Page 30 - Adiabene letters_Neat

Nestorian Christianity in the Pre-Islainic UAEand Southeastern Arabia

example, has produced high quality imported glass vessels, including a
small goblet and a much larger vessel, and the location of the finds sug­
gests a domestic rather than a liturgical use. The fine quality of the plas­
ter work also suggests considerable sophistication.
It has been noted above that during the late 6^ century, the Nestorian
Catholicos Mar Ezekiel undertook a patriarchal visitation of the coastal and
presumably island churches of the Gulf and, at the same time, carried out
a survey of the pearl fisheries for the Sasanian emperor. Does this, per­
haps, suggest that the monastic communities were involved in the prof­
itable pearling trade? If so, Sir Bani Yas and Marawah would both have
been useful points of contact with the pearl fishermen. Both islands lie
close to the best pearling banks in the Southern Gulf, and have numerous
middens of oyster shells, indicating that their inhabitants were extensi­
vely involved in the pearl industry. Further investigation of this aspect is
required, but it is certainly possible that the network of Nestorian settle­
ments on the coast and islands of the Gulf may have played a role in the
late pre-lslamic pearling industry, acting perhaps as intermediaries. In the
period immediately after the arrival of Islam, the collapse of the Sasanian 97IYH
Empire and the advance of the Arab-Muslim armies to the east would
have severely disrupted the pearl trade and the communities that depend­
ed upon it. By the time that relative tranquillity returned, the monasteries,
in the United Arab Emirates at least, were gone, and other merchants had
moved in to fill the gap ■