Aksum and Nubia: Warfare, Commerce, and Political Fictions in Ancient Northeast Africa

5. After Kush: Aksum and Nubia in the Sixth Century CE

5. After Kush: Aksum and Nubia in the Sixth Century CE An able and powerful ruler, Kālēb (c. 510-540) compares favorably with ‘Ēzānā as one of Aksum’s greatest military leaders. By far the most significant development in his reign was the conquest of the South Arabian kingdom of Ḥimyar, the successor to Saba’ and the polity which since the early fourth century had enjoyed uncontested dominion over South Arabia from the Tihāma to the Ḥaḍramawt. In 518, an invasion force sent by Kālēb against South Arabia brought to power a Christian Ḥimyarite potentate named Ma‘dīkarib Ya‘fur, who ruled the region as Aksum’s client. A rebellion led by one Yūsuf ’As’ar Yath’ar (c. 522-525), a Ḥimyarite Jew, brought an end to this client regime. The Christian community of South Arabia, comprising not only local converts but also a significant Ethiopian minority at the Ḥimyarite capital of Ẓafār and the Red Sea port of al-Mukhā’, was massacred by Yūsuf’s troops, resulting in a second Aksumite invasion in the spring of 525, this time led by Kālēb in person. After Kālēb’s victory over Yūsuf power was once again entrusted to a Ḥimyarite Christian, in this case a recent convert by the name of Sumūyafa‘ ’Ashwa‘, who ruled with the assistance of Aksumite ofcials appointed by Kālēb.628 It was only when ’Abrehā, a general in the Aksumite army stationed in Ḥimyar, rebelled at some point after 531629 that Aksum lost direct control of South Arabia, though after two failed attempts by Kālēb to depose him ’Abrehā agreed to pay tribute to Kālēb’s successor Wa‘zeb (c. 540-560).630 Well documented though Kālēb’s activities in 628 For a detailed discussion of Kālēb’s invasions of Ḥimyar, see Hatke 2011. 629 The fi rst epigraphically dated mention of ’Abrehā is in a Sabaic inscription dated Dhū-Qiyāẓān 657 (June 547), and though ’Abrehā undoubtedly came to power before this date, he could not have done so before 531, when we last hear of Sumūyafa‘ ’Ashwa‘ in connection with a Roman diplomatic mission to Ḥimyar (Gajda 2009: 116). 630 Procopius, De Bell. Pers. 1.20.4-8. In this source ’Abrehā is given as Abramos, while Kālēb is referred to as Hellestheaeus, a corruption of the king’s alternative name ’Ella-’Aṣbeḥā (literally, “he who has brought the dawn”). Wa‘zeb is not mentioned by name by Procopius, but it is obvious that the anonymous successor of “Hellestheaeus” to whom Procopius refers is to be identified with him, since Wa‘zeb refers to himself as the son of ’Ella-’Aṣbeḥā (wld ’l-’ṣbḥ=*walda ’Ella-’Aṣbeḥā), i.e. Kālēb, in his inscription from Aksum (RIE 192:7 [Bernard et al. 1991: 275]). 150 Aksum and Nubia South Arabia are, however, the extent and nature of Aksumite relations with Nubia during his reign and the period thereafter are obscure. The evidence for such relations, all of it dating from the sixth century, is limited to Kālēb’s title in his inscription from Aksum (RIE 191) and the Greek Martyrium Arethae, while for period after Kālēb we find mention of Aksumite contact with Nubia in the ecclesiastical history of John of Ephesus. In our survey of this material, all of which dates from the sixth century, we will begin with the Nubian references in Kālēb’s title, which represent an intriguing mixture of both anachronistic and innovative elements. 5.1. Kālēb and Nubia: RIE 191 In RIE 191, written in Ge‘ez but employing the same form of unvocalized musnad script used in the fourth-century inscriptions of Ousanas and ‘Ēzānā, Kālēb proudly styles himself “King of Aksum and Ḥimyar and Dhū-Raydān and Saba’ and Salḥīn and Ṭawdum and Yamānāt and Tihāma and Ḥaḍramawt and all of their Arabs and the Beja and the Noba and Kush and Ṣēyāmō and DRBT” (ngš ’ksm w-Ḥmr wz -Rydn w-Sb’ w-Slḥn w-Ṭdm w-z-Ymnt w-Thmt w-Ḥḍrmwt w-kl ‘rbm w-z-Bg w-Nb w-z-Ks w-Ṣym w-z-Drbt=*nǝgūśa ’Aksūm wa-Ḥǝmēr wa-Raydān waSaba...