Ḥimyar

Kingdom of South Arabia founded in the southern highlands of Yemen at the end of the 2nd or in the 1st century BCE. At the end of the 3rd century CE, Ḥimyar had annexed two kingdoms, unified all the South Arabian territories and progressively extended its control over central Arabia. After the Ethiopian invasion followed by Persian domination, Ḥimyar disappeared before the end of the 6th century CE.

History

The kingdom of Ḥimyar appeared quite late on the political scene. It was formed by a confederation of tribes in territories previously dominated by the kingdom of Qatabān. The origins of Ḥimyar remain obscure, its beginnings probably date back to the end of the 2nd cent. BCE. In the 1st cent. CE., Ḥimyar became a significant political power. It appears that Ḥimyar then formed a political entity with the kingdom of Sabaʾ and it is likely that the Ḥimyarites were the dominant faction in this union, although the question remains open (Beeston 1975, Robin 1989, Bāfaqīh 1990: 326-330). At the turn of the Christian era, the kingdom of Sabaʾ, one of the major powers of Ancient South Arabia, was going through a period of political crisis. It is likely that Ḥimyar took advantage of these circumstances to temporarily establish its hegemony. The sovereigns of this unified kingdom bore the title of “king of Sabaʾand dhū-Raydān”.

The union of Ḥimyar with Sabaʾ lasted until the end of the 1st cent. CE, when the two kingdoms split. From that time, the tribal federation of Ḥimyar and its lords, the dhū-Raydān, constituted an independent and powerful kingdom that aspired to hegemony in South Arabia. The Ḥimyarite kings and the rival Sabaean kings fought for supremacy for almost two centuries, each claiming the title of “king of Sabaʾ and dhū-Raydān”.

The 2nd and the 3rd centuries CE were marked by wars between several South Arabian kingdoms, Sabaʾ, Ḥimyar, Qatabān (which disappeared by the end of the 2nd cent.) and Ḥaḍramawt.

During the 3rd cent. CE, the Ethiopians (see Aksum), eager to get their hands on the South Arabian shores of the Red Sea and control maritime trade with India, intervened several times in South Arabia by taking part in wars between local kingdoms and periodically occupying western parts of the country. The Ethiopians first united with the Sabaeans against the Ḥimyarites, and then immediately turned against their first allies, the Sabaeans, by binding to Ḥimyar. By the middle of the 3rd cent. CE, military conflicts between the Ethiopians and the Ḥimyarites intensified, and the Ethiopians occupied the region of Ẓafār, the capital of Ḥimyar, for seven months. At the end of the 3rd cent. CE, the Ethiopians established a blockade of the port of Aden. The Ḥimyarites then fought them and their South Arabian allied tribes in the southwest of the country, liberated Aden and drove the Ethiopians out of the territories of South Arabia. The only remaining forces in South Arabia were Ḥimyar, Sabaʾ and Ḥaḍramawt. Around 275, Ḥimyar annexed the kingdom of Sabaʾ, then, around 300, conquered the kingdom of Ḥaḍramawt, and thus imposed its hegemony on all of South Arabia.

During the 4th and 5th cent. CE, the Ḥimyarite kings launched military campaigns in the regions of modern Najd, in particular al-Yamāma and al-Kharj and further north, then in Ḥijāz (Fig. 2). They established domination over the entire south-western part of the Arabian Peninsula. This expansion is expressed in the royal title: “king of Sabaʾ, dhū-Raydān, Ḥaḍramawt, Yamanat, and of the nomads / Arabs of Ṭawd^um (mountains) and of Tihāmat (coastal plain of the Red Sea)”.

An important religious evolution took place from the first half of the 4th cent. CE onwards. Monotheistic cults, Judaism and Christianity, spread in the kingdom of Ḥimyar and many Jews lived in the country. At the end of the 4th cent. CE, the Ḥimyarite kings abandoned ancient polytheistic cults, adopted Judaizing monotheism, and were followed by the population. King Abīkarib Asʿad (with his father and brother) first converted to monotheism or to Judaism (according to some versions of the Islamic tradition).

In the 6th century, the Ethiopians intervened in South Arabia and installed a Christian king on the throne. After his death, a Jewish king Yūsuf Asʾar Yathʾar attempted a coup around 522, fighting against the Ethiopians and persecuting their local Christian allies. The Ethiopians sent an army, killed king Yūsuf and replaced him by a Christian king, Sumyafaʿ Ashwaʿ (Esimiphaios). Soon after that, the Ethiopian soldiers revolted and proclaimed Abraha, the chief of their army, king. Abraha, who took on the traditional long title of the Ḥimyarite kings, seems to have been an independent king, as stated by his inscriptions. According to the hagiographic sources however, in the latter stage of his reign, he recognized the Ethiopian negus (king) as his overlord. The Ethiopian occupation of Ḥimyar lasted for about forty years, between 530 and 570 (approximate dates). Then the Persian army sent by a Sasanian king, Khosro I, ousted the Ethiopians and conquered Yemen which became a Sasanian satrapy (see Sasanian rule [in Arabia]). The kingdom of Ḥimyar ceased to exist.

Around 628 or 632, the last Persian governor of Yemen, Badhān, converted to Islam and the country thus became part of the Islamic Empire.

The name of Ḥimyar

The name Ḥmyr^m, probably pronounced Ḥimyarum (with the suffixed article -m) is first attested in Ancient South Arabian inscriptions at the end of the 1st cent. BCE or at the beginning of the 1st cent. CE, in a Ḥaḍramitic text (RES 2687) as a territory name. At the end of the 1st cent. CE, Ḥimyarum is mentioned as an enemy of a Sabaean king. The name is further used to designate a population, a territory and a kingdom, but never appears in the royal title of the Ḥimyarite kings. In the Arab Islamic tradition, the name Ḥimyar has a broader meaning. It not only refers to the ancient kingdom or the tribes of Ḥimyar, but often designates the civilization of ancient Yemen as a whole.

The name occurs in classical sources as Homeritae, from the 1st cent. CE onwards (Periplus Maris Erythaei § 23:7 [Casson 1989: 63], Plin. HN VI, 158, 161).

The name of Ḥimyar seems more or less equivalent to the name of dhū-Raydān, which designated the federation of tribes grouped around the tribe of Ḥimyar, originating in the southern highlands, and ruled by their lords, the banū dhū-Raydān, “owners of the palace of Raydān” (situated in the capital, Zafār). The name dhū-Raydān can also be understood as “confederation of tribes governed by the lords of the palace of Raydān”.

Extension of the Ḥimyarite kingdom and royal titles

The territory of Ḥimyar or of dhū-Raydān, “land of Ḥimyar” (ʾrḍ Ḥmyr^m), probably initially designated the territory controlled by a noble family, the banū dhū-Raydān. It corresponded to the south-western part of South Arabia, possibly limited to the north by the Yasliḥ mountain pass.

In the 1st cent. CE, the royal title of the Ḥimyarite sovereigns expressed the initial union of the kingdoms of Sabaʾ and that of Ḥimyar. The kings of the unified kingdoms of Sabaʾ and of Ḥimyar bore the title “king of Sabaʾ and dhū-Raydān”.

After the disintegration of this union, both the kings of Ḥimyar and of Sabaʾ claimed the same royal title. When the Ḥimyarite kings Yasirum Yuhanʿim and his son Shammar Yuharʿish unified all the South Arabian kingdoms, annexed Sabaʾ and conquered Ḥaḍramawt, around 300 CE, they extended the royal title to “king of Sabaʾ, dhū-Raydān, Ḥaḍramawt and Yamanat”. The latter name, Yamanat, which only appears in the royal title, probably referred to southern regions, situated along the coast of the Indian Ocean. In the 5th cent. CE, having established control over the nomad tribes, north of their territories, in the regions of modern Najd (al-Yamāma, al-Kharj, then further north), and in the Ḥijāz, the Ḥimyarite kings expressed their domination in the very long title, “king of Sabaʾ, dhū-Raydān, Ḥaḍramawt, Yamanat, and of the nomads / Arabs of Ṭawd^um (mountains) and of Tihāmat (coastal plain of the Red Sea)”.

In South Arabian inscriptions, the only mention of the “king of Ḥimyar” (CIH 621/9: mlk Ḥmyr^m), probably refers to king Yūsuf Asʾar Yathʾar, the last Ḥimyarite king, who reigned before the Ethiopian conquest of South Arabia, and was killed by the Ethiopians.

Organization of the kingdom

Royal power was handed down from father to son. The kings of Ḥimyar often ruled in co-regency. A king often shared the power with his brother or his son(s). King Abīkarib Asʿad reigned with his brother and several sons over a vast kingdom, after extending his control over the nomad tribes of central and western Arabia, in the first half of the 5th cent. CE.

Most of the population of the kingdom of Ḥimyar was sedentary, but nomad tribes penetrated into sedentary territories and this tendency intensified around the 2nd cent. CE. Nomads from the tribes of Kiddat (Kinda in Arabic), Madhḥij and Murād (originating in the south), were integrated in the armies of the Ḥimyarite kings as auxiliary troops, who became increasingly important in the 3rd-6th centuries, and formed an essential part of the Ḥimyarite military force.

Capitals and main cities of Ḥimyar

The capital of Ḥimyar was Ẓafār, situated in the southern highlands. The royal palace Raydān symbolized the power of its masters, expressed in the royal title, “king of Sabaʾ and dhū-Raydān”. During the unity of the kingdom of Ḥimyar with the kingdom of Sabaʾ in the 1st cent. CE., the “kings of Sabaʾ and dhū-Raydān” ruled from the Sabaean capital Mārib. After the unification of all the territories of South Arabia by Ḥimyar, by the end of the 3rd cent. CE, Ẓafār was its capital but Mārib remained an important metropolis. According to Arab Islamic tradition, after the Ethiopian conquest of Ḥimyar, king Abraha moved the capital to Ṣanʿāʾ, which has been the capital of Yemen ever since.

The language

The Ḥimyarite tribes originated from the territories of Qatabān, Radmān, Maḍḥà and Khawlān. In spite of the diverse origins of Ḥimyarite populations, the the royal but also the private Ḥimyarite inscriptions are written in the Sabaic language. However, this language is slightly different to the Sabaic of the kingdom of Sabaʾ and shows some traits of a Sabaic dialect.

Religions of Ḥimyar

Until the last part of the 4th cent. CE, the Ḥimyarites were polytheists, as were other inhabitants of South Arabia. In contrast to other ancient kingdoms, the kingdom of Ḥimyar does not seem to have had a strong central cult, specific to Ḥimyar, with a well-established pantheon and a tutelary god. This can be explained by the nature of the kingdom, which was a federation of tribes, originating from other kingdoms who each had an ancient and well-organized central cult, linked to a central power.

In the Ḥimyarite domain, in the capital Ẓafār and in the south-western highlands, the Ḥimyarite tutelary gods Walīl and Sumyadaʿ (Wll and S¹mydʿ) were worshipped, but their names only appear in a handful of inscriptions and this cult does not seem to have been largely diffused among the diverse tribes of Ḥimyar. Some tribes, like Radmān and Khawlān, which were previously part of the kingdom of Qatabān, worshipped the Qatabanian tutelary god, ʿAmm. The solar goddess Shams was worshipped in some regions (like modern al-Miʿsāl and Qāniya).

During the first period of union with Sabaʾ, in the 1st cent. CE., the Ḥimyarite kings and tribes worshipped the principal Sabaean god, Almaqah, as shown by numerous dedicatory inscriptions, placed in his great temple in Mārib. After the unification of South Arabia, at the beginning of 4th cent. CE, the cults of the gods of annexed kingdoms continued. In ancient Sabaean territories, the god Almaqah was worshipped, also by the Ḥimyarites, and in the conquered regions of Ḥaḍramawt, the cult of the tutelary god Sīn / Siyān was perpetuated.

In the first half of the 4th cent. CE, Judaism and Christianity appeared in South Arabia. The first monotheistic, probably Judaizing inscriptions were written by private individuals.

In the last part of the 4th cent., the Ḥimyarite kings adopted a Judaizing monotheism or a kind of Judaism and this official religion was adopted in the whole country. The temples of ancestral gods were abandoned. The royal inscriptions and most of the official texts display an image of a neutral monotheism. Some private epigraphs are however clearly Jewish. A royal fragmentary inscription of king Shuraḥbʾīl Yakkuf, dating from 584 Ḥim. (474 CE), from Maʾsal (Saudi Arabia) (Maʾsal 3/23–24), contains a passage “according to the synagogues and the Jews…”, it can thus be assumed that this king considered himself Jewish or a sympathizer. The last king of Ḥimyar, Yūsuf Asʾar Yathʾar was mentioned as a Jew in all the external sources. The kingdom of Ḥimyar was however not really considered as a Jewish kingdom. A hagiographic source, the Martyrion of Saint Arethas describes the land of the Ḥimyarites as “idolatrous, under the guise of Judaism”.

The last kings of Ḥimyar, imposed by the Ethiopian conquerors around 530, were Christian. It is however not clear whether Christianity was adopted by the whole population. Most of the inscriptions of this period are royal texts.

After 570, when South Arabia became a Sasanian province, during the last decades before Islam, the religious landscape is obscure. No South Arabian inscriptions are known from this period.

Ḥimyarite Era

The beginning of the Ḥimyarite Era goes back to the year 110 before CE. The first known inscription mentioning this era is dated to the mid-3rd century CE. The dating system used in the kingdom of Ḥimyar first referred to the year of Mabḥūḍ son of Abḥūḍ (Mbḥḍ bn ʾbḥḍ). After the unification of the whole territory of South Arabia at the beginning of the 4th century, other eras were no longer used. Since then, inscriptions were dated exclusively according to the Ḥimyarite Era. The inscriptions no longer mention the name Mabḥūḍ son of Abḥūḍ, but just state the name of the month and number of the year. The Ḥimyarite Era used a solar calendar, with twelve months and a leap month.

Iwona Gajda

References and suggested readings

• Bāfaqīh, M.A. 1990. L’unification du Yémen antique. La lutte entre Sabaʾ, Ḥimyar et Ḥaḍramawt du I^er au III^e siècle de l’ère chrétienne (Bibliothèque de Raydān, 1). Paris: Geuthner.
• Beeston, A.F.L. 1975. The Himyarite problem. PSAS 5: 1–7. www.jstor.org/stable/41223855
• Casson, L. 1989. The Periplus Maris Erythraei. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• Gajda, I. 2009. Le royaume de Ḥimyar à l’époque monothéiste. L’histoire de l’Arabie du Sud ancienne de la fin du IV^e siècle de l’ère chrétienne jusqu’à l'avènement de l'islam (Mémoires de l’AIBL, 40). Paris: AIBL.
• Müller, W.W. 1990. Ḥimyar. Reallexicon für Antike und Christentum, Band XV: 303–332. Stuttgart: Hiersemann.
• von Wissmann, H. 1964. Ḥimyar, Ancient History. Le Muséon LXXVII: 429–499.
• Robin, C.J. 1989. Aux origines de l’État ḥimyarite : Ḥimyar et Dhū-Raydān. In Arabian Studies in Honour of Mahmoud Ghul: Symposium at Yarmouk University. December 8–11, 1984: 104–112 (Yarmouk University Publications, Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology Series, 2). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
• Robin, C.J. 1998. Décompte du temps et souveraineté politique en Arabie méridionale, in F. Briquel-Chatonnet & H. Lozachmeur (eds), Proche-Orient ancien. Temps vécu, temps pensé: 121–151 (Antiquités Sémitiques III). Paris: Maisonneuve.
• Yule, P.A. 2007. Himyar: Spätantike im Jemen. Aichwald: Linden Soft.

_{Alternate spellings: Himyar}