'U-give thefe Seoki \ for Pie founding ef a. College in. this. Colony' •YALE-'VMVEISSinnf- Bought with the income of the Azariah Eldridge Memorial Fund, EARLY CHRISTIANITY ARABIA; A HISTORICAL ESSAY. BT THOMAS WRIGHT, Esq., M.A., F.S.A., HON. M.R.S.L., &C. CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE OF FRANCE (ACADEMIE DES INSCRIPTIONS ET BELLES-LETTRES.) LONDON: BERNARD QUARITCH, 16, CASTLE STREET, LEICESTER SQUARE. MDCCCLT. PREFACE. When the following- pages were written; the author, who was then very young-, pursued with at least considerable zeal the study of the Oriental languages and literature, a study which, upon his entering the university, he laid aside, not again to be resumed. The historical essay now published was written in the belief that the events. which it relates had received but little attention in this country, and had never been presented in a popular form to Eng lish readers ; and at the same time he thought, as he is still inclined to 'think, that they form an interesting episode in the history of mankind, and that they are a necessary introduction to our knowledge of the origin of that religion which has exercised so mighty an influence on the whole world during the middle ages. He had preserved the manuscript without any determinate idea of publishing it, until the gene ral interest in the affairs of the East which has been raised by the great events that are now taking place has led him to believe that his sketch of the IV history of Christianity in Arabia before it was sub verted by the arms of Muhammed and his followers might find a sufficient number of readers to justify its publication. It seemed necessary to make this statement both as an explanation and as an apology ; and it is but right to add that the whole is here printed as it was written ; for, as the author's studies have for some years run in an entirely different direction, he has not ventured upon a revision of this slight memorial of former labours. He has not attempted to ap proach in any way the question of the orthography of Oriental names, which is one on which even Oriental scholars are not at all agreed, and in which many changes have taken place since these pages were written j but he believes that his original desire was to adopt such forms as, without being vulgarly corrupt, would sound least harsh to those who were not acquainted with the languages to which they belong. 14, Sydney Street, Brompton, January, 1855. CONTENTS. Sec. I. — Sketch of the People and physical G-eography of Arabia Pelix 1 Sec. II. — History of Hamyar, and of the expeditions of the Tobbaas till the introduction of Christianity . 13 Sec. III. — Introduction of Christianity into Arabia Felix, or Hamyar — Frumentius — Theophilus Indus — The later Tobbaas .26 Sec. IV. — The ancient state of Ethiopia, or Abyssinia — Its connection with Hamyar— Martyrdom of the Christians of Nadjran — Conquest of Taman . . 40 Sec. V. — Early history of Hirah and Grhassan — The Mu- louk-al-Towaeif — Subjection of the northern Arabs to Rome— Introduction of Christianity amongst them — Persian wars — Euthymius — Simeon Stylites — Saba 68 Sec. VI. — Embassy from Justinian to Ethiopia — Revolu tion in Taman — Accession of Abrahah . . .86 Sec. VII. — Reign of Abrahah — Condition of Christianity in Taman — St. Gregentius — Expedition against Mecca 92 Sec. VIII. — Hostile occupation of Hirah by Hareth — Death of Kobad — Accession of Noushirwan — "War between Hirah and Ghassan — and between Persia and Rome — Arabian Poets — Lebid — Amru'1-Kais . . 101 Sec IX. — Origin of the Monophysite heresy— Council of Constantinople — of Ephesus — bf Chalcedon — its consequences — Progress of the Eutychians in the reign of Anastasius — Severus — The persecution by Jus tinian .... ..... 109 Sec. X. — Progress of the Monophysite doctrines in Arabia, &c. — Jacobus Baradasus — Their progress in Abyssinia —in Mesopotamia and the north of Arabia — Turbu lence of the Arabian chiefs — State of Christianity in Arabia Eelix — The Phantasiasts — Divisions between the Arabs and Romans — History of Mondar, king of Ghassan — and his son 125 VI CONTENTS. TAGE Sec. XI. — Domestic dissensions amongst the Arabs — Their Battles —Poets — Hareth— Amru ben Kelthum — Ascha — Christianity in Hirah — Conversion of No- man abu Kabus ....... 137 Sec. XII. — Last Abyssinian kings of Taman — History of Seif Dzi Jezen — Invasion and conquest of Hamyar by the Persians — Death of Seif — Hamyar reduced to a province of Persia ...... 145 Sec. XIII. — Birth of Muhammed — History of Muham med to the fall of Mecca — Poets — Caab, Lebid, &c. ¦ — Views of Muhammed — his Religion — Character — Literature of Arabia — Muhammed's attempts on the Idolaters — on the Christians — and on the Jews . 152 Sec. XIV. — "Wars between the Persians, Romans, and northern Arabs under Maurice and Heraclius — Pro gress of Muhammed against the Christians of Arabia — Message to the king of Persia — Death of Khosroes Parviz — Conversion of Badhan — Dissensions among the Christians— Copts — Christians of Nadjran — Chris tians of Arabia seek protection from Muhammed — Grabala, last king of Grhassan — Embassy of Heraclius - — Battle of Muta — Conquest of Hirah — Death of Mu hammed — State of the Christians in Arabia, &c. — Conquest of Syria — Conclusion .... 175 Appendix. (A) History of the tribes of Tasm and Hodais . . 190 (B) History of Dzu No wass . . . , .192 EARLY CHRISTIANITY IN ARABIA. SECTION I. The peninsula of Arabia was divided by the old geographers into three parts : the desert plains of the north-east, which bordered on the Euphrates and the Syrian frontier ; the province of Petrsea, at the northern extremity of the Red Sea; and the richer and more extensive tracts of Arabia Felix. This latter division is chiefly included by native writers under the general and comprehensive term of Al Yaman, which in signification coincides with its Roman epithet.1 On the north the territories of Yaman extended into the mountain ranges of the interior, and were bounded perhaps by the extensive deserts that spread out towards the Persian Gulf; on the west and south it was separated from Africa by the 1 u^ fr°m t)*i filicity- We find the real Arabic name mentioned by several ancient authors. E«ti Se /cat evSorepoi avrwv, pr) ovreg rnc (j>v\rj£ avruv, aXXa rov lenray, ot Xeyopevoi Apavirai, tovt eanv 'Oprjpirat. Theophanes, Chronograph, in Bibl. Pat. Grr. torn. ii. p. 283, ol Xe.yope.voi 'Opr/pirai, rovr eanv Apavtrai. Euthymius, in Mahomethias, p. 308. See Constant, Porphyrogenn. p. 68. and the Saracenica, p. 57. — Pilia "regis austri est regina Sabae: nempe hoe regnum vocatur lingua Ismaelitica Aljeman. Aben Ezra, in Dan. xi. 6. B 2 EARLY CHRISTIANITY Red Sea ; and its eastern coasts were washed by the waves of the southern ocean.1 In more ancient times, the land of Yaman was celebrated as the native country of myrrh and of frankincense. Its inhabitants, the Sabsei, formed the most powerful and extensive of all the nations of the Arabian peninsula. They were blessed with a redundance ofthe pleasures and conveniences of life. The earth was fertile and fruitful, and with little labour produced all that was required for the necessities or luxuries of mankind. The plains were covered with innumerable flocks. Extensive and numerous forests of myrrh, cinnamon, and frankin cense, mixed with the sweeping palm and the tall and slender reed, breathed their perfumes to the breeze which carried them far out on the neighbour ing seas.2 The people excelled all other nations in 1 The knowledge which the ancient geographers possessed of the shape of Africa was very confused. They supposed that after turning Cape G-uardafui, the African coast ran almost direct to the pillars of Hercules, and consequently they considered the ocean which lay to the south of Arabia Pelix as the Atlantic. 'Yirep Se Tovrwv ij TLvSatpwv eernv, tin fivpiovg /cat Siaj/iXtovg EKKeipevi] rrpoQ votov, p^X9l T0V ArXavricou ireXayovg. Strabo, lib. xvi. c. 4. p. 384. 2 Agatharchides, Peripl. Rubr. Maris, ap. G-eogr. Gr. Min. torn. i. p. 63. Diodorus Siculus. Strabo. Solinus, c. 33. Pliny gives the following estimate of the extent ofthe spice woods. iSylvarum longitudo est schoenorum xx. latitudo dimidium ejus. Schcenus patet Eratosthenis ratione stadia xl. hoc est pass. quinque d. Aliqui xxxii. stadia singulis schcenis dedere.lib. xii. c. 14. IN ARABIA. 3 wealth, enriching Syria with gold, and supplying the Phoenician navigators with lucrative cargoes.3 The seas too were celebrated for the quantity and quality of their pearls.4 The value of the productions of Sabsea were equalled only by the magnificence of the temples and palaces which adorned its cities. Supported by columns of gold and silver, and covered with gems and precious stones, they almost exceeded in splendour the magic buildings of oriental fable. The wealth of the Arabians was exhibited in a pro fusion of pompous couches and tripods, in gorgeous bowls, and richly ornamented cups.5 The expenses of the royal household for a single day were esti mated at fifteen Babylonian talents.6 We are naturally led to suppose that these accounts which the ancients give of the riches and magnifi cence ofthe people of Arabia Felix are considerably exaggerated. When we turn, however, to native authors, we find the rich and fertile fields of Sabsea, watered by innumerable streams and canals,7 covered with gardens, and woods, and flowers, and universal 3 Agatharchides, p. 64. 4 Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xii. c. 18. 5 Agatharchides, Peripl. p. 65. 6 Ta d" avaXiopara Xeyei rng ijfiepas «£ rov (iaoCXea, /cat rac ¦Ki.pi avrov yvvaiKas icai (jiiXovg, yiveadat raXavra irevreKaiSeKa BajivXwvia. Heraclides apud Athenaeuin, lib. xii. p. 252. Ed. Bas. 1535. — The Babylonian talent was about £228 of our money, fifteen talents would therefore be s63420. 7 Mesoud, p. 160 (in Schultens, Hist. Joctanid.) — Compare the account of the canal described by Herodotus as the work of the Arabian king, lib. iii. p. 185. B 2 4 EARLY CHRISTIANITY verdure, and adorned with cities and magnificent buildings, affording a theme for praises exceed ing even the glowing descriptions of the Greeks.1 The inhabitants of these fertile districts differed widely in their character from the wandering Arab of the desert. They were subject to kings, and governed by laws, and enjoyed all the advantages of social life. Some were employed in agriculture, others were shepherds, and others as merchants sought distant lands by sea, and exchanged native products for those of India and Ethiopia, or explored their pathless way through the northern desert, guided only by the stars of heaven.2 Commerce is the source of wealth. The Arabians were the carriers of the eastern ocean, and the trade of India, that trade which afterwards contributed so much to the riches of Persia, had been monopolised by the mer chants of Sabeea from the patriarchal days of Jacob.3 The capitals of Egypt and Phoenicia owed their splendour in a great measure to the Sabsean mer chandise which passed through them,4 and the 1 Mesoud, ib. "A person might ride," he observes, "at a quick pace, over a country bearing everywhere this delightful appearance, for a month in length or breadth. And any one thus travelling, either on horse or foot, may proceed all the way through a continuance of groves and gardens, so that the sun will never once incommode him with its rays, the country being everywhere covered with trees and shrubs." 2 A™ rwv ApKriov, by the bears. Diod. Sic. lib. ii. p. 156. 3 Vincent, Periplus, vol. i. Prel. Disq. 4 Vincent, ibidem, See Ezekiel xxvii. 21, 22. IN ARABIA. 5 treasures of Solomon himself were drawn from the mines and warehouses of Arabia.5 The wealthy and the noble lived in the same magnificence and luxury that has ever been characteristic of the princes of the east, and we may parallel the writings of Arabs and Greeks in describing the pride and splendour of their domestic life,6 and their political prosperity.7 But, although they bore the character of a soft and luxurious people, they still preserved that of being free, liberal, and brave. After having been succes sively subjected by Ethiopean and Persian con querors, they still enjoyed the same character, " exulting," says a Persian writer, " in their liberty, delighting in eloquence, acts of liberality, and martial achievements, and thus making the whole earth red as wine with the blood of their foes, ! 2 Chron. ix. and 1 Bangs, x. 6 Ergo incolse ejus lautissimam et mollissimam vitam degere, unctissimo in statu lautissimoque eodem. Mesoud, p. 160. i-Jl J\m lAc.jJ&}j <*_-vx»!j &U& ^ +£ ij6 — fastujactan- tia, et superbia reliquos Arabiae populos superabant. Geogr. Arabs, Clim. 2. pars 6. — Arabesque molles. — Catull. Od. xi. 5. Thuriferos, foelicia regna Sabseis. — Valerius Place. Argon, lib. vi. — Conf. Agatharchidem, supr. citatum. 7 &c. i^JM. — Iste autem regiones in proverbium olim missse, pulchris florentes institutis eorum, qui mores rectissimos et virtutum prsestantiam assectarentur, v 2,aj3aiwv ayiwrciTov Se ?roXv TU)V 7TCpl TOVTOTTOV. * Ecchelensis, p. 150. Besurrectionem mortuorum et judi cium ultimum plurimos professos fuisse, quare ad defuncti alicujus sepulchrum camelum alligabat absque cibo et potu, ut scilicet in resurrectione equites resurgerent, camelum equitaturi Arabum more. Warner, ib. 5 Ecchelensis, ib. Hottinger, Archseolog. Orient, p. 10. Pococke, p. 135. IN ARABIA. 9 social independence have ever been favourable to the arts, but of their progress in Arabia historians have left us in ignorance. In architectural works they certainly were not destitute of skill ; the city of Sanaa was celebrated for its lofty towers, and is compared by Abulfeda to the modern city of Damas cus. Mariaba is said to have been remarkable for the beauty of its public edifices and walls, the latter of which were six miles in circumference ; and Sabota or Sabotha was distinguished by its sixty temples.6 Arabia Felix contained several other petty states, governed by their own kings/ but they were all subject to the king of Hamyar, who was called the great king,8 and whose influence extended from the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf.9 Next to the Naba- tsei, or people of Petra, according- to the ancient geographers, was the district of the Minsei, which appears to correspond with the Arabian province of Hedjaz. Their chief town was Carna, to the south « Plinius, Nat. H. lib. vi. cap. 28. 7 Pococke, Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 65, 66. Strabo, lib. xvi. p. 385. 8 Pococke, ibid. 9 Uno verbo, cum ad Jectanis genus hi scriptores (i.e. Arabes) referunt Homeritas et Amanitas, eos intelligunt popu- los qui ArabisB Felicis ¦wet.av occupant oceanum versus, ab Arabico sinu usque ad Persicum. Bochart, Phaleg, lib. ii. c. 15. Marcianus Heracliotes, describing the Bed Sea, says, ev tovtioSe rypepei rr]e daXaffone /cat to Tu>v'Opr)pi.Tti>v eQvoq rvyxavci ro tiov Apaj3uv cirapx>»v yrjg, pexP1 Tr>e aPXrli T0V ivStKov SirjKov TTiXayovq, p. 13. 10 EARLY CHRISTIANITY of Mecca, or Macoraba.1 Between this region and the district of Hamyar were the Cassanitae, who possessed a country rich in gold, which appears to coincide with the Tehama, on the western coast.' Part of this territory, where it adjoined to Sabsea or Hamyar, was occupied by the Chaulanitae, Carbi, or Cembani, and the Arii, both brave and warlike tribes.3 This district is now called Khaulan. The extremity of the continent, where it approaches the coast of Africa, was held by the Catabeni, or Geba- nitee ; their capital was Tamna, and they had a port called Ocelis, close on the straits. This district was very productive in frankincense.4 From the Cassanitse and the Catabeni, the district which more particularly bore the name of Hamyar or Saba stretched along the south-eastern coast, as far as the district of the Chatramotitee or Adramitse, which coincides both in name and situation with the mo dern Hadramaut, and whose chief town was Caba- tanon.5 Between the Chatramotitee and the Oman- itse was the deep bay of Sachalites, on the southern promontory of which, called Syagrus, was a cele brated port for exporting frankincense and other spices.6 The district of the Omanitee is the modern * Bochart, p. 134, &c. Strabo, ibid. * Id. p. 156. 3 Pliny. Agatharchidas. Bochart, p. 162, et Geograph. Arabs, ibi cit. * Strabo, ibid. Plin. Dionys. Perieg. Bochart, p. 151. * Strabo, ibid. Bochart, p. 113. 6 Arrhian, Peripl. IN ARABIA. 11 Oman.1 More to the north, along the Persian Gulf, lay several other unimportant districts, included chiefly under the modern name of Lachsa. The Arabian peninsula is considered by Niebuhr as an immense pile of mountains, encircled with a belt of flat, arid, sandy ground, which extends from Suez around the whole peninsula to the mouth of the Euphrates, and is continued on the north by the province of Petra and the deserts of Syria. The principal mountain chain runs nearly parallel with the Red Sea, at a distance of from thirty to eighty miles, increasing in elevation towards the south. Another chain runs from the southern part, parallel with the ocean, to the mountainous shores of Oman. The interior is believed to be an elevated table land, occupied towards the north by a series of deserts. The Montes Marithi of Ptolemy, the Nedjed el Arud, appear to be a ridge of limestone rocks, stretching towards the south, and gently declining towards the east. Between them and the districts of Yaman and Oman is the desert of Alkaf, which is said once to have been a terrestrial paradise, till, for the impiety of its inhabitants, it was covered by a deluge of sand.8 In the maritime regions the Arabian towns were few and inconsiderable, and were chiefly ports or trading towns. The inhabi- 7 Bochart, p. 250. 8 Niebuhr, Malte Brun, &c. The Arabian legend may be consulted in Ebn al Ouardi, p. 46, and the Kitab Aldjuman, p. 138, &c, in torn. ii. of the Notices et Extraits de la Bibl. du Boi. 12 EARLY CHRISTIANITY tants of these unfruitful districts who were not resi dent in the towns, or engaged in commerce, lived principally by fishing, and gained from foreign nations the appellation of Icthyophagi. But the fertile valleys and mountain plains abounded in rich and beautiful towns, and well peopled villages.1 Mariaba, or Saba, the metropolis of Hamyar, and the fairest city of Arabia, was situated on a gentle elevation amongst the mountains which are included in the modern province of Hadramaut, three or four stations from the city of Sanaa.8 1 IloXeis S'ev pev ry irapaXiq. prj iroXXag eivai, Kara Se rr\v peaoyaiav TroXXag oucovpsvag KaXiog. Eratosthenes, apud Strab. p. 387. hb. xvi. — Niebuhr describes these mountain plains, particularly the plateau of Nedjed, as still covered with towns and villages, and abounding in all kinds of fruits. " Most of the Arab tribes south of Zohran," says Burckhardt, " belong to the sect of Zeid ; they live in villages, and are chiefly what the Arabs call Hadhar, or settlers, not Bedouins ; but as they keep large herds of cattle, they descend, iu time of rain, into the eastern plain, which affords rich pasturage for cows, camels, and sheep." They trade, he adds, both to the coast and with the Bedouins ofthe north. Travels in Arabia, Appendix, p. 378. 