Everything about Saracen totally explained
For other uses, see Saracen (disambiguation).
Saracens was a term used by Europeans in the
Dark Ages and
Middle Ages for
Fatimids at first, then later all those who professed the religion of
Islam.
Etymology
The term
Saracen comes from
Greek Σαρακηνός, which has often been thought to be derived from the
Arabic word شرقيين
sharqiyyin ("easterners"), though the
OED (
s.v.) calls etymologies from this "not well founded". The term spread into
Western Europe through the
Byzantines and
Crusaders.
In
Christian writing, the name was made to mean "those empty of
Sarah" or "not from Sarah," as Arabs were, in
Biblical genealogies, descended from
Hagar and also called the
Hagarenes (
Ἀγαρηνοί). According to the
Arthurian Lancelot-Grail Cycle, the name derives from
Sarras, an island important in the
Quest for the Holy Grail.
Saracens in Roman times
The earliest date-able reference to Saracens is found in
Ptolemy's
Geography, "Sarakene" is a region in the Northern
Sinai named after the town Saraka located between
Egypt and
Palestine. Ptolemy also makes mention of a people called the
sarakenoi living in north-western
Arabia.
Hippolytus, the book of the laws of countries and Uranius mention three distinct peoples in Arabia during the first half of the third century, the Saraceni, Taeni and
Arabes. The Saracens are described as forming the
equites (heavy cavalry) from
Phoenicia and
Thamud.
The
Historia Augusta carries an account of a letter to the
Roman senate, ascribed to
Aurelian, that describes the
Palmyrian queen
Zenobia as:
"I might say such was the fear that this woman inspired in the peoples of the east and also the Egyptians that neither
Arabes, nor Saraceni, nor
Armenians moved against her." The term Saracens, popular in both Greek and Roman literature over time came to be associated with Arabs and Assyrians as well, and carried a definitive negative connotation. In the second and third century the Roman-Arab relations had become confrontational resulting in the annexation of Arab cities resulting to their increased nomadization so that by the end of the Roman period the use of the term Saracen in reference to Arabs had become conventional.
In Christian literature
Eusebius and
Epiphanius Scholasticus in their
Christian histories places Saracens east of the
Gulf of Aqaba but beyond the
Roman province of Arabia and mention them as
Ishmaelites through
Kedar; thus, they're outside the promise given to
Abraham and his descendants through
Isaac and also beyond a privileged place in the family of nations or
divine dispensation.
In this extract, John might actually have been referring to
Allat, a pre-
Islamic goddess equated with
Aphrodite.
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Further Information
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