The only knownmanuscript of theBook of the Himyarites is incomplete and partially damaged. It was discovered in 1920 in the protective boards of a codex bound in 1469/1470.[2] 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.[3] The original tenth-century copy of theBook probably contained at least tenquires of twenty pages each.[4] About 59 pages of text are preserved.[5]
The script of the text is similar to that of theCodex Climaci Rescriptus fromEdessa.[6] The table of contents of theBook is preserved almost in its entirety.[7][8] It contained 49 chapters.[5] Each chapter is headed by a redrubric, although the name of the Himyarite kingMasruq is never in red and is often deliberately written upside down.[4]
The scribe of the manuscript was named Stephanos, and he worked in the church of Saint Thomas in the city ofQaryathen. He noted that he finished his work on 10 April 932.[9]
The text is anonymous as it stands, since no part of the surviving manuscript names an author.[9][10] It was composed in aSyriac Orthodox milieu.[11]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.[7] This proposal has not gained general acceptance, although Simeon is accepted as the author of a letter on the massacre.[12] The letter and theBook are independent of one another and their commonalities seem to stem from the same oral reports.[13]Ignazio Guidi suggested that theActa of the martyrArethas were either written by a certain Sergius, bishop ofRūṣafa, or else dependent on him as a source. Axel Moberg argues that Sergius was probably the author of theBook. Sergius, whose name is also given as George, was served alongside Simeon of Beth Arsham as an envoy of EmperorJustinian I to KingAl-Mundhir III of Ḥirtā.[14] 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.[15]
TheBook was written sometime between the sixth and tenth centuries.[11][10] Specifically, it achieved its final form no earlier than 526 and no later than 932.[16] 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.[17]
TheBook of the Himyarites is a work ofhistoriography, nothagiography. 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."[18] Compared to the other sources for the martyrs of Najran, theBook is chronologically broader, covering the rise ofChristianity and Judaism in Himyar and the aftermath of the persecution.[13][15] It is also the most detailed account.[17]
The text of the first six chapters and part of the seventh is lost.[19] From the titles of the first three chapters it seems that they dealt with thepaganism 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 firstAksumite (Abyssinian) expedition against Himyar.[20]
Moberg, the original editor of theBook, argued that it was the source of theActa of Arethas, concluding that "theActa are little more than an extract from some chapters of theBook."[21] The main difference in their perspectives is that theActa are written from aByzantine perspective, while theBook has nothing to say about Byzantine involvement in the events of 523.[18]
TheBook may also have been a source for a hymn byJohn Psaltes, composed around 600. The hymn's brief introduction namesDhū Nuwās, the persecutor of Najran, as Masrūq, a name found in theBook.[22]
While theBook is not a source of Simeon's letter, it is useful for interpreting it in light of the latter's tendentiousness.[23]
Bowersock, Glen W. (2013).The Throne of Adulis: Red Sea Wars on the Eve of Islam. Oxford University Press.
Lee, Ralph (2011). "The Conversion of King Caleb and the Religious and Political Dynamics of Sixth-Century Ethiopia and Southern Arabia". In Peter Sarris; Matthew Dal Santo; Phil Booth (eds.).An Age of Saints? Power, Conflict and Dissent in Early Medieval Christianity. Brill. pp. 77–88.
Moberg, Axel (2010) [1924].The Book of the Himyarites: Fragments of a Hitherto Unknown Syriac Work. Gorgias Press.
Penn, Michael Philip; Johnson, Scott Fitzgerald; Shepardson, Christine; Stang, Charles M., eds. (2022).Invitation to Syriac Christianity: An Anthology. University of California Press.
Shahīd, Irfan (1963). "TheBook of the Himyarites: Authorship and Authenticity".Le Muséon.76:349–362.
Van Rompay, Lucas (2011a)."Ḥimyar". InSebastian P. Brock; Aaron M. Butts;George A. Kiraz; Lucas Van Rompay (eds.).Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition. Beth Mardutho. Retrieved22 June 2022.
Van Rompay, Lucas (2011b)."Shemʿun of Beth Arsham". In Sebastian P. Brock; Aaron M. Butts; George A. Kiraz; Lucas Van Rompay (eds.).Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition. Beth Mardutho. Retrieved22 June 2022.
