in Editedversion a paperfirst of published theSeminar ArabianStudies15 (1985): 5-10 Proceedings for of

TheMartyrdomAzqir of
document extant of (to onlyin a Geez version, though perhaps judge by thespelling My topicis a brief The ueez text trom lostArabicoriginal. a was edited withan Italian someoi theproper names)translated translation H. Winckler translation C. Conti-Rossini (1910), buta German (1894) had appeared by by preis and of The basic narrative straightforward unencumbered morethana minimum miraculous by viously. in of it elements; general, givesa strong impression historical authenticity. in runsas follows.A priestnamedAzqir preachedChristianity Najran,which The basic narrative whilea meshimthehostility someinfluential of there. These had himplacedunder arrest groups gained himofpreaching newreligion". due coursea In "a was sentto theHimyarite in Zafar, king accusing sage in himto be sentto Zafarfor and of of camefor trial, he was sentthere thecustody a party royalsummons The kingwas unimpressed Azqir'sclaimthat religion preached the he was not traders by goingthat way. the councillors advisedthat shouldbe sentbackto Najranto be he new;and somerbbanat among king's Thiswas accordingly done. executed there. publicly to WhileAzqirwas under Miraculous elements limited thefollowing. are arrest the of pending arrival access to himandwerebaptised him;thisis theking's someNajranite instructions, sympathisers gained by of in of flying open of theprisondoors(in themanner St Peter's escape presented terms a "miraculous" itself miraculous notnecessarily from point is the from but as so presents prison), whatto a hagiographer and of view of a modern. had at thispointnotyetbeen condemned, was mostprobably He onlyunder of or would have been perfectly house arrest, that admission visitors favour bribery) so the (by possible of the without infringementthelaws of nature, view it as miraculous. though pious would certainly any the from in The sameappliesto two"miracles" of during journey Najranto Zafar, consisting theprovision of water whentheparty short it. On one occasionthisis presented a Mosaic-style ran as of "smiting the rock"by thesaint, morethantheopportune of whichneed imply on nothing discovery a water-hole; the there a providential is of is miraculous other, appearance a raincloud,in whichthere nothing exceptthe narrator's from saint's the his execution he comment itresulted that prayers. Finally, presented problems: of stonemissedand himself downdead, and thecoup-dewas to be stoned, thethrower thefirst but fell asked a friend lenda swordforthepurpose. these to All gracecould onlybe givenwhenAzqir himself suchas no hagiographie features common are writer couldavoid. topoi, Therearetwoperipheral The noticeofAzqir'sdeathis followed a short coda stating 38 that points. by other monks and layfolk, won thecrownof martyrdom; also and persons, bishops[sic],priests, including in thattheyare commemorated the Ethiopian church 24 Hedar (whichis two days before comon the and his companions). memoration St [61Arethas of interwoven thebasic Azqir narrative into Secondly, aretworeferences an individual to comefrom was thefirst inform to he who,having Zafar, Azqirthat was to be sentfor and trial theking, addedthat wouldcertainly putto death;to whichthesaint's he be by reply me from Nawas, "You havebrought good news,forwhichyou deservea reward". Later,on thejourney to Zafar, claimedhis reward; saintsaid "I have no gold or silver giveyou",but thisindividual the to jran theman'sreply but of and was, "I do notwishforgoldor silver, I desirethereward baptism", so was baptisedon thespot.It is onlyin thesecondof thesetwo passagesthatwe are givenhis nameas Kiriakos. Conti-Rossini a here: finds difficulty he claimsthat namecould onlyhave beenborneby a Byzantine the and a and thisis contradicted his request baptism. for Neither subject, therefore already Christian, that by observation valid.During fourth-fifth is the centuries was quitecommon Christians do as theemit for to Constantine done,and remain had catechumens mostoftheir for when lives,onlyreceiving peror baptism 113

