Arab Identity of the Euphrates Peninsula

The Euphrates Island, known in ancient books as the Land of the Arabs, is inhabited mostly by Arabs.

Pliny spoke about the Land of the Arabs of Edessa in three texts, as recorded in his history.

The first text states that the boundaries of the Land of the Arabs of Edessa begin at Commagene, where the Euphrates River separates Commagene from the Land of the Arabs of Edessa. Robert Hoyland notes that, according to the text, the Land of the Arabs of Edessa extends from east of the Euphrates to the Taurus Mountains and Commagene.

[ Pliny 5.85 ]

[ Arabia and Arabs - Robert Hoyland p3 ]

In the second text, it is stated that the Arabs of Edessa inhabit the land located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which forms the beginning of Mesopotamia. This land is the Euphrates Island, also known as Upper Mesopotamia. This land separates Mesopotamia from Armenia, meaning that the boundaries of the Land of the Arabs of Edessa begin at the borders of Armenia and extend to Lower Mesopotamia.

[ Pliny 6.25 ]

In the third text, quoting Claudius, it is mentioned that the regions of the Tigris River are dominated by Arabs, and the Tigris River separates the Land of the Arabs of Adiabene from the Land of the Arabs of Edessa, meaning that the Land of the Arabs of Edessa extends to the Tigris.

[ Pliny 6.129 ]

Based on these texts, it can be said that the Land of the Arabs of Edessa begins at the borders of Commagene, at the Euphrates River that separates them, according to the first text, and ends at Adiabene, at the Tigris River that separates them, according to the second text. This land borders Armenia and constitutes Upper Mesopotamia, i.e., the Euphrates Island. Generally, the texts of Pliny and Claudius indicate that the Euphrates Island is Arab, and most of its inhabitants are Arabs.

The Arabs are the inhabitants of Upper Mesopotamia, that is, the Euphrates Island.

Zakariya al-Khatib (6th century CE) states that the Arabs are the inhabitants of the upper regions of Mesopotamia, that is, Upper Euphrates Island and its cities, from Amida and the mountains of Upper Euphrates Island such as Tur Abdin (Mount Izla and Beit Ghujal).

This is an important indication that the northern Syrian regions in Turkey and northern Iraq were Arab lands, meaning that the people of those regions were Arabs, as reported by Zakariya al-Khatib.

[ The Chronicle of Pseudo-Zachariah Rhetor , Church and War in Late Antiquity pp 231 - 232 - 304 - 305 - 332 ]