence in the northern Sinai near the Egyptian border where they may have been engaged by the Achaemenids, the Persian imperial authorities, to keep that border secure as well as their control of the city of Gaza.

Historical references

Archeological

Assyrian inscriptions

The first documented mention of Qedar is from a stele of Tiglath-Pileser III, a king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, that lists leaders from the western part of Mesopotamia that pay him tribute. To the Assyrians, the Qedarites were known as Qidri or qi-id-ri with other cuneiform inscriptions also using Qadri, Qidarri, Qidari and Qudari. Zabibe is listed among those paying tribute under the title "queen of the Qidri and the Aribi".
Also mentioned in Assyrian royal inscriptions is Zabibe's successor Yatie, who sent forces headed by her brother Baasqanu to aid Merodach-Baladan in his bid to hold onto power in Babylon. Together with an army from Elam, this alliance faced the forces of Sennacherib, on the Assyrian king's first campaign in 703 BCE. The events of the battle are recorded in the annals of Sennacherib which describe Yatie as "queen of the Arabs," and tell of the capture of her brother Baasqanu in battle. Israel Eph'al writes that this is the first mention in Assyrian documents of Arabs as an ethnic element in Babylonia.
Statements about the Qedarites in the annals of the Assyrian kings of Ashurbanipal and his son Esarhaddon indicate that the term Kedar was almost synonymous with Arabia. Hazael, who ruled c. 690–676 BCE, is described as a Qedarite king by Ashurbanipal and "king of the Arabs" by Esarhaddon. After Sennacherib's invasion of Babylonia in 691–689 BCE, Hazael fled to Dumah. Dumah is referred to as Adummatu by the Assyrians, and the city is described by them as the seat of the Qedar confederation and the base of their cult.
Te'elkhunu and Tabua, both referred to as both "queens of Qidri" and "queens of Aribi," have Adummatu explicitly denoted as their seat and capital city in the inscriptions. While the capital city for the three other queens referred to as "queens of Aribi" is not explicitly mentioned, it is thought to have been Adummatu as well. Numerous inscriptions discovered in Dumah itself are further indications for a strong Qedarite presence, one of which asks of three deities known to the Assyrians as gods of Qedar for "help in the matter of my love."
The conquest of Adummatu by Sennacherib in 690 BCE and the capture of a Qedarite queen, Te'elkhunu, who was brought back to Assyria with other loot, including divine images, is also mentioned in the annals of the Assyrian monarchs. Esarhaddon eventually returned the "renewed" images of the Arab gods to Adummatu with Tabua, "who grew up in the palace of Sennacherib," and was appointed Qedarite queen by Esarhaddon to replace Te'elkhunu. However, strained relations between the Assyrians and the Qedarites meant that she ruled for only a brief period, with Esarhaddon recognizing Hazael as the king of Qedar after he increased his tribute to the Assyrian monarch by 65 camels. Esarhaddon then appointed Yauta, son of Hazael, as a Qedarite king, following Hazael's death. That Yauta paid a tribute in the form of 10 minas of gold, 1,000 precious stones, 50 camels, and 1,000 leather pouches of aromatics is also recorded.
The defeat of Ammuladi and Yauta after they mounted Qedarite forces to march against the kings of the Amurru is recorded by Ashurbanipal. Yauta is said to have "roused the people of Arabia to revolt with him." His wife, Adiya, is the only woman mentioned in Assyrian inscriptions as both a Qedarite queen and the wife of a Qedarite king, and is thought to be the only woman who was not a ruler in her own right. The inscriptions record how Adiya was sent by Yauta to accompany Ammuladi and the Qedarite forces, and their subsequent defeat and capture in 604 BCE by the forces of Kamushaltu, king of Moab and a loyal vassal of the Assyrian empire. Yauta is said to have "fled to the Nabataeans." His subsequent capture and sentencing in Nineveh are recorded by Ashurbanipal who relates that, "I put a dog chain upon him and made him guard a kennel." Abiyate was appointed as Yauta's successor, and soon joined with the Nabataeans to revolt against Assyria again, prompting Ashurbanipal to launch a three-month campaign to end it, beginning in Palmyra, continuing on to Damascus and ending in the southern part of al-Leja.

