PART
5 –
Ch.XXXIII.15
The
Pelasgians or proto – Latins (Arimii)
(The
Pelasgians from the northern parts of the Danube and the Black Sea)
XXXIII.
15. Migrations of the Arimii in Arabia.
In antiquity, the Arabs were considered as a people who
belonged to the nation of the Arameii
(Pliny. lib. VI. 32. 1). Pliny
extends the name of Arabia also to the upper parts of the Euphrates, up near Armenia (Chronographus, a. p. Chr. 354; Riese, Geogr. lat. min), meaning over
the eastern regions of Syria also, which were
inhabited by the Arameii. And Strabo
writes that the name “Arabi” is
similar to the name “Aramei”, and
that maybe the Greeks had once called the Arameii, Arabs (lib. I. 2. 34).
According to Hesiodus (fragm. XXXII), Arabus had been a son of ‘Ermaon,
‘Ermas
(Hermes or Armis of Dacia). From this Arabus, Strabo believes that the name of Arabia derives (lib. I.
2. 34).
In fact, the ethnic
and topographical terminology of ancient Arabia presents various
Arimic names.
An Arab tribe,
which dwelt in the south-western corner of the peninsula, is called by Strabo Rhammanitae (lib. XVI. 4. 24). Another tribe of happy Arabia had the name Hamirei and they dwelt near the
so-called Homeritae (Pliny, lib. VI. 32. 15). Probably both
these autonomous tribes formed one and the same family, one and the same
people, as results from their name and their situation as neighbors.
Pliny also mentions two more tribes, one with
the name Charmaei (lib. VI. 32. 14),
the other with the name Ramisi (lib.
VI. 32. 1). The dwellings of the latter were in the deserts of Arabia. Another tribe, or
city, of Arabia, is called Coromanis by Ravennatus (Cosm.
p. 57), Romanis in some manuscripts.
On the eastern
shores of Arabia, near the Persian Gulf, existed the city Regma (Ptolemy, lib. VI. 7. 14), probably the same locality as Raama of today.
Also in this region
of south-east Arabia, existed the city Istriana (Ptolemy, lib.
V. 7), which it appears to have been founded by a commercial colony from the
lower Danube.