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2.Arabs,(H)agarenes,Ishmaelites,Saracens…
37
(H)agarenesandIshmaelitesalongsidetothatofSaracens.Teodoret,whoper-
ceivedtheArabsinapositiveway,albeitonlythosewhowereChristians,noticed
thattheywereproudofbeingdescendantsofAbrahamandIshmael
154.Finding
thatparticularmomentwhentheArabs,namedHagar’ssonsbyJewsandChris-
tians,begantoconfesstobeAbraham’sdescendants
155wouldcertainlybeinter-
esting.Still,thiswoulddemandaseparateresearch.Nowwecanonlysaythatit
certainlydidnothappenbeforeIslam.
2040OtherNames
Besidesthetermsdiscussedabove,thereareothernamesthatoccasionallyap-
pearinByzantinesources.Philostorgius,writingaboutHimyarites,referstothem
asHomerites-i.e.ArabsfromthesouthofthePeninsula,andaddsthattheywere
alsoknownasSabaeans
156.Interestinglyenough,theauthorconfirmstheirorigin
fromAbraham,butsaysthattheywerenotthesonsofHagarbutofacertainKetu-
rah,Abraham’swifeaferSarah’sdeath
157.ItshouldbeaddedthatHimyarites,were
knownasHomeritesalsotoProcopiusofCaesarea
158,whichaccordingtoGreg
FishermaypointoutpopularityofthatnameinByzantineintellectualcircles
159.
Tosumupourconsiderations,wecansaythatinearlyByzantinetimesbib-
licalterminologywascommonamongJewsandChristians.Tisregardsboth
thenameofIshmaelitesor(H)agarenes,aswellasthatofSaracens
160.Allofthem
arefrequentlyfoundinByzantinechroniclesandlivesofsaints,inreferenceto
paganinhabitantsofthePeninsulaandtoMuslimsalike
161.Itdoesnotmean,
however,thatthenameArabswasnolongerinuse.Itshouldbenotedthatal-
thoughincaseofparticularauthorswecanobservesomeregularities,onthelev-
elofthewholeliteraryheritageoftheempireitisdifculttofindaclearand
uniquedefinitionoftheseparticularnames.
154Theodoret,HR,col.1360.See:I.Shahid,ByzantiumandtheArabsintheFifh
Century,Washington1989,pp.154-155;D.D.Grafton,“TeArabs”…,p.184.
155Moreonthat:P.Crone,M.Cook,Hagarism.MakingoftheIslamicWorld,Cam-
bridge1977,passim;G.Fisher,BetweenEmpires…,pp.165-170.
156Philostorgius,III,4.
157Philostorgius,III,4.
158Procopius,Debellis,I,20,9-10.Seealso:Theodoret,HE,IV
,20.
159G.Fisher,BetweenEmpires…,p.166.
160F.E.Peters,Introduction,[in:]TeArabsandArabiaontheEveofIslam,ed.F.E.Pe-
ters,Aldershot1999,p.XIII.
161A.G.C.Savvides,SomeNotes…,p.92.