Himyar and
his successors.
The latter
penetrate into
Nigritia.
Invasion of
Abyssinia.
has been seen that Himyar, also called ’Arenjej,1 or, according
to another authority, El ’Arfej,8 succeeded his father, Saba ■,
and with him commenced the Himyaritic dynasty. He was
the first who wore a diadem, and, being an enlightened prince,
he consolidated the government which had originated with his
ancestor Ya’rab.
Himyar was successively followed by Wathel, Sessac, Yaafar,
Deryeth, Nu’man, Asmah, and Shedad. The last is supposed
to have commenced his reign about 1578 b .c . He was invariably
called Shedad-ben-Ad; who, according to Arab tradition,
built some of the Pyramids as trophies of his extensive
victories in Africa.3 One great and distant expedition under
the Himyarite sovereign Hareth-al-Raish, had recently proceeded
towards India; from whence much booty was brought.4
But Abrahah, the son and successor of Hareth-al-Raish,
turned his arms towards Africa, and having penetrated far into
Nigritia, he obtained the surname of Dhulmenar, or the Man
of the Spires or Pharos, in consequence of having built these
towers, which were said to have been intended to guide his
retreat; but it is more probable that they were stations and
posts to protect his military operations and contain the necessary
supplies.
Dhulmenar was succeeded by Afrikus, who undertook a
great expedition against the Berbers (south of Abyssinia). He
built a town which was called after his own name, and he carried
his arms to the most distant part of the habitable world,
or, according to Hamadun, as far as Tangier.5
Afrikus was succeeded by his son, Alfeidar, or Dhalghanatir;
meaning, in Himyari, the man of many fingers. Afterwards
he turned his arms eastward, but died in ’Irak during his
expedition. He was succeeded by Scharbabil, and the latter
by El Hodad.
1 Arabic MSS., No. 7353, in the British Museum, translated by Aloys
Sprenger, M.D. 8 Ibid., 7357.
3 Makrizi, translated by Aloys Sprenger, M.D., from MSS. in the British
Museum.
4 Scbultens, according to Hamza, p. 23.
5 Nowairi, in Schultens’ Hist. Joctaindarum, p. 25.
About this period a remarkable expedition appears to have
proceeded under Abu Kurrub, the Himyarite, who, after having
invaded India and Bactria, founded an empire in the latter
territory, the capital of which was Samarcand. This city was
so called after one of the Arabian princes named Shamar ; and,
it is added, one inscription was placed over the gate of Merv,
and another over the gate of China.1 The kingdoms of Ghassan
and Hirah were afterwards added to their preceding territories ;
so that, when at its height, the Himyaritic power extended from Extent of the
Bactria and India to Abyssinia, and again from the extremity
of Yemen to the shores of Syria ; thus comprising almost the
whole of the dominions, which were at one period subject to the
Cushites.2 By some, however, even the name of this widely-
spread race has been considered apocryphal ; but it should be
recollected that the existence of the Tobbâï, in Arabia at least,
does not depend entirely upon tradition ; for there are proofs
that a civilized people existed at a very remote period, bearing
this appellation, and speaking a language exclusively their
own—a dialect of which is still in use amongst the people of
Mahrah.3 It is no longer doubtful that they also had a peculiar
written character of great antiquity called Suri or Syrian,4 and
many specimens have been found in different places, but more
especially in Yemen. Niebuhr was aware of the existence of JJimyan
inscriptions in an unknown character, at San’â and other places ; S S h i““
but, as his usually persevering researches were frustrated b yYemen-
illness, it remained for Seetzen, the celebrated discoverer of
Djerash, to set this part of the question at rest, by finding them
at Dhafar, one of the places which had been formerly enumerated
;5 and not far from the town of Jerim, Seetzen discovered
1 P . 363 of El-Mas’iidi’s Historical Encyclopaedia, translated by Aloys
Sprenger, M.D. Allen and Co., Leadenhall Street, 1841.
2 See above, p. 18.
“ Les Arabes de Mehret sont de race non mélangée. Le langage
des habitans est tellement corrompu qu’on a de la peine à les comprendre,
c’est l ’ancien Himyarite.”—Geog. D ’Edrisi, ed. Jaubert, tome I ., p. 150;
Recueil de Voyage et Mémoires, &c., Paris, 1836.
* Dissertation on the Newly-discovered Babylonian Inscriptions, by Joseph
Hager, D.D., p. 14.
3 The She'ikh described a particular stone, to Niebuhr, as having an
inscription on it, which neither the Jews nor Muhammedans could read
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