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Arabs

(Encyclopedia)Arabs, name originally applied to the Semitic peoples of the Arabian Peninsula. It now refers to those persons whose primary language is Arabic. They constitute most of the population of Algeria, Bahr...

Saracens

(Encyclopedia)Saracens sârˈəsənz [key], term commonly used by medieval Europeans to designate the Arabs and, by extension, the Muslims in general, whether they were Arabs, Moors, or Seljuk Turks. ...

Jaffa

(Encyclopedia)Jaffa jăfˈə, yäˈfä [key], Heb. Yafo, part of Tel Aviv, W central Israel, on the Mediterranean Sea. Originally a Phoenician city, Jaffa has been historically important largely because of its port...

Berbers

(Encyclopedia)Berbers, aboriginal Caucasoid peoples of N Africa, called Imazighen in the Tamazight language. They inhabit the lands lying between the Sahara and the Mediterranean Sea and between Egypt and the Atlan...

Glubb, Sir John Bagot

(Encyclopedia)Glubb, Sir John Bagot băgˈət [key], 1897–1986, British soldier. He served in France during World War I and in 1920 was posted to Iraq, where he lived among Arab Bedouins and studied their languag...

Romanus II

(Encyclopedia)Romanus II, 939–63, Byzantine emperor (959–63), son and successor of Constantine VII. A profligate, he came under the domination of his second wife, Theophano. She, along with the eunuch Joseph Br...

Bedouin

(Encyclopedia)Bedouin bĕdˈo͞oĭn [key] [Arab.,=desert dwellers], primarily nomad Arab peoples of the Middle East, where they form about 10% of the population. They are of the same Semitic stock as their sedentar...

Nahavand

(Encyclopedia)Nahavand nähävändˈ [key], city (1991 pop. 59,307), Hamadan prov., W Iran. It is an agricultural trade center. Nahavand was the scene of a decisive victory of the Arabs over the Persians in 641 or ...

Istakhr

(Encyclopedia)Istakhr ĭstäˈkər [key], old town, S Iran. Built largely from the ruins of ancient Persepolis, 3 mi (4.8 km) away, it was a capital of the Sassanid dynasty. Istakhr stubbornly resisted (640–49) t...

Miseno, Cape

(Encyclopedia)Miseno, Cape mēzĕˈnō [key], S Italy, at the northwest end of the Bay of Naples. Augustus founded (1st cent. b.c.) a naval station (Misenum) there, which was destroyed by the Arabs (9th cent. a.d.)...