2 Agatharchides, Peripl. p. 63. Abulfeda's Arab. p. 58. Geogr. Arabs, Clim. 2. part 6. IN ARABIA. 13 SECTION II. Of the original inhabitants of Yaman there were, we are told, several tribes, of whom some, such as those of Tasm and Hodais, became extinct by war and other causes.3 The tribes of Ad and Thamoud, which were settled, the former in Hadramaut and the latter in the province of Petra, were said to have been visited with the divine wrath for their impiety.4 Those who had first occupied the boundaries of Syria, the Tahites, Chasdites, Bahrites, Giahites, and Salehites, were afterwards extirpated by other settlers from the south, who took possession of the districts of Ghassan and Hirah.5 The Arabians are divided by the native historians into two distinct races : the posterity of Kahtan, or Joktan, the son of Heber, who were termed Al Arab al Ariba, the pure Arabs, and the race of Adnan, the lineal de scendants of Ishmael, who were called mixed Arabs, Al Arab al Mostareha. From the latter, who were intermixed with the descendants of Jorham,one ofthe sons of Kahtan, and occupied the district of Hedjaz, 3 See Appendix, A. * Pococke, p. 36, 37. 5 Ecchelensis, Hist. Orient, c. iii. On the early Arabian tribes consult Masoudi, in the Notices et Extraits de la Bibliotheque du Boi, torn. i. p. 28, 29. 14 EARLY CHRISTIANITY were descended the tribe of Koreish. Kahtan was the first that wore a diadem in the land of Yaman.1 Kahtan was succeeded by his son Yarab, who is celebrated as the first who spoke the language and introduced the ceremonials of Arabia.2 Yeshab, the son of Yarab, was succeeded by Abd-Shems, or Saba, the founder of the city of Mariaba, and of the great reservoir in its neighbourhood, which collected the streams as they flowed from the mountains, and distributed them over the plains.3 He was the first 1 Abulfeda, p. 3. (in Schultens' Hist. Joct.)— Pococke, Spec. Hist. p. 56. 2 Hamza, p. 19. Pocock. ibid. He was said to be the first who introduced the formula by which the kings of Hamyar were saluted when crowned. It was ^JJI ojJ may you refuse malediction. v^JjLJ! ^y^' '^ *jJ*W' Ja! ^1 !j! *&>Aj>-\ ^1 fJ\s- fibj-yt &j ^jj^slsc. 2j ^jtill c^jj! dyt * heal) JU Jiid Jjj CMaDj 'ijU) ^Jji "The Arabians formerly saluted their kings with these words, may you refuse malediction : nor did they ever address any one else with this formula : so that when any one was raised to the throne, they said of him, such a one has received the salutation." Almota- razzi, in Hbro Mogreb. (ap. Pocock) Ebno'l Athir gives the following explanation of it. Ills' s Yssa ^ ...sill u^ool ii)^j lxi J,xiu J\ L^Jjl *U**y *«! IcjJIj XjlfclJl i CJ.UJI # j,<\Sj o^U.m> " This formula, may you refuse malediction, with which they used to salute their kings, and wish them pros perous, had this meaning--— take care you do nothing on account of which people may curse you, and speak ill of you." See Abulfed. 3 Abulfed. p. 2. Mesoud, p. 167. IN ARABIA. 15 of the Arabian kings who undertook warlike expe ditions, and enriched his country with the spoils of his enemies, and is said to have received the name of Saba from the numerous captives which he brought into Yaman.4 Amongst his sons were Hamyar, Amru, Cahlan, and Ashaar.5 Hamyar was the first of the descendants of Kahtan, who, by his own and his father's wars, reigned over the whole of Yaman.6 He drove the remains of the tribe of Thamoud out of Yaman into Hedjaz,7 and was one of the bravest, most skilful, and handsomest men of his time. He is said to have received the name of Hamyar, which signifies red, from the colour of the garments which he con stantly wore, and to have been the first king of Arabia who had a crown of gold.8 Hamyar was succeeded by Wathil, Al Secsac, and Yafar, during whose reigns the kingdom seems to have lost much of its power, being divided between two sovereigns, one of whom reigned in Hamyar, the other in Hadramaut.9 After Yafar reigned the usurper Dzu Ryash, or Amir, who was deposed by Noman Al Moaphir, the son of Yafar. Asmach, 4 Abulfed. ib. Nuweir, p. 48. s Abulfed. p. 4. 6 Hamza, p. 22. ' Abulfed. ib. 8 Nuweir, p. 50. Al Jannabi and Ahmed Ebn Yusef. ap. Pococke. 9 Abulfed. p. 6. Hamza, p. 22. According to others Hamyar was succeeded by his brother Cahlan, and he by Abu Malech, the grandson of Saba. Nuweir, p. 50. 10 EARLY CHRISTIANITY the son of Noman, was succeeded by Shaddad, who was descended from Matata, a son of Abd Shems ; he was a great warrior, and carried his victorious arms into Africa.1 After him reigned his brothers Lokman and Dzu Sedad, and under the son of the latter, Hareth, or Al Rayish, the fifteenth king of Hamyar, the two parts into which the kingdom had been divided were reunited. This prince first took the title of tobbaa, which was afterwards given to all the Hamyaritic kings.2 Hareth, who was a great war rior, carried his arms into India, and fought many battles in Azerbijan.3 The sixteenth and seven teenth kings were Dzulcarnain Assuab,* and Dzul- menar Abrahah, who invaded Africa, and penetrated as far as Soudan.5 The son of Abrahah was Africcus, who also entered Africa, subdued Barbaria, and built a city to which he gave his name, and 1 Abulfeda, p. 6. Other kings are mentioned by some as succeeding Shaddad, as Morthed, who was called Dzu Aud, and his son Amrum. Gjanabi, and Piruzabad, ap. Pocock. 2 Hamza, p. 22. Abulfeda, p. 6.— Tobba', et Tobbai. Titre qu'ont porte les anciens rois de l'lemen, tels qu'ont ete ceux de Hadhramout, de Hemiar, etc. Ce titre leur est aussi- par- ticulier, que celui de Khosroes aux Sassanides de Perse, celui de Khan et de Khakan aux Tures, de Fagfour a ceux de la Chine, de Cesars a ceux des Bomains et des Grecs, et des Earaons et des Bathalmions a. ceux d'Egypte. On appelle ces rois au pluriel Arabe Tababeah et Tabbd'iah. — D'Herbelot. 3 Hamza, ib. Nuweir, p. 50. Abulfed. p. 6. * Abulfed. ib. 5 Abulfed. ib. Hamza, p. 22. Nuweir, p. 52. IN ARABIA. 17 thence continued his career to the western coast. He is also said to have driven the remains of the people who had been expelled from their country by Joshua, and who had settled about Egypt and the maritime parts of Africa, to the farthest boun daries of the west, "the place which they now occupy." 7 His brother, Dzuladhaar Amru, the nineteenth king, was called the lord of the terrible, because he had invaded the land of the pigmies, and at the sight of some of them, whom he had brought captives to Yaman, his people were " greatly terrified."8 He was afterwards deposed by his people, and Sjerabil, a descendant of Secsac, as cended the throne in his place.9 Hadad, the son of Sjerabil, was the father of Balkis, who, after reigning in Hamyar twenty years, went to Pales tine, and was married, they tell us, to Solomon.10 ? Hamza, p. 22, 24. Nuweir, p. 52, 4. Abulfed. p. 6. Gjannabi, Ahmed Ebn Vusef, and the scholiast on the poem of Ebn Abduni, cited by Pococke. Erom the similarity between this tradition and that whieh the Jews, and early Christian writers appear to have held, I think we may look on it as of Hebrew origin. The tale of Procopius is well known, of the two columns found in Tingitana, with a Phoenician inscription, which he translates — ypttg eapev di tyvyovreg awo irpooioirov \r\aov tov Xno-rov vwv Navv. A Moorish author, Ibn el Baquique, states that the inscription was on a stone upon a mountain at Carthage. Marmol. lib. i. c. 25. 8 Hamza, p. 22. Nuweir, p. 54. 9 Abulfeda, p. 6. 10 Abulfeda, p. 8. Nuweir and Hamza, ibid. It is hardly necessary to remark that Balkis was the " queen of Sheba" of Scripture. C 18 EARLY CHRISTIANITY Yasasin, the brother and successor of Balkis, by his unbounded liberality gained the title of Nasher 'al Neam,1 and in his warlike expeditions he pene trated into Africa as far as the great sandy desert ; in attempting to cross which part of his army was buried in the sand, and he was compelled to relinquish the enterprise. He erected a brazen statue on the border of the desert, with an inscription on its breast in the Hamyaritic characters, warning future adventurers of the dangers and almost inevitable destruction they must encounter, should they pro ceed beyond it. The twenty-fourth king of Hamyar was Shamar, the son of Africcus, or according to others of Yasasin, surnamed Abu Karb, or the father of affliction, from his victories and cruelties. He is celebrated as one of the greatest warriors that ever bore the crown of Yaman. Since the time of Al Hareth the eastern boundaries of the Hamyaritic expeditions were Azerbijan and the frontiers of India ; it was left for Shamar to extend his conquests far beyond those ancient limits. He first defeated the Tahtars in Azerbijan, which he had invaded by way of Mousul. On his return from this expedition he received an embassy from one of the kings of Hindustan, who was desirous of forming- an alliance with him, and from the Indian ambassador the tobbaa first heard of the distant regions of China. 1 Abulfed. ib. Hamza, p. 24. Nuweir, p. 56. IN ARABIA. 19 The rare and valuable articles from that country which were brought with the embassy as presents, excited his cupidity, and induced him to undertake an expedition against that distant empire. He began by subduing Khorasan, and from thence he passed by Balk, through the beautiful regions of Sogd, to its capital, which he destroyed, and which, when rebuilt, was from this circumstance called Samar- cand or Shamarchand, i. e. Shamar destroyed it. He afterwards proceeded through Turkistan, to the frontier of Hindustan, and through Thibet, where Amongst Arabian writers there are celebrated, four pleasant places of the world, — Damasci viridarium, fluvius Obullcs in Basru urbe, rivus Bauvanitarum, et Sogd Samarcandce dJ^j &xijA.m. Ezzedin Abdelazir, apud Casiri, Biblioth. Hispan. Arab. torn. i. p. 208. The Oriental geographers dwell with rapture on the beauties of Chorasm and Sogd, covered everywhere with orchards, and fields, and gardens. "Vallis enimAl Sogd," says Abulfeda, " viii dierum itinere, a limitibus Bocharaa ad confinia Al Botom exporrecta, prata viridis, et hortos continuos com- pleetitur. Horti a fluviis perpetuo irriguis terminantur. Ultra prata, ultroque [fluvii] latere arva sunt, et ultra arva, animalium libere vagantium pascua. Nullibi gentium arbores pulchriores, aut amoeniores." Chorasmise, &c. descript. p. 32. inter Geo- graph. Minor, torn. iii. See also Golii not. in Alfergan. p. 172, 173. "If a person stand on the ;ja^i' Kohendiz (or ancient castle) of Bokhara," says the Oriental Geographer, translated by Sir W. Ouseley, " and cast his eyes around, he shall not see any thing but beautiful green and luxuriant verdure on every side of the country : so that he would imagine the green of the earth and the azure of the heavens were united." p. 236. c 2 20 EARLY CHRISTIANITY he left twelve thousand Arabs as a body of reserve to retire upon in case of defeat* When he approached to the borders of China, the monarch of that empire, trusting more to stratagem than arms, dispatched one of his ministers to meet the tobbaa, whom he found on the point of crossing the desert, at the dis tance of about ten days from the Chinese territory. The minister had cut off his own nose, and pretended to be flying from the cruelty of the emperor as a deserter to the king of Hamyar. When Shamar questioned him as to the road, the distance, and the water, he answered, " between thee and water there are but three stations." The king, therefore, de ceived by this answer, carried with him provisions only for three days, and entered the desert. After the three days were passed, the Arabian army ran short of water, ancl perished among the sand.1 This expedition is placed by the generality of Arabian historians in the reign of Ghustasp king of Persia, though some make it contemporary with Bahman. 1 Abulfeda, p. 8. Hamza, p. 26. Nuweir, p. 58. Ouseley's Oriental Geography, Appendix, p. 293. See also Price's Essay towards the history of Arabia, p. 98. Some historians state that Shamar was successful in his invasion of China, and that he returned to Yaman, after an absence of seven years, loaded with the plunder which he had taken from the cities of that distant empire. Nuweir, p. 68-70. This version of the story has most likely originated from confounding Shamar, with his descendant Al Akran, the second invader of China. This seems to be confirmed by the circumstance, that those authors place the expedition of Shamar at the same time as that of Al Akran. IN ARABIA. 21 Shamar was succeeded by his son Abu Male"c, who, delaying to seek revenge for his father's death, perished in a useless expedition into Africa.2 After his death the crown passed from that branch of the family of Saba who traced their descent from Hamyar, to the descendants of Cahlan. The suc cessor of Abu Mal3c, and the first of this dynasty, was Amran, who had the reputation of being a great diviner or prophet.3 He was succeeded by his brother Amrou, who was surnamed Mozaikia, or the tearer, because he every evening tore in pieces the clothes which he had worn during the day, that they might not be used a second time ;4 he died in the reign of Ali, between Yaman and Hedjaz.5 The sceptre then again reverted to the descendants of Hamyar, in the person of Al Akran, the son of Al MaMc, who was contemporary with the Persian king Bahman, about a.a.c. 465.6 This tobbaa immediately undertook to revenge the death of his grandfather Shamar. He marched to Samarcand, part of which he is said to have rebuilt, and pro ceeding perhaps in the steps of Shamar's army, of which remains might, it is suggested, still be found on the road, entered China, destroyed its capital, and founded there a city, in which he left a colony of thirty thousand Arabians, whose descendants a Nuweir, p. 58. Hamza, p. 28. Abulfeda, p. 8. » Abulfeda, ibid. " Abulfeda, ibid. 5 Eichhorn, Monument. Antiq. Hist. Arab. p. 152. 6 Abulfed. p. 8. Hamza, p. 28. 22 EARLY CHRISTIANITY still remained, preserving the dress and manners of Arabia, and noted for their strength and bravery, in the time at which Hamedoun wrote, which was about the five hundred and fifty-third year of the Hegira.1 It was this tobbaa, who, after a seven years absence, returned to Hamyar, laden with the spoils of China.2 Dzu Abshan, the son of Akran, was contempo rary with the second Darius, and with Alexander the Great. He destroyed the remains of the two tribes of the Tasmites and Gjadasites which still remained in Yaman.3 Between the death of Dzu Abshan, and the accession of Kolaicarb, a period of a hundred and sixty years transpired, during which a series of tobbaas must have reigned. Kolaicarb reigned thirty years, and was succeeded by Assaad Abu Carb.4 During the period since the reign of Dzu Abshan, the kingdom of Hamyar appears to have been divided, and was governed, like Persia after Alexander's death, by numerous petty princes.5 These were one by one defeated and killed by Assaad, and the dominions of Hamyar restored to their for mer extent. One of the first acts of this kina: was the invasion of Hedjaz. The territory about Yatreb, i Nuweir, p. 58, 60. * Nuweir, p. 72. See Price's Essay. 3 Abulfeda, p. 8. Hamza, p. 28. 4 Hamza, p. 30. Abulfeda, p. 8 — 10. Abulfeda's chronicle appears here somewhat confused. J Hamza, p. 30. Nuweir, p. 60. IN ARABIA. 23 or Latrippa, the modern Medina, was at this time occupied by a colony of Jews, who are said to have been descended from those who fled from Palestine and Syria, before the armies of Baktunusser, or Nebuchodonassur. Having reduced the greater part of Hedjaz, Assaad left his son Algabtoun as gover nor at Yatreb, and is said to have been pursuing his march towards Syria, when he was overtaken by messengers who informed him that the Jews of Yatreb had rebelled, and had put his son to death. Assaad returned, vowing that he would not leave a Jew alive in Hedjaz, but he was met by some of the tribes from about Yatreb, who came to expostulate with him, justifying their conduct by representing to him the injuries and oppres sion wThich they had suffered from his son. By these excuses the anger of the tobbaa was appeased, he being, according to Arabian writers, no lover of injustice. He was also met by the tribe of the Hudeilites, who urged him to attack Mecca, and plunder the Caabah, tempting him with their account ofthe unbounded riches it contained. But the people of Mecca also succeeded in diverting his hostility by the accounts they gave him of the sanctity of the place, persuading him that it was under the pecu liar protection of the Deity, and that those who had incited him to this sacrilegious action only aimed at his destruction. He remained several months at Mecca, offered every day magnificent sacrifices in the Caabah, and adorned it with tapestry, affixing to 24 EARLY CHRISTIANITY it also a door of gold.1 It was at this time that the Jews were first introduced into Hamyar. Till the latter part of the fourth century, Chris tianity seems scarcely to have been known in the southern parts of Arabia. It was not till after the reign of tobbaa Assaad Abu Carb, when the Persians began by their increasing power to threaten the empire, that the Arabians had any connection with their Roman neighbours. Although there is no doubt abundance of exaggeration and fable in the Arabian annals previous to this period, the historical outlines may be correct. The armies of the tobbaas seem to have been both enterprising and brave, and their con quests extensive, but the situation of the country of Hamyar was not favourable for the seat of a mighty empire, and the Arabs took no steps for the preser vation of their alleged acquisitions. a Their exploits, therefore, must be considered only as plundering expeditions. They were generally conducted to wards Irak and Mesopotamia, but the increasing power of Persia had checked their incursions in this direction, and the Arabians would consequently look upon their Persian neighbours as encroachers 1 Nuweir, p. 60. Nikbi ben Massoud, Notices et Extraits de la Bibl. du Eoi, torn. ii. p. 366, et seq. 3 Les Arabes n'ont jamais conquis que de pays flats, — Ils n'entendent nullement l'art de conserver la culture des pays conquis, — were premises which the Arabian historian has ex hausted three chapters to prove. See the summary of his work in the Journal Asiatique, torn. i. p. 267. IN ARABIA. 