Arab (Saracenic) tribes (Semitic-Hamitic language group) in the 6th century lived in vast territories of the Middle East: in Arabia, Palestine, Syria, occupied the Mesopotamia, the south of modern Iraq. The Arab population led both a sedentary, semi-sedentary and nomadic way of life, the latter prevailing. This kind of activity gave rise to a special kind of social relationship that can be observed today. During this period, the tribes united into unions, where there were dominant and subordinate groups.
The brothers sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites. Throne of Archbishop Maximian of the VI century. Archbishop. Museum. Ravenna. Photo by the author
At this time, on the basis of the "camps" of nomads, Arab cities proper - city-states - appeared.
Arab society was at the early stage of "military democracy", with strong "democratic" traditions, tribes or clans were headed by their heads - sheikhs or military leaders (kings or maliks). The entire male population of the clan was an army: "There is no power over them," writes Menandre the Protector, "or a lord." Life consisted of many skirmishes both with sedentary peoples and between tribes. However, we observe the same situation among the Germanic tribes of this time.
Camel. Egypt VI-VIII centuries The Louvre museum. France. Photo by the author
It should be noted that only certain territories occupied by this ethnos came to the attention of Roman authors. Particular attention was naturally paid to their forays into the border regions of Byzantium. In the VI century. they were regular and reached deep rear, for example, Antioch in Syria.
Arab nomadic tribes, like the nomadic societies of Eurasia, considered the boundaries of civilized states as a legitimate, from the point of view of the Bedouin, an object for plunder: war-trade was the most important component of the economic activity of the nomads, as John of Ephesus wrote: “Arabs advanced and robbed all villages Arabia and Syria ". [Pigulevskaya N. V. Arabs at the borders of Byzantium and Iran in the IV-VI centuries. M.-L., 1964. S. 291.]
The Dux, who led the border troops, and the Arabs-federates of the Romans, who received booty from raids on the enemies of the empire and an annual monetary reward, fought against the nomads. The Romans called the heads of these tribes Philarchs and Ethnarchs. Philarchs fought among themselves for the right to be federates of Rome: in the 6th century, at first it was a tribe of Kindits, and then, the Salikhids and Ghassanids, whose head, by the middle of the century, became the "first" among other philarchs. On the side of the Sassanid shahinshah was the king of the Arab proto-state of the Lakhmids (philarch in Romeian terminology) Alamundr (Al-Mundir III or Mundar bar Harit) (505-554), and then, his sons. If the allies of the Romans, the Saracens, were most often Christians, then the Lakhmids were either Nestorian Christians or pagans, often bringing human sacrifices.
The listed tribal formations were joined by other tribes from Arabia.
The Arabs began the 1,000th Archaeological Museum of Istanbul. Istanbul. Turkey. Photo by the author
The "civilized" countries (Byzantium and Iran) pursued, towards the nomads, the same policy as China towards the Huns. So the Sassanids dealt with the last Lakhmid at the end of the 6th century, thereby opening their border for invasions by other Arab tribes.
The period we are considering can be designated as the century of "accumulation" of state and military skills among the Arabs, who emerged after the formation of tribal ideology and the adoption of monotheism in the creation of the state (early state). Although, the tribal structure - a tribe-army, for a long time, in the flesh to the present day, will be the basis of Arab society and individual state formations.
During this period (at the court of the Lakhmids) writing appeared, the Arabs had poetry, conducted extensive trade. That is, it is impossible to represent this society as "wild", at the same time, the specific mentality of the nomads, influenced, and still influences, on the special worldview of the Arab, which is difficult to understand by the European.
The Arabs fought on camels and horses. To be precise, most likely they moved to the places of battles on camels and horses, but more often they fought on foot, since in the 7th century, during their famous campaigns to spread Islam, soldiers fought on foot. But, of course, they had the skills of fighting in a horse formation, as in the battle of Kallinikos on April 19, 531, about which I have already written.
Roman authors constantly write about the "instability" of the Arabs as warriors, while most often they recall the battle of Kallinikos, when, due to their flight, the Persians defeated Belisarius. But in the VI century. battles are known when they defeated the Romans, and in the battle on the "Day of Zu Kar" at a source near Kufa, in 604, they defeated the Persians.
It seems to us that this so-called "instability" is connected, first of all, with the light arming of the Arabs, who almost did not use defensive weapons. In the battles in which the Bedouins participated, on the side of both the Romans and the Iranians, they tried not so much to fight as to get to the riches in the enemy's camps, which often led to the defeats of their allies. Another factor of "instability" was the issue of protecting a kind, in the literal and figurative sense of the word, when it was not shameful to save life by flight, and not to die in battle, unable to rob the defeated or our own, while fleeing.
