Agraeans

Agraeans (Greek Ἀγραῖοι, Latin Agraei), the name assigned by Eratosthenes (transmitted by Strabo Geog. XVI, 4, 2), Pliny (HN VI, 154; 159; 161), Dionysius Periegetes (v. 956, from Eratosthenes or Strabo), Ptolemy (Geog. V, 19, 2) and Stephanus (s.u. Ἀγραῖοι, according to Strabo) to one or several tribes (ethnos / gens) in Arabia.

Eratosthenes (after Strabo) and Ptolemy probably refer to the same tribe, located in the arid regions southwest of the Euphrates and near Babylonia (in Ptolemy’s Arabia Deserta), a region considered to be inhabited by nomadic pastoralists. By contrast, Pliny seems to note their presence much farther to the southwest, in parts of the Arabian Peninsula crossed by Aelius Gallus’s army (HN VI, 161), if not in South Arabia (HN VI, 154). Thus, the name “Agraeans” was used for different groups, unless these different locations can be explained by the involvement of the Agraeans in the long-distance South Arabian spice trade.

Attempts have been made to identify the Agraeans with populations mentioned in Semitic sources (Högemann 1986: 166; Graf 1990; Robin & Prioletta 2013; Robin 2016). None of these identifications is certain or exclusive of the others: the Hagarites of the Bible (1 Chron. 5, 10, 18-22, 27, 31; Ps. 83, 7), the Ḫagarānu in neo-Assyrian sources, the confederation of the Hagarites in East Arabia, with the famous city of Gerrha (Thāj or al-Hufūf) as a possible capital. If the latter identification is correct, then the Agraeans were strongly involved in the caravan trade between East Arabia and the Mediterranean and their presence on the routes through Dūmat al-Jandal and in South Arabia would be certain. The distinction between Agraeans and Gerrhaeans in classical sources would correspond to the distinction between the people of Gerrha (possibly Ġr in South Arabian inscriptions) and the inhabitants of the realm of Hagar (hgr) in Semitic sources (Robin 2016: 239–240).

Philipp Seubert

References

• Graf, D.F. 1990. The origin of the Nabataeans. Aram 2: 45–75.
• Högemann, P. 1986. Über eine Notiz bei Strabo (XVI,4,2) zur Klärung des Rückweges des Kambyses-Heeres aus Ägypten 522 v. Chr., in G. Maddoli (ed.) Strabone : contributi allo studio della personnalità e dell’opera, vol. 2: 159–169. Perugia: Università degli Studi.
• Robin, C.J. 2016. Gerrha d’Arabie, cité séleucide. Syria 2016, Suppl. 3: 223–250. DOI: 10.4000/syria.5319.
• Robin, C.J. & A. Prioletta 2013. Nouveaux arguments en faveur d’une identification de la cité de Gerrha avec le royaume de Hagar (Arabie orientale). Sem. Clas. 6: 131–185. DOI: 10.1484/J.SEC.1.103730.

_{Alternate spellings: Agreans, Agrean, Agraean, Hagarites, Hagarite}