25 upon their rights, and would seek every opportunity of revenge. In the invasion of the Persian territory by the Arabs, on the death of Hormuz, the king of Hamyar, tobbaa Hassan, the son of Assaad, raised a numerous army, and proceeded into Irak, where he was meditating still greater conquests, having made preparations, according to the Arabian writers, to follow the footsteps of his ancestors into China. His followers, however, opposed his design, unwilling to be carried so far from their families and posses sions, and prevailed upon his brother Amrou to murder the tobbaa, which he effected whilst Hassan was sleeping in his tent. The army thereupon returned to Hamyar, and Amrou ascended the throne.3 The latter days of the life of Amrou were troubled by a guilty conscience, and sleep became a stranger to his eyelids. On his return with the army to Hamyar, he endeavoured to atone for the murder of his brother, by the punishment of the chiefs who had urged him to it ; but the people conspired against him and put him to death,4 and gave the crown to his younger brother Abd Alal. Abd Alal is said to have embraced the Christian faith, but from political motives, never to have openly professed it.5 3 Nuweir, p. 66. See there the different account of these reigns which he adduces from another author. 1 Nuweir, p. 72. 5 Abulfeda, p. 10. 2G EARLY CHRISTIANITY SECTION III. At what period Christianity was first introduced into Arabia Felix it is now impossible to determine. Many causes, however, combine to make us believe that it was long after it had been spread over the neighbouring nations. The mountains and deserts which defended the southern Arabians from the arms of the Persian kings, presented an insurmountable obstacle to every Asiatic or European invader, and even hindered any permanent connection with the rest of the world. Before the expedition of tEHus Gallus, the peninsula had never suffered from foreign invasion.1 Alexander is indeed said to have contemplated the reduction of Arabia Felix ; the fleet of Nearchus was preparing to assist the expedition by sea/ and the Macedonian army would perhaps have marched along the rich plains of the Euphrates, which opened to the odori ferous regions of Yaman ; 3 but these designs were terminated by the death of their projector. The Roman army under iElius Gallus seems to have 1 " Indi quin, Auguste, tuo dat colla triumpho, Et domus intactse te tremit Arabise." Propertius, lib. ii. 10. v. 15. See Horace, lib. i. od. xxix. 2 ; and lib. iii. od. xxiv. 1. 2 Dio Cassius. Arrian. 3 Curtius, lib. v. c. 1. IN ARABIA. 2? landed in the country of the Thamudites, near the Elanitic Gulf,4 and to have proceeded in the direc tion of Yatreb and Mecca to Nadjean,5 which he appears to have destroyed, as well as Asca, Athrulla, Marsuaba, and several other cities ; 6 amongst which was Mariaba itself, which he found to be six miles in circuit.7 But what the Arabian arms could not do, was effected by the climate and the country ; and the Roman army was obliged to retire, with the honour only of having experienced no successful opposition from a people who had been hitherto unconquered.8 The religion and theology of the Arabians of Yaman bore doubtless a great resemblance to that of the surrounding nations. They professed the doc trines of the Sabians, and in common with them, acknowledged Abraham as their ancestor. At tached therefore to a superstition made reverend by its antiquity, and in which their great progenitor Abraham was reported to have been educated,9 the * Vincent, Peripl. p. 302, &c. 5 Egrcm, Plin. ¦woXig Aypavwv, Strabo. 6 Strabo, lib. xvi. c. 4. p. 407. 7 Et supra dictam Mariabam, circuitu vi mil. passuum. Plin. lib. vi. c. 28. 8 Tovg Se aXXovg avKejiaXtv, ov\ vwo iroXepiwv, a\\a vociiiv, Kai Koituiv, /cat Xtfiov, Kai po^Qripi-ctg tuiv oSwv, k. t. X. Strabo, p. 408. 9 nittZTi nmia«2 b-ra mbttfn vbv wns nmast;; sot Notum est Abrahamum patrem nostrum educatum esse in fide Zabseorum, qui statuerunt nullum esse deum prseter stellas. Maimonides, More Nevochim, pars iii. c. 29. 28 EARLY CHRISTIANITY idolatrous inhabitants of the happy Arabia must be supposed to have received slowly and reluctantly the severe doctrines of Christianity. From the little connection too which existed between them and the rest of the world, the old worship would be more identical, less mixed with foreign creeds, and consequently more opposed to their admission. At the time of the introduction of the Christian faith, the Jews appear to have penetrated into the penin sula in considerable numbers, and to have formed also a great impediment to its progress. Before the followers of Christianity became public objects of persecution, their proceedings were so private and little known, particularly in the more distant parts of the empire, as to have escaped entirely the page of history. The first rudiments of the Christian faith are believed to have been planted among the Hamyarites, who were known, in common with the people of Hindustan and Ethiopia, under the general name of Indians, by the apostle Bartholomseus.1 Till the age of Con stantine, however, the existence of Christians in Arabia seems not even to have been known. During the reign of that emperor, an unexpected circum stance favoured their cause. The details of this event are given by the historian Nicephorus.2 A 1 Eusebius. Hist. Eccl. hi. 1. Asseman, Biblioth. Orient. torn. iii. p. dxcii. See the next note. ' The history of Erumentius may be collected from Nicepho rus, ix. 18 ; Buflmus, x. 9 ; Theodoret, i. 23, &c. Some of the IN ARABIA. 29 TjTian philosopher, named Meropius, emulating the travels of Plato and the ancient sages, and modern ecclesiastical historians, among whom we may reckon Pagi, and particularly the writers on the Ethiopian or Abyssi nian history, as Ludolf and Bruce, have asserted that the scene of the history of Prumentius was Ethiopia. Besides the posi tive testimony of Nicephorus, it will not be difficult to show that the accourjt of the other ecclesiastical writers will not authorise such a supposition. This transaction took place, they say, in India ; that is, according to Pagi and Ludolf, Abyssinia or Auxume. Apud Indos, (says the Boman Martyrology for the 27th Oct.) S. Prumentii Episcopi, qui ibi primum captivus, deinde episcopus ab Athanasio ordinatus, Evangelium ea pro- vincia prsedicavit." The name of India was given both to Abyssinia and Arabia Pelix. Plerique veterum Indos [iEthio- pes] vocaverunt, ut fere omnes zones torrida? nationes, quarum speciale nomen ignorarent. Imo, ipsum mare rubrum Indicum a nonnullis veterum appellator, quo minus mirum accolas illius Indos nominatos fuisse. Ludolf. Hist. 2Eth. i. 1. AndDamia- nus a Goe'z, in his Eelatio de legatione Matthaei Abessinorum ad regem Lusitaniae legati, calls the king of the Abyssinians magnum Indorum imperatorem. But the name was as often, p erhaps more frequently, applied to Arabia. In the cosmogra phies of ^-Ethicus and Julius Honorius, when giving a summary ofthe countries of the east, Arabia is included under the general appellation of India (JEthici Cosm. p. 28. Excerpt. Jul. Honor. p. 7), whilst neither apply the name of India to any part of Africa, and both mention Ethiopia by its proper name. (iEthic. p. 48. Honor, p. 18.) Arrhian calls the Arabians an Indian nation, — irpoooacei Se tcivtv edvog IvSlkov, ch Apafiieg icaXeo- pevoi. Peripl. Nearch. p. 4. All the ecclesiastical historians call the southern Arabians, Indians — roSe tojv IvcW eOvog rovro 2a/3a pev waXai, airo rrjg Sa/3a perpoiroXeiog, ra vvv Se 'Opriptrag KaXtio-Oat. Philostorgius, Hist. Eccl. ii. 6. et iii. 4. Safiar, say the Chronica of Eusebius and Cedrenus, cuf ov Apafieg IvSwv. 80 EARLY CHRISTIANITY instigated by the example of Metrodorus, who had recently travelled in search of knowledge among The point in question is, therefore — which of these Indians, the Arabians or the Ethiopians, did Prumentius convert ? In the first place, we have the positive testimony of Nicephorus that they were the Hamyarites. Among the authorities adduced by Pagi to support his contrary opinion is that of Socrates, who says it was Indiam Ulam AEthiopicejinitiniam, which, he seems to think, denotes the region of Auxume, as neighbouring on the interior Ethiopia. Pagi, Critica, torn. iv. p. 198. Now we find this India mentioned by Buflinus (Hist. Eccl. lib. i.) — in ea divisione orbis terrse quae ad prsedicandum verbum Dei sorte per apostolos celebrata est, cum aliaa aliis provincial obvenissent, Thomas Parthia, et Matthaso ^Ethiopia, eique adhserens citerior India Bartholomaso dicitur sorte decreta. Socrates, from whom he has taken the passage, says, (lib. i. c. 19) r/viica ol AjrotTToXoi KXnpip rnv eig ra c6vn rcopEiav ettowvvto, Qmpag pev rnv TlapOiov cnroaToXnv ItteSexeto, Mardawg Se ttjv Aidioiriav, Bapdo- Xopatog eis EnXnpovTO ti)V avvr)pp,cvnv ravrn \vStav. Chrysostom, indeed, makes Thomas the apostle of Ethiopia, Owfiag Sia ficnz- Tio-parog XevKciireL rovg Aidwirag. (Homil. in xii. Apost. torn. viii. Append, p. 11.) Now, who the Indians were that Bartho- lomseus visited, we may learn from Sophronius (c. 7.) Bapdo- Xopaiog b AiroirToXog, IrSoig roig KaXovfxEVOig V^vSaip.oaiv , eKnpvlE to evayyeXiov tov Xpicrrov, — and from the Menasa (part ii. p. 197.) Bartholomaeus in Indiam Pelicem profectus, ibique cruci affixus, decessit, — they were the people of Arabia Pelix. It is very evident from what Buflinus says, that the India visited by Prumentius was the same as that in which Bartholomaeus preached the gospel, and he distinguishes Ethiopia from India in the same chapter, (x. 9.) In this history of the Abyssinian invasion, the Hamyarites and Ethiopians are distinguished as the Homerite Indians and the Auxumite Indians. Malala, p. 163. Nicephorus, xvii. 22. Theophanes, p. 188. And IN ARABIA. 31 the distant people of India,1 determined to visit the Hamyarites of Arabia Felix. He was accompanied by two young men who were both his kinsmen and his disciples in philosophy. On their return in an Egyptian ship, they were compelled to put into one of the Hamyaritic ports for a fresh supply of provi sions. It happened at that time that the peninsula was in a state of warfare ; and on landing they were treated by the natives as enemies, and either slain or made slaves. Amongst those who perished, were the philosopher and most of his attendants. Of his two companions, who were carried to the king-, one, named iEdesius, was made the royal cup-bearer ; to the other, whose name was Frumentius, and in whom he perceived more than ordinary abilities and learning', the king entrusted the care of his books and treasures. Having both served him faithfully for some years, on the death of the monarch they were rewarded by his queen with their liberty, and Johannes Asias Episcop. (ap. Asseman. torn. i. p. 359), calls the Ethiopian king who conquered Hamyar, king }«otJoT jZuOy, of the interior or further Indians, whereas BufEnus declares that the India visited by Bartholomsens was India citerior. Another argument of Pagi's is that mention is made of Prumen tius, a bishop of Auxume, being deposed for Arianism in 356 by the successor of Athanasius, (Athanas. Apol. ad Constant. Baron, p. 563.) but if he had been the same as the other, it would certainly have been a circumstance of sufficient impor tance to be mentioned. 1 Metrodorus visited the Brachmans in India, according to Cedrenus, ad an. xxi. Constant. Magn. 32 EARLY CHRISTIANITY received permission to go wherever they wished. Availing themselves of her liberality, they were preparing to return to their native city of Tyre, when the queen earnestly requested them to stay, and undertake the guardianship of her infant son, and of the kingdom, until he should arrive at a proper age to assume the administration. They obeyed, and the first use Frumentius made of his power, was to cause strict search to be made for the few Christians who might live under his jurisdiction. Those whom he found he treated with great kindness; he built them a place of worship, and soon by his favour and encouragement increased the number of converts to the Christian faith. As soon as the }roung king was capable of ascending the throne, Frumentius and vEdesius re turned to T}^re, where the latter was raised to the dignity of a presbyter. From Phoenicia Frumentius repaired to Alexandria, where he related his adven tures to Athanasius, then lately elevated to the head of the church, representing to him that many people in Hamyar were well inclined towards the true faith, and begging that he would immediately send them a bishop and priests. The primate, having consulted the bishops who were then at Alexandria, judged that no one could be better fitted to govern the Christian church in Arabia than the person who had first introduced it there, and Frumentius re turned as bishop to Hamyar, where he built many churches, and greatly conduced by the example of IN ARABIA. 88 his own piety to the propagation of the Christian faith.1 The next Christian mission to Hamyar occurred in the reign of Constantius. Amongst the hostages who had been delivered to the Romans by the people of Adiabene, was a man named Theophilus, afterwards known by the surname of Indus, or the Indian,2 His native country appears to have been the island of Dibu, or Divu, at the mouth of the river Indus.3 He soon displayed extraordinary 1 Tantopere vero eum laudatum esse ferunt, ut parem cum Apostolis laudem et honorem tulerit . . . . Et locupletem nactus gratiam, plurima Deo constituit templa. Nicephorus Callistus, Hist. Eccl. lib. viii. c. 35. Perhaps we may still recognize some traditions of the history of Prumentius among the Arabian histories. By two authors, cited by Sir W. Ouseley, (Travels, vol. i. p. 369 — 71), we are informed that the Arabs of Nadjran were first converted by a Syrian Christian, who was taken by robbers and carried among them. Jews in the earlier times might naturally be confounded with Christians ; it often hap pens so in Eoman historians. The tobbaa Hassan, with his brothers Amrou and Zerraah, were said to have been left infants on the death of their father Assaad, and during their minority " the sovereign power was exercised by an Arab Jew of the Benni Lakhem. As soon as Hassan had attained the age of discretion, Bebbeiah (the name of the Jew), who was probably his tutor or guardian, retired with his children to Heirah." (Modern Traveller, Arabia, p. 37.) It was about this time, which must have been nearly contemporary with Constantine, that Abd Celal reigned, who was reputed to be a Christian. 2 Nicephorus, ix. 18. 3 Philostorgius, lib. iii. num. 4. Pagi, p. 529. Gothofredus, D 84 EARLY CHRISTIANITY abilities, conformed easily to the manners of the Romans, embraced a monastic life, and was made a deacon by Eusebius of Nicomedia. His reputa tion became so great that he was chosen by the emperor to conduct a magnificent embassy, accom panied with two hundred horses of the pure breed of Cappadocia, and other rich presents, to the court of Hamyar. The eloquence of Theophilus, seconded by the magnificence of his presents, and by the value at which the Roman alliance was estimated, are said to have prevailed upon the Arabian king to embrace the religion of Christ. He built three churches in different parts of his dominions, one in his capital, which is called by Nicephorus Taphar ; another in the port of Adane, or Aden, where the Roman merchants were accustomed to resort ; and a third in a Persian port on the Arabian Sea, which is supposed to have been Hormus. After having con secrated these churches, and having settled the affairs of Arabia, Theophilus continued his route with success to several countries of the east, and on his return was held in great honour and esteem by his Roman brethren.1 Comment, leg. 2. Theod. de Legat. Concerning the isle of Dib or Divu, see Hyde, annotat. in Peritsol, Itin. Mund. p. 26. 1 Nicephorus, lib. ix. c. 18. Suidas has given a very high character of Theophilus. &EoipiXog. ovrog airo IvStov EirarEXdwv, ev Avno)(£ia StvyEV. Eic/cXj) (Tiay jxev cuptopiapEvug ovSEpiav exo>v avrog, Koivog Se rig u>v, o>g 7raerat£ avrov per aSstag E7ri(j>oiTCfv wg 'State. E%ov, fiaoiXEwg avrov E- ra paXwra Siartpt]g te iraang, /cat ailovg ayovrOQ. Kai riav aXXwv anavrtav, oiroooig £ir itrratri, pera IN ARABIA. 35 Asseman considers that Theophilus merely con verted the Christians, who were already spread over the southern part of the peninsula, to the Arian heres}'", of which he was a zealous adherent. The number of Christians in Arabia at this time must certainly have been considerable. No less than four bishoprics were established in the kingdom of Hamyar.2 The Christians of Yaman were still, however, few in comparison with those amongst the Arabs of Syria and the north, who were generally understood by the name of Arabian Christians. Of the tribes mentioned by Arabian authors as having embraced the worship of Christ, few are in cluded within the limits of Arabia Felix. But it is not improbable that Christians and Jews are often confounded. One writer tells us that Christianity flourished in the tribes of Rabiah, Ghassan, and Kodaah, and Judaism in Hamyar.3 We know, how ever, that in Hamyar there were many Christians. Ibn Khalican enumerates, as Christian tribes, those of Bahrah, Tanouch, and Taglab.4 To these may be added, on the authority of Abulfeda and Safio'ddin, many tribes in the neighbourhood of Nadjran, or irao-rjg irpo&vpiag avrov viroSEXOfi-Evwv, Kai to rr)g apETng avrov peyedog KaraTrXrjTTOpEviov. vv yap o avr\p KpEiaaov v o)g av Tig SrjXhxrEi Xoyif, W£ av ng twv aTroaroXwv eikiov. k. t. X. 2 Asseman, Biblioth. Orient, torn. iii. 3 Auctor Libri jJa3w»J! ap. Pocock. Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 141. * Ibn Khalican, ap. Pocock. ib. D 2 36 EARLY CHRISTIANITY Nedjeraun, who had a church and bishop in com mon.1 The inhabitants of Yatreb too, according to Shahristan,2 were a mixture of Jews and Christians. The troubles which followed the death of the tobbaa Amrou, the predecessor of Abd Celal, were favourable to the extension of Christianity over the peninsula. According to the historian Nuweir, when Amrou had weakened the power of Hamyar, by the destruction of the chiefs who had instigated him to the murder of his brother, the opportunity was seized by Rabya Ibn Modhar, a descendant of Cahlan, who with a considerable army invaded the kingdom, defeated and slew the tobbaa, and assumed the sceptre. The kingdom of Hirah is said to have been given by the Persian monarch to his son.3 After his death the crown again reverted to the race of Hamyar, probably in the person of Abd Celal, who was succeeded by a son of Hassan, only known by the appellation of tobbaa,4 which he was the last who rendered celebrated by his actions. It is recorded of him that he placed his sister's son, Amrou, as king over the Maadites, and that Mecca and Yatreb, and even Hirah, were subject to him. He adorned anew the temple of Mecca, embraced Judaism, and brought 1 Abulfed. and Safio'dd. ap. Pocock. ib. 2 Shahristan, ap. Pocock. ib. 3 Nuweir, p. 63. 4 Abulfed. p. 10. Hamza, p. 34. Nuweir, p. 62. IN ARABIA. 