Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates Vol 2 - The Search For Mecca

cii. XXIV.] The Sabccans.
195
neighbourhood of Souk esli
Shiokli, a village on the
Shatt el Arab below Hillah, and numbering in all
about 3000 souls.
According to the Sabaaan traditions, which date
from the creation of the Avorld, their history has been
as follows :
Before the time of Noah, they say, all the
world was Sabsean, believing in one same unseen
God, and speaking the same language. Noah liad
four sons, Shem, Ham, Yaman, and Japhet, who
some time after the flood began to speak each a
separate language, Shem only, preserving that of his
father (they know nothing of the tower of Babel),
The Sabaeans are the true descendants of Shem, and
to the present day have preserved the ancient tongue
unchanged. In it their hook is written, and it is
described as a sort of Syriac. The Sabseans first
settled in Egypt, being the same Egyptians over
whom Pharaoh ruled when he oppressed the children
of Israel. The present tribe claims descent from
Ardewdn, a brother of the Pharaoh who was drowned
in the Red Sea. They subsequently founded a
kingdom at Damascus which lasted till two hundred
years after the death of their prophet, John the
Baptist (three hundred and sixty-eight before the
Hejira). Then they removed to Bagdad, where they
flourished until the Caliphate was overthrown by the
Tartars. At that time they possessed four hundred
churches, but these were then destroyed, Tamerlane
carrying away all their books to Ispahan, where
it is believed they still exist. They themselves