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THE HIMYARITE-ETHIOPIAN WAR1

AND THE ETHIOPIAN OCCUPATION OF SOUTH ARABIA IN THE ACTS OF GREGENTIUS (ca. 530 A.D.)2

VASSILIOS CHRISTIDES *

1. Gregentius' acts content and nature:

Information about South Arabia during the first half of the 6th century A.D. is scarce. One of the few literary sources which shed light on conditions existing in South Arabia in this period is the Acts of Gregentius. Traditionally the Acts has been thought to be composed of three parts : 3 the Life of Gregentius, an account of Gregentius' early life, travels and tenure as archbishop of the Himyarites; Gregentius' Dialogue with a Jew, a discussion between a Christian (Gregentius) and a learned Jew (Herban), which focuses on the problems of dogma arising from various passages of the Bible; and the Laws of Gregentius, a text reputedly composed by Gregentius which deals with the Byzantine inspired laws applied to South Arabia by the Ethiopian controlled Himyarite Church.4 The present author has discovered a fourth and heretofore unknown portion of Gregentius' Acts in the Manuscript of Jerusalem entitled Kata Azymôn (unleavened bread). The Kata Azymôn manuscript is a polemic against the Jews 3 as clearly indicated by the title and has been attributed to "Gregentius Bishop of South Arabia".

Gregentius, according to his Life, was sent by the patriarch of Alexandria to assume the post of archbishop of South Arabia with his seat at the capital Zafâr ca. 525 A.D. Gregentius' appointment, suggested by the Byzantine Emperor Justin I, was made by the patriarch of Alexandria, and followed the overthrow and death of the Jewish Himyarite King, dhu-Nuwâs (Masrûq) by the Negus of Ethiopia, 'Ella-'Asbeha (Kâl'eb), a Christian ally of the Byzantine, and the death of this Himyarite king. As a result of this change of leadership, Christianity, which had been nearly eradicated in South Arabia by Judaism, once again gained impetus.

The Acts of Gregentius relate events which occurred in South Arabia after the massacre of the Christians by the Jewish Himyarites in Negrand and form a chronological extension of the narration found in the Martyrium of Arethas, a work which described extensively the sack and fall of Negran (523/4 A.D.), and ends with the triumph and reestablishment of Christianity in South Arabia.6