87 with him to Hamyar some Jewish doctors. It was in his time that the league was made between the people of Yaman and the tribe of Rabyah.3 This tobbaa was succeeded, according to Abul feda, by Hareth, a son of Amrou,8 or, according to others, by Morthed, the son of Abd Celal.7 On the death of Morthed the kingdom of Hamyar was di vided amongst his four sons, who reigned together, each with a separate diadem. On their way to Mecca these kings were attacked by the tribe of Chenan, three of them slain, and the fourth thrown into chains.8 The throne of Hamyar is said to have been next occupied by their sister, who was deposed and put to death by the people,9 After her reigned in succession Waldah, the son of Morthed,10 and Abrahah Ibn Sabak, who is celebrated only for his learning and liberality.11 The next king was Sah- ban, the son of Morthed,12 whom many of the Arab tribes, not included in the kingdom of Hamyar, ac knowledged as their sovereign. He placed Hareth, the son of Amrou, over the Saadites, who divided his kingdom between his three sons, placing Hogr over the tribe of Asad and Kenan, Sjerhabil over that of Keis and Temeem, and Salus over Rabyah. 4 Hamza, p. 54. 6 Abulfeda, p. 10. 7 Hamza, p. 34. Nuweir, p. 62. Abulfeda makes Morthed the successor of Hareth. 8 Hamza, p. 34. Nuweir, p. 62. ' Nuweir, ibid. 10 Abulfed. p. 10. Hamza, p. 34. 11 Abulfeda and Hamza, ib. Nuweir, p. 74. 12 Idem, ibid. 38 EARLY CHRISTIANITY On the death of Hareth, the people of A sad, Keis, and Temeem rose against Hogr and Sjerhabil, and drove them away. On the news of this insurrection, Sahban raised an army and led it against the tribe of Modhar, which was joined by that of Rabyah. The result of this war was that Sahban was defeated and slain. Alsabah, the son of Abrahah, succeeded to the throne, and proceeded to take vengeance on the Maadites for the death of his predecessor. In the battle of Cilab, which followed, the forces of Hamyar were entirely defeated by the Maadites, under their former leader Colaib, and the tribe of Maad was released from its subjection to Ham yar during- the life of its chieftain.1 The crown of Hamyar was next usurped by Lachnya Dzu Shana- thir, who was famed only for his tyranny and for his profligacy. He was slain by Yusef Dzu Nowass, who succeeded him and became a convert to Judaism.2 The tolerant spirit of the Arabian idolatry afforded equally a safe asylum to the persecuted disciples of Zoroaster, numbers of whom settled in Bahhrein, to the Jew, and to the fugitive Christian. As long as the kings of Hamyar adhered to their ancient super stition, each of these sects was allowed the free ex ercise of its religious ceremonies, and the public profession of its faith. But no sooner did the 1 Nuweir, p. 76. 2 Abulfed. p. 10. Hamza, p. 16. Nuweir, p. 76. Taberita, p. 102. Mesoud, p. 140. IN ARABIA. 89 followers of Judaism gain power, than the disciples of Jesus, whom they considered as their bitterest enemies, began to experience tlieir resentment. The causes which drew upon the Christians of Arabia Felix the enmity of Dzu Nowass, are variously re ported by the Arabian historians, but the most cre dible are agreed that he was excited to their perse cution by his Jewish advisers and subjects.* 3 See the authorities cited in the last note, and the eccle siastical writers of contemporary history. I have inserted a different account in the Appendix B. from D'Herbelot. It will show how little faith can be placed in the stories which the commentators on the Koran have fabricated. 40 EARLY CHRISTIANITY SECTION IV. That region of Ethiopia which was known to the Romans as the kingdom of Auxuma, was called by the Arabians Al Habesh, of which the mo dern name of Abyssinia is merely a corruption. Its eastern boundary is the Red Sea, and on the north it adjoins to Nubia ; and in its physi cal geography it bears a great resemblance to the Arabian peninsula. It is described as a coun try of mountains. Like Arabia, it is characterized by its coast chains ; a high ridge runs parallel to the shores of the Indian ocean as far as Cape Guardafui, from whence it continues in a westerly direction to the strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, inclosing the frankincense and myrrh country, which ex tends considerably to the west of Azab. From the strait this chain follows the course of the Red Sea, until it terminates in the sandy plain at the Isthmus of Suez.1 The interior of Abyssinia is de scribed by Salt as a table land, having a gentle in clination towards the north-west, and presenting two great steeps, one on the east, towards the Red Sea, the other on the south, towards the interior of 1 Bruce, Travels, vol. ii. p. 302, 8vo. Edinb. 1805. Suez was the ancient Sebaste, whence the Arabic Siwas, corrupted into Suez. IN ARABIA. 41 Africa, which is supposed to be a branch of the Djebel-el-Kamri, or Mountains of the Moon.8 The Abyssinians were connected with the people of Arabia not only by their situation,— they were a people of the same family, and their kingdom perhaps originated from some of the plundering expeditions of the early tobbaas of Hamyar.3 Their 2 Salt's Abyssinia, p. 350. The Arabian geography of Abyssinia may be seen in Hartmann, de Geographia African Edrisiana, p. 54, et seq. — Abu'l-Maala Alaeddin Muhammed ibn Abdo'1-Bak wrote a book VLjJi ^W* ^s de Excellentiis Habessinorum, in which he said they were derived from Al Habesh, who was the same as Cush, the son of Canaan. Gag- nier, not. in Abulfed. Hist. Muham. p. 23. 3 Ludolf asserts the Arabian origin of the Abyssinians, " In digenes enim non sunt ; sed venerunt ex ea Arabian parte, qua? felix vocatur et mari rubro adjacet; unde facile in Africam transfretari potuerunt. Abassenos enim in Arabia olim habi- tasse, atque Sabaeis sive (quod idem est) Homeritis aceensitos fuisse, et veteres geographi testantur, et multa aha convincerant argumenta." — Hist. 2Eth. lib. i. c. 1. The Arabian writers explain many of the words of the Koran which are not now in use from the Abyssinian. — >Gagnier, not. in Abulfed. p. 23. Their form and colour are constantly compared by Bruce to those of the Hamyaritic Arabs. In the early history of Ham yar, the expeditions of its kings are all confined to Africa. Mr. Salt has objected to the Arabian origin of the Abyssinians, and thinks the inhabitants of Auxuma to have been a Berber race. His principal argument, however, against their identity with the Hamyarites is that Arabian historians collected by Schul- tens distinguish them by their colour, and because one of the princes of Hamyar entreated the Persian emperor to drive out those crows (corvi) who were hateful to his countrymen. The Ethiopians may have been much darker than the Hamyarites ; 42 EARLY CHRISTIANITY Arabian origin is proved by the identity of their manners, their physiognomy, and their language, and even in some measure by their own traditions. Abyssinia resembled Arabia Felix also in its produc tions, its aromatic woods of myrrh and frankincense. Pure gold was found in many parts in abundance. In place of the camels of Arabia, it boasted of the finest elephants in the world. Abyssinia is at present divided into three great divisions : that of Tigre, comprehending the tract between the Red Sea and the Tacazze; that of the Sheygya and other Bedouin Arabs of Africa are even blacker than the Ethiopians ; the cause in both cases might be the same. Seneca urges the burnt colour of the Ethiopians as a proof of the heat of the climate — primo Jithiopiam ferventissi- mum esse, indicat hominum adustus color. Nat. Quaest. lib. iv. c. 2. p. 629. The Arabians of the peninsula could not par ticularize the Ethiopians for their colour, for they distinguish themselves by the same term : when they would say that Muhammed was sent to convert not only the Arabs, but also foreign nations, the Greeks and the Persians, they say he was sent to jA&-Mj iiyui\ the black (the Arabs) and the white, (Abulfed. Hist. Muham. c. vii.) ; — and, which is still more re markable, in the collection of Arabian proverbs edited by Schultens, the Arabs are designated by that very same term of crows — ^iSXm jjbyJIj * jjljji tjij*))— the Arabs are crows, the blacks, i.e. the negroes, wolves (Elnawabig, No. 27) ; and the Arabian scholiast (Samachsjar) actually represents their colour as the reason of the term. The oriental geographer, translated by Ouseley, observes, "The inhabitants of Bajeh [a place between Abyssinia, Nubia, and Egypt] are blacker than the Abyssinians, like the Arabs," (p. 13.), that is, like the African Arabs. IN ARABIA. 43 Amhara, to the west of the Tacazze ; and the pro vinces of the south. The province now called Tigre was the seat of the ancient monarchy. At the north-west end of an extensive and fertile valley, between two hills, about one hundred and twenty miles from the coast, stood the capital, the city of Auxuma, or Axum, the ruins of which still bear witness to its former magnificence.1 The annals of the Ethiopians trace its origin to the time of Abraham.2 The Ethiopians were a people little known in the earlier periods of history. Many circumstances make us believe that the ages in which they flou rished preceded the earliest authentic annals of the gentile writers. Settled in an elevated region, which in tropical climes has generally been found to be the seat of civilization,3 they seem to have been once celebrated for learning, and in the early ages of the post-diluvian world, the district of Auxuma was probably the mother country of the wisdom and inhabitants of Egypt.4 The Ethiopians boasted, 1 See Valentia, Bruce, &c. 2 Bruce, vol. ii. p. 305. s In America, Humboldt found that the traces of ancient civilization were always confined to the cool climate of the mountain plains. " In ganz Mexico und Peru findet man die Spuren grosser Menschenkultur auf der hohen Gebirgsebene. Wir haben Buinen von Pallasten und Badern in 1600 bis 1800 Toisen Hohe gesehen." (Ansichten der Natur, p. 147, band, i.) The civilization of ancient Arabia was confined to the mountain plains of Hamyar ; in Africa, to the high plateau of Auxuma. * A thorough investigation of the early connection between 44 EARLY CHRISTIANITY according to the historians of Greece, that they were the most ancient people of the globe, that amongst them first originated the worship of the gods, and that they were the first inventors of religious rites and Egypt and Ethiopia might lead to interesting results. In the short space of a note it would be useless to attempt it. Diod. Sic. amongst the ancients has avowed his opinion that the Egyptians were an Ethiopian colony, (lib. iii. c. 2. p. 175.) He informs us that the Ethiopians had formerly used hiero glyphics, and that the hieroglyphics were called Ethiopian letters, and he seems to think that they originated amongst that people: — 7T£piSE twv AidwwiKoiv ypapfiariov, rwv Trap' Aiyvrrrwig KaXovpEVwv lepoyXvcjiiKwv, pryreov, \va prjSEv TrapaXEnrwpEv rwv apxawXoyovpE- viiiv. (rvpjSefirjKE toivvv rovg pev rvirovg vwapxEiv avrwv bpoiwg £woig ¦navToSairoig Kai aKpwnpioig avBpiairiov, eti S'opyavoig, Kai paXiara TEKroviKoig. ov yap ek Trig ruiv ovXXaflwv owQecewc 1} ypappariKn ¦trap avroig tov inroKEipEvov Xoyov airoSiSwoiv, aXX e£ EpipaaEiog toiv pETaypafopEvuv Kai psraipopag pvny,r\ crvvrjdXrjpEvrjg. (c. iv. p. 176.) Heliodorus says — raiviav ypappaoiv AidiorriKOig ov SriportKoig, aXXa jiaaiXiKOig EoriypEvnv, a Se roig Kiyv-KTiiov upariKoiQ KaXovpevoig £>poio)VTai. (Heliod. Ethiop. lib. iv. p. 174.) We find Egypt mentioned in the book of Genesis as a flourishing kingdom as early as the days of Abraham and Joseph, and at the same time we find such a marked difference between the Egyptians and the people of Syria and Palestine that the former were not allowed by their laws to eat of the same food. The Egyptian colony cannot therefore have eome from the north. In the time of the patriarchs the kingdom of Egypt is believed to have been confined to Upper Egypt and the Thebaid. Bruce thinks that the colony which founded Thebes came from Sire, in Ethiopia. One of the principal deities of the Ethiopic and Arabian theologies was named Siris ; Diodorus says that the proper name of the Egyptian deity was Siris, which the Greeks, by prefixing 0, transformed into Osiris. IN ARABIA. 45 ceremonies. Hence it was generally believed that their sacrifices were peculiarly acceptable in heaven, and that they were under the immediate protection of the deity.1 In reward for their piety, Diodorus assures us, they had remained as free as the Arabs of the peninsula, and had escaped invasion even from the arms of Hercules and Bacchus.2 We are fur ther informed that their worship was directed in the first place to an immortal being, whom they looked upon as the creator of the universe ; and secondly, to a deity of inferior power, and partaking of mortal nature ;3 perhaps these coincided with the demiurgic and created gods of the Egyptian and Platonic phi losophers. Their theologies embraced also as infe rior deities the sun and the moon, and others which were analogous to, perhaps the prototypes of, Jupiter, Hercules, Pan, and Isis.4 In his attempt to reach Ethiopia from Egypt, Cambyses experienced the strength and bravery of its inhabitants, the reports 1 Diod. Sie. lib. hi. c. 2. p. 175 — Ato /cat rnv 7rap' avrote EvoefiEiav, he observes, Siafiefiontrdai irapa iraoiv avOputiroie, /cat Sokeiv rag Trap' Aidioxpi Qvaiag paXiar eivat TtoSaipovia KEKapia- pEvag. This idea appears to have been very old among the Greeks, for Homer says — Zeuc yap Ett QiKeavov pET apvfiovag AiOioirwag X.Qi£og EJ3n pETa Saira' Oeoi S' apa iravreg ewovto. II. A. 423. Homer doubtlessly heard of their fame from the Egyptians. * Diod. Sic. p. 175. 3 Beov Se vopiCovai, tov pev adavarov, tovtov S' eivai tov airiov riov iravThiv' tov Se Qvnrov, avwvvpov riva, Kai ov (jaiprj. K. t. X. Strabo, lib. xvii. c. 2. p. 473. 4 Diodorus, p. 179. Strabo, ib. 46 EARLY CHRISTIANITY of whose vast riches had excited his cupidity j1 later authors have praised their beauties and their virtues.2 During the reign of the Ptolemies, when the trade of the Red Sea was carried on partly through the Egyptian ports, and Ethiopia was made by their fleets a place of less difficult access, the language and some of the refinements of Greece were intro duced;3 and it was a favourite resort of the later kings , of this family, for the purpose of hunting the ele phant.4 ' Like Arabia, this country afforded a refuge to multitudes of Jews, of whom manv are to be found there at the present day.5 Christianity is supposed to have reached Ethiopia as early as the days of the apostles ;6 but it can be ascertained with more 1 Herodotus, lib. iii. p. 191, &e. The Ethiopians sent Cam- byses one of their bows, with the following message : — The king of the Ethiopians advises the king of the Persians, that when his soldiers are able to bend this bow with ease he may venture to invade Ethiopia, in the mean time let him thank the gods that they have not induced the Ethiopians to desire other countries than their own. 2 Herod, ibid. Mela, lib. iii. c. 3. 3 Kara Se tov SEVTEpov TlroXEpaiov b (iainXEvg rwv A.idioiru)v Hp-yupevvg, pETEOxnKuig EXXriviKwg ayiayrjg, Kai iXoiror)irag. Diodorus, lib. iv. p. 178. 4 Agatharchides, rapt rng Epvdpag BaXao-trng, p. 1. In the Adulitic inscription in Cosmas (p. 143), Ptolemy professes to have conquered the Arabians, Kai irEpav Se tvq EpvOpag daXao-irrjg oiKovvrag Apa(3irag. — Touj Etg rqv Opvpirnv anfJ-aivEC says Cosmas, tovteitti rovg ev Tn EvSaipovi Apafita. 5 Jewett's Christian Besearches. « They were reported to have been visited by Thomas (Chry- sost. Homil. in xii. Apost. p. 11), by Matthaeus (Buflinus, lib. i. IN ARABIA. 47 certainty that there were Christians in the kingdom. of Auxuma in the time of Athanasius, when their bishop, named Frumentius, was deposed for his doctrines.7 Ethiopia, when it was better known, becanie im portant to the eastern empire for- its trade ; and the merchants of Abyssinia shared with those of Arabia the commerce of the Indian ocean." From the port of Adulis, on the Red Sea, the ruins of which are still to be seen near the town of Zulla, about thirty miles to the south-east of Massowa, the ships of Auxuma visited the coast of India, and the island of Taprobana, then called by the Indians Sieladiba, and now known by the name of Ceylon.8 This celebrated island was the common resort for the merchants of Ethiopia, Hamyar, Persia, India, and the distant Socrates, i. 16), by Marcus (Makrizii Hist. Copt. p. 15), and by Bartholomaeus, after he had traversed Arabia (Nicetas, p. 395). Theophilus passed over from the Homerites to the Auxumites. (Nicephorus, ix. 18, 19. Philostorgius, in. 4. Theodoret. ap. Phot.) 7 Athanas. Apol. ad Constant, p. 313. (Opera, ed. Par. 1698. torn, i.) The kings of Auxuma were then Kifavag icai 'Sia'Cavag. Prumentius was created a bishop by Athanasius, p. 315. Am bassadors came to Constantine from Ethiopia and India in 325. Euseb. Yit. Constant, iv. 8. The Ethiopians are enumerated among the people who had received Christianity, by Athanasius (de Incarnat. p. 92), and by Chrysostom (Homil. ii. in Johan. torn. viii. p. 9.), IrSoi, /cat TlEpo'ai, Kai Aidioireg. 8 napa pEV IvSovg KaXovpEvn JiiEXcSijia, irapa Se JZXXtjoi, Ta- Trpofiavri. Cosmas Indicopleustes, Topograph. Christ, lib. xi. p.;336. 48 EARLY CHRISTIANITY region of Sinde, or China.1 It contained at this early period a Christian church and community, under the jurisdiction of the bishop of Persia.2 The port of Adulis was frequented by the ships of Alex andria and Ela,3 which returned laden with the pro duce of the frankincense country,4 and the gold of Sasus.5 Three days' journey from Adulis, and five from Auxuma, was the town of Kolo'e, the grand emporium of ivory, and of the wealth ofthe interior.8 The trade, however, between the Auxumites and the Romans, at least after the removal of the seat of 1 E£ 6\tjc Se rr/c IvSiKng Kai TlEpcriSog Kai ASioiriag Sexetui »/ vnoog TrXoia noXXa, pEor) rig ovaa, bpoiovg Kai EKirEfiwEi .... tort yap /cat avrri pcya E/nroptoc bjxoiwg Kai 'SiivSov, Evda b poo'xog n to Kaaropiv, Kai to avSpoaraxw, Kai Tn HeptriSi, Kai rip Opripirrj, Kai rn ASovX-n, k. t. X. Id. p. 337. 2 E^Et Se i] avrr\ vnoog /cat EKKXno'iav rwv EirilripovvTiiiv Hepo'wv Xpiori avwv, Kai TrpeafivrEpov airo TLEpaiSog xelP0TOVOVP£VOVi Kai Siukovov, /cat waaav ttjv EKKXr\aiaariKnv XEirovpyiav. Id. ib. We are told by Sophronius that Christianity was introduced into this island by the Eunuch of Candace — JLwovxog KavSaKrjg ... /cat ev Tawpofiavn vr}irifEv ri)Epi»0pa EKnpv^E to EvayyEXtov tov livpiov. In the time of the Nubian geographer Al Edrisi, there were still Christians remaining both in Sarandib or Ceylon (p. 32), and in Socotora (p. 23). 