Editing Gerrha

{{Short description|Archaeological site in Saudi Arabia}}
{{for|the ancient city and bishopric in Egypt|Gera (Egypt)}}
[[File:East-Hem 100bc.jpg|thumbnail|Kingdom of Gerrha in 100 BC.]]
[[File:NabateensRoutes.png|thumb|Gerrha and its neighbors in AD 1.]]'''Gerrha''' ({{langx|grc|Γέρρα|translit=Gérrha}}) was an ancient and renowned city within [[Eastern Arabia]], on the west side of the [[persian Gulf]].<ref name=EB1911>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Gerrha |volume=11 |page=903}}</ref> Known from Greek sources, it has been identified with a few candidate archaeological sites in [[Eastern Arabia]], with the main candidates being Hagar (modern-day [[Hofuf]]) and [[Thāj|Thaj]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Potts |first=Daniel |title=Gerrha |date=2015-12-22 |work=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Classics |url=https://oxfordre.com/classics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-2833 |access-date= |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.2833 |isbn=978-0-19-938113-5|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

In the aftermath of the conquests of [[Alexander the Great]], and his successors of the [[Seleucid Empire]] in the region, Gerrha became a cite of central importance in the [[Hellenistic world]] and the major site of trading in the [[Persian Gulf]] region. It was a major source of Arabian aromatics and for the transport of goods from [[India]].{{Sfn|Hoyland|2002|p=24}}

== Description ==
Gerrha was located at or near the [[Persian Gulf]], possessing a port and an inland town. A detailed description of the city was offered by the geographer [[Strabo]]:{{Sfn|Hoyland|2002|p=24}}<blockquote>After sailing along the [east] coast of Arabia [from the outlet of the Euphrates] for a distance of 2400 stadia [c.380 km] one comes to Gerrha, a city situated on a deep gulf. It is inhabited by Chaldaeans, exiles from Babylon. The soil contains salt and the people live in houses made of salt; and since flakes of salt continually scale off, owing to the scorching heat of the rays of the sun, and fall away, the people frequently sprinkle the houses with water and thus keep the walls firm. The city is 200 stadia [c.32 km] distant from the sea; and the Gerrhaeans traffic by land, for the most part, in the Arabian merchandise and aromatics. However Aristobulus says, on the contrary, that the Gerrhaeans import most of their cargoes on rafts to Babylonia, and thence sail up the Euphrates with them, and then convey them by land to all parts of the country.</blockquote>

== History ==
At first, Gerrha's trade exports moved to [[Babylonia]] and transports moved by sea. However, soon during or after the lifetime of [[Alexander the Great]], Gerrha's transports began moving in the direction of Egypt and Syria and the mode of transport shifted from by sea to by land. Gerrhean incense is reported as an ingredient in Greek poison and it was also an essential item on some discovered shopping lists. Some Gerrheans have been documented in the West, like Taymallat of Gerrha, who made some offerings in the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]] island of [[Delos]].{{Sfn|Hoyland|2002|p=24–25}}

[[Polybius]] reports that the Seleucid emperor [[Antiochus III the Great|Antiochus III]] sailed to Gerrha in 205 BC. The Gerrhaeans petitioned, and were granted by Antiochous, the rite to practice their religious customs. Robert Hoyland has suggested that a likely factor in this expedition was for Antiochus to use a show of force to get the Gerrhaeans to direct more of their trade through his territory. As the Seleucid domain expanded through military victories against the [[Ptolemaic dynasty|Ptolemies]], Gerrha's trading partners also expanded to include Palestine, Syria, and the [[Nabataeans]].{{Sfn|Hoyland|2002|p=25}}

By the first and second centuries AD, Gerrha as a city begins to decline. The exact causes are not known but one possibility is that the new [[Parthian Empire]] began to take over its trade routes with India. As Gerrha's influence declined, an encroachment of Arab tribes into the region also took place.{{Sfn|Hoyland|2002|p=26}}

