Aksum An African Civilisation of Late Antiquity Stuart Munro-Hay

 
Illustration 12. Drawing of a gold coin (d. 17mm) of king Eon, with, on the obverse, the 
legend + CAC + ACA + XAC + CAC, which, with its variants, may mean `King of 
Habashat'.  
Eon, interestingly enough, appears to be the first of the Aksumite rulers to use the 
mysterious title + BAC + CIN + BAX + ABA, on his gold coins. This is of uncertain 
meaning but has been interpreted to include the phrase `Basileus Habasinon', or king of 
Habashat/the Habash, one of the titles used by the South Arabians in their inscriptions 
when referring to the Aksumite rulers (Doresse 1957: I, 278ff). Further, Eon's gold coins 
have been found in South Arabia, as have those of almost all his successors until the 
reign of Kaleb (Anzani 1928, Munro-Hay 1978, Munro-Hay forthcoming). It is possible, 
then, that the Aksumites continued to struggle to preserve some sort of foothold or 
official presence in South Arabia during the fifth century, in spite of the consolidation 
and expansion there of the power of local rulers such as Abukarib As`ad. We cannot 
know for certain how much truth there might be in this suggestion until inscriptions of 
one or other of the Ethiopian kings of the period or their Arabian contemporaries come to 
light.  
7. Period 5; Kaleb to the End of the Coinage 
The events of the time of Kaleb swell the sources available for Aksumite history to a 
disproportionate degree, and have resulted in the assumption that Kaleb was Aksum's 
greatest and most powerful ruler. However, the majority of the sources merely consist of 
more or less repetitious accounts by ecclesiastical historians full of praise for Kaleb's 
incursion into the Yemen to crush the anti-Christian persecutor, and often add little or 
nothing to the information of more reliable sources.  

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Illustration 12a. Drawings of two gold coins (d. c. 18mm) and a bronze coin (d. 15mm) of 
king Kaleb.  
Kaleb invaded the Yemen around 520, in order to oust the Jewish Himyarite king Yusuf 
Asar Yathar, who was persecuting the Christian population. This ostensible reason for 
mounting the expedition across the Red Sea probably covers a number of other causes, 
since it seems that Yusuf may have also acted against Aksumite interests, and those of 
her Roman allies, in the political and commercial spheres.  
One later source (the historian known as Pseudo-Zacharias of Mitylene; Brooks, ed. 
1953) claims that Yusuf had acceded to power in Himyar because an Aksumite appointee 
to the throne had died, and, it being winter, the Aksumites could not cross the Red Sea to 
install another king. However, the source is not a contemporary one, though the very fact 
that he makes such a statement is interesting. King Ma`adkarib Ya`fur, who left an 
inscription of year 631 of the Himyarite era (c516AD), may have been the deceased ruler, 
but his titulature is the very long one including `Hadhramawt, Yamanat, and their 
bedouins of the high plateau and coastal plain', and it seems very unlikely that he was 
actually an Aksumite appointee (Rodinson 1969: 28, 31).  
The various Latin, Greek, Syriac and Ge`ez sources (admirably summarised in Shahid 
1971) have left a complicated set of names for the two protagonists in this war. Kaleb 
Ella Atsbeha is usually referred to by variants of his throne-name (such as Ellesbaas, 
Hellesthaeos, etc.), though John of Ephesus calls him Aidog. Yusuf is called Dhu-Nuwas 
in the Arab accounts, and a variety of names in other sources (Damianus, Dunaas, 
Dimnus, Masruq, Finehas, etc.) which seem to be based on this epithet or nickname or 
are derived from other epithets.  

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The chronology of the rulers of the Yemen in Kaleb's time is tentative, and one 
inscription which refers to the death of a king of Himyar, dated to 640HE/c525AD, has 
been taken as announcing the death of king Yusuf, thus situating Kaleb's invasion in 525. 
But it may well refer to the death of his successor, the viceroy Sumyafa` Ashwa`. With 
the useful assistance of dated inscriptions the chronology can be reconstructed as follows; 
Ma`adkarib Ya`fur  
- c517/8AD; 
Yusuf Asar Yathar 517/8 - 520; 
Sumyafa` Ashwa` 
520 - c525; 
Abreha 
525 - at least 547. 
The Arab historians Ibn Hisham, Ibn Ishaq and Tabari, each of whom has a slightly 
different version of events (Guillaume 1955; Zotenberg 1958), tell of rivalry between 
Abreha and another of the najashi's generals in the Yemen, Aryat. This would seem to 
have occurred around 525.  
When Kaleb's forces arrived in Yemen, there was a certain amount of fighting, celebrated 
by various inscriptions. One (Rodinson 1969), of some qayls or princes of `Yusuf Asar 
Yathar, king of all the Tribes', is dated to year 633 of the Himyarite era/c518AD, and 
mentions that the king destroyed the church and killed the Abyssinians at Zafar, the 
Himyarite capital, demonstrating clearly that there were already Abyssinians in the 
country at the time; this rather speaks in favour of Pseudo-Zacharias' statement noted 
above. In the end, Kaleb's invading force was able to rout and eventually kill Yusuf. 
Another, Christian, ruler, Sumyafa` Ashwa`, was appointed, whose inscription (Philby 
1950; Ryckmans 1946; Ryckmans 1976) refers to him by the title of king, but also as 
viceroy for the kings (in the plural) of Aksum; this inscription actually names Kaleb by 
his `Ella'-title, as Ella A(ts)bahah. Another inscription, possibly part of this one or a close 
parallel, appears to name the town of Aksum itself (Beeston 1980ii).  
The Ethiopian viceroyalty lasted for perhaps four or five years, until c525, when the 
viceroy, Sumyafa` Ashwa`, was deposed, and Abreha became king in his stead. The 
contemporary Byzantine historian Procopius mentions that Sumyafa`, whose name he 
graecises as Esimiphaios, was a Himyarite by birth. The deposition of Sumyafa` was, 
apparently, accomplished with the support of Ethiopians who had remained in the 
Yemen, and Kaleb attempted to punish them and Abreha by sending a force of three 
thousand men under a relative of his. But this force defected, killing their leader and 
joining Abreha. The infuriated Kaleb sent yet another army, but this was defeated and 
accordingly Abreha was left on his throne (Procopius; ed. Dewing 1914: 189-191).  
Abreha in later years used the titles of `king of Saba, Himyar, Hadhramawt, Yamanat, 
and all their Arabs of the Coastal Plain and the Highlands' (Ryckmans 1966; Smith 1964; 
Sergew Hable Sellassie 1972: 148, 153). This title, apparently last used by Ma`adkarib 
Ya`fur, seems to have lapsed during Yusuf's usurpation (Rodinson 1969) and Sumyafa` 
Ashwa`'s viceroyalty, and it is interesting to observe that although Kaleb of Aksum used 
these same titles, his son Wa`zeb abandoned the longer title and contented himself with 

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