Page 279 - Records of Bahrain (2)(ii)_Neat

Topography and archaeology, 1878-1879 605

224 TIIE ISLANDS OF BAHREIN.

to Gorrha, is fixed with sufficient accuracy by the Greeks,
Androsthcncs giving the distance of 2400 stadia from
Teredon, or perhaps from Icarus,'while Orthagoras gives a
cross measurement of 2000 stadia from the coast of Carmania.
It is impossible to say whether Quintus Curtius refers to
Ogyris or Oaracta, when, on the authority of Alexander's
officers, ho placed the tomb of Erythras in an island at a
short distance from the continent; but Agatharcidcs would
seem at any rate to allude to the latter, that is, to ICishm,
which is only separated by a narrow creek from the main­
land, when lie repeats the fable of a certain Persian named
Erythras having followed his horses, which had swum across
an arm of the sea to escape from a lioness, and having thus
discovered the island. Pliny, followed by Pomponius Mela
and Dionysius, seems to liavo had independent authority for
assigning the tomb of Erythras to Ogyris, and if ’'Oi/yopt?,
which occurs in the Palatino copy of Ptolemy, be a genuine
reading, that geographer must also havo consulted charts
very different from those constructed by Androsthcncs and
Orthagoras. Ptolemy, however, makes no allusion to King
Erythras or his tomb. Tho Arab geographers often mention
the village of1 Uqcir in their notices of tho Bahrein coast, but
it docs not seem to have been a place of much conscqucnco
at tho time of tho Arab conquest, as it is not found in the
records of that period, nor, indeed, has the modern name
ever regained its old celebrity. Bahrein and the adjoining
territory in the time of tho Prophet were under tho admin­
istration of a Persian Marzabdn or “Lord of the marches,” and
the inhabitants, principally composed of Arabs of the tribes
of Abdul-Kcis, Bekir, and Tainim, included also a large
number of Magians, Jews, and Christians. A series of expe­
ditions wero therefore undertaken during tho reigns of the
first four Caliphs with a view to tho conversion of tho
inhabitants to Isl&m or their subjection to the Jozieh or
Poll-tax.1 Tho names of a number of cities arc thus found
in the early Arabic annals, which became classical terms to
1 Boladhori, in his famous Fuliih, has a special chapter on tho conquest of
Bahroiu. Edit, do Goojo, p. 70 to 8G.