Roads Of Arabia, Archaeology and history of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Book)

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Roads Of Arabia, Archaeology and history of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Book) by Béatrice André-Salvini, Françoise Demange, Carine Juvin. 608 pages. New in blister pack. Texts in English. Somogy art editions. More than 400 illustrations, mainly in color.

This exhibition book offers a journey to the heart of Arabia, orchestrated by photographs of the region’s sumptuous landscapes. It is divided into a series of stops in some of the vast oases of the peninsula, which were once home to powerful states or which became, from the 7th century, holy places of Islam. The three hundred pieces chosen, most of which have never left their country of origin, offer an original panorama of the different cultures that have succeeded one another within the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, from prehistory to the dawn of the modern world.

They reveal in particular the little-known past of a vibrant and prosperous Arab world that archaeologists are gradually discovering. Moving Neolithic funerary steles, colossal statues of the kings of Lihyan (6th-4th century BC), silver tableware and precious jewels deposited in tombs bear witness to the dynamism of this civilisation. Despite a hostile natural environment, the inhabitants were able to take advantage of the geographical location of their country, a crossroads of routes linking the shores of the Indian Ocean and the Horn of Africa to Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean world. At the beginning of the first millennium BC, this trans-Arab trade flourished, bringing prosperity to the caravan cities and imbuing the local culture with new fashions and ideas from the great neighbouring empires.

The second part of the exhibition highlights the role of Arabia as the cradle of Islam. The roads were crowded with pilgrims but also with traders; a first set evokes the pilgrimage routes and Al-Rabadha, one of the main stages. Following this route to Mecca, a second set includes a selection of funerary steles illustrating the evolution of writing and ornamentation between the 10th and 16th centuries and providing valuable information on Meccan society at the time. Muslim sovereigns competed in generosity towards the holy places, with buildings and embellishments such as this monumental door of the Kaaba, a gift from an Ottoman sultan.

Essays by more than 20 specialists on prehistoric Arabia, the great oases of the Hejaz, ancient commercial cities, the Greco-Roman link, the Islamic period, pilgrimage routes, holy places and the birth of a kingdom – index and bibliography.

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