3 Cosmas, lib. ii. p. 140. * Ev Aidioiriov, Evda /cat 7roXvxpvo Jo. As. Ep. p. 35. Odias, Metaphrast. ¦>!. Wadi, is the common name in Arabia for a stream or mountain torrent, and also of a valley, which has generally a stream running through it. 6 Jo. As. p. 35. Metaphrast. 7 Metaphrast. — " I swear by Adonai, (j£c w^jo^|oo)" says the tobbaa, in his letter to the mondar of Hirah, preserved by Jo. As. Ep. p. 30, " that I am exceedingly grieved when I think of her beauty, and of that of her daughters." 8 Hamza, p. 34. Tabeir, p. 106. 56 EARLY CHRISTIANITY ciliate their friendship, and endeavour to detach them from their alliance with, or rather dependence on, Persia. When he reached the camp of the Arab chief, a messeng-er had just arrived from the king of Hamyar, informing the mondar of the success and particulars of his expedition against Nadjran, and exhorting him to take similar measures against the Christians who lived under him. The bishop of Persia immediately wrote a circumstantial account of the sufferings of the Christians of Nadjran to his Roman brethren, in which he urged them speedily to take up the cause of the believers in Arabia.1 Amongst the few Christians who had escaped the persecution of Dzu Nowass, was Dous Ibn Dzi Thaleban, who fled to the court of Con stantinople, and implored the emperor to advocate the cause of his persecuted countrymen.2 The em peror gave him a favourable hearing, excused himself on account of the state of public affairs and the dis tance of Arabia, from personally assisting him, but gave him letters to the nadjash of Ethiopia.3 The Abyssinian king, who was now himself a Christian, had thus a double incentive to engage vigorously in his war with Hamyar. Dzu Nowass, in pursuing his plans of vengeance, had seized the opportunity when the season of the year was un favourable to the navigation between Abyssinia and i Johan. As. Ep. p. 22, 39. s Nuweir, p. 82. Tabeir, p. 106. Hamza, p. 38. 3 Hamza, ib. Nuweir, p. 89. IN ARABIA. 57 Arabia.4 As soon, however, as the season permitted, and the preparations were completed, an army, amounting according to the Arabian writers to seventy thousand men, set sail for the coast of Ham yar, under the command of Aryat, the nephew of the nadjash.5 The Abyssinian forces were divided into two parts. One division was landed on that coast of Arabia which lies on the Red Sea, and, after having crossed the Tehama, was to have co-operated with the other division, as soon as the latter had effected a landing on the southern coast. This first division, however, perished or was dispersed in cross ing the desert. The Arabian king, therefore, who had been making preparations to defend his kingdom against this double attack, when he heard of the dis aster which had befallen the first detachment of the Abyssinian army, and was consequently delivered from all apprehensions of danger on that side, turned his attention entirely to the defence of the coast.6 The coasts of Arabia and Abyssinia approach each other by degrees, until at the southern ex tremity of the Red Sea they form a narrow passage, the entrance into the ocean, which from its perilous navigation gained from the Arabian sailors the name of Bab el Mandoub, or the Gate of Tears. The black, lofty, and often fatal shores of the African ¦* Adventante autem hieme quum in nostram regionem iEthio- pes contendere nequirent, &c. Jo. As. Ep. p. 24. 5 Hamza, p. 38. Nuweir, p. 82. Tabeir, p. 108. Mesoud, p. 140. 6 Metaphrast. 58 EARLY CHRISTIANITY side were looked on with terror, and formed a bay which was named the Harbour of Death ; and from its rocky extremity, Cape Gardafui, or the Cape of Burials, the spirit of the storm was believed to enjoy the last screams ofthe sinking mariner. The straits are at present scarcely three miles broad j1 but ac cording to the Arabian geographer, in his time, the sea was there so narrow that from one side a person might be recognized on the opposite shore f and at the period ofthe expedition under Aryat, it is reported to have been no more than two stadia, or a quarter of a Roman mile, and to have been difficult to pass on account of the rocks that lay concealed beneath the waves.3 Through this narrow passage the Abys sinian fleet had to sail, before it could reach the coast of Hamyar, and it was the plan of Dzu Nowass to render it impassable. For this purpose, he is said to have thrown across the least dangerous part a heavy chain of iron, held firm by fragments of rock, to which it was fixed, and which were sunk in the 1 Lord Valentia, Travels. The breadth is here estimated from the Arabian coast to the small barren island of Perim, called by Arrian Diodorus. This narrow passage is the only one navigators can pass, as between the island and Africa are innumerable dangerous and small islands. The passage is even now_ difficult. 3 Georg. Arabs, Clim. i. p. 6. ap. Bochart. 3 Itaque considerans angustissimum esse fretum quod est inter JEthiopes et Homeritas, neque superare latitudine duorum stadiorum, et alioqui habere etiam saxa multis in locis latentia. Metaphrastes. IN ARABIA. 59 sea, and raised to the surface by masses of timber. After having taken these precautions, Dzu Nowass encamped with his army on the coast where he ex pected that the Abyssinians, when they found the passage of the straits impossible, would attempt to disembark. When the Abyssinian fleet approached the straits, ten ships were sent before to reconnoitre the passage, which, being ignorant of the stratagem ofthe king of Hamyar, and assisted by a favourable wind, entered unexpectedly the narrowest] part, and almost by a miracle passed in safety. The rest were obliged, as Dzu Nowass had expected, to return. The ten ships which had passed the straits approached the shore, and would have landed at a place about two hundred stadia or twenty-five miles from that in which the array of Hamyar was posted, but they were prevented by the missiles of the few Arabians who had been sent to defend the southern coast. In another attempt, seven of the remaining ships, in one of which was the Abyssinian commander, succeeded in passing the straits and joining them. The rest of the fleet, which was the more numerous portion, afterwards followed them, and proceeding farther along the coast, cast anchor at a different place, a considerable distance from the former. Dzu Nowass, who naturally expected that the chief commander was with the" farger division, proceeded with his army to hinder their landing, leaving a small force to oppose those ships which had first passed the 60 EARLY CHRISTIANITY straits. Aryat, constrained by want of provisions, was not long before he attempted to effect a landing. According to the Arabian accounts the Abyssinians disembarked near the port of Aden. Their com mander wished them to consider their safety as entirely depending on their bravery, and, having ordered the ships to be set on fire, he addressed them in a few words : " O men of Abyssinia, before you are your enemies, behind you the sea : your choice is death or victory."1 The contest was short but obstinate, the Hamyarites were entirely defeated, and Aryat hastened towards the metropolis, the city of Taphar or Dhaphar, which being unprepared for a siege immediately surrendered to him.2 When the king of Hamyar heard of the fall of his capital, astonished at the unexpected success of his enemies, and now threatened by them on every side, his resolution entirely failed him ; so that, when the Abyssinians landed from the other ships, they soon defeated the Arabians, who wanted spirit and concert to make an effective resistance, and Dzu i Nuweir, p. 82. 2 Metaphrast. Jo. As. Ep. p. 42, 43. Procopius ; Malala ; Sec. Arabic authorities : Nuweir, p. 82 ; Hamza, p. 42 ; Ta beir, p. 106, 108 ; Mesoud, p. 140. On the history of Arethas and the events which followed, the reader may consult Walch, Historia Berum in Homeritide, and the review of it in the Orientalische und Exegetische Bibliothek of Michaelis, band 7. p. 142. The Greek writers say that the nadjash accompanied the expedition. . I have followed the Arabians : but it is a mat ter not worth disputing. IN ARABIA. CI Nowass himself was amongst the number ofthe slain. The native historians give a different account of the death of the tobbaa. According to them, he fled from the field of battle, after he had witnessed the defeat of his army, but being closely pursued, and at last hemmed in between his enemies and the sea, he pre cipitated himself from a rock, and perished in the waves. By this action the fate of Arabia was decided. In Dzu Dgiadan, who was the successor of Dzu Nowass, and who fell in opposing the conquerors, ended the race of Hamyar.3 Yaman became a pro vince dependent on the Abyssinian nadjash, and Aryat, known to the Greeks under the name of Esimiphseus, ascended the throne as his tributary.4 The spirit of Christianity is mild and forgiving, and its doctrines inculcate the duty of forbearance and long-suffering; but in the barbarous times which marked the decline of the Roman empire, and among the wild tribes, such as those of Arabia and Abys sinia, who became converts, a different spirit had usurped its place. As the partizans of Christianity, moreover, increased in power, they unfortunately became too often, like their enemies, vindictive and persecuting. This change was not caused by their religion, but by the state of the times, by the cha racter of those who embraced it, and by the different and contending doctrines that were mixed with it. 3 Hamza, p. 34. Abulfeda, p. 10. 4 Procopius de Bel. Pers. lib. i. c. 30, who calls him a Chris tian and an Hamyarite. 02 EARLY CHRISTIANITY The first step of the Christian conquerors of Arabia, was to revenge the massacre of Nadjran on its per petrators ; and the same persecution, which had before raged against the believers, fell on the heads of the offending Jews, until the fertile tracts of Hamyar presented a continued scene of bloodshed and devastation. The churches which had been de stroyed by Dzu Nowass, were all by degrees rebuilt, and new bishops and priests appointed by the Alex andrian primate.1 1 Metaphrast. Jo. As, Ep. p. 43. IN ARABIA. 63 SECTION V. The northern Arabs of Syria and Irak were sub ject to the two independent princes of Ghassan and Hirah, the dominions of the latter including the tribes who were nominally subject to the kingdom of Persia, the former those who occupied the districts bordering on Syria, Mesopotamia, and Egypt. The family of the kings of Hirah appears to have ori ginated from some of the chiefs who had accom panied the warlike expeditions of the tobbaas of Hamyar into Sogd and Persia.2 The first king of Hirah, called by the historians simply Malek, who is said to have been a descendant of Kahlan, mounted the throne soon after the death of Alex ander,3 but on the death of his nephew Jod- haimah, the third king of that dynasty, the crown was seized by the sons of Lachm, a descendant of Saba.4 The capital of Malek was called Anbar, but Jodhaimah, who had by his conquests extended the boundaries of his kingdom/ moved the seat of 8 Hamza, in Basmussin, Hist. Praeeip. Arab. Begn. p. 3. The family of Hirah are said to have migrated into Irak, according to Mesoud, at the time of the flood of Elarim. Hirah was before occupied by Arabs of Ghassan. Mesoud, in Schultens' ed. p. 180. » Pococke, Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 67. * Id. p. 69. 5 Hamza, in Basmussin, p. 4, 5, 6. He is said to have in vaded Syria and killed Amrus, king of the Amalekites, p. 4. 64 EARLY CHRISTIANITY government to Hirah, which had been built by one of the tobbaas, who stopped there on his road to Irak.1 The kings of Ghassan deduced their descent from the tribe of Azd in Yaman.2 Gafahah, the first king, had dispossessed the original dynasty, and is said to have been confirmed in his conquest by the Roman governor of Syria.3 The third king Tsalabuh, built Akhah, in the Hauraun, towards Balka, the latter of which was the capital of Ghassan in the time of the second Hareth, but the seat of government was removed to Sideir, by Amru, the twelfth king of this dynasty.4 Although by eastern writers the name of Syria is given to the whole of the territory between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates as far as Baby lon,5 yet all the tract which spreads out to the east 1 Abulfedas Irak, in Biischings Magazin fur die neue Historie und Geographie, band iv. p. 257. 2 Pococke, p. 77. Hamza, in Basm. p. 41. 3 Hamza, ib. p. 42. 4 Hamza, p. 44. The capital ofthe kiugs of Ghassan is gene rally considered to have been Petra, the magnificent ruins of which were explored by Irby, Mangles, and Bankes. But the Arab kings appear to have seldom been long in one place ; and as being nearer to the frontiers ofthe neighbouring states, into which they were continually making excursions, they might prefer to reside at Balka, or Sideir, or Tadmor. s Maimonides describes Syria as consisting of the country — "from Israel and below it to Aram Naharim — O'Hna d~)S [Aram of the Bivers, i.e. Mesopotamia] and Aram Isoba — M2W dIS [the northern part of Syria towards Aleppo], and the whole tract of the Euphrates as far as Babel — IN ARABIA. 65 of Libanus and the Jordan belongs physically to Arabia,6 and we find accordingly that it was always occupied by wandering tribes, who continually in fested the border districts of Syria, whilst that coun try was subject either to native princes or foreign, conquerors.7 The interior has always been a sterile sandy desert, interspersed however by frequent green and fertile oases, which were occupied by villages and small towns, as was the case with Palmyra, which rose to power and opulence by being the centre of the trade from the Persian gulf.8 On the east the Arabs were often in possession of the rich plains of the Hauraun and Damascus ; towards the north the districts of Edessa and Emessa, as well as Irak and part of Mesopotamia towards the east, were long ruled by Arabian dynasties. The Arabs of the northern desert, during the revo lution of centuries, have changed little more than their religion. Distinguished from all their neigh bours by their sinewy limbs, and their dark and b22 IV ms T> b^ —as Damascus and Achleb (Aleppo) and Haran or Charan, and Magbub ( Mabog) dbtliV) ptPDl 'J133 aanfil pm— and the like, to Schinear IViW and Tzohor ("in^l) — OOTIDS NTT "Hn behold it is Syria." Hilch. Tzum. c. l.p. 9. 6 In Xenophon's time Mesopotamia seems to have been included under the name of Arabia : while under the lower empire Arabia reached to Nisibis, e^ettep-keto Se xai Eg tjjv N«7(/3cv, mv TEo-vyXopov Apafiiav. Theophylact. Symocatt- lib. v. c. 1. ' Appian, Syriaea, c. 51. 8 Appian, Civil, lib. v. c. 9. F 66 EARLY CHRISTIANITY fiery eye, they roved in the conscious pride of per sonal independence, with " no dwelling but the tent, no intrenchment but the sword, no law but the tra ditionary song of their bards." l The virtues of the Scenite were bravery, generosity, and hospitality ; and he looked, as he still does, with contempt and indignation on the faithlessness and treachery which were too often the characteristics of his more polished neighbours.2 But his virtues were more than over balanced by his lawless and predatory life, his avarice, and his cruelty. The love of the Arabs for independence, placed them under the necessity of being continually in a posture of defence ; by their perpetual hostilities they learnt to consider every one as their enemy, and one of their poets has justi fied their mode of life, by observing, that " he who drives not invaders from his cistern with strong arms, will see it demolished ; and he who abstains ever so much from injuring others, will often himself be injured."3 Their liberty thus became a precarious possession ; for they were at every step in danger from their enemies, and every person and every place aroused their suspicious fears.4 Plunder, much more 1 Scenes and Impressions. 2 " The term khayn, treacherous, is universally applied to every Turk in Arabia, with that proud self-confidence of supe riority, in this respect, for which the Arabs are deservedly renowned." Burckhardt, Travels in Arabia, vol. i. p. 39. 3 Zohair, Moallaca, couplet 53. * " He ascends the sandy hillock of Thalbut, and explores IN ARABIA. 67 even than revenge, was generally the cause of their wars, however the greatest heroes might boast of being " impetuous in the battle, but regardless of the spoils."3 The Arabs were long independent of the neigh bouring empires of Persia and Rome. They fought under the banners of the great king as early as the age of Alexander, whose soldiers were often ha rassed by them in the mountains of Libanus,6 and the Persian army at the battle of Gaza was partly composed of them.7 But in succeeding reigns, the richest provinces of Persia were laid waste by the numerous hordes which issued from the desert. At the time of the extinction of the dynasty of the Arsacides by Ardesheir Baubegan (or Artaxerxes), the territories between the Tigris and the Oxus, including Khorasan and Irak, had been for up wards of five centuries in the possession of various tribes of Arabs, under Mulouk-al-Towaeif,3 or chiefs of various independent tribes, although several Per- its deserted top, fearing lest an enemy should lurk behind the guide stones." Zohair, coupl. 27. 5 Idem, coupl. 47. 6 Curtius, lib. iv. c. 2. 7 Cecidere Persarum Arabumque circa decern millia, nee Macedonum incruenta victoria fuit. Curt. lib. iv. c. 6. — See Josippon Ben Gorion, Hist. Jud. vol. ii. p. 161. He calls the Arab king who was defeated here by Alexander QPlin Hare- fhum. 8 The history of the Mulouk-al-Towaeif is given by Masoudi, p. 159, in the Notices et Extraits de la Bibliotheque du Boi, torn. viii. F 2 68 EARLY CHRISTIANITY sian princes had at times made a temporary conquest of Irak, Medaine, and even Rei and Isfahaun. Ardesheir however invaded the territories of the Mulouk-al-Towaeif, drove them from Khorasan, Irak, and Mesopotamia, and even pursued them into Bahhrein and Hedjaz, where he compelled them to pay tribute to the crown of Persia. Many of the Arab chieftains were permitted to occupy the north ern deserts under the princes of Hirah, which with its dependencies the Arabian king of Bahhrein was allowed to retain, and some appear to have retired to Hamyar and other parts of the south. The king of Hirah seems however to have been con sidered as little better than a viceroy of Persia. The Arabs of Ghassan, and other tribes who bordered on Syria, which was occupied by the Romans, sheltered themselves from the Persian power by a nominal alliance with their neighbours. Accordingly when Hormuz II., the seventh king of the Sassanian dynasty, attempted to exact a tribute of the tribe of Ghassan, they refused to comply with his demand. Without giving them time to seek assistance from their Roman allies, the Persian king invaded their territory, and entirely defeated them. But Hormuz himself was waylaid in the desert by a body of Arabs, who put him and his attendants to the sword.1 On the sudden death of Hormuz, the next heir to • Malcolm's History of Persia, vol. i. p. 106, 7, and the authorities cited by him. IN ARABIA. 