APPENDIX VII
MOUNT IRAM AND THE ARABS OF THE BIBLE
Ptolemy, Geography, VI, 7: 27, refers to Aramaua, the first locality in Arabia Felix, not far from the Red Sea. It is identical with the Iram or Ârâm mountain range (now Ramm), which likewise formed the northern frontier of the Ḥeǧâz.
The poet Lebîd, Dîwân (al-Châlidi), p. 25, speaks of the tribes of Iram, ʻÂd and Ṯamûd, who vexed Allâh and were destroyed by him as a punishment. Lebîd saw their mummies in old graves, and he says of them that they had covered themselves up and were thus resting in the anterooms of the houses.
Abu Šâma, Rawḍatejn (Cairo, 1287—1288 A. H.), Vol. 2, p. 7, states that as long as the Crusaders had al-Kerak and aš-Šowbak in their power the Egyptian army, during the march of the pilgrims from Ajla to Mecca, encamped by Iram and in the vicinity.—The Egyptian army had to beat off the attacks made by the Crusaders on the pilgrims through the valleys of al-Jitm and al-Mabrak, through which the roads to the Pilgrim Route from Ajla to al-Medîna led past Mount Iram.
Jâḳût, Muʻǧam (Wüstenfeld), Vol. 1, p. 212, records that the Prophet Mohammed gave the Iram mountain range in fief to the clan of Ǧiʻâl of the Ǧuḏâm tribe and confirmed this for them in a document. According to Jâḳût, this high mountain range rises between Ajla and the desert of Tîh of the sons of Israel and forms a part of the mountains of the Ḥesma region in the territory of the Ǧuḏâm. The inhabitants of the wilderness stated that in Iram there were vineyards and pine trees.—
Jâḳût continually confuses the regions west of the Gulf of al-ʻAḳaba and the rift valley of al-ʻAraba with the regions situated to the east. He therefore locates the desert of Tîh to the east of Ajla. The vicinity of Iram can be cultivated, and both grapes and pine trees would flourish admirably there. It is thus possible that the Arabian nomads saw the remains of old vineyards and pine groves in that locality.
Al-Ḳazwîni, ʻAǧa’ib (Cairo, 1321 A. H.), Vol. 1, p. 224, states that the members of the ʻÂd tribe had their houses on the peak of Mount Gajš Iram in the territory of the Ṭajj tribe. It is said that statues wrought of stone are to be found there. The houses and the statues are weathered by wind-blown sand, by heat, and by frost; and many of them can be seen in the vicinity of Mount Iram. In the thirteenth century the great chiefs of the Ṭajj tribe held sway over all the smaller tribes and clans from the Dead Sea to the Red Sea.
In the vicinity of Mount Iram I locate the Biblical Gûr Baʻal, which belonged to the Arabs. Both the Assyrian monuments and the Bible use the word ʻArab, ʻArabi, to denote nomad.
In 2 Chronicles, 9: 14, it is recorded that all the kings of the Arabs brought Solomon gold and silver.—Gold and silver were conveyed only by the trade caravans, especially those arriving from southwestern Arabia,