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this whileitis well-known baptism that neardeath; reasonfor was that the sin, wipesoutall pre-baptismal still as doubtful whether there couldbe anyabsolution for itwas inthosecenturies regarded theologically sin.Nor are we obligedto assumethatKiriakoswas a Byzantine birth; could have he by post-baptismal catechumen who receivedthe name Kiriakosat baptism, been,and I suspectwas, a nativeHimyarite on whichcould explainwhyhe is notgiventhatnamewhenhe makeshis first appearance thescene.It that in does notappearin thenarrative Kiriakos(or anyofthosewhowerebaptised Najran)was exposed to was but to anydanger hislife:Azqir'scondemnation notfor beinga Christian, becauseofhisproselytisThe activities. reason, from not therefore, all thesepersonssought why ing baptism Azqirwas probably to their ownlives,butbecausetheanticipated becauseof imminent deathofthesaintmadetheocdanger of them.1 casionsomething a "lastchance"for in the element thewhole document thenamegivento theHimyarite is Historically, mostsignificant as Yankuf of (in king,Srrbhel Dnqef,recognisable an easy corruption Ethiopiescript) the Sharahbil inthetraditions, whoappearsin Arabictradition. kingoccupiesa relatively This and inconspicuous place to round nameinauthentic legendary his as has been thecase is thusnotlikely have gathered or matter, Abukarib another to of This withthefamous Ascad;thisprovides pointer theauthenticity our material. in in as with two S2rhbDl mentioned coregent sources, theform Ykf, kingis also attested Sabaic epigraphic Yncmin theHimyarite 582,2exactly yearsbefore Arethan Ynf 51 sonsLhyct and Mcdkrb the year martyrdomsforwhichkingYusuf(Dhu Nuwas) was responsible. to Azqir'sdeathhas therefore be placedsomeCE.3 Our document a precious in wherein thethird ofthe5thcentury is to conditions the quarter pointer realm that at period. Himyarite the 38 the in thisis introduced makesitclear As forthecoda concerning other martyrs, manner which with of the had of that were that writer no intention suggesting their martyrdoms synchronous that Azqir. must overa period time. of Norare The mention bishopsinthepluralshowsthat of havebeenspread they withthecompanions St Arethas, who werecommemorated a different on in anyway connected of they between natural inference that is werea seriesofincidents overthehalfcentury they spread day.The most affair. ofAzqirandthat theArethan of Thereis evidently question anysystematic no of theperiod perseone a year),inwhich the but of executions less cution Christians, rather a setofisolated of (averaging than of and that whichAzqirwas convicted, crime was mostlikely namely proselytising notsimpleadherence to Christianity. a to a and have expected missionary One might ambience, his priest have come from Syriac-speaking formed body)",4 basedon the be as namecouldjust possibly regarded representing (of Syriac zaqir "(well) "weave" but metaphorically verbzdqar meaning "form, literally shape (a humanbody)". However,it sinceEthiopiescript seemsmoreplausibleto see thenameas an Arabicone, ad-dakr"thefar-famed", both to has onlyone letter represent z andd. [7] who advisedthattheexecution shouldtakeplace publicly the scene of the on The royalcouncillors a butit is notso excluas whichcommonly refers a Jewish to crime described rbbanat, term are rabbi; wordis - a fewinstances occurof itsapplication a "leading to to sively applicable a Jewas theEnglish heremenof Yet is the aboutunderstanding persons irrespective religion. there no problem personality" in and attest presence SouthArabia,inthefourth fifth the tioned Jews, as sincetheinscriptions centuries, in At which was influential ofa Jewish (in community although probably myview) restricted numbers. all of of showsthat there wereother members thecouncilwhowerenot the events, phraseology thedocument to contrast thedocuis and rbbanat, there no hintof thekinghimself beinga Jew;thisis in complete whichall stress Yusufhad converted Judaism. that to ments theArethan of persecution, for in is of of As remarked above,there no hint ourdocument anypersecution Christians merely their The motive theobjection for whatwas objectedto was the spreadof Christianity propaganda. faith; by in rather religious. seemsto meto be principally than of political Anyextension Christianity theareamust of have necessarily to an extension Byzantine led a boundto be objectionable influence, thing political

