The Book of the Himyarites ("Ktābā da-ḥmirāye") is an anonymous Syriac account of the persecution and martyrdom of the Christian community of Najran in the Kingdom of Himyar around 523 AD and the ensuing Aksumite interventions. It was written sometime between the sixth and tenth centuries in a Syriac Orthodox milieu.
Manuscript.
The only known manuscript 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 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" from Edessa. 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, 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 milieu. Simeon of Beth Arsham, 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 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 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, not hagiography. Although he "derive[d] 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 (Abyssinian) expedition against Himyar.
Précis of chapter headings.
Owing to damage, not all chapter headings are complete, but most can be reconstructed.
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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 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, 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.
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Bibliography.
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