DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1035#0588
Chap. IX.]
THE AMMAWEEH CALIPHS.
541
Events during their Reigns.
Moawieh II.
Merawan I.
Abd el Melek.
El Welee'd I.
Soolayman.
Omer II.
Yezeed II.
' His son.
( Abdallah, son of Zobay'r, reigned nine
years in the Hegaz, from 64 to 73
A. EL, *'. e. from 684 to 693 A. D.)
Hi3 son. Conquest of Africa com-
pleted. Abd el Azeez, his brother,
i made a Nilometer at Helwan.
76 A. H., first Arab coinage. The oldest
coin found is of 79 A. H. or 699
A. D.; it is a silver derhem. The
oldest gold deendrs are of the years
91 and 92 A. H.
His son. Conquest of Spain, 710.
First invasion of India by the Mos-
lems.
His brother. Second failure before
Constantinople. Was the first -who
founded a Nilometer at the Isle of
Roda.
Son of Abd el Azeez.
Son of Abd el Melek.
A.D.
684
684
705
714
717
720
724
Ptolemy * places the Saraceni in Arabia Felix, inland to the east of the
Elanitic Gulf, distinct from Saracena, a district of Arabia Petraa, on the
eastern border of Egypt; and Pliny, f a still earlier authority, also notices
them among the people of Arabia. Ammianus MarcellinusJ records their
predatory habits, § their alliance with Julian, and their defence of Constan-
tinople towards the close of the reign of Valens; || and it is possible that this
name became a general Latin appellation for the natives of Arabia, in con-
sequence of the Romans perceiving a great similarity of character between
them and their Saracen allies.
But instead of admitting the name of Sarah, the wife of Abraham (a
notion justly ridiculed by Gibbon), or any derivation taken from a " foreign
language," % I should suggest that the word Saracen was either immedi-
ately borrowed, or slightly corrupted, from the name of the people them-
selves, but that, like the greater part of national nomenclature, it is far be-
yond the reach of the etymologist, and should wisely be left without a vain
and useless scrutiny. As applied to the Moslems, it is purely conventional.
* Ptolem. lib. vi. c. 6.
% Amm. Marcell. lib. xiv. c. 4.
|| Id. loc.cit.
+ Plin. lib. vi. c. 28.
§ Id. lib. xxxi. c. 16.
«S[ Gibbon, vol. ix. c. 50.
THE AMMAWEEH CALIPHS.
541
Events during their Reigns.
Moawieh II.
Merawan I.
Abd el Melek.
El Welee'd I.
Soolayman.
Omer II.
Yezeed II.
' His son.
( Abdallah, son of Zobay'r, reigned nine
years in the Hegaz, from 64 to 73
A. EL, *'. e. from 684 to 693 A. D.)
Hi3 son. Conquest of Africa com-
pleted. Abd el Azeez, his brother,
i made a Nilometer at Helwan.
76 A. H., first Arab coinage. The oldest
coin found is of 79 A. H. or 699
A. D.; it is a silver derhem. The
oldest gold deendrs are of the years
91 and 92 A. H.
His son. Conquest of Spain, 710.
First invasion of India by the Mos-
lems.
His brother. Second failure before
Constantinople. Was the first -who
founded a Nilometer at the Isle of
Roda.
Son of Abd el Azeez.
Son of Abd el Melek.
A.D.
684
684
705
714
717
720
724
Ptolemy * places the Saraceni in Arabia Felix, inland to the east of the
Elanitic Gulf, distinct from Saracena, a district of Arabia Petraa, on the
eastern border of Egypt; and Pliny, f a still earlier authority, also notices
them among the people of Arabia. Ammianus MarcellinusJ records their
predatory habits, § their alliance with Julian, and their defence of Constan-
tinople towards the close of the reign of Valens; || and it is possible that this
name became a general Latin appellation for the natives of Arabia, in con-
sequence of the Romans perceiving a great similarity of character between
them and their Saracen allies.
But instead of admitting the name of Sarah, the wife of Abraham (a
notion justly ridiculed by Gibbon), or any derivation taken from a " foreign
language," % I should suggest that the word Saracen was either immedi-
ately borrowed, or slightly corrupted, from the name of the people them-
selves, but that, like the greater part of national nomenclature, it is far be-
yond the reach of the etymologist, and should wisely be left without a vain
and useless scrutiny. As applied to the Moslems, it is purely conventional.
* Ptolem. lib. vi. c. 6.
% Amm. Marcell. lib. xiv. c. 4.
|| Id. loc.cit.
+ Plin. lib. vi. c. 28.
§ Id. lib. xxxi. c. 16.
«S[ Gibbon, vol. ix. c. 50.