The city of Gerrha was taken by the [[Qarmatians]] at the end of the ninth century.<ref>Tareekh al-Bahrain: Shaikh Tahir al-Qassimi, pages 53-65</ref>

== Location and etymology ==
To the Ancient Greeks, eastern Arabia (the present-day [[Al-Ahsa Governorate|al-Hasa province]]) was known as Gerrha after its capital city. Gerrha was a Greek alteration of the Arabic Hajar (present-day [[Hofuf]]), the name of the largest city of ancient Bahrayn (Bahrayn was also known as Hagar or Gerrha in [[Hellenistic]] times).<ref>{{cite book |last=Knauf |first=Ernst Axel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GcgCErhKGrAC&pg=PA227 |title=The Qur'an in context: Historical and literary investigations into the Qur'anic milieu |publisher=Brill |year=2010 |isbn=9789047430322 |editor-last=Neuwirth |editor-first=Angelika |location=Leiden |page=227 |chapter=Arabo-Aramaic and ʿArabiyya: From Ancient Arabic to Early Standard Arabic, 200 CE–600 CE |editor-last2=Sinai |editor-first2=Nicolai |editor-last3=Marx |editor-first3=Michael}} [[iarchive:TheQuranInContext|Alt URL]]</ref>

Other English spellings are ''Hajar Hufuf, Hajar Hasa' Hajarah''. Hagar (Gerrha) is not to be confused with the west Arabian Al-Hijr (al-Hijrah, ancient Hegra), the present-day [[Mada'in Saleh]] or al-Ula near the Red Sea. [[Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdani|Al-Hamdani]] says the etymology of ''Hajar'' means ‘large village’ in the [[Himyaritic language]] (derived from Hakar).<ref>{{cite book |last=Hamdani |first=al-Hasan |title=Geography of the Arabian Peninsula |url=http://islamport.com/w/tkh/Web/368/86.htm |page=236 |access-date=2013-06-11 |archive-date=2020-09-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924182022/http://islamport.com/w/tkh/Web/368/86.htm/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Smart |title=New Arabian Studies Vol 4 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=PylffGQUqzEC&pg=PA213 |publisher=Exeter |year=1997 |isbn=0859895521|quote=Hagar is name of Bahrain division and its capital |page=213}}</ref>

The researcher Abdulkhaliq Al Janbi argued in his book that Gerrha was most likely the ancient city of Hajar, located in modern-day [[Al-Ahsa Governorate|Al-Ahsa]], [[Saudi Arabia]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Abdulkhaliq Al-Janbi |title=Gerrha, The Ancient City of International Trade جره مدينة التجارة العالمية القديمة}}</ref> Al-Janbi's theory is the most widely accepted one by modern scholars, although there are some difficulties with this argument, given that Al-Ahsa is 60&nbsp;km inland and thus less likely to be the starting point for a trader's route, making a location within the archipelago of islands comprising the modern [[Bahrain|Kingdom of Bahrain]], particularly the main island of Bahrain itself, another possibility.<ref name="EB1911" />

Another location suggested as Gerrha is [[Thaj]].

== See also ==
* [[Chaldea]]
* [[Eastern Arabia]]
* [[Uqair]], an ancient fort suggested by some historians as the location of Gerrha

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==
* Bibby, Geoffrey (1970). ''Looking for Dilmun''. Collins, London. {{ISBN|0-00-211475-5}}.
* {{Cite book |last=Hoyland |first=Robert |title=Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Potts |first=Daniel |date=1984 |title=Thaj and the Location of Gerrha |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41223016 |journal=Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies |volume=14 |pages=87–91}}

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{{coord missing|Saudi Arabia}}

[[Category:Archaeological sites in Saudi Arabia]]
[[Category:Ancient cities of the Middle East]]
[[Category:Former populated places in West Asia]]
[[Category:Populated places along the Silk Road]]
[[Category:History of Eastern Arabia]]