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bothto thoseHimyarites withPersiansympathies to thoseanxiousto preserve and independHimyarite enceofboth great the powers. I half later. am increasingly inclined see theconflicts to Thisviewhas a bearing thesituation a century on in warsbetween Christians anti-Christians, as in and but of theearly6thcentury Yemennotas religious This is in linewith what themainoccasioned theantagonisms between parties. by pro-and anti-Byzantine Nuwas "was in a considerable has J.Harmatta written (1974: 103), thatthepolicyof Yusuf/Dhu degree in and builtuponthecontrast between Jewsand Christians thiscircumstance, sources, specially Christian I that war".However, wouldnotagreewith feeling an his to events appearance the ofa religious [sic] gave havebeenso was necessarily pro-Persian at leastin intent doubtitmight a one, (no anti-Byzantine policy in in effect); anti-Byzantine is morelikely myviewto have aimedat keeping clearof influences the party the to from bothgreat Howeverfanatical Yusufhimself powers. mayhavebeenfor religion whichhe was without support the the of the out a convert, policiescarried in his namecould nothave been executed theYazanidswhowerehis chiefsupporters; theseI believewerepriand lords, Himyarite great specially it nationalists anti-Byzantine of Yemenite marily sympathy, as at theendofthe6thcentury was a Yajust the who stoodoutas a champion Yemenite of zanid,Sayf, against Sasanians. independence One mayfurther whatexactly was "new"aboutthecreedpreached Azqir?If we can place any ask, by in in a mission themid-4th confidence Byzantine sourcesunsupported indigenous evidence, Byzantine by in adherents Christianity Himyar. to Had thisbeenso evanescent hadhad somesuccessinwinning century of not later?However, mustbe recalled it thatall memory it had disappeared muchmorethana century that emperor the Constantius despatched mission Ariansympathies; ifsuchnative who the had and Christo of tiansas mayhavestillexistedinYemena century wereaccustomed an Arianversion Christianlater as have regarded bothMonophysitism orthodox and Chalcedonian ity,theywould surely dyophysitism of of influence. Nestorians as the heresies, well as presenting danger an extension Byzantine innovatory and to too wouldfind bothChalcedonian Monophysite and doctrines repugnant; hereit is pertinent recall in theArabictradition whichattributes introduction Christianity Najranto a mission the of based on Hira, which had strong Nestorian tendencies. in It might that novelty Azqir'sdoctrine either thefactthat his timenative the be of lay by Christianity had dwindled to or as was had an Arianor Nestorian comvirtually nothing, thatsuchChristianity there whether whileAzqirwas preaching orChalcedonian. doctrine, plexion, up-to-date Byzantine Monophysite At all events, indications or the the seemto be thatforthehalf-century so before Yusufine periodthere was a powerful Jewish community) theYemenite anxiousto [81 Himyarite party (probably supported by in contain extension Byzantine of from influence SouthArabia,suchas they wouldresult any anticipated in an extension Christianity therealm. of One minor is Yusufs first actionafter capitulation Najranwas to seize the of pointof some interest that and burn relicsof BishopPaul ofNajran,who had been putto deathmorethana twelvemonth the previnot is ously,5 in Najranbutin Zafar.No explanation givenof whathe was doingin Zafar,butone could Christian and was executedon the there, reasonably supposethathe had been conducting propaganda sameprinciple Azqir,of suffering thesceneofthecrime. as on * * * * * I must nowturn an extremely to and whatrelationshipif difficult, perhaps insoluble, ultimately problem: - is there between Azqirincident theSabaic inscription Istanbul 7608bis(G. Ryckmans the and 1946), any almost from vicinity Zafar.Originally the of of certainly verylong,thisis preserved onlyin a number disand extant are: jointedfragments lacksa date.The mostimportant phrases

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the their lords negst Aksum king A<b>fra6 ofthe of Ella ... HolySpirit, Simyafac ofSaba king king and service the for kings of for for negasi Aksum doing the of Habashites kings Himyar viceroys (cqbt) of sea(-coast?) the and peace(slh)ofHimyar inthe name Rabmanan His of Aksum for control7 the and victorious .... SonChrist has The Wellcome to (Beeston1980) whichprobably fragment belongs thesametext further, Habashites Sanaa, from when there war was ... the tothem as tobe subject them so to .... submitted andthe forces their of town Aksum military andhe

