Himyarites

Himyarites, ancient Semitic tribe that originated in the extreme southwest of Arabia. Evidence of ancient culture and fragments of South Arabic inscriptions judged to be Himyaritic have been found dating from before 700 bc. The earliest inscription in which the Himyarite Kingdom is specifically mentioned, however, dates from around 115 bc. At that time control of the commercially important region of Saba’ (Hebrew Sheba) passed from the Sabaeans to the Himyarites, who, according to the Roman statesman Pliny the Elder, had become preeminent among south Arabian peoples by the 1st century bc. From this point, however, it is difficult to dissociate their history from that of the Sabaeans. Dynastic rule established in the early Christian centuries was interrupted after ad 335 by an Abyssinian invasion. Local control was reestablished toward the end of the 4th century. The ruler of the Himyarites at this time adopted Judaism as his religion, thus creating a Jewish-Sabaean kingdom. Early 6th-century persecution of Christians in the area occasioned a further Abyssinian attack. In 525 the kingdom again fell under Abyssinian control. Although throughout this period references to Himyarites suggest that they remained a strong element in the population of the area, most Arab writers of the time used the name Himyarite and South Arabian synonymously. In modern times the Himyarite language is still spoken in a small area of southern Yemen; it provides a link in the development of Semitic languages from ancient times.