Old South Arabic and Aramaic inscriptions

ابياتهMati-il, King of Dedanc. 580–565 BCEKabaril, son of Mati-il
King of Dedanc. 565–550 BCENabonidus, King of Babylonc. 550–540 BCERuled from TaymaMahlay, King c. 510–490 BCEMahalyMentioned in
Lachish inscription.Iyas, son of Mahlayc. 490–470 BCEAlso named in
Lachish inscription.Shahr I, King of Qedarc. 470–450 BCEShahruGashmu I, son of Shahr
, King of Qedarc. 450–430 BCEGeshem
جشمQainu, son of Gehsem
, King of Qedarc. 430–410 BCEKaynau, Qaynu
قينو بن جشم
Old South Arabic inscriptions mention qdrn as a person or people. Graffiti found in al-Ula, known as the Graffito of Niran at Dedan, mentions Gashmu I, son of Shahr I, as King of Qedar.
A "king of Qedar" is also mentioned in a late 5th century BCE Aramaic inscription on a silver vessel found at Tell Maskhuta in the eastern Nile Delta in lower Egypt. The inscription names him as "Qainū son of Gashmu," with the vessel described as an, "offering to han-'Ilāt".
While it does not specifically mention the Qedar and is therefore a subject of debate, an Aramaic inscription dating to 5th century BCE discovered on an incense altar at Lachish and dedicated to, "Iyas, son of Mahaly, the king," is interpreted by André Lemaire as a possible reference to kings of Qedar.

Later writings

Classical Antiquity

has documented that the Qedarites were called upon to assist Cambyses II of the Persian empire in his invasion of Egypt in 525 BCE. The Qedarites and Nabataeans were known to enjoy close relations, even engaging as wartime allies against the Assyrians. It is possible that the Qedarites were eventually incorporated into the Nabataean state which emerged as the strongest Ishmaelite presence in northwestern Arabia c. the 2nd century CE. In The Cambridge Ancient History, some of the Nabataeans mentioned by Diodorus in his retelling of events that took place in 312 BCE are said to be Qedarites.
Pliny the Elder, who refers to the Cedrei and Cedareni in the context of other Arabian tribes, placing their domain to the south of the Conchlei and adjacent to that of the Nabataei, is thought to be referring to the Qedar. Jerome, also writing in Latin, transcribes Qedar as Cedar, and refers to it as a region. In one entry, he describes it as, "a region of the Saracens, who are called Ishmaelites in scripture"; in another, he writes that it was a "once uninhabitable region across Saracen Arabia"; and in a third, he writes that it is a "deserted region of the Ishmaelites, whom they now call Saracens." According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Theodoret mentions that in his time, the Qedar lived near Babylon.

19th century

There are brief references to the Qedar in the writings of Western travellers to the Levant in the 19th century. Drawing on biblical motifs, comparisons are made between the Bedouins and the Qedar. For example, Albert Augustus Isaacs describes the imposing spectacle of a Bedouin encampment on a plain upon which, "the black tents of Kedar were spread far and wide." An earlier account by Charles Boileau Elliot describes the Arabs as falling into two main groups, Fellahs and Bedouins, and identifies the latter with Ishmael and the Qedar as follows:
the Bedouins still retain the wandering habits of their father Ishmael; their 'hand is against every man, and every man's hand is against' them; the wild desert is their home; the ground their pallet and their canopy the sky; or, if luxurious their choicest place of sojourn is a little tent 'black as the tents of Kedar' their progenitor

Charles Forster identifies the Arab tribe of the Beni Harb as the modern descendants of the Kedar. He proposes that Beni Harb is a patronym and nom de guerre that was adopted by the tribe at least 2,000 years ago, replacing Kedar as the national moniker.

Biblical

The descendants of Abraham and Hagar are called Ishmaelites, after Ishmael, their firstborn, and the Qedarites are named for his second son, Qedar. The Bible refers to both the Qedarites and Qedar frequently. Old Testament references include Genesis, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Chronicles. Twice, Qedar is used to refer to the actual son of Ishmael, as in the books of Genesis and Chronicles, while remaining references are to his descendants, referring either to his most prominent North Arabian sons, or to the Arabs and Bedouins as a more general collective. The "tents of Kedar" equated with "the peace-hating Meshech" mentioned in the Book of Psalms were likely a Qedarite sub-group.
In Song of Songs, the tents of the Qedarites are described as black: "Black I am, but beautiful, ye daughters of Jerusalem / As tents of Qedar, as tentcloth of Salam black." Their tents are said to be made of black goat hair. A tribe of Salam was located just south of the Nabateans in Madain Salih, and Knauf proposed that the Qedarites mentioned in this Masoretic text were in fact Nabataeans and played a crucial role in the spice trade in the 3rd century BCE.
Biblical descriptions indicate there were two major types of Qedarites: nomads living in tents and sedentary people living in villages. Jeremiah describes them as "a nation at ease, that dwells securely" and notes that they engage in the pagan practice of shaving their temples. Isaiah recalls their warrior activities and skill with the bow. Ezekiel associates, "Arabia and all the princes of Kedar," and indicates that they engaged in sheep/goat trading with the Phoenicians. The three books list the flocks of the Qedarites as including lambs, rams, goats and camels.
Jeremiah also tells of a campaign by Nebuchadnezzar against the Qedarites during the Babylonian period. Gashmu, the king of the Qedarites mentioned in the 5th century BCE Aramaic inscription described above, is also referred to as "Geshem the Arab" or "Geshem the Arabian" by Nehemiah who lists him as one of his adversaries, since Gashmu stands opposed to Nehemiah's governorship over Judea in 447 BCE.