69 the throne of Persia was his posthumous son Shahpoor the second. The minority of this prince presented an opportunity of revenge to the Arabs of Bahhrein and Lachsa, who collected a consi derable force, crossed the Persian gulf, and plun dered the country in all directions. The king of Hamyar, tobbaa Hassan, incited perhaps by the fugitive chiefs who had been driven from their pos sessions by Shahpoor, and who had sought refuge in Yaman, at the same time made a descent on Irak. No sooner, however, had Shahpoor reached the age of sixteen, than he prepared to retaliate on the Arabs the cruelties which they had perpetrated on his subjects. His vengeance was first directed against those tribes who had gained possession of Pars, which had been the principal scene of their devastations. Not one was suffered to escape, and the captives had their shoulders pierced, and afterwards dislocated by means of a string passed through them, a punishment which gained for this Persian king the title of Dzu Lehtaf, or lord of the shoulders. Shahpoor next crossed the gulf, marched through the desert as far as Yatreb, filling up all the wells, and massacring every Arab he met with. From Hedjaz he continued his destructive march into Palestine and Syria, and to Mesopotamia and Irak, where he fixed his resi dence at the cities of Ctesiphon and Seleucia, which, separated by the Tigris, were denominated by the Arabians Al Medaim, or the two cities.3 Whilst a Nikbi ben Massoud, p. 329-333, in the Notices de la Bibl. du Boi, torn. ii. 70 EARLY CHRISTIANITY Shahpoor was engaged in quelling a rebellion which had arisen in Khorasan, the Arabs invaded Meso potamia, and a chief of the name of Manizen, or Malek Zeiren, seized on the almost impregnable fortress of Khadher or Khazm, near Tekrit, where he defied the power of the Persian army. The daughter of the Arabian chief is said to have fallen in love with Shahpoor, whom she had seen from the ramparts, and she found means to disclose to him her passion, offering- to betray the fortress into his hands, on his promise to become her husband. The condition was accepted, Manizen and the garrison were massacred, his daughter for one night shared the bed of the conqueror, and the next morning- she was tied by her beautiful hair to the tail of a wild horse, which was let loose in the desert.1 The Syrian Arabs were first subjected to Rome by the arms of Pompey.2 The kingdom of Arethas at that time included Petra and Coelosyria, as well as Damascus ;3 he had been the ally of Antipater, and had besieged Aristobulus in Jerusalem, and taken the city all but the temple, when he was 1 Eutychius, Annal. ed. Seld. torn. i. p. 369. The history of Manizen is given by Malcolm (Hist, of Pers. vol. i. p. 97), from the Kozut ul Suffix, and by Major D. Price (Essay towards the history of Arabia), from the Tarikh Tebry. ' Dio Cassius, Hist. lib. xxxvi. p. 360. Appian, Mithridatica, c. 106, 117. Jo. Malala, p. 288. They afterwards fought on the side of their conqueror. Appian, Civil, lib. ii. c. 71. 3 Proelich, Annales Begum Syriae. Josephus. Frcelich has engraved two coins of Arethas, on one of which he bears the title of *IAEAAHN02, tab. xvi. IN ARABIA. .71 obliged to retire before the Roman forces.4 The history of the eastern frontiers of the Roman empire does not rise to much importance till after the re moval of the imperial residence to Byzantium, for the dominions of Rome and Persia were separated by the possessions of various independent princes, such as those of Palmyra, Edessa, &c, whom the policy established by Augustus had suffered to reign without interruption. On the death of Pertinax, these independent princes favoured the cause of Pescennius Niger, the Syrian governor, who aspired to the imperial purple. After his defeat they in curred the resentment of the conqueror, and Severus overran and subjected with his victorious army the whole ofthe country from Armenia, Osrhoene, and the Persian frontiers, where he took Ctesiphon and Babylon, to the limits of the happy Arabia.5 The Arabs of Syria still, however, preserved their inde pendence, and in later times, on the defeat of Vale rian, the victorious army of Shahpoor was driven from Mesopotamia by the Palmyrene Arabs under Odenathus." The wife and successor of Odenathus was the celebrated Zenobia, and on her defeat by * Appian. Mithridat. c. 106, 1 17. Josephus, Antiq. lib. xiv. c. 1, 2. Josippon, Hist. Jud. lib. v. c. 38. p. 174, 5. Noldii Historia Idumaea, in Havercamp's Josephus, p. 338. torn. ii. 2 Maccab. v. 8, &c. His granddaughter was married to Herod Antipas. s Herodian, Ub. iii. c. 27. Zozimus, lib. i. p. 10. SiaSpapwv Se rovg ^Ktivirag Apaf3ag, Kai iraaav Apafliav KaraaTpfipapevOg. 6 Zosimus, lib. i. p. 36. 72 EARLY CHRISTIANITY Aurelian, Palmyra and its dependencies became permanently a province of the empire. After the death of Constantine the tranquillity of the eastern empire was again disturbed by the hosti- litiesof the Persians, andthemostimportant fortresses of Mesopotamia were reduced by the arms of Shah poor. The Arabs of Syria had suffered severely from the Persians, who in pursuing the Arabs had been stopped only by the shores of the Mediterra nean, and they willingly attended the expedition of Julian, whose army was considerably increased by their numbers,1 and who was liberal in rewarding them for their services.2 At this period we read of Saracens, or Arabs, who attended the Persian army,3 and who were employed in harassing Jovian in his retreat.4 From the time of Baharam Gaur, who had been educated amongst the Arabs, and raised to the throne by their assistance, the princes of the house of Hirah were in great favour with the Per sian monarchs.5 Christianity was introduced at an early period 1 Adseitis Saracenorum auxiliis, quae animis obtulere promp- tissimis, &c. Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. xxiii. c. 5. Conf. Malcolm, Hist, of Pers. vol. i. p. 109. 2 Post qua? Saraceni procursatores quosdam parte hostium obtuleri laetissimo principi, et munerati ad agenda similia sunt remissi. Id. lib. xxiv. c. 1. 3 Ammianus, lib. xxiv. c. 2. * Id. lib. xxv. c. 6, 8. 5 D'Herbelot, Biblioth. Orient, art. Baharami. Eutychius, tom. ii. p. 82. Nikbi ben Massoud, p. 335. (Not. de la Bibl. du Boi, torn, ii.) IN ARABIA. 73 among the Roman Arabs. There were Arabians present at the feast of Pentecost,6 and St. Paul re sided some time in the dominions of the Arabian king Hareth, or Arethas, whose territory included the city of Damascus.7 Amarus, so celebrated in the annals of the early Christians, was a prince of the territory of Edessa,8 and Christianity had made some progress in the desert in the time of Arnobius.9 Bishops of Bostra (Basra), which was considered as an Arabian town, are mentioned in early records.10 The tribe of Ghassan was celebrated for its early attachment to the Christian faith j11 and during the 6 Acts ii. 11. * Acts ix. 25. 2 Cor. xi. 33. 8 Bayer, Historia Asrhoena et Edessena, p. 105. Moses Choren. Hist. Armen. lib. i. c. 29. See also Eusebius and the Eccl. Historians. 9 Arnobius, adv. Gentes, lib. 2. p. 50. 10 See Pabricius, Lux. Evangel, p. 693. Buchanan's Christian Besearches. At the Nicene council were present six bishops of the province of Arabia, the bishops of Bostra, Philadelphia, of the Jabrudi, Sodomi, of Betharma, and Dionysias (Concil. tom. i. p. 27) ; of the province of Phoenicia, bordering on Arabia, the bishops of Damascus, Palmyra, Emessa, &c. ; of Coelosyria, the bishops of Antioch, Apamea, Bhaphanea, Hiera poHs, Gabala, Zeugma, (orBirtha,) Gindara, ( Jindartz,) Acoraba, Germanicia, Sec. ; of Mesopotamia, the bishops of Edessa, Nisi- bis, &c. (p. 27.) At the first Constantinopohtan council were bishops of the following sees — ProvinciaB Bostron, Dionysia, Adrana, Constantia, Neapolis ; Provincial Osdroenae, Edessa, Carrae, Bathna ; in Mesopotamia, Amida, Constantina, Imeria. 11 IbnKothaib, ap. Eichhorn, Monument. Antiq. Hist, Arab. p. 150. 74 EARLY CHRISTIANITY short reign of the emperor Philip, Arabia was noted as the mother of a dangerous heresy, which taught that the souls expired and suffered corruption with the body, and that at the general resurrection both would be revived together.1 The name of Mavia (Muaviyah), an Arab queen, is celebrated amongst ecclesiastical writers. The Saracens had been for some time, under this queen, the scourge of the Syrian frontier, and their hos tilities were only arrested by her conversion ; Mavia accepted at the same time the alliance of Rome, and a Christian bishop named Moses, ordained by the primate of Alexandria.2 In the war with the Goths, who had carried their arms to the walls of Constan tinople, the courage of the Saracen auxiliaries was soon after exhibited in the defence of the capital, and the wild hordes who had depopulated the fields of Thrace, were obliged to yield to the no less bar barous bravery of the Arabs, in a sally from one of the gates of the city.3 The progress of Christianity increased in proportion as the Arabs became more intimately connected with the Romans, the cities and towns were by degrees furnished with Syrian 1 The Arabian heretics and the Manichaei arose in the third century. Hottinger. Hist. Eccl. tom. i. p. 145. ' Theodoret. Buflinus. Socrates. Pagi, p. 391. The conver sion of Mavia took place about a.d. 372 ; Christianity had been introduced among the southern Saracens before that period. Baronius, tom. v. p. 393. 3 Socrates, lib. v. c. 1. Sozomen, lib. vii. c. 1. Ammianus, lib. xxxi. c. 16. IN ARABIA. . 75 and native bishops, and the country took the form, or title, of a Roman eparchy.4 To the Byzantine court, however, the Arabs were rather allies than slaves. Their governors were generally natives, and were named phylarchs, or leaders of tribes, while the provinces of Syria and Mesopotamia were governed by magistrates named duces.5 Towards the east the territory of the Ara bian phylarchs joined the dominions of the kings of Hirah, who were now subject to the Persian king. Thus the northern Arabs, who began to be known under the name of Saracens, were nearly equally divided between the two hostile powers of Rome and Persia, and a declaration of war on either side was almost immediately followed by an invasion by the flying squadrons of one or other of the Arabian kings. Early in the fifth century the dissensions between the rival chiefs had been publicly manifested, and the mondar Naaman, was easily induced by a bribe from the king of Persia to invade the Roman territory.6 The idolatrous inhabitants of Beth-Hur were visited with all the miseries of a successful * TLirapxia Apafliag. vito icovaovXapiov . Hieroclis Synecdemus, p. 50, apud Bandurin. Imperium Orientale. 5 vXapxoi — AovKag, Procop. de Bel. Pers. c. 17. p. 51. Appian calls Agbarus king of Edessa, an Arabian phylarch- — Axpapov (pvXapxov Apafliov. tovXapxye, says Suidas, 6 Svvatrrng ZvpflaXXEi Tif Tpa'iavf. irEpi AKpapov, bg nv Oo-ponvne X^P"^ Swacrng ovo-irEp ipvXapx<*-Q avopa?ovtv eixe tt/jv apx^v. 7 Procop. ib. p. 51. e Id. c. 18. p. 52. 86 EARLY CHRISTIANITY SECTION VI. The revolution in southern Arabia was agreeable to Justinian on more accounts than one ; for, though the conquest of Yaman might be regarded as the triumph of Christianity over its opponents, he hoped to reap more solid advantages from the friendly pro fessions of the conquerors. In the sanguinary wars with the Persian monarch the Arabs of the Syrian frontiers had been faithful and effective allies. By an alliance with the kings of Abyssinia and Hamyar, he might, if necessary, call off the attentions of the Persians to another quarter. A simultaneous attack of the Hamyarites in Irak, and of the Romans and their more northern allies in Mesopotamia, would have divided and weakened their strength. One of the most necessary luxuries of the Byzan tine court was the silken produce of the worms of Serica or China. The value of this merchandise was sufficient to induce the caravans to consume a period of two hundred and forty days in traversing the interior of Asia from Syria to China.1 But the trade in silk and the commodities of the east was 1 On the silk trade, consult Gibbon, Decline and Pall, c. xl. and Procopius, c. 20. IN ARABIA. 87 now entirely monopolised by the Persian merchants ; during hostilities the supply was necessarily stopped, and in time of peace the emperor beheld with grief the wealth of Rome passing into the hands of its enemies. By a coincidence of commercial interests he hoped to turn the trade of India and China into its ancient course, through the hands of the mer chants of Hamyar and Adulis. An embassy to Auxuma and Hamyar was con ducted by Nonnosus,2 who ascended the Nile from Alexandria, crossed the Red Sea,3 and landed on the Arabian coast, where he visited the district occupied by the tribes of Maad and Kendah, which were then ruled by Kaisus, or Amru'l Keis,4 and were tributary to Hamyar.5 Kaisus willingly con tracted an alliance with the emperor, and delivered his son Mavia to the Romans as a hostage.6 He afterwards joined the other Saracens in the invasion7 1 Photius, Biblioth. cod. iii. p. 6. The grandfather of Non nosus had been employed as ambassador to the king of Kendah, and his father had been sent on an embassy to the mondar, to negociate the delivery of prisoners. Nonnosus published an account of his travels in Arabia and Abyssinia during the embassy. 3 Jo. Malala, pars altera, p. 193. * Photius, cod. iii. Procopius de Bel. Pers. c. 19. — MaaS- Snvoi — XivSivwv. Kaisus was, according to Photius, an exile from his country, and was made phylarch of the Maadites by the Hamyarites. Procop. c. 20. 3 Procopius, c. 19. ° Photius, p. 7. 7 Procopius, de B. Pers. c. 20. 88 EARLY CHRISTIANITY of Hirah. During his stay among the Arabians, Nonnosus had an opportunity of learning many of their peculiar customs and manners, and amongst other particulars, he left it on record that they had a sacred place, where, during certain months of the year they repaired in great numbers for religious worship, during which time was kept universal peace.1 The Hamyarite port, from which he sailed to Adulis, was named Bulicas.2 Between Adulis and Auxuma, which he described as a great city, was a journey of twelve days,3 and in the inter mediate region called Aueen, he saw not less than a thousand elephants.4 At Auxuma the embassy was received with every possible mark of friendship. The nadjash gave audience in the open field. He was seated on a lofty chariot, supported on four wheels, and drawn by as many elephants, caparisoned in plates of gold. From his middle a linen garment, interwoven with gold, descended below his thighs, and a loose tunic, covered with pearls and precious stones, hung from his shoulders. On his head he wore a linen cap, also covered with gold, from which descended four chains. His arms and neck were adorned with bracelets and chains of the same metal. He carried a small gilt shield and two spears in his hands, and was surrounded by his nobles in similar arms, and attended by a band of musicians. The ambassador 1 Photius, ibid. 2 BovXiKag, Procop. c. 19. 3 Procopius, ib. ' Avvv. Photius, p. 7. IN ARABIA. 89 and his presents were received with respect, and when he had read the letters of the emperor urging him to make war on the Persians, and to send his mer chants to the Roman ports, the Abyssinian prince brandished his weapons, and proclaimed incessant hostility against Kobad and the idolatrous Persians.5 The preparations of the Hamyarites and Abys sinians for the invasion of Persia were however never completed ; for the reign and life of Aryat were shortened by civil discord. The spoils of Hamyar had, it is said, been divided among the Abyssinian chiefs to the entire exclusion of the soldiery, who, disappointed in their expectations of the reward due to their services, soon began to manifest their discontent. They were restrained only from actual rebellion, whilst they were engag-ed in seeking and punishing those participators and en- couragers of the crimes of the preceding reign who had been marked out for their vengeance; but when peace had been restored in Arabia by their destruction, the general indignation could be no longer repressed. The standard of rebellion was set up, Aryat was deposed, and Abrahah proclaimed king of Yaman.6 Abrahah was a Christian, and had been once the slave of a Roman merchant7 of 5 Jo. Malala, p. 194-6. Besides the authors already cited, this embassy is related, though briefly and very confusedly, by Theophanes, Chronograph, p. 206, 207. 6 Nuweir, p. 84. Tabeir, p. 108. Mesoud, p. 142. Pro copius de Bell. Pers. c. 20. 7 Procopius, ib. 90 EARLY CHRISTIANITY the city of Adulis, but had afterwards risen to rank in the Abyssinian army.1 Aryat was assisted with fresh supplies from the king of Auxuma,2 and the opposing armies were preparing to engage, when it was proposed to decide the quarrel by single combat. Abrahah was short and corpulent, his an tagonist tall and strong. The latter aimed a spear at his head ; but it only slig-htly wounded his forehead and nose, and the scar which remained procured for him afterwards the surname of Al Ashram, or the split-nosed. Abrahah had with him an attendant called Abuda, who, when he saw his master wounded, flew to his assistance and slew Aryat, and the whole army embraced the cause of his rival.3 After the death of Aryat the new king of Hamyar solicited a reconciliation with the nadjash. The latter, if we credit the Arabian histories, had vowed, in the first moments of his rage against the usurper, that he would not lay aside his arms till he had trampled under his feet the land of Abrahah, both mountain and vale, till he had stained his hand in his blood, and dragged him by the hair ofthe head. To appease the anger of the indignant monarch, Abrahah caused two sacks to be filled with earth collected from the mountains and vales of Hamyar, he suffered himself also to be bled, and filled a small bottle with his blood ; to these he added some locks of hair which he had cut from his head. " 0 kins-," 1 Nuweir, p. 84. 2 Procopius, ib. 3 Tabeir, p. 110. IN ARABIA. 91 he said in his letter to the nadjash, " I and Aryat were both thy servants. He merited his death by his tyranny and injustice. Empty the earth out of the sacks and tread it beneath thy feet ; it is the land of Hamyar ; stain thy hands in my blood, which is contained in the bottle ; and drag with thy hand the hair which I have myself cut from my forehead. Thus having fulfilled thy oath, turn away from me thine anger; for I am still one of thy servants, and am but an offending tributary amongst thy tributaries."4 The nadjash was ap peased, and Abrahah was confirmed in the kingdom of Hamyar, after having promised faithfully to con tinue for ever his tribute to the crown of Abys sinia.5 4 Nuweir, p. 34. Tabeir, p. 110. Mesoud, p. 142. s The outlines of the history of this event are given by Pro copius, de Bel. Pers. c. 20. The details by the Arabian writers just cited. 