The ''Book of the Himyarites'' (''Ktābā da-ḥmirāye'') is an anonymous
Syriac Syriac may refer to:
*Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic
*Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region
* Syriac alphabet
** Syriac (Unicode block)
** Syriac Supplement
* Neo-Aramaic languages a ...
account of the persecution and martyrdom of the
Christian community of Najran
The existence of a Christian community in the city of Najran is attested by several historical sources of the Arabian peninsula, where it recorded as having been created in the 5th century AD or perhaps a century earlier. According to the Arab Musl ...
in the
Kingdom of Himyar
The Himyarite Kingdom ( ar, مملكة حِمْيَر, Mamlakat Ḥimyar, he, ממלכת חִמְיָר), or Himyar ( ar, حِمْيَر, ''Ḥimyar'', / 𐩹𐩧𐩺𐩵𐩬) ( fl. 110 BCE–520s CE), historically referred to as the Homerit ...
around 523 AD and the ensuing
Aksumite interventions. It was written sometime between the sixth and tenth centuries in a
Syriac Orthodox
, native_name_lang = syc
, image = St_George_Syriac_orthodox_church_in_Damascus.jpg
, imagewidth = 250
, alt = Cathedral of Saint George
, caption = Cathedral of Saint George, Damascu ...
milieu.
Manuscript
The only known
manuscript
A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...
of the ''Book of the Himyarites'' is incomplete and partially damaged. It was discovered in 1920 in the protective boards of a codex bound in 1469/1470. The tenth-century codex had been repurposed for the binding of another, and in the process its pages were cut down. While some pages of text are entirely intact, others are fragmentary. The original tenth-century copy of the ''Book'' probably contained at least ten
quires
Various measures of paper quantity have been and are in use. Although there are no S.I. units such as quires and bales, there are ISO''ISO 4046-3:2002 Paper, board, pulps and related terms – Vocabulary – Part 3: Paper-making terminology'' ( ...
of twenty pages each. About 59 pages of text are preserved.
The script of the text is similar to that of the ''
Codex Climaci Rescriptus
Codex Climaci rescriptus is a collective palimpsest manuscript consisting of several individual manuscripts (eleven) underneath with Christian Palestinian Aramaic texts of the Old and New Testament as well as two apocryphal texts, including the Do ...
'' from
Edessa
Edessa (; grc, Ἔδεσσα, Édessa) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, founded during the Hellenistic period by King Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Seleucid Empire. It later became capital of the Kingdom of Osroene ...
. The table of contents of the ''Book'' is preserved almost in its entirety. It contained 49 chapters. Each chapter is headed by a red
rubric
A rubric is a word or section of text that is traditionally written or printed in red ink for emphasis. The word derives from the la, rubrica, meaning red ochre or red chalk, and originates in Medieval illuminated manuscripts from the 13th cent ...
, although the name of the Himyarite king
Masruq is never in red and is often deliberately written upside down.
The scribe of the manuscript was named Stephanos, and he worked in the church of Saint Thomas in the city of
Qaryathen. He noted that he finished his work on 10 April 932.
Authorship and date
The text is anonymous as it stands, since no part of the surviving manuscript names an author.
[.] It was composed in a
Syriac Orthodox
, native_name_lang = syc
, image = St_George_Syriac_orthodox_church_in_Damascus.jpg
, imagewidth = 250
, alt = Cathedral of Saint George
, caption = Cathedral of Saint George, Damascu ...
milieu.
Simeon of Beth Arsham
Simeon of Beth Arsham ( syr, ܫܡܥܘܢ ܕܒܝܬ ܐܪܫܡ, Shemʿun di-Beth Arsham) was a Syrian bishop who spread his teachings at the beginning of the sixth century. He was the bishop of Beth Arsham (''House of Arsames''), which was located near ...
, who lived in the first quarter of the sixth century and was thus a contemporary, has been proposed as the author. This proposal has not gained general acceptance, although Simeon is accepted as the author of a letter on the massacre. The letter and the ''Book'' are independent of one another and their commonalities seem to stem from the same oral reports.
Ignazio Guidi
Ignazio Guidi (1844 – 18 April 1935) was an Italian orientalist. He became professor at the University of Rome. He is known as a Hebraist and for many translations.
He learned semitic languages from Pius Zingerle and Father Vincenti, and ...
suggested that the ''Acta'' of the martyr
Arethas were either written by a certain Sergius, bishop of
Rūṣafa, or else dependent on him as a source. Axel Moberg argues that Sergius was probably the author of the ''Book''. Sergius, whose name is also given as George, was served alongside Simeon of Beth Arsham as an envoy of Emperor
Justinian I
Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...
to King
Al-Mundhir III of Ḥirtā. David G. K. Taylor has suggested that Stephanos, usually taken to be the scribe of the manuscript, was in fact the author and not the scribe.
[.]
The ''Book'' was written sometime between the sixth and tenth centuries.
[ Specifically, it achieved its final form no earlier than 526 and no later than 932. It was most likely written closer to the earlier date and is, with the letter of Simeon of Beth Arsham, one of the two earliest sources for the martyrdoms.
]
Synopsis
The ''Book of the Himyarites'' is a work of historiography
Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...
, not hagiography
A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies migh ...
