Gerrha

Gerrha () was an ancient and renowned city within Eastern Arabia, on the west side of the persian Gulf. Known from Greek sources, it has been identified with a few candidate archaeological sites in Eastern Arabia, with the main candidates being Hagar (modern-day Hofuf) and Thaj.

In the aftermath of the conquests of Alexander the Great, and his successors of the Seleucid Empire in the region, Gerrha became a site of central importance in the Hellenistic world and the major site of trading in the Persian Gulf region. It was a major source of Arabian aromatics and for the transport of goods from India.

Description

Gerrha was located at or near the Persian Gulf, possessing a port and an inland town. A detailed description of the city was offered by the geographer Strabo:

After sailing along the astcoast of Arabia rom the outlet of the Euphratesfor a distance of 2400 stadia .380 kmone comes to Gerrha, a city situated on a deep gulf. It is inhabited by Chaldaeans, exiles from Babylon. The soil contains salt and the people live in houses made of salt; and since flakes of salt continually scale off, owing to the scorching heat of the rays of the sun, and fall away, the people frequently sprinkle the houses with water and thus keep the walls firm. The city is 200 stadia .32 kmdistant from the sea; and the Gerrhaeans traffic by land, for the most part, in the Arabian merchandise and aromatics. However Aristobulus says, on the contrary, that the Gerrhaeans import most of their cargoes on rafts to Babylonia, and thence sail up the Euphrates with them, and then convey them by land to all parts of the country.

History

At first, Gerrha's trade exports moved to Babylonia and transports moved by sea. However, soon during or after the lifetime of Alexander the Great, Gerrha's transports began moving in the direction of Egypt and Syria and the mode of transport shifted from by sea to by land. Gerrhean incense is reported as an ingredient in Greek poison and it was also an essential item on some discovered shopping lists. Some Gerrheans have been documented in the West, like Taymallat of Gerrha, who made some offerings in the Aegean island of Delos.

Polybius reports that the Seleucid emperor Antiochus III sailed to Gerrha in 205 BC. The Gerrhaeans petitioned, and were granted by Antiochous, the rite to practice their religious customs. Robert Hoyland has suggested that a likely factor in this expedition was for Antiochus to use a show of force to get the Gerrhaeans to direct more of their trade through his territory. As the Seleucid domain expanded through military victories against the Ptolemies, Gerrha's trading partners also expanded to include Palestine, Syria, and the Nabataeans.

By the first and second centuries AD, Gerrha as a city begins to decline. The exact causes are not known but one possibility is that the new Parthian Empire began to take over its trade routes with India. As Gerrha's influence declined, an encroachment of Arab tribes into the region also took place.

The city of Gerrha was taken by the Qarmatians at the end of the ninth century.

Location and etymology

To the Ancient Greeks, eastern Arabia (the present-day al-Hasa province) was known as Gerrha after its capital city. Gerrha was a Greek alteration of the Arabic Hajar (present-day Hofuf), the name of the largest city of ancient Bahrayn (Bahrayn was also known as Hagar or Gerrha in Hellenistic times).

Other English spellings are ''Hajar Hufuf, Hajar Hasa' Hajarah''. Hagar (Gerrha) is not to be confused with the west Arabian Al-Hijr (al-Hijrah, ancient Hegra), the present-day Mada'in Saleh or al-Ula near the Red Sea. Al-Hamdani says the etymology of ''Hajar'' means ‘large village’ in the Himyaritic language (derived from Hakar).

The researcher Abdulkhaliq Al Janbi argued in his book that Gerrha was most likely the ancient city of Hajar, located in modern-day Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia. Al-Janbi's theory is the most widely accepted one by modern scholars, although there are some difficulties with this argument, given that Al-Ahsa is 60 km inland and thus less likely to be the starting point for a trader's route, making a location within the archipelago of islands comprising the modern Kingdom of Bahrain, particularly the main island of Bahrain itself, another possibility.

Another location suggested as Gerrha is Thaj.

See also

* Chaldea
* Eastern Arabia
* Uqair, an ancient fort suggested by some historians as the location of Gerrha

References

Sources

* Bibby, Geoffrey (1970). ''Looking for Dilmun''. Collins, London. .
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{{coord missing, Saudi Arabia

Archaeological sites in Saudi Arabia
Ancient cities of the Middle East
Former populated places in West Asia
Populated places along the Silk Road
History of Eastern Arabia