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Himyar, kingdom of
Yosef Yuval Tobi
https://doi.orR/J0.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.8132
Published online: 22 August 2017

Summary
The beginning of the Himyari kingdom is reckoned at 110 BCE, when the tribe of Himyar split off from the
Qataban kingdom in the western Hadramawl, located in the southern Arabian Peninsula, and
established its own capital in Zafar, located in southeast of our time Yarim. Starting in the 1st century CE,
there were incessant conflicts between the kingdom of Himyar and the kingdom of Sheba, whose seat of
government was Ma’rib, until the year 175, when the Himyarites completely conquered the kingdom of
Sheba. They had taken over Qataban some hundred years earlier. The religion of the kingdom, as in all
other kingdoms in South Arabia at the time, was polytheist, but during the 4th century, the effects of
monotheism began to take hold. No later than 384, King Malkikarib Yuha’min (r. 375-400) had adopted
Judaism as the state religion. The kingdom of Himyar remained in a state of constant war with the
Christian kingdom of Axum in Ethiopia, on the western shore of the Red Sea, while the Ethiopians
succeeded in even occupying militarily the city of Zafar for a short time. The tension between the two
kingdoms reached its peak during the time of As’ar Yath’ar’s reign (more commonly known as Yusuf Dhu
Nuwas) (517-525), who acted ruthlessly against the Christians in his kingdom, especially those in Najran.
Because of this action, the army of Axum invaded Yemen in 525 at the request of the Christian Byzantine
emperor, bringing an end to the Jewish kingdom of Himyar. In 531, Abraha the Ethiopian took over the
reins of government in Yemen and expanded his kingdom’s realm of influence further north towards the
central part of the Arabian Peninsula. A short time following his death, Persia wrestled control of the
kingdom, with the assistance of Sayf Dhu Yazan, who, according to tradition, was one of the descendants
of Joseph Dhu Nuwas. In 629, Yemen fell entirely to the armies of Islam.
Keywords: Himyar, Sheba, Ethiopia, Byzantine Empire, Persia, Judaism, Christianity, Ancient South Arabian
Languages, Joseph Dhu, Nuwas, Incense Route
Subjects: Jewish Studies, Near East

The Rise of the Kingdom of Himyar, c. 110 BCE-4th Century CE

According to Yemeni genealogical writings, the kingdom of Himyar is named after its
founding father, Himyar the son of Saba.’ The name, however, is also widely used to
represent a tribe by that name, or a confederation (sha'b) of ancient South Arabian
tribes. The territory of this tribe has also come to be known by the eponym of Himyar,
whose center was in the mountainous district of Yafi', in the southeast of Yemen, near
Abyan, the delta of wadi Band’, whose waters empty into the Indian Ocean, near the port
city of Shuqrah (Map 1).