Page:1909historyofdec04gibbuoft.djvu/645

APPENDIX 577 found in the Periplus of the Red Sea, which was composed by a merchant in the reign of Vespasian. (Best edition of this work by Fabricius, 1880.) There a king Zoskales is mentioned, and it is almost oertain that an inscription which Cosmas Indicopleustes copied at Adulis (C. I. G. 5127 B) refers to him. (See D. H. Mailer, Denksohriften of the Vienna Academy, xliii., 1894.) In the fourth century we find that the king of Axum has reduced the Homerites under his sway ; see C. I. G. 5128, fiacrievs ' A£ai/j.iTwv Kal '0/j.r)piTwi>. This does not mean that both nations had only one king; it means that the king of the Homerites acknowledged the overlordship of his more powerful neighbour. At the same time Christianity was beginning to make its way in these regions. Originally both Axumites and Homerites were votaries of the old Sabaean religion. Then the Jewish diaspora had led to the settlement of Jews in Central Arabia — in the region between the Nabataean kingdom (which reached as far as Leuke Kome) and Yemen, — and the result was that Judaism took root in the kingdom of the Homerites. The mission of Frurnentius to Abyssinia about the middle of the fourth century has been mentioned by Gibbon in a former chapter ; the foundations of the Ethiopian Church were laid ; but the king himself did not embrace the new doctrine. The name of the king of Axum at that time (c. 346-356 a.i>.) was Aizan, and he was a pagan (C. I. G. 5128). The conversion of the Homerites waB also begun under the auspices of the Emperor Constantius. The missionary was Theophilus, either a Homerite or an Axumite by birth, 1 who had been sent as a hostage to the court of Constantine. The Homerite king, though he had not adopted Christianity, built three Christian churches at his own expense and permitted his subjects to be con- verted if they wished. It was not till much later, in the reign of Anastasius, that Christianity began to spread, and a bishopric was founded (Theodoras Lector, 2, 58). The progress of the Christian faith advanced at least equally in Axum. It has been supposed (though hardly with good reason) that it was before the end of the fifth century that the king (or "negus") of Abyssinia was converted. 2 In the reign of Justin, a Homerite prince named Dhu-Novas (Gibbon's Dunaan) threw off the Axumite yoke, restored the dominance of the Jewish religion, and massacred Christians in Nejran. The king sent an embassy to Al-Mundir, the chief of the Saracens of Hira, to announce his success against Axum and Chris- tianity. The message happened to come at a moment when envoys of the Emperor Justin had arrived on business to Al-Mundir (Jan. 20, 524). The news of the massacre, which was soon carried to Syria, created a great sensation, and John Psaltes (abbot of a monastery near the Syrian Chalcis) wrote a hymn in honour of the martyrs. (Published by Schroter, Ztsch. der morgenl. Gesellschaft, 31.) There is also extant a letter of one Simeon Beth-Arsam, on the massacre : Syriac text with Italian translation, by J. Guidi, in the Memoirs of the Academia dei Lincei, vol. vii., 1880-1. The Martyrium Arethae, Acta Sanctorum, Oct. x., p. 721 sqq., seems to depend on the letter of Simeon. On the intervention of Justin, the king of the Axumites, Elesbaas or Chaleb, 3 reconquered Yemen, overthrew Dhu- Novas, and set up Esimphaeus in his stead. 4 But the revolt of a Christian named 1 He was a native of the isle of Dibfis. Various suggestions have been made as to the identity of this island. M. Duchesne thinks it was one of the little islands off the coast of Abyssinia. 2 This involves the hypothesis that the story of the victory of the Axumite king Andan (or Adad) over the Homerite king Dimnos (or Damianus) is not to be assigned to a.d. 527-8, in which year Malalas who records the story (ed. Bonn, p. 433-4) appears to place it. Theophanes, who takes the notice from Malalas, places it however still later, in a.d. 542-3 (a.m. 6035). Andan swore that he would become a Christian if he were successful against the Homerites, and he kept his vow. s Elesbads, Nonnosus, Theophanes ; Elesbda^, Oxford Ms. of Malalas ; Ellisthaeus, Procopius ; 'Ee<rl3a.dv, Cosmos. Ludolf gives the Ethiopian original as Ela Atzbeha. 4 For these events the Martyrium Arethae (with the Vita Gregentii) and Procopius, B. P. i. 20, are the chief sources. Theophanes briefly mentions the episode under the right year, a.d. 523-4. Procopius gives the name of the new prince or viceroy Esimphaeus, and records the revolt of Abramos. Malalas (p. 457, ed. Bonn) gives Anganes as the name of the king of the Homerites who was set up by Elesbaas. The form Esimphaeus represents 'Acraivfiaxd; which is found on a coin (Rev. Numism. 1868, ii. 3). See further the account of Ibn Ishaq (Noldeke, Tabari, 197 sqq.}. vol. iv. — 37