Himyar

The Himyarite Kingdom

Rival of the Kingdom of Sheba, Qataban and Hadramaout, this kingdom for the first time is attested during front II°s J.C.The time, the small kingdom was under the domination of the powerful kingdom of Qataban which dominated the Yemen between -500 and -110. However, the progressive decline of the Qataban pushed Himyart to make secession into -110, which completed to break up the empire of Qataban. Better, Himyart is placed quickly like its successor.

However, of the disorders resulting from the fall of Qataban did not allow Himyart to impose itself. It is Hadramaout which withdraws the benefit and bases its power from it on the Yemen by imposing its hegemony.

Vis-a-vis its fast and powerful expansionist will, Himyart took the head of a union of small kingdoms in order to better resist its influence. It was combined thus with the kingdom of Zafâr. Moreover, to make sure of new outlets for trade and to control the roads of provisioning, Himyar launched out in a policy of foundations of small colonies in Erythrée towards 45 a. J.C which will hardly remain. But the power of its rival reaches his apogee in 175 when it destroyed Qataban definitively.

Gradually, Himyar was reinforced: initially by crushing the Kingdom of Sheba and its expansionist dreams in 230 under the king himyarite Yâsir Yuhan' m and his/her son Shammir Yuharish which annexed Sheba. Then, Hadramaout could not counter the offensive himyarite and crumbled in 275. The sovereign Himyarite, Shammir Yuharish, unifies for the first time the totality of southernmost Arabia, thus forming the Himyarite Empire at the beginning of IV°s.

The Himyarite Empire

The Himyarite Empire inaugurates the great period ostentation of the pre-Islamic Yemen so much of the point of seen the wide one of the Empire. It will dominate the Yemen of 275 with 571 intersected with invasion of the Ethiopia and religious wars between Juifs and Chrétiens.

Economically, it is certain that the exchanges continue even if there are severe reverses. Indeed, in IV°s coining sudarabic cease. Worse, the system of irrigated agriculture pluriséculaire which made it possible to stop the increasing turning into a desert of the area tends to being less better maintained: the first rupture of the dam of Mareb took place under the reign of Tharan Yuhanim in 360; the second in January 456 under the reign of Sharahbi' it Ya' far, wire of Abîkarib As' AD. But the diplomatic and comemrciaux contacts with Rome multiply like the embassy of 339 - 344 of Theophilus sent by the Roman Emperor.

Politically, the Empire extends from 440 with 450 with forwardings of Abîkarib As' AD, wire of Malkîkarib Yuhanim, and its son Hassân Yuhanim which extend the capacity of Himyar on central Arabia. For better ensuring their control, they found there a principality entrusted to Hujr, prince Kindite.

It is the religious question which shows how much the Yemen was the theater of multiple influences. Initially, into 380, Abîkarib As' AD and its its corégents are converted with the Judaïsme.

This first revolution puts a final term at the Polythéisme ancestral, the large temples not only abandoned but are destroyed. Then, little by little diffuses the Christianisme which is seen like a Secte and fought like such. Thus, towards 470 took place the Martyr of Azqir under the reign of Sharahbi' it Ya' far. A religious fight develops between Christians and Jews under cover of a civil war. As of 519, the king of Ethiopia Kaled Ella Asbeha actively supports the coup d'etat of the Christian Madîkarib Yafur on the throne. In June 522, it will be carried out by the Jewish monarch Yusuf As' rear Yath' rear who hastens to sit his capacity while launching large a Persécution of the Christians whose apogee will be in November 523 with the Martyr of Aréthas Saint at Najrân.

VI°s thus sees developing religious disorders of importances but also a political decline of the Empire. Already, as of 500, the sites of Nashan, Nashq and Manhiyat are given up little by little, signs of a manifest decline. Then, the Christian Madîkarib Yafur had to launch a punitive forwarding in central Arabia to punish the revolt in June 521 kindite Jewish Al-Hârith which refused to recognize its usurpation. With Jewish king Yusuf rear As' Yath' rear, it is Najrân which refuses to subject in July 523. Lastly, the Empire remained impotent to counter the great invasion of 525 of the Yemen by the Abyssins elected by the Basileus. King Yusuf commits suicide.

The Christianisme is established thus by the foreign force, sweeping the last hearths judaïques forced to convert or leave. One establishes king Sumûyafa Ashwa. The disorders push this last to strengthen as of 531 Qâni (Bir-Ali) but it will be reversed in 535 by the chief of the task force Abyssin always present, Abraha. It is him which transfers the capital from Zafâr to Sanaa.

The reign of Abraha seems to mark a pause in the long decline of the Empire very tested by the civil war and nun. New work of width is implemented which attests revival of the Himyarite Empire: One repairs in March 549 the dam Marib before carrying out a complete clearing out of the old dam in 558.

The occupation abyssine however is not very accepted. Thus, in 570, an Yemeni prince Jewish, Sayf Ibn Dhi-Yaz' year, called upon the Perses to drive out Abyssins, which results in the Persian invasion sassanide of the Yemen which reverses the king abyssin Masrûq. The Empire himyarite will have lived.

See History of Yemen

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