. Although he "derive from the events he related the moral that could serve to edify his co-religionists", the anonymous author's "principal aim was to give a full historical record of what had happened." Compared to the other sources for the martyrs of Najran, the ''Book'' is chronologically broader, covering the rise of Christianity and Judaism in Himyar and the aftermath of the persecution.[ It is also the most detailed account.
The text of the first six chapters and part of the seventh is lost. From the titles of the first three chapters it seems that they dealt with the paganism of the Himyarites, the adoption of Judaism by the ruling class and the arrival of Christianity. These are followed by chapters on the beginning of the persecution and a first ]Aksumite
The Kingdom of Aksum ( gez, መንግሥተ አክሱም, ), also known as the Kingdom of Axum or the Aksumite Empire, was a kingdom centered in Northeast Africa and South Arabia from Classical antiquity to the Middle Ages. Based primarily in wha ...
(Abyssinian) expedition against Himyar.
Précis of chapter headings
Owing to damage, not all chapter headings are complete, but most can be reconstructed.
#Of the Jews and of the badness of their faith
#Himyarites, who they are and whence they first received Judaism
#How Christianity began to be sown in Himyar
#How Bishop Thomas informed the Abyssinians that the Himyarites were persecuting the Christians
#The first coming of the Abyssinians
#The amazing sign which the Lord showed the Himyarites in the ranks of the Abyssinians
#The first departure of the Abyssinians
#The beginning of the persecution by Masruq, the burning of the church in Zafar and the massacre of the Abyssinians
#The coming of Masruq to Najran
#The siege of Najran
#The martyrdom of the first to suffer in Najran, when he was coming on the road
#How the pure brethren of the holy order went out to Masruq
#The burning of the church of Najran
#The martyrdom by fire of ZRWYba
#The martyrdom by fire of Tahnah and Aumah, her handmaid
#The martyrdom of Hadyah, daughter of Tahnah, who also suffered martyrdom by fire
#The martyrdom of Elishba, the deaconess, and of Ammai, sister of the holy order
#The martyrdom of the freeborn men of Najran
#The martyrdom of Harith and Arbai
#The martyrdom of the freeborn women of Najran and of their young children together with them
#The martyrdom of Habsa and Hayya, and another Hayya
#The martyrdom of Ruhm, daughter of Azma; Aumah, her daughter; and Ruhm, her granddaughter
#Other martyrdom of many women from the town of Najran
#The martyrdom of men the names of whom we have not been able to learn
#The contents of the letter that Masruq wrote to Mundhir, king of Hirta, against the Christians
#The martyrdom of the blessed MHSa, the handmaid of God
#The departure of Masruq from Najran
#A martyrdom of nknown#The martyrs who suffered in Hadramaut
#Burning of the church in Hadramaut
#The martyrs who suffered in Marib
#The martyrs who suffered in Hajaren
#The martyrdom of D'a, sister of the holy order, and Thummaliki, the laywoman, after the departure of Masruq
#The martyrdom of Dhiba and Hayya in Najran
#The martyrdom of Hint and Amma from Najran
#Dabb and Amr, the Najranites who were kept in custody till the Abyssinians liberated them
# nknown#The arrival of the Abyssinians
#How Umayyah came to Abyssinia and informed Bishop Euprepios and King Kaleb of all that Masruq had done
#The petition brought by Umayyah to Euprepios and Kaleb as from the church of Himyar
#The arrival of Kaleb with his army to make war
#The address that the commander-in-chief made to his army, when he arrived by sea
#The exhortation that Kaleb addressed to his army after the victory
#The confessors who were released from Najran, and the sign of the cross on their hands
#The petition brought to Kaleb by the Christians who had denied but repented, and came to do penance
#The rebuke that Kaleb made to those Christians
#The king of Abyssinia appointed a king in Himyar
#The second address that Kaleb made to those who turned after having denied
#Conclusion of this book after the return of Kaleb from Himyar
Influence
Moberg, the original editor of the ''Book'', argued that it was the source of the ''Acta'' of Arethas, concluding that "the ''Acta'' are little more than an extract from some chapters of the ''Book''." The main difference in their perspectives is that the ''Acta'' are written from a Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
perspective, while the ''Book'' has nothing to say about Byzantine involvement in the events of 523.
The ''Book'' may also have been a source for a hymn by John Psaltes, composed around 600. The hymn's brief introduction names Dhū Nuwās
Dhū Nuwās, ( ar, ذُو نُوَاس), real name "Yūsuf Asʾar Yathʾar" ( Musnad: 𐩺𐩥𐩪𐩰 𐩱𐩪𐩱𐩧 𐩺𐩻𐩱𐩧, ''Yws¹f ʾs¹ʾr Yṯʾr''), "Yosef Nu'as" ( he, יוסף נואס), or "Yūsuf ibn Sharhabīl" ( ar, يُ ...
, the persecutor of Najran, as Masrūq, a name found in the ''Book''.
While the ''Book'' is not a source of Simeon's letter, it is useful for interpreting it in light of the latter's tendentiousness.
Notes
Bibliography
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External links
The Book of the Himyarites
at ALVIN, platform for digital collections and digitized cultural heritage
Texts in Syriac
Najran
Himyarite Kingdom