Culture and society

Biblical and extrabiblical evidence suggests that of the Arabian tribes, the Qedarites were most prominent in their contacts with the world outside of the Arabian Peninsula. Like other nomadic groups, they lived primarily in unfortified encampments. Pastoralists and traders in livestock, such as male lambs, rams and goats, they also played a key role in the prosperity of Gaza's incense trade, controlling traffic in the desert regions between Egypt and Palestine. As a result of their trading activities, there were clans from among the Qedarites that became wealthy.
Though they were vassals under Assyrian rule and were often engaged in rebellion against that empire, the rise to dominance of the Persian empire proved beneficial to the Qedarites. Qedarite control of the trade routes and the access they afforded the Persians translated into what Herodotus described as a friendly relationship.

Language

The Qedarites are among a number of North Arabian tribes whose interactions with Arameaen tribes beginning in the 8th century BCE resulted in cultural exchanges between these two large Semitic groups. Early Arab tribal groups like the Qedarites spoke Old Arabic, but as the Arabic alphabet had not yet been developed, they used the Aramaic alphabet to write. "The tongue of Kedar" is used in rabbinical sources as a name for the Arabic language.
Papponymy, the practice of naming boys after their grandfathers, was common among the Qedar. Some Qedarites had Aramaic personal names, while others had Arabic personal names. Aramaic civilization and its peoples were gradually absorbed by the Arabs with Arabic dialects in Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Iraq in particular exhibiting the influence of Aramaic.

Religion

Religious worship among the Qedar, as was the case for most of the inhabitants of Arabia until the 7th century CE, was polytheistic. Its practices and beliefs included an emphasis on female idols and worshippers. Divine images of the gods and goddesses worshipped by Qedarite Arabs, as noted in Assyrian inscriptions, included representations of Atarsamain, Nuha, Ruda, Daa, Abirillu, and Atarquruma. The female guardian of these idols, usually the reigning queen, served as a priestess who communed with the other world. As mentioned above, there is also evidence that the Qedar worshipped Al-lāt, to whom the inscription on a silver bowl from a king of Qedar is dedicated. In the Babylonian Talmud, which was passed down orally for centuries before being transcribed c. 500 CE, in tractate Taanis, it is said that most Qedarites worshipped pagan gods.
city

Tomb

There is a mausoleum assigned to Qedar in Qeydar city, Zanjan Province, Iran. The mausoleum is in a Shia mosque, and the grave of Qedar is covered by an iron grill. The mausoleum is visited by Shia, Sunni and Christians.

Genealogy

The biblical view of the late Iron Age political and cultural map describes it as a set of branching genealogies. Biblical figures three generations forward from Terah are invariably described as the eponymous founders of different tribes and polities that interacted with the Kingdom of Judah between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE. Such is the case of the Qedarite Arabs, who according to biblical tradition, are the offspring of the Abraham-Ishmael-Kedar genealogical line.
The majority of Sayyid believe they are one of the modern day descendants of Prophet Muhammad, and that they are therefore the descendants of Prophet Ishmael and his second son Prophet Qedar. Imam Abu Ja'far al-Baqir wrote that his father Ali ibn Husayn informed him that Prophet Muhammad had said: "The first whose tongue spoke in clear Arabic was Ishmael, when he was fourteen years old." Hisham Ibn Muhammad al-Kalbi established a genealogical link between Prophet Ishmael and Prophet Muhammad using writings that drew on biblical and Palmyran sources, and the ancient oral traditions of the Arabs. His book, Jamharat al-Nasab, seems to posit that the people known as "Arabs" are all descendants of Ishmael. Ibn Kathir writes, "All the Arabs of the Hijaz are descendants of Nebaioth and Qedar." Medieval Jewish sources also usually identified Qedar with Arabs and/or Muslims. According to author and scholar Irfan Shahîd, Western scholars viewed this kind of "genealogical Ishmaelism" with suspicion, seeing it as,
a late Islamic fabrication because of the confusion in Islamic times which made it such a capacious term as to include the inhabitants of the south as well as the north of the Arabian Peninsula. But shorn of this extravagance, the concept is much more modest in its denotation, and in the sober sources it applies only to certain groups among the Arabs of pre-Islamic times. Some important statements to this effect were made by Prophet Muhammed when he identified some Arabs as Ishmaelites and others as not.
Ishmaelism in this more limited definition holds that Ishmael was both an important religious figure and eponymous ancestor for some of the Arabs of western Arabia. Prominence is given in Arab genealogical accounts to the first two of Ishmael's twelve sons, Nebaioth and Qedar, who are also prominently featured in the Genesis account. It is likely that they and their tribes lived in northwestern Arabia and were historically the most important of the twelve Ishamelite tribes.
In accounts tracing the ancestry of Prophet Muhammad back to Ma'ad ibn Adnan, Arab scholars alternate, with some citing the line as through Nebaioth, others Qedar.

Footnotes