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| b. Economy, Technology, Society, and Culture |
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| The domestication of the camel, around 1000 B.C.E., made possible a Northern Arabian nomadic culture based on goat-herding and sheepherding. Some oases supported permanent settlements, which combined stock raising with date cultivation. The use of the camel also led to overland trade with South Arabia. In South Arabia, the mountainous terrain was cultivated on a network of terraces. Arabia controlled the long-distance trade in spices and raw silk from the Far East and, in addition, produced frankincense and myrrh, resins used in religious rituals throughout the Mediterranean world. The frankincense tree grew only in Dhofar (in modern Oman) and myrrh was harvested around the peninsula (especially in Ma`in). | 1 |
| In this period Aramaic was the written language of North Arabia, but native Sabean and Minean scripts developed in the south. The polytheistic religion of Northern Arabia lacked a structure or priesthood, but Southern Arabian religion was temple-based. Each Southern Arabian tribal state was under the patronage of a god, but there was a common pantheon. Major deities were Athtar, Ilmaqa, and Wadd. | 2 |
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