Scenite
| Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R) |
Scenite were ancient people of Arabia mentioned by Pliny.[1]
Variants
Jat Gotras Namesake
Origin
Mention by Pliny
Pliny[2] mentions.... When the Euphrates ceases, by running in its channel, to afford protections27 to those who dwell on its banks, which it does when it approaches the confines of Charax, the country is immediately infested by the Attali, a predatory people of Arabia, beyond whom are found the Scenite.28 The banks along this river are occupied by the Nomades of Arabia, as far as the deserts of Syria, from which, as we have already stated,29 it takes a turn to the south,30 and leaves the solitary deserts of Palmyra.
27 Against the attacks of robbers dwelling on the opposite side; the Attali, for instance.
28 Or "dwellers in tents," Bedouins, as we call them.
29 B. v. c. 20 and 21
Mention by Pliny
Pliny[3] mentions Arabia....We have already mentioned8 its peoples, which extend from our sea as far as the deserts of Palmyrene, and we shall now proceed to a description of the remainder. The Scenitæ, as we have already stated,9 border upon the Nomades and the tribes that ravage the territories of Chaldæa, being themselves of wandering habits, and receiving their name from the tents which constitute their dwellings; these are made of goats' hair, and they pitch them wherever they please.
8 In B. v. c. 12 and 21.
9 In c. 30 of the present Book.
Mention by Pliny
Pliny[4] mentions Arabia....We next come to a city situate on the banks of the Pasitigris, Fora by name, and subject to the king of Charax: to this place people resort on their road from Petra, and sail thence to Charax, twelve miles distant, with the tide. If you are proceeding by water from the Parthian territories, you come to a village known as Teredon; and below the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris, you have the Chaldæi dwelling on the left side of the river, and the Nomadic tribes of the Scenitæ on the right.
Mention by Pliny
Pliny[5] mentions Arabia....We then come to the Sabæi, a nation of Scenitæ29, with numerous islands, and the city of Acila30, which is their mart, and from which persons embark for India.
29 Or the Tent-Dwellers, the modern Bedouins.
30 By some geographers identified with the Ocelis or Ocila, mentioned in c. 26, the present Zee Hill or Ghela, a short distance to the south of Mocha, and to the north of the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb. Hardouin says, however, that it was a different place, Acila being in the vicinity of the Persian Gulf, in which he appears to be correct.