mented
with designs of leaves, flowers, ox-heads, men and women. Some bear
figures of the conventionalized sacred tree with worshippers, similar to
Babylonian designs. Besides these there are gravestones, stelae with
human heads, fragments of limestone, architectural designs as well as
bronze castings of camels, horses, mice, serpents, &c. (cf. D.H.
Muller's _Sudarabische Alterthumer im Kunsthistorischen Museum_, Vienna,
1899, with plates).

_Seals, Weights and Coins._--The Vienna Museum possesses a small number
of seals and gems. The seals are inscribed with Sabaean writing and are
of bronze, copper, silver and stone. The gems of onyx, carnelian and
agate are later and bear various figures, and in some cases Arabic
inscriptions. One or two weights are also in existence. A number of
coins have been brought to the British Museum from Aden, San'a and
Ma'rib. Others were purchased by G. Schlumberger in Constantinople;
others have been brought to Europe by Glaser, and are now in the Vienna
Museum. These are imitations of Greek models, while the inscriptions are
in Sabaean characters (cf. B.V. Head, in the _Numismatic Chronicle_,
1878, pp. 273-284; G. Schlumberger, _Le Tresor de San'a_, Paris, 1880;
D.H. Muller, _op. cit._ pp. 65 ff. and plates).

For the problem of Arabic antiquities in Rhodesia see RHODESIA and
ZIMBABWE. (G. W. T.)

HISTORY

_Introduction._--Arabia is a land of Semites, and is supposed by some
scholars to have been the original home of the Semitic peoples. Although
this cannot be said to be proved, the studies, linguistic and
archaeological, of Semitic scholars have shown it to be probable. The
dispersion from Arabia is easy to imagine. The migration into Babylonia
was simple, as there are no natural boundaries to separate it from
north-east Arabia, and similar migrations have taken place in historic
times. That of the Aramaeans at an early period is likewise free from
any natural hindrance. The connexion with Palestine has always been
close; and the Abyssinian settlement is probably as late as the
beginning of the Christian era. Of these migrations, however, history
knows nothing, nor are they expressed in literature. Arabian literature
has its own version of prehistoric times, but it is entirely legendary
and apocryphal. It was, and still is, the custom of Arabian historians
to begin with the creation of the world and tell the history from then
to the time of which they are writing. Conseq