Western Civilization I / Unit 9 WC1 0819 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Pre-Islamic Arabia and Mecca
Captions available
The idea
Arabs were herders and merchants in clans, camel caravans on the spice routes, famed light cavalry, with kingdoms in contact with Rome, Persia and Aksum. Mecca was a trade crossroads whose Kaaba, with its black stone, drew pilgrims before Islam.
In practice
Polytheists of oasis gods; Yemen the fertile core.
Where people slip
The anchor dates the Sasanians two thirty-four here. Two twenty-four.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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