INTRODUCTION. 99 



commanded by Artaban in person, entirely com- 

 posed of cavaby. 



When, in revenge, the Jews were massacred in 

 Iran, they were not exterminated : whole families 

 sought refuge among the Eastern Bedoueens and 

 Southern Arabs of Yemen, where they were re- 

 ceived as Matnoub ; and several centuries later, 

 their wrongs not forgotten, they joined heartily in 

 the Islam cause, and avenged the memory of their 

 ancestors in the memorable battle of Kadesiah, 

 where the Parthian dominion was laid prostrate.* 

 In proof that they bad horses at the commence- 

 ment of the Roman empire, we appeal to Hirtius 

 {de Bell. Alex.\ where Caesar is recorded to have 

 sent to an Arabian, Regulus, there styled Malchus, 

 that is, Melek, for a reinforcement of cavalry ; f 

 later, but still before the hejira, we hear of a war of 

 forty years' duration, between the tribes of Abs and 

 Dobian, which arose out of a dispute on account 

 of a race between two horses named Dahes and 

 Ghabra : next, when we look to the tenor of the 



* Matnoub are strangers to whom is conceded the privilege 

 of pitching their tents on the same Une with the hospitable 

 tribe. It is conjectured that these adopted families gradually 

 merged in the Arab tribes, and were the chief cause of the 

 numerous Hebrew names we find given to individuals, — such 

 as Issa, Haroun, Musa, Daoud, Suleiman, Jussuf, Ibrahim, &c. 

 It is natural that their fine intellects should give them influ- 

 ence, Islam a new impulse, and with the tenacity of tribal 

 reminiscence, revenge was an additional stimulus. 



+ Laborde shows the Nabatheans to have had cavalry, de- 

 riving their horses from the Scenite Arabs. The Nubian Arab 

 tribes are still headed by their Meleks. 



