D. S. Margoliouth - The relations between Arabs and Israelites prior to the rise of Islam
When the present writer was invited by his colleagues of the British Academy to deliver three lectures on the Schweich Foundation dealing with early relations between Israelites and Arabs, he felt justified in accepting, having for a long series of years kept the subject in mind ; it had been forced on his attention as a biographer of Mohammed, and as a contributor to varions Dictionaries edited by the late Dr. Hastings, especially the Dictionary of the Bible, where in many or most of the articles dealing with Arabia were entrusted to him. And although the Academy is far removed from political controversies, it might seem that the condition of Palestine which has resulted from the Great War renders the subject of peculiar interest at the present time.
Among the numerous reconstructions of Israelitish history which have appeared in recent years the present writer finds that of H. Winckler in his Geschiclzte Israels on the whole the most attractive, and is otherwise greatly indebted to this eminent Orientalist's books and articles. The monographs of N. Rhodokanakis present the greatest advance which the study of the South Arabian inscriptions has as yet made, and the material which they contain has been utilized in these Lectures. Mr. F. Krenkow, whose acquaintance with early Arabie poetry is probably unique, has furnished the writer with many valuable references. He has also to thank Dr. Büchler for answering a query dealing with some of the matter in Lecture III.
OXFORD, Janury, 1924.