Very few images of Arab warriors have survived to this day, and as a result, the adoption of Islam did not contribute to the image of people.
Arabs of the VI century. Reconstruction by E.
Appearance. All images from this period show long-haired people. It is known that oil was used to "style" long hair, the Arabs looked after the hair, in contrast to the widespread and ingrained opinion in the mass consciousness that in ancient times people were savages and sought to look like savages. Long-haired nomads are depicted on a piece of cloth from Egypt in the battle of the Ethiopians and Sassanids, on the throne of Archbishop Maximian, the last such image can be seen on a silver Arabian coin, interrupted from the Byzantine, late 7th century. from the city of Tiberius: the coin depicts the caliph, long-haired, with an original styled hairdo, with a long beard, he is wearing a hair shirt, possibly of camel hair, and with a sword in a wide sheath. This is how Theophanes describes the Byzantine Caliph Omar, who took Jerusalem (VII century). [Silver Arab coin of the end of the 7th century. from Tiberius. Museum of Art. Vein. Austria].
Young people, with age, like many other peoples of their time, acquired beards. They were also carefully looked after: they twisted them, used oil, perhaps this fashion came to them from the Persians.
We have little information about the attire of the Arabs, but still they are. The Saracens wore cloth bandages around their thighs and capes, as before, they were "half-naked, covered to the thighs with colored cloaks." [Amm. Marc. XIV. 4.3.]
First of all, it should be said about ihram - seamless linen clothing that Muslims wore and wear during the Hajj. Bedouins from the throne of Maximian are dressed in such clothes, the Arabs wore such clothes during this period. It, like today, consisted of two parts: an isar - a kind of "skirt" that is wrapped around the hips, and a rida΄ - a cape, a piece of fabric that covers the upper body, shoulder or part of the torso. The fabric could be dyed with saffron, which left a scent and marks on the body. For example, a Bedouin from the Heaven mosaic (Jordan) has a cape of just yellow color. Much later, in 630, after the victory over the Khawazi and Sakif tribes, Mohammed, returning to Mecca, wore simple clothes, and then changed into white ihram, made three rounds of Ka'aba. [Bolshakov OG History of the Caliphate. Islam in Arabia. 570-633 biennium Vol. 1. M., 2002. S. 167.]
Another dress that was widespread at this time is the kamis - a wide and long-length shirt, reminiscent of a Greek tunic, was the usual clothing of the Bedouins. We can see her on a camel's guide from the mosaic of the Great Palace of Constantinople. Although, we will not say that it is the Arab who is depicted there.
The ambassador of Emperor Justin II, Julian, described the Arab Philarch in 564 as follows: “Arefa was naked and on his loins he had a gold-woven linen robe that tight muscles, and on the belly there was an overlay of precious stones, and on his shoulders there were five hoops, and on his hands were golden wrists, and on his head was a gold-woven linen bandage, from both knots of which four laces descended. " [Theophanes the Byzantine Chronicle of the Byzantine Theophanes from Diocletian to the tsars Michael and his son Theophylact. Ryazan. 2005.]
Naturally, the nomads also used a cloak, which was tied on the right shoulder. The cloaks were made of different materials, but the most popular was woolen, most often camel's hair, badly needed on cold nights in the desert, "Wrapped [in a cloak]" is the name of Sura 74.
Camel driver. Mosaic. Kissoufim. VI century Israel Museum. Jerusalem
Now let's turn our attention to the weapons of this period, based on written sources and iconography. Protective weapons. As we wrote above, basically, the warriors fought half-naked, armed with spears, swords, bows and arrows. But this was not always the case. The Arabs have already begun to actively use the equipment and weapons of their "cartridges" - allies: war horses provided by the Sassanids or Romans, helmets and armor. But their use was not of a mass character, as later, the main tribal militia was poorly equipped, in contrast, for example, to the "vigilantes", for example, the "king" of the Kindids in the 6th century.
So, after the death of the last lakhmid Naaman, Khosrow II began to demand his riches from the sheikh banu Shayban, among which were “shells made of rings” - chain mail (?). All in all, there were 400 or 800 armor. The fact is that the "king" Naaman I had cataphractor riders equipped by the Persians from their arsenal from the city of Peroz-Shapur (Ambar region of Iraq). At-Tabari and Hamza of Isfahan linked the invulnerability of the Lakhmid cavalry to the fact that it was equipped with armor. And Patriarch Mikhail the Syrian (XI-XII centuries) confirmed the information about the presence of state weapons workshops and arsenals among the Sassanids, including in border towns.
Poets of the 6th century Harit and Amr chanted warriors with spears, helmets and shiny shells. [Pigulevskaya N. V. Arabs at the borders of Byzantium and Iran in the IV-VI centuries. M.-L., 1964. S. 230-231.]
Offensive weapons. The spear for the Arabs was a symbolic weapon, as Ammianus Marcellinus wrote about: the future wife brought a spear and a tent to her husband in the form of a dowry. [Amm. Marc. XIV. 4.3.]
The shaft of the weapon, in this region, was often made from reed. Nomads used a short spear (harba), cavalrymen used a long spear (rumkh). [Matveev A. S. Military affairs of the Arabs // Nikifor II Phoca Strategica St. weapons. This, technically simple, but extremely effective weapon was of great importance in the military affairs of the Arabs.
But next to the spear, there is always a sword, a weapon in the conditions of the clan system and "military democracy" an important symbol of will and clan independence.
The dispute over which is better or more important, I think, is not constructive, skillful use of a spear was very much appreciated and skillful use of it could most often protect against an attacker with a sword.
And among the Arabs, the sword was an iconic weapon. So, Alamundr, tried in 524, about which Simeon of Betarsham wrote, to influence the Arabs-Christians. In response, one head of the clan warned that his sword was not shorter than that of the others, and thus stopped the pressure of the "king". There is practically no information about the worldview and beliefs of the pre-Islamic world, but the following facts testify to the value of swords and their sacred meaning in the Arab pre-Islamic world. The Meccan warrior god Hubal had two swords; after the battle of Badr in 624, Muhammad received a sword named Zu-l-Fakar. [Bolshakov OG History of the Caliphate. Islam in Arabia. 570-633gg. Vol. 1. M., 2002. S.103, S.102.]
The scabbard used by the nomads was twice as wide as the blade of the sword, like a warrior from the mosaic of Mount Nebo and from the dirham of the end of the 7th century. The original Arab swords (saif), though dating from the 7th century, can be seen in the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul. The so-called straight swords of Caliph Ali and Osman, with handles from the times of the early Ottoman Empire, have a blade width of 10-12 cm. Although, I must say that there were swords with a blade width of 5-6 cm, and much lighter than the above, visually not differing from the Roman weapons of this period (for example, dishes from the Metropolitan Museum "Davit and Goliath" of the 630s.).
It should be noted that it was the Arabs who invented a new technology that gives special hardness and sharpness to weapons, called "Damascus" steel. Their swords were with small guards, weakly covering the arm, these weapons were used exclusively for chopping. Special protection of the hand was not required, since this weapon was not used for fencing, and it was impossible, given its severity and the duration of the battle of that time (often a whole day).
Since the bulk of the Bedouins fought on foot, they also used a bow. All researchers note that, in contrast to the Persians, Romans and Turks, they in the VI century. used a simple bow, not a compound bow. The bow was also an iconic weapon: the bow meant the presence of a Bedouin in the "city". The pre-Islamic poet al-Haris ibn Hilliza read poems to the Lahmid king Mundar I leaning on a bow. [Matveev A. S. Military affairs of the Arabs // Nikifor II Foka Strategika SPb. 2005. P.201.]. The bow, allowed to engage in battle at a distance, thereby protecting members of the tribe from accidental death in a duel. In the VI century. in Mecca, in the sanctuary of the god Hubal, arrows were used for divination.
How do we see the bow in the surviving images of the 6th century? On the throne from Ravenna, a carver of Constantinople in the hands of an Arab depicted a large bow, similar to a composite one. [Throne of Archbishop Maximian VIc. Archbishop's Museum. Ravenna. Italy.]. In a mosaic from southern Jordan, a bow is worn over the shoulder of a warrior. Considering these images, as well as the prophet Muhammad's bow that has survived to our time, made of bamboo and covered with gold foil, its length can be determined at 105-110 cm.
The bow, as a weapon, reflects the tactical capabilities and combat psychological characteristics of the Arab tribes of this period.
Note that the sacralization of most types of weapons, endowing them with names and magical properties, associated with a certain period in the development of Arab society, which was at the stage of "military democracy", was a society of expansion and war, where weapons are naturally deified.
In conclusion, I would like to say that despite the fact that the Arabs in the 6th century, and even earlier, knew and used the weapons of the advanced neighboring states, the main types of their weapons still remained those that corresponded to the psychotype of the Bedouin warrior and that the stage of development at which their tribes were. But it was faith in the 7th century that made of the mass of nomad "raiders" staunch and consistent fighters who achieved victories on the battlefield over the enemy who was the strongest in tactics and armament.