can so a but It will be seenhow little certainty be gainedfrom mutilated text, forsometimeitwas generit the after deathofYusuf/Dhu its that depicts situation the Nuwas,andthat author shortly allyconcluded Ashwaccould be identified theEsimiphaios with who according Proto (or one of itsauthors) Simyafac as and was a Christian installed theAksumites a vassal kingoverHimyar thedefeat deathof on by copius Yusuf. on However,J.Pirenne this,primarily palaeographic (1974: 122, 124, 128) has contested grounds, of is with that monument incompatible a post-Yusufine butmust date, style theIstanbul holding thescript the it is on CE, partof the5thcentury and that situation describes one consequential belongto thelatter in the oftheEthiopians Yemen"mentioned theBookofthe into also that "first coming Azqir'smartyrdom; whileProcopius confused muchearlier has this invaHimyarites, cap.V (Moberg1924: ci) belongshere, in and sionwith one resulting Yusufs defeat death. the I The I am obligedto saythat do notthink can of any palaeography furnish positive proof suchdating. in of is one Istanbul relief, executed professional engraved by engravers theheartland inscription a finely a of suchas wouldprovide secure but culture; we possessno datedinscriptions thischaracter, Himyarite near Between Gar basis forpalaeographic comparison, anywhere thedeathofYusufcirca 635 Himyarite. we NIS 4 of 617 or 619 Him.,and CIH 541 of 658 Him.,theonlydatedinscriptions havearerockinscripin of relief Arabiawritten members Himyarite tions(notformal ones) either central expediby military that far tions(631-633Him.) or at Hisnal-Ghurb to theeast (640 Him.).To aver,therefore, theIstanbul after 635 Him.,is cannotbelongto theyearsimmediately on grounds palaeographic inscription purely that script "thesameas theone ofRy 520 [dated574 Him.] this Pirenne herself declares is hazardous. very of that or evenbetter italics]GarNIS 4". She thusthinks thetwoscripts Ry 520 andGarNIS 4, sepa[my the are of as rated an interval at least45 years, so similar to giveriseto doubtaboutwhichfurnishes by in is whilethebestcomparison provided, herview,by Gar NIS 4. Can one reallyon closercomparison; that of cannotpossiblybe a mere20 declarepositively the script theIstanbul thesegrounds inscription to or less posterior GarNIS 4? [91 years one lookto it conclusive evidence dating, seemsto methat must of So farfrom providing palaeography such data. Unfortunately, evidenceis evidencein orderto assess the palaeographic non-palaeographic was In the confused. thefirst martyrdoms 523 CE place,thosewhoholdthat dateoftheArethan woefully which Cosmas conclude that invasion the in S. (as stated theGreek preparations Martyrium Arethae' must of of "in of of were witnessed thebeginning thereign Justin"8 thoseforthe"first coming theEthiopians" for of antes. To assumeyetanother Aksumite theBookoftheHimy earlier, conquest Yemenhalfa century of the is is for which there no evidence, nota satisfactory ground rejecting actualevidence Procopius. that to 5 18 CE, must infer theArethan thosewho,likeI. Shahid, On theother hand, martyrdoms assign and in for whatCosmas saw was thepreparation theinvasion whichYusufwas defeated killed;and that thisunspecified timeearlier. to holdthat Yet of is the"first coming theEthiopians" datedan unspecified time couldhavebeenas muchas halfa century a presents gravedifficulty. and GreeksourcesnametheAksumite kingwho defeated killedYusufas Elletzbasor (in Procopius) bothrepresenting in Ellestheaios, (witha slightscribalcorruption the latter case) the regnalstyleElla

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from Aksumin Asbha; Syriacsourcesuse his personalnameKaleb. Now we have a Geez inscription whichKaleb writes, sentmygeneral "I and the Hyn (Hyona)to makewaron Himyar to establish church namewiththeHywnD who in the and there", A.J.Drewes(1978) has convincingly equatedthisgeneral's BookoftheHimyarites the was stillreigning whenJustincommanded "first Elletzbas, however, coming". in in ian senthisembassy under patrician the Julianos 532 CE, as vividly described John Malalas. Thus,to of 70 datethe"first backto thethird of CE a quarter the5thcentury involves reign nearly years coming" evidence(such as is notavailable)for whichwouldrequire forElletzbas/Kaleb, fairly strong supporting acceptance. is thatthe Aksumite There is one last possibility: kingnamed in the Istanbulinscription not Ella to the shhdoes notlookrecognisably Asbhabuta different The objection thisis that form Geez, person. attested Aksumite with andcannot king. easilybe identified anyotherwise in incomrecorded Tabaripresent two mutually thattheArabictraditions It mustnotbe overlooked Nuwas. In one ofthese, Yusufs immedithedeathof Yusuf/Dhu of versions theevents following patible succesThe other makeshis immediate thusleavingno roomforEsimiphaios. ate successor was Abraha, who placedAbrahaon after timeby dissident a sora Christian who was dethroned Ethiopian troops king to a it muchas in Procopius. Whentwo sourcesagreeagainst third, is surely thethrone, prudent folvery Arabic of there a possibleexplanation thedivergent is of low theversion thetwothatagree;and I think two abortive we the tradition. After deathof Ellestheaios, hear,Abraha(who had overcome by attempts to itwouldhavebeeninhis interest at which thenegusto displacehim)madehispeace with Aksum, point inin thefirst himself havingbeen legitimately as set on footpropaganda place, appointed representing movement. steadofhaving by gainedthethrone an insurrectionary to has of it Outofall thisconfusion, does notappearto methat weight jusanything emerged sufficient a at the ourdiscrediting evidenceof Procopius writer, leastin his (esteemed Byzantinists careful by tify The Histories the Wars)on an eventwhichhad takenplace in his own lifetime. martyrdoms ofAzqir of to massiveAkno isolatedincidents, one of whichwas enough provoke 38 and theother were,I submit, nor for trade(themotive the"first to sumite reaction. coming"), did they Theyposed no threat Aksumite in. suchas Yusufindulged [101 involve of massacres Ethiopians

