Africans in Arabia Felix: Aksumite Relations with Ḥimyar in the Sixth Century C.E.

Africans in Arabia Felix: Aksumite Relations with Ḥimyar in the Sixth Century C.E.Syriaca.org: The Syriac Reference PortalThe National Endowment for the HumanitiesThe International Balzan Prize FoundationDavid A. Michelsoncbsc_adminRecord added to Zotero bycbsc_adminSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference Portalhttp://syriaca.org/cbss/2KJFUZBH/tei

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CREATED: This bibl record was autogenerated from a Zotero record.GeorgeHatkeAfricans in Arabia Felix: Aksumite Relations with Ḥimyar in the Sixth Century C.E.http://syriaca.org/cbss/2KJFUZBHhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/a_comprehensive_bibliography_on_syriac_studies/items/2KJFUZBHhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/4861694/items/2KJFUZBH2011This dissertation argues that Ethiopia had a greater role in South Arabian history in late pre-Islamic times than scholars have hitherto believed. The two states involved in the power struggle in the southern Red Sea during this period were the Christian kingdom of Aksum in northern Ethiopia and the Jewish kingdom of Ḥimyar in Yemen. Aksum invaded South Arabia several times during late antiquity, the invasions of 518 and 525 in the reign of the Aksumite king Kaleb being the main focus of this dissertation. It is contended here that the Aksumite-Ḥimyarite conflict in the sixth century was not, as is often assumed, a series of proxy wars through which the Romans and Sasanids sought to gain rival spheres of influence in South Arabia, with the Romans supporting their Ethiopian coreligionists against an alleged H[dotbelow]imyarite-Sasanid axis. Rather, the evidence indicates that there was no competition between the Romans and Sasanids for influence in South Arabia either before or during the period 518-525. In place of a "Great Game" theory that explains Red Sea history in terms of the Romano-Sasanid conflict, this dissertation posits that Kaleb simply sought to establish Aksumite supremacy on both sides of the sea, and that he used both religious and irredentist rhetoric to justify what was nothing more than a war of Aksumite expansion into South Arabia. The evidence for the use of religious rhetoric survives in Syriac texts as well as in Ge'ez inscriptions erected by the Aksumites themselves, in which Kaleb's invasions of Ḥimyar are compared to the Israelite invasions of Canaan or are said to be inspired by religious zeal. Kalab's irredentist claims to South Arabia are evident in his use of Ḥimyarite royal titles, as well as in his orders that copies be made of an inscription in which a third-century Aksumite king records in Greek his conquests in Arabia. By emphasizing the role of politics and ideologies specific to the sixth-century Red Sea region, this dissertation seeks to give credit to non-western Christendom--in this case Ethiopia--in shaping the geopolitical map of Arabia on the eve of Islam. Hatke, George. “Africans in Arabia Felix: Aksumite Relations with Ḥimyar in the Sixth Century C.E.” Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University, 2011. George Hatke, Africans in Arabia Felix: Aksumite Relations with Ḥimyar in the Sixth Century C.E. (Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University, 2011).Book of the HimyaritesEthiopiaJacobitesNajranSimeon of Beth ArshamSouth ArabiaVI CEletters