To the Ancient Greeks, eastern Arabia (the present-day al-Hasa province) was known as Gerrha after its capital city. Gerrha was a Greek alteration of the Arabic Hajar (present-day Hofuf), the name of the largest city of ancient Bahrayn (Bahrayn was also known as Hagar or Gerrha in Hellenistic times). Other English spellings are "Hajar Hufuf, Hajar Hasa' Hajarah". Hagar (Gerrha) is not to be confused with the west Arabian Al-Hijr (al-Hijrah), the present-day Mada'in Saleh or al-Ula near the Red Sea. Al-Hamdani says the etymology of "Hajar" means ‘large village’ in the Himyaritic language (derived from Hakar).