Notes
1 Later in can by practice, whichthesacrament be administered case ofemergency anyone, by baptismal in times. was notcurrent early 2 The dated the 195 is epithet inscription CIH 537 + RES 4919 (J.Ryckmans 1: 342-343), where father's this withcertainty comparing textwithRES 2627 and 4969, Ykf is missing; it can be restored but by names. the which cumulatively produce three took the whether Arethan Thereis no needhereto discussthequestion martyrdoms place in 523 or 5 18 in context. of CE, sincethedifference onlyfiveyearsis notsignificant thepresent from As with LatinFormosus forma. between12 and 24 months, theusualNear Eastern but "Two years"in theoriginal, thisis probably by is aprs-lendemain. in ofcounting, whiche.g. "thethird subsequently" V day system the omitted thisforeign facedwith the It has beengenerally believedthat engraver, name,inadvertently below. b; butsee further root Reading from w. from words"twenty-five ago, the thatwe can gain anycloserprecision It is uselessto imagine years and moreor less"; we do notknowthepreciseyearin whichthesewordswerepenned, thephraseis self-confessedly imprecise.

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Sigla
CIH GarNIS RES Ry 520 et Semiticarum. IV. Inscriptiones Pars CorpusInscriptionum himyariticas sabaeas continens. Paris:Reipublicae 1889-1932. Typographeo, in 1973. Inscriptions Garbini Paris:Imprimerie 1900-1968. nationale, Rpertoire pigraphie smitique. in G Inscription Ryckmans 1954.

References
Beeston A.F.L. 1980. The SouthArabian Collection theWellcome of Museumin London.Raydn3: 11-16. Conti-Rossini . 1910. Un documento cristianesimo sul nellolernen tempi re Sarahbl ai del Yakkuf. Reale Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. Rendiconti della Classe di Scienza morale,storichee serie5, 19: 705-750. filologick, DrewesA.J. 1978. Kaleb andHimyar: another reference HYWIsP?Raydn1: 27-31. to Garbini . 1973. Nuoveiscrizioni sabee.Annalidell'Istituto Orientale Napoli 33 [NS 23]: 31-46. di Harmatta J. 1974. The struggle possession SouthArabiabetween for of Aksm theSsnians.Pages 95and 106 in IV CongressoInternazionale StudiEtiopici : (Roma, 10-15 aprile 1972). i. di attuali scienzae di cultura, di Nazionaledei (Problemi 191). Roma:Accademia quaderno, Lincei. A. Moberg 1924. TheBook oftheHimyarites: Unknown Editedwith Fragments a Hitherto of SyriacWork. an Introduction Translation. and av Kungl Humanististka Veten(Skrifter Utgivna i Lund,7). Lund:Gleerup. skapssamfundet Pirenne . J 1974. A palaeographical of with to chronology theSabaean-dated inscriptions, reference several eras.Proceedings theSeminar ArabianStudies 118-130. 4: of for G. Ryckmans 1946. Une inscription chrtienne sabenneaux Muses d'Antiquits d'Istanbul. Muson59: Le 165-172. 1954. Inscriptions sud-arabes onzime srie.Le Muson67: 99-119. J . Kyckmans 1951.L'Institution en avantl'Islam (Macnet Saba). (Bibliomonarchique Arabiemridionale du Orientaliste. thque Muson,28). Louvain: Institut w incider H. des in 1894. ZurGeschichte Judentums Jemen. Forschungen. Pages 329-336 inAltorientalische i. Leipzig:Pfeiffer.