93 EARLY CHRISTIANITY SECTION VII. The reign of Abrahah was favourable to the extension of Christianity over the kingdom of Ham yar ; and, whilst the Abyssinian power was preserved by his moderation and justice, the church flourished under the care of St. Gregentius, the pious bishop of Taphar. The vindictive measures which had been enforced against the enemies of the Christian faith were succeeded by a milder spirit. The un believing Jews were challenged to a public dispute with St. Gregentius ; after an appointed period of forty days, thejr met in the royal hall in the city of Taphar,1 in the presence of the king and his nobles ; and Herban, a rabbi learned in the law and the prophets, was chosen to advocate the cause of Judaism. The dispute was continued with ob stinacy during three successive days, till at length the Jews, vanquished but not convinced, were obliged to retreat from the place of contest ; while the good bishop fell on his knees, and in presence of the king and his assembled subjects, offered thanks to heaven for his success. As he concluded, we are told, loud peals of thunder were heard from the east, the i Taphar, or Dhafar (Aphar in Diod. Sic.) became the second capital on the death of Hamyar, when the family of Kahlan ascended the throne. IN ARABIA. 93 heavens opened, and the figure of their Redeemer appeared in the clouds, approving his zeal. The Jews were suddenly struck with blindness, and re ceived their sight only by the holy operation of Christian baptism. Herban, after becoming a Chris tian, gained the esteem of the king- by his learning and merit, and was advanced to the highest honours in his kingdom. The existence and history of St. Gregentius ap pear to be well authenticated by the Mensea and Martyrologies, but the particulars of his dispute with Herban, and its miraculous termination, were probably invented by some pious monks years after the time when they occurred.2 Gregentius was long the friend and adviser of Abrahah, who is universally allowed to have been a zealous Christian, and a just king, charitable to those who were in necessity, and generous in advocating the cause ofthe unfortunate.3 5 The tract which bears the title of " Gregentii Tephrensis episcopi disputatio cum Herbano Judseo," was edited in Greek and Latin by Gulerius (8vo. Lut. 1603), and an edition is given in the Magna Bibliotheca Veterum Patrum, vol. xi. Lambecius (Bibl. Cass. Hb. v. p. 277) imagines it to have been the work of Nonnosus, but with small show of probability. St. Gregentius is celebrated in the Menaea on the nineteenth day of December. 3 Both Greek, Syrian, and Mohammedan agree in praising the character of Abrahah. The tract cited in the foregoing note calls Abrahah 6 tvo-E/Storaj-oe fiaaiXevg. (S. Gregent. disput. p. 201.) Metaphrastes speaks of him as virum pium et Christi nomine gloriantem. Johan. As. Ep. observes that he was a zealous Christian (p. 43). In like manner he is described 94 EARLY CHRISTIANITY With the assistance of his pious counsellor, he framed a code of laws for the government of Hamyar, which is still extant, and is divided into three-and-twenty titles.1 The last event of the reign of Abrahah was his disastrous expedition against the tribe of Koreish. The city of Mecca, which was in the possession of by the Arabian writers as " a man small of body, fleshy, intel ligent, and zealous in his Christianity" — L»J«J I jXtS (J.U- 1 .,£. (OjI^-oa!! yjj J ^J l,U- Abu Gjafar Muhammed Ibn Jezyd, Taberita, p. 108. This historian has preserved an incident which will illustrate the character of the king, and the ideas of honour that were entertained among the Arabians of the time. In the conflict which placed Abrahah on the throne, his servant Abuda saved his life, and slew his enemy Aryat. The king in gratitude promised to grant him his desire, whatever it might be. Abuda demanded that no bride in Yaman should be con ducted to her bridegroom until he had first enjoyed her. The king considered himself bound by the sanctity of his word, and the request was granted. Abuda was at length killed by an Arabian bridegroom whom he had insulted. " "When the account of his death was carried to Abrahah, who was kind, generous, and pious in his Christianity, he said, I see, men of Yaman, that there are still some of you whose hearts are brave enough to disdain to suffer an indignity. I take God to witness, that had I known when I promised him his desire, what he intended to ask, I would never have promised it him, nor did I grant wil lingly his request ; but I have no desire of revenging him, for by his death I am not displeased." p. 110, 112. 1 A work bearing the title of HfopoQEo-wi tov aywv TpnyEvnov i>g ek 7rpoarwirov tov EvaEfiEtjTarov fiaoCXEwg Afipafuov, is contained in a MS. of the dispute with Herban in the Bibl. Cajs. Lam- becius, lib. v. p. 182-3. IN ARABIA. 95 this tribe, was the Eleusis of ancient Arabia. It is situated in a very narrow valley, between two rang-es of lofty mountains, whose mean breadth does not much exceed nine hundred feet.2 The Kaaba, or temple of Mecca, had been from time immemorial the most sacred resort of the Arabian idolaters. It had been several times enriched by the munificence of the tobbaas of Hamyar, and the power of the gods was said to have been more than once exerted in its defence. Around it were deposited the various idols of the different tribes. On the last month of the year a multitude of devotees assembled from all parts of Arabia. After having cast off their gar ments, they thrice made the circuit of the Kaaba, and kissed the sacred stone. When they had drunk of the holy well of Zemzem, they proceeded to the mountains, and seven times, in as many successive days, hurled stones against the evil genius in the valley of Mina. The ceremonies were finished by a sacrifice of sheep and camels. Tbe Christian king of Hamyar beheld with grief the multitudes of pilgrims who went to pay their su perstitious devotions to the deities of the Kaaba, and resolved, by building a magnificent church at Sanaa, which appears to have been sometimes the capital of Yaman, to draw the curiosity and the worship of the Arabs to another object. The edifice was com pleted, and far surpassed in the splendour of its orna ments the object of their idolatrous reverence. But the ! Modern Traveller, Arabia, p. 254. 96 EARLY CHRISTIANITY Arabs were not easily persuaded to desert the old object of their superstitions. A proclamation was therefore issued, that the pilgrims must relinquish their former route for the shorter and more convenient journey to the Christian church of Sanaa.1 The Koreish, who found the number of votaries, and consequently the profits which they derived from them, decrease, did all in their power to cry it down.2 Finding, however, that their endeavours had not so much effect as they expected, they had recourse to a more certain method of turning the respect of the Arabs from this new object of their devotion. The Arab tribes have been ever cele brated for their frequent ablutions, and for their peculiar abhorrence of any thing that is considered impure or polluted. One of the tribe of Kenanah, who was bribed by the guardians of the Kaaba, had been admitted to perform some of the duties apper taining to the church of Sanaa. Seizing an oppor tunity during the preparations for an extraordinary festival, he entered the church by night, and strewed it with dung ; and then immediately fled from the town, spreading everywhere in his flight the news of the profanation of the Christian church.3 The profanation of the church of Sanaa was a signal of revolt to the idolatrous tribes of the north. • Nuweir, p. 84. Tabeir, p. 112. D'Herbelot in Abrahah. 2 D'Herbelot. 3 Id. Some Arabian historians endeavour to throw the blame off the Koreish. IN ARABIA. 97 Many of the Arab chiefs were bound by the ties of friendship and gratitude to the service of Abrahah. To Muhammed Ibn Chozaa he had given the sceptre of the Modarites. Muhammed and his brother Kais proceeded to the land of Kenanah, to further the object of Abrahah, by compelling the devotees of the Kaaba to turn their steps to Sanaa ; but the peo ple ofthe Tehama rose against them, and Muhammed was slain with an arrow by Orwa Ibn Hiads Alma- latsi. Kais fled to the court of Hamyar.4 The wrath of the king of Hangar was doubly inflamed by the profanation of his church, and by the death ofthe king of Modar, and he vowed to take exemplary vengeance by the reduction of the tribe of Kenanah, and the entire demolition of the temple at Mecca.5 At the head of an army, accompanied by numerous elephants, Abrahah marched towards Hedjaz, himself seated on one of these animals which was named Mahmoud, and was distinguished by its bulk and its skin of pure white.6 The pro gress of the invader was opposed by Dzu Nepher, Ibn Habib, and other chiefs, at the head of the tribes of Hamedan and Chethamah, and their allies ; but they were soon defeated, their leaders taken, and the army of Hamyar experienced little opposition, till it approached the neighbourhood of Mecca. The chief of the tribe of Koreish, and the guardian 4 Tabeir, p. 114. 5 Nuweir, p. 86. Tabeir, p. 114. D'Herbelot. 0 Nuweir, pp. 86 and 90. Tabeir, ib. H 98 EARLY CHRISTIANITY of the Kaaba, was at this time the venerable Abdol- motalleb Ibn Hasjemi, the grandfather of Muham med. When the Koreish were informed of the approach of Abrahah, the reports of the numbers of his army and the terrible animals on which they were carried, struck them with consternation, and all hope of resistance vanished. In the negotiations which preceded his advance to the cit\r, a third part of the wealth of Hedjaz was offered as a ransom for the Kaaba, but the king was still in flexible. Abdolmotalleb desired an audience of Abrahah, and was admitted to his presence, and treated with all the respect his age, his beauty, and his dignity deserved. Abrahah descended from his throne, and seated himself by his side. But the prince of Mecca came only to solicit the return of his camels, which had been taken among the plunder collected by the Christian soldiers. Abrahah ex pressed his surprise that the guardian of Mecca should think of his private propeity, amidst the evils that threatened his city. " The temple of Mecca, 0 king," answered Abdolmotalleb, "has its own lord, who will doubtlessly defend it, as he has de fended it before. But I alone am the lord of my own camels." His camels were restored to him.1 On the nearer approach of Abrahah, the Koreish and all the inhabitants of Mecca, led by Abdolmo talleb, unable to defend their city, took refuse on the neighbouring mountains, which overhung the narrow 1 Nuweir, p. 88. Tabeir, p. 122. IN ARABIA. 99 pass throug-h which the enemy must march. Abra hah now approached the city, and had entered the narrow valley which led to it, not knowing, appa rently, that the Koreish occupied the heights ; but the army of Hamyar, which had hitherto overcome all resistance, fell beneath the shower of masses of rock and other missiles, incessantly poured on them by their assailants. The combat was continued till evening, when Abrahah was obliged to make his re treat. The remains of his army were almost anni hilated by the attacks of their victorious enemies, and the king returned a fugitive to Sanaa, where he died soon after of vexation as much as of his wounds.2 The Arabian writers, not less skilful in such com positions than the Christian monks, have invented a fable, to account for the miraculous defeat of the Hamyaritic army. The elephants of the Christians, they tell us, awestruck at the sight of the holy building, resisted every attempt to proceed, till to wards evening, when an immense flock of birds of a kind which were called ababeel, rose like a cloud from the sea, and took their course towards the camp of Abrahah. These birds were about the size of a swallow, with green plumage and yellow beaks ; 2 The manner of Abrahah's defeat, as here told, is only a con jecture. Others have endeavoured to account for it by supposing his army to have been destroyed by the small-pox, or some epi demic disease. The situation, the traditional fables of the Arabs, which all say that the Christians were destroyed by stones that fell from the air, and the position of the Koreish, all favour the supposition which is here adopted. H 2 100 EARLY CHRISTIANITY each carried three pebbles, one in its beak, and one in each claw; and each of these stones had inscribed upon it the name of him whom it was to strike. They fell with such violence on the soldiers of Abra hah, as to pierce through their helmets and bodies, and even the animals on which they rode.1 1 Besides the authorities already cited for the history of this expedition, may be consulted Gagnier, pref. in Abulfed. Hist. Moham. p. xx. IN ARABIA. 101 SECTION VIII. The news ofthe revolution in the affairs of Yaman; and the friendly professions ofthe new king, had been joyfully received at the court of Justinian, who hoped that he might at length rely on his assistance ; but the promise of the king of Hamyar to take a part in the Persian war was never fulfilled. The ambassadors of Rome often urged Abrahah to the invasion of Persia, but the soldiers of Hamyar were disheartened by the prospect of a long and perilous march through the desert, to engage an enemy of such superior power and resources, and when Abra hah had once set out on the promised expedition, some domestic circumstance called him back almost as soon as he started.2 The last years of the reign of the Persian king Kobad were embittered by civil discord. This mo narch had adopted the pernicious doctrines of Maz- dak, who pretended to be a prophet sent from heaven to preach a community of women and pos sessions ; the wives and estates of the Persian nobles were divided among the disciples of the impostor, and the mother of the great Noushirwan was only saved from prostitution by the urgent entreaties of her son. The king of Hirah, whose mother, from her beauty, had obtained the appellation of Ma-es- 2 Procopius, lib. i. de Bel. Pers. c. 20. 102 EARLY CHRISTIANITY samai (celestial water), and who was known by the same name as his parent, had become obnoxious to Kobad for his opposition to the new doctrines, and he is said to have been deposed, and another king put in his place, who was willing to receive the doctrines approved by his master.1 The defenceless state to which the dissensions between the Persian king and his nobles had reduced the empire, presented a favourable opportunity to the Arabs, and its provinces were laid waste by the continual incursions of the hordes of the desert.2 Eastern writers give the fol lowing account of the hostile occupation of Hirah and of the death of Kobad. The Persian monarch, having devoted himself to a life of abstinence and piety, shed not any blood, neither did he put any person to death, nor make war on any one, and Mazdak encouraged him in this line of conduct. Then all veneration and fear of Kobad departed from the hearts of the princes, and no one respected or dreaded him ; and as they were free from any apprehensions of his attack ing them, all the princes in his empire began to form ambitious projects. The king of the Arabs, Naaman ibn Al Mondar was under his subjec tion, and his residence was at Hirah ; and there was a king in Syria called Hareth, the son of Amru, who was the son of Hogr of Kendah, who was tri butary to the king of Yaman. Then Hareth came 1 Easmussen, pp. 11, 12. Pococke, Spec. p. 71. 2 Asseman, Bibl. Orient, tom. i. p. 265. IN ARABIA. 103 from Syria to Kufa, and to Hirah, and slew Naa man, and seized upon his kingdom. Kobad sent a person to him, saying, " Why have you seized upon the kingdom without my commands 1 but as I hold you in esteem, a personal interview must take place between you and me, that I may prescribe to you the same conditions which were imposed on Naaman, and fix the boundaries of the land of the Arabs, and the limits of your kingdom, so that the Arabs shall not pass beyond them." Hareth came, and had an interview with Kobad, on the borders of the Suwad3 of Irak, near Modaiiene. Kobad assigned to Hareth the boundaries, saying — " The Arabian borders are from the desert to Kufa, and to the brink of the Euphrates; this side is the Suwad of Irak, and none of the Arabians must pass on this side from the brink of the Euphrates." Hareth acquiesced. But after this, Hareth, holding in contempt the words of Kobad, restrained not the Arabians ; and they passed from their side of the Euphrates, and laid waste the villages of the Suwad. Kobad dis patched a messenger to Hareth, saying — " You have not observed the limits which I have assigned to you." Hareth replied — " Those plunderers are Arabs who prowl about night and day, it is impossible for me to watch them ; for if I were to expend all that 3 The name Suwad (tiL*,) ia said to have been given to Irak from the black colour of the Arab tents with which it was covered when in their possession. Pundgruben des Orients, band. ii. p. 199. D'Herbelot in Souad. 104 EARLY CHRISTIANITY I possess in endeavouring to restrain them, I should not have the power to accomplish it." Then Kobad gave to Hareth six large villages of those belong ing to the Suwad on the banks of the Euphrates. When Hareth had taken possession of these, he restrained the Arabs from entering the Persian ter ritories. The Arab king, having thus made trial of the weakness of Kobad, persuaded others ofthe more southernly tribes to join with him, invaded Persia, and proceeded as far as Rei, where the Persian monarch was slain.1 The accession of Noushirwan was marked by the destruction of Mazdak and his adhe rents : Hareth was driven from Hirah, and com pelled to take refuge amongst the tribes of the peninsula, and the king who had been deposed by Kobad was restored to his throne.2 The more immediate consequence of the Roman embassy to Hamyar and Auxuma was the renewal of the Persian war. No sooner had Noushirwan learnt that Belisarius had left the east to prosecute the war in Italy, than he began to seek causes of rupture with the Byzantine emperor. The Saracen prince was easily induced to invade the border pro- 1 The foregoing is nearly a Hteral translation from the Tarikh Tabar, as given in Ouseley 'a Oriental Collections, vol. iii. p. 156, et aeq. In the sequel the author confounds the incursion of the Arabs with the more ancient expeditions of the tobbaas of Yaman. Hamza relates, too, that the kingdom of Hirah was forcibly seized by Hareth. Basmussen, pp. 11, 12. 2 Basmussen, p. 13. IN ARABIA. 105 vinces of the empire. A district which bordered on the territories of the mondar, as well as on those of Hareth, the king of the Roman Saracens, was claimed by the former; and his pretensions were disputed by Hareth, on the plea that its name, Strata, indicated it to have been a Roman posses sion. The proud spirit of the king of Hirah would not deign to dispute with words, and the territory of Ghassan was quickly overrun by his hostile bands.3 Justinian expostulated with the Persian king against the hostilities of his tributary, but Noushirwan only reproached him with his endeavours to rouse ag-ainst him the arms of Hamyar,4 and with having, in a time of peace, attempted to seduce from his allegiance the king of Hirah. The hostilities of the mondar were continued, and the forces of Persia followed and supported him. Hareth had recourse to the same species of argument as his rival ; at the insti gation of Belisarius, who had been recalled to the defence of the east, he invaded Assyria, and col lected an immense booty from the plunder of that rich province. Their Saracen allies, however, seem 3 Procopius, de Bel. Pers. lib. ii. e. 1. I find mention of this Strata, or paved way, in the geography of Abulfeda, as cited by Schultens in his Index Qeographicus to his edition of Bohaddin. Sarchadum is mentioned as a small town at the boundary of the Hauraun, in Ion. 60° 20', lat. 32o 15'. " A latere ejus Eoo viam pergis, quae Strata appellatur, Irakam ferens. Narrant viatores, si teneatur, Sarchado Bagdadum perveniri decern praeter propter diebus." * Theophanes, ad an. 563. 106 EARLY CHRISTIANITY always to have been regarded by the Byzantine court with suspicion, and Hareth is accused of having tried to deceive the Roman army, in order to secure his prey.1 His faith was afterwards con sidered as proved by his inveterate hostility to the king of Hirah. In a war between the two Arab chiefs, which was carried on without the interference of either Persia or Rome, the son of Hareth fell into the power of the mondar, who sacrificed him to Venus, or Ozza, the deity worshipped by his tribe.2 In a subsequent action the united forces of the mondar were defeated with great slaughter, and two of his sons made prisoners. During the reigns of the mondar the son of Ma-es-samai, and of Amru ben Hind, flourished most of the celebrated poets, whose writings merited to be suspended in the Kaaba, and have thence re ceived the name of Moallakat, or. the suspended.3 Despising the shackles of grammatical rules and prosody, wliich were not introduced till ages subse quent to Muhammed,4 as much as they abhorred the 1 Procopius, lib. ii. c. 1. ¦2 Kai ct7r' avrov EyvioaBn ov KarawpoiEoBai ra Vapaiwv irpaypara TlEpoag ApEBav. Procopius, Hb. ii. c. 28. 3 Amru ben Keltum, ed. Kosegarten (4to. Jen. 1819.) p. 66. D'Herbelot in Moallakat. They have been translated by Sir "W. Jones. 4 Ante Muslemanismum Arabes, qui ad eloquentiam sua natura facti esse videntur, grammatical regulis non utebantur. Schamseldinaeus Altensarasus, ap. Casiri, Biblioth. Hispan. Arab. tom. i. p. 1. The first who reduced the Arabian poetry to fixed and determinate laws of prosody and versification, was IN ARABIA. 107 chains of personal slavery, the greatest heroes amongst the Arabs were celebrated for the cultiva tion of eloquence and poetry.6 The poems of the Arabs were of a peculiar character ; commencing generally with the praise of his mistress, the poet proceeds to celebrate the bravery of his tribe, and almost always concludes by describing his personal exploits. Lebid was a hero of the tribe of Gafar,6 which appears then to have been in alliance with that of Ghassan.7 Whilst young, he accompanied the army of Hareth, king of Ghassan, against the son of Ma-es-samai, who was invading the Roman territory at the head of a powerful army. Lebid, with a hundred chosen companions, entered the camp of the enemy, penetrated to the tent of the king of Hirah, slew him, made good his retreat before the death of the king was known, and had a share in the battle which ensued, and which is celebrated by Arabian historians as the day of Holaimah.8 Lebid is supposed to have composed his Moallakah in the reign of Amru ben Hind.9 The poet Amru'1-Kais was the son of Hogr, king of the Asadites, who was the son of that Hareth king of Kendah who had forcibly occupied the t Alchalil Ibn Ahmed Al Parahidi, who flourished under the khabfate of Haroun Al Basehid. Clerici Prosodia Arabica, p. 2. 5 Kosegarten, Amru ben Keltum, p. 62. 8 Peiper, Dissert, de Moallaka Lebidi (4to. 1823), p. 1. ' Peiper, ib. p. 8. 8 Id. p. 2. Eichhorn, Mon. Antiq. p. 164. 8 Magasin Encyclopedique, tom. i. p. 514. 108 EARLY CHRISTIANITY kingdom of Hirah in the reign of Kobad.1 The sons of Hareth were all celebrated chiefs : Sjerhabil was king of Kelab, and Hogr had conquered the tribe of Asad, but his new subjects rebelled against him, and he fell a victim to their fury.2 On hearing of the death of his father, Amru'1-Kais made a vow to abstain from the use of wine and oil till he had revenged it, and had killed with his own hand a hundred of the men of Asad. With the assistance of the Becrites and Taglabites, he fulfilled his vow, and regained the throne, but when he was left by his new allies, he was compelled to seek refuge from his subjects in Yemamah. The influence of the mondar of Hirah, who had been restored by Noushirwan, prevented the Arabian chiefs from giv ing assistance to the son of his enemy, and Amru'l- Kais, after many disappointments, fled to Ghassan, and sought assistance from the Roman emperor. Although, at first, he was well received by the court of Byzantium, he soon after fell a victim to its timid and treacherous policy, and was secretly poisoned.3 Various causes had long- been combining to raise distrust between the Romans and their allies, but the breach was widened, and their connection finally destroyed by the bitterness of religious controversy. 1 Hengstenberg, Amrulkeis Moallakah (4to. Bonn. 1823), prolegom. p. 5. 2 The particulars of the history of Hogr, &c. have been before given in our third section. » Hengstenberg, prolegom. p. 8. D'Herbelot in Amrulkeis. Poemation Ibn Doreid, ed. Haitsma (4to. Praneq. 1773), couplet 32, with the Arabian scholiast and notes, p. 189, &c. IN ARABIA. 109 SECTION IX. The disputes which agitated the eastern church on the subject of the incarnation, are celebrated for their unyielding acrimony.4 The doctrine of two distinct persons in Christ was long supported by Nestorius with various fortunes ; the orthodox believers triumphed in his death, but even his fall brought with it its own revenge, for the excess of zeal in his persecutors gave rise to a schism as obstinately persevered in, and far more pernicious in the result. The principles of the Monophysite doctrine, that of one nature, are said to have been supported by the writings of some of the early fathers. The murder of the beautiful and accomplished Hypatia5 has cast an eternal stain on the memory of Cyril of Alexandria. Cyril was at the head of that party most zealous against the doctrines of Nestorius ; he had been denounced by the Nesto- 1 II n'y a jamais eu de schismes dans l'eglise plus pernicieux, et de plus longue duree, que ceux qu'a fait naitre le dogme de l'lncarnation. La Croze, Histoire du Christianisme d'Ethiopie, p.l. 5 UpoiTEXBovan yap Kara to EiiaBog, EiriBEpcvot iroXXoi adpooi, dnpKaSeig avSpurwoi &>g aknOwg ax^rXwi, ovte Bevv ottiv EiSoreg, ovt' avdpwriov vEfiEiriv, avaipovoi rnv iXoiro(j)Ov, ayog tovto pEytorov Kai ovEiSog itEpiaipapevoi rn ¦KarpiSi. Suidas in 'Yiraria. Her death is related by Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. lib. xi. c. 12. 110 EARLY CHRISTIANITY rian party as a monster born and bred for the de struction of the church,1 and in his controversial writings he laid the foundations for those dissensions by which the denunciation was at last fulfilled. Supported in some measure by passages in the works of St. Cyril, and trusting to the friendship and pro tection ofthe patriarch of Alexandria, Eutyches, a Byzantine archimandrite, or superior of three hun dred monks, ventured to preach from the pulpit of the capital, in the year 488, the doctrine of one only undivided nature in Christ.2 The heresy of Eutyches was new rather in name than in dogma. He is. accused of asserting, in opposition to Nestorius, that Christ was never really man, but that his nature was one, the word, which was undivided and incarnate, bearing only whilst on earth a human shape.3 The body of Christ was subtile, and entirely dissimilar to ours, and the Son of Mary participated in no degree of the human nature of his mother.4 The doctrines l '0 Se ett' oXedpii) tiov ekkXwitiwv re^Oeif Kai Tpacj)Eig. Concil. tom. iii. p. 1244 (Ed. Labb.) The Eutychians stigmatised the memory of Nestorius with names equally opprobrious ; in the Syrian ritual called ]).VU:3 Nestorius is called }^U^ accursed. Hottinger, Topographia Eccles. p. 138. * Mosheim, Hist. Eccl. cent. v. § 32. 3 Labb. Concil. tom. iv. p. 1079. 4 Takri-eddini Makrizii Hist. Copt. p. 57. Dioscorus, the Alexandrian primate, and the friend of Eutyches, expressed the Monophysite doctrine thus: "Messiam esse substantiam unam ex substantiis duabus, personam unam ex personis dua- bus, naturam unam ex naturis duabus, et voluntatem unam ex IN ARABIA. Ill of Eutyches were warmly opposed by Flavian, the primate of Constantinople ; and, attended by some of his friends, their author was tried before an as sembly of thirty bishops. To the question of Flavian, " Dost thou acknowledge that Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, resembles the Father in his godhead, and his mother in his humanity — that he consists of two natures 1" he answered — " As I acknowledge him for my God, and for the Lord of heaven and earth, I presume not to define his nature ; but that he pos sesses a human nature like ours, I have not yet ac knowledged." " But," said Flavian, " dost thou not beheve that he may be like God in his divinity, and like us men in his humanity ?" " Hitherto I have never said that the body of the Lord our God is like ours ; but I acknowledge that the holy virgin was of the same nature as we, and that our God received voluntatibus duabus." Id. p. 59. The creed of the Jacobites as given by Ibn Batrik (Hotting. Topogr. Christiana Orient. p. 16), was A^lj J*ij 'i&2~)} hJL*} isJ^lj HojJo " one nature and one will and one operation." In the Comment, de Ordinat. (Hotting, p. 18), it is expressed thus—" Prom the womb he had unity personally and naturally, and from that time God was incarnate. And there was one nature in him, as also one person, but not two natures, or in two natures" — ^.jkso] V-a ,_»JZ a^o pseaio t~s]> pscs] U-= t~° \±*z> The author of the Syriac work on the Jacobite doctrines cited by Hottinger (p. 27), when speaking of the incarnation uses such phrases as ]j^) <-=i» be put on the body, or he appeared \a.z>]> ^saacojo in the form of a man, or v\,«^j2] he became like us, or r2<&c; ^n* he bore our image. 112 EARLY CHRISTIANITY his flesh from her." The patrician Florentius de manded, " Dost thou acknowledge, that after his incarnation he consists of two natures ?" " I ac knowledge," replied Eutyches, " that he consisted of two natures before their union, but after that I allow but one." Eutyches, in defence of his opi nions, urged the authority of the writings of Athanasius and Cyril, but before the meeting was dissolved, Flavian, in the name of the whole assem bly, declared that he was convicted by his own confessions of the errors of Valentinus and Apol- linaris, and that he was no longer to be considered a member of the church of Christ.1 Eutyches, however, was not disposed to yield quietly to the decrees of the meeting by which he had been condemned. Chrj-saphius, the favourite minister of the emperor, was his godson and his friend ; his cause Avas advocated by Dioscorus, the patriarch of Alexandria, and at the instigation of the former, Theodosius was induced to call a general council, to whose judgment he agreed to submit. Accordingly, on the 8th of August in the year 449, one hundred and thirty bishops, with a numerous train of monks, assembled at Ephesus. Three deputies, one of whom was Julius, bishop of Puteoli, were sent from Rome by Leo, who had already declared his hostility to the Monophysite doctrines, But the party of Euty ches was strongest in the weapons of the spirit and ofthe flesh. Dioscorus brought with him a numerous i Concil. tom. iv. IN ARABIA. 113 train of followers who were ready to support him with words or blows ; Barsumas, who attended as the chief and representative of the Syrian monks, was one of his friends, and even the officers who had been deputed by the emperor to preserve tran quillity during the debate, Elpidius and Eulogius, with the proconsul of Asia, favoured his cause. After the council had been opened with the due ceremonies, Eutyches arose, and spoke in defence of his doctrines. His accuser, Eusebius of Dorylteum, was only allowed to read the transactions of the council of Constantinople ; when he came to that part in which Eutyches was required to acknowledge two natures in Christ as to his incarnation, the clamours of the assembly would allow him to pro ceed no farther. " Eusebius," they said, " ought to be burnt alive, to be cut in two ; as he seeks division let him be divided."2 The threatening looks of Dioscorus and his attendants, and the formidable train of monks and soldiers, prevailed, and it was declared as the sentence of the assembled bishops, that the dogmata of Eutyches were free from error, that Dioscorus held the same faith as his predecessor Cyril, and that Eutyches himself should be again received into the communion of the Church. The anathemas which had been hurled against Eutyches at Constantinople, were retorted on Flavian and Eusebius, and those who professed the doctrine of 2 Kavaov ILvaEpiov, ovrog £b>v Kan, ovrog £ig Svo yEvnrai, va-iv. Epist. Leonis ad Archimandritas Constant. — The letters be tween Leo, Flavian, Pulcheria, &c. on the Eutychian heresy, may be consulted in Cotelier, Eccl. Gr. Monument, tom. i. p. 50, et seq. 3 AiocrKopov tov ri Kai fiaKXa, troia avvoSog ; arpaTiwrag Sta tovtov EXafiE AioaKopog. tov tpovEa e^u> jiaXE. «puu> Eimv. Among the bishops of Arabia and Syria who were at Chalcedon occur the names of Juvenal of Jerusalem and Con stantine of Bostra, which was the ecclesiastical metropolis of Arabia, as well as the bishops of Damascus, Hierapolis, Edessa, Amida, Melitena, Berrhaea, Gabala, Paltus, Seleucobelus, Adrana, Philadelphia, Philippopolis, Orthosias, Heliopolis Libani, Emessa, Carrae, Saracenorum gentis, ChrysopoHs Arabiae, &c. 2 Etiam e sacris historiis lingua Copta scriptis, apparet, innocentissimaa vitae homines fuisse Coptitas, usque adeo fer- ventes Christiana? vitae cultores, ut nullis unquam suppliciorum generibus a suscepta semel fide vitaque abduci potuerint. Kircher, prodrom. in Ling. Copt. IN ARABIA. 117 virtues of patience and perseverance,3 and in their pride and independence of spirit, as in their hospi tality,4 they resembled the untamed Arab of the wil- ' The following anecdote, from a tract entitled Apophthegmata Sanct. Anachoritarum. iEgypti, published in the Bibliotheca Magn. Patrum, tom. ix. (p. 730), may serve to illustrate their mode of life. Frater quidem sedens singularis turbabatur : et pergens ad abbatem Theodorum de Pirme, dixit ei, quia con- turbaretur. Senex autem dixit ei : vade, humilia mentem tuam, et subdete, habita cum aliis. Et reversus postea ad senem, dixit ei : Nee cum aliis hominibus habitans, quietem invenio. Et dixit ei senex : Si solitarius non quiescis, neque cum aliis, cur voluisti monachum facere ? Nonne ut sustineas tribula- tiones ? Die autem mihi quot annos habes in habitu isto. Et dixit ei, octo. Et dicit ei senex : Crede mihi, habeo in habitu isto septuaginta annos, et nee una die potui requiem invenire, et tu in octo annos requiem vis habere. The following is from the same work (p. 729) — Sanctus Antonius abbas cum sederet aliquando in eremo, animus ejus tsedium et confusionem cogi- tationum incurrit, et dicebat ad Deum : Domine, volo salvus fieri, et non me permittunt cogitationes meae. Quid faciam in hac tribulatione, quomodo salvus ero ? Et modice assurgens, coepit foras exire, et vidit quendam, tanquam seipsum, sedentem atque operantem, deinde surgentem ab operibus et orantem, et iterum sedentem, et flectam de palmis facientem, et inde rursus ad orationem surgentem. Erat autem angelus Domini missus ad correptionem et cautelam dandam Antoniss. Et audivit vocem angeli dicentis : Sic fac, et salvus eris. Hie autem, hoc audito, magnum gaudium sumpsit atque fiduciam. Et ita faciens, salutem quam quaerebat invenit. * Anecdotes of their hospitality are given in the work cited in the preceding note, lib. xiii. p. 767, &c. When benighted in the desert, even a Manichean, the most hateful of heretics, found shelter amongst the monks of Nitria. — KaXn eotiv r/ (piXo^svta, says the bishop Antiochus, Kai rw Qeid apEOKovoa, 118 EARLY CHRISTIANITY derness. The bishops and monks of Egypt and Arabia were therefore little inclined to yield to the anathemas of Leo, or to the authority of the emperor. The controversialists of the ancient church were not over scrupulous in the choice of their weapons, and books were frequently forged to support their argu ments.1 Thus the works attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite, are believed to have been forged by Synesius, bishop of Ptolemais, at the instigation of Cyril of Alexandria,8 and Cyril himself made use of books falsely ascribed to Athanasius. Synesius, in a letter to one of his friends, openly advocated the practice of falsehood, and asserted that truth is dan gerous to the multitude whose weak minds are not fitted for its reception. All these expedients were adopted with increase of acrimony. The Euty chians only acknowledged the acts of the synod of Ephesus, while the emperor wished to force on them the decrees of that of Chalcedon. The former was characterized by those who had subscribed to the faith of Leo, as a band of robbers ;s the Monophysites denounced the latter as an impious assemblage of demons, of spirits shut out from the mercy of heaven.4 fiaXioTa Se rtpog rovg otKEiovg rng wioTEuig. Antiochi Ep. Homil. cxvii. p. 169. Bibl. Patr. tom. xii. 1 See La Croze, Christianisme d'Ethiopie, pp. 23, &c. 2 La Croze, p. 10. 3 SvvoSov XyarpiKov. * Jacobus, bishop of Sarug, has left us a Syrian tract " agamst the impious synod of Chalcedon," in which he says oi.»Zu] |j\±o \n+> oia-ioj ljo>a-^j UBo^asc v_oi ; Ja^o — " This is that synod of Chalcedon which daemons IN ARABIA. 119 The Syrian monks were ever ready to use the wea pons of the flesh ; the holy city of Jerusalem was occupied by a tumultuous mob, and the Monophysite doctrines were spread by Barsumas in Armenia and Mesopotamia. Such of the Egyptian bishops as were favourable to the synod of Chalcedon were obhged to be held in their sees by force. Proterius, who was placed by the emperