Page 5 - Himayar_Neat

of Judaism shwp It AZanah 11 <32°-36o), though it had been under the influence
of Himvar th k S lncePtion C‘100 CE-11 was around this time that within the kingdom
. .. , ^re eSan emerge a trend to shun idolatry. In dedicatory inscriptions
g rom 1 e mid“4th century, inscribed in the Sabaean tongue and script, there
appears or the first time an appeal unto the “God of Heaven” rather than unto gods of
idolatry. b

The relations with the kingdom of Axum, which since the end of the 2nd century CE
used to periodically invade the Tihama, along the coast of the Red Sea in the western
region of South Yemen, became more and more tense. After their complete eviction
from the western territories of the kingdom of Himyar c. 270, the Axumites never
ceased their attempts to regain control of these areas. This policy intensified after
Christianity was adopted as the state religion in Axum. In inscriptions written in the
Ge‘ez language (the classical Ethiopian language) but deliberately in the Sabacan script,
which was in use in the kingdom of Himyar, ‘Azanah (the first Christian Idng in Axum)
openly declared his political and military accomplishments, while giving unto himself
not only the title of the king of Axum but also the king of Himyar, Saba’, Dhu-Raydan,
Tihama, and Hadramawt—titles in which the kings of Himyar had taken pride. This
interfaith tension between the kingdom of Himyar and the Christian world grew even
worse with the division of the Roman Empire in 395 and the establishment of the
Christian Eastern Empire, whose capital was Byzantium. From that time, the
Byzantines worked in various ways to gain control over the lucrative incense trade, as
well as the trade route to India. Since they were unsuccessful in conquering the Arabian
Peninsula, except a few strategic positions in North Arabia, they tried to accomplish
this by spreading Christianity in Arabia, just as they had done in Ethiopia.15 However, it
was precisely around this time that the kingdom of Himyar expanded its own areas of
influence towards the western and central regions of the Arabian Peninsula, until at
length its own dominion extended almost as far as half of the territory of the Peninsula.

In response to this activity of Ethiopia, which was not hidden from the eyes of the kings
of Himyar, Abukarib As'ad embarked on conquests in central Arabia. According to Arab
tradition, when Abukarib came on his leg of the journey to Yathrib, Jewish tribes in the
city assisted him in his battle, and due to the influence of the city’s two Jewish sages,
Ka*b and As'ad, he and his entire army adopted the Jewish religion. At his behest, the

two sages accompanied him on his return trip to the capital city, Zafar. After being
persuaded by way of a fiery ordeal, the people of Himyar no longer resisted the king’s
initiative and were pleased to convert to Judaism.
At the same time, owing to the work of missionaries sent to Arabia by the Byzantine
kingdom and with the support of the kingdom of Axum, Christian influence in South
Arabia flourished. It would appear that, because of this, the Himyarite government
began to deal severely with the Christians, although more likely for political rather than
religious reasons. This is based on the writer of the known Christian source, entitled
Martyrium d’Azqir. The writer, a missionary named Azqir who worked and built a church
in Najran in the third quarter of the 5th century CE, during the reign of king Shurihbi’il
Yakkuf (465-485), was delivered into the hands of Jewish merchants travelling by
caravan and brought to trial before the king in Zafar. According to Martyrium d’Azqir,
Jewish rabbis were involved in the trial. Azqir was sentenced to die, along with another
thirty-eight Christians, including priests, celibates, and bishops.

Not long afterwards, two Byzantine merchants were executed in Himyar; based on
Christian sources it was done as revenge for the killing of Jews by the rulers in
Christendom. Although towards the end of the 5th century the majority of the Arabian
Peninsula had been subjugated to the kingdom of Himyar, the kingdom of Axum
conquered it and set up kings on its behalf and even established churches in Zafar. It is
not surprising then that from the reign of Marthad’ilan Yanuf (c. 500-515) and the
Christian, Ma'dikarib Ya'fur (519-522), one doesn’t find any Jewish inscriptions in
Himyar. Moreover, it seems that in the time of Ma'dikarib Ya'fur a military alliance was
made between Himyar and Byzantium, such that when he went forth to war against the
city of Kutha in Mesopotamia, allies of Byzantium stood beside him.

With the death of Ma'dikarib Ya'fur in 522, Yusuf As’ar Yath’ar rose to power (he is
known also by the appellation Joseph Dhu Nuwas, namely, the one with the curls), even
though several years beforehand he had already tried to overthrow the Christian
potentate in his capital, Zafar.17 Starting in 523, Dhu Nuwas began working vigorously
for the restoration of Judaism as the state religion by removing the Christian churches
in £afar, in Makhawan (Mocha), and in other places, or by turning them into
synagogues and by forcing Judaism upon the Christians. Hundreds of Christians met
their death in Najran and Zafar. Dhu Nuwas, who wanted to make an alliance with the
kingdom of Persia, sent a snerial pnvnv tn the nnlitiral rnnfprpnrp hpld in ^2/. in