- Qatar is a peninsular in the Persian Gulf located on the east coast of Saudi Arabia.
- The capital is Doha and the peninsular is separated from Bahrain by the Gulf of Bahrain.
Ancient Sources
- Herodotus (484-420 BCE) described the inhabitants of Qatar as sea-faring.
- Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE) referred to the inhabitants as the Catharrei.
- Ptolemy (c.150 CE) named the peninsular ‘Catara’ on his chart, Ptolemy's Geographia.
History
- From the second millenium BCE, the economy of Qatar appears to have been based on Pearl Diving and the production Murex, a Purple Dye from the Murex sea snail. It is the earliest known producer of Murex.
- Between 1531-1155 BCE Qatar was controlled by the Kassite Babylonian Empire.
- From c.680 BCE Esarhaddon, the King of Assyria, occupied Qatar.
- Between 312-250 BCE Qatar was ruled by the Greek Seleucid Empire (312-63 BCE)
- Between 250 BCE-224 CE it was ruled by the Parthian Empire.
- Between 224-651 CE it was ruled by the Sassanid Empire.
Qatar