Histories

There are no men who respect pledges more than the Arabians. This is how they give them: a man stands between the two pledging parties, and with a sharp stone cuts the palms of their hands, near the thumb; then he takes a piece of wool from the cloak of each and smears with their blood seven stones that lie between them, meanwhile calling on Dionysus and the Heavenly Aphrodite;

after this is done, the one who has given his pledge commends the stranger (or his countryman if the other be one) to his friends, and his friends hold themselves bound to honor the pledge.

They believe in no other gods except Dionysus and the Heavenly Aphrodite; and they say that they wear their hair as Dionysus does his, cutting it round the head and shaving the temples. They call Dionysus, Orotalt; and Aphrodite, Alilat.[*](According to Movers, Orotalt is “the fire of God,” ôrath êl, and Alilat the feminine of hêlêl, “morning star”; but a simpler interpretation is Alilat = the goddess.)

When, then, the Arabian had made the pledge to the messengers who had come from Cambyses, he devised the following expedient: he filled camel-skins with water and loaded all his camels with these; then he drove them into the waterless land and there awaited Cambyses' army.

This is the most credible of the stories told; but I must relate the less credible tale also, since they tell it. There is a great river in Arabian Peninsula [45,25] (region (general)), AsiaArabia called Corys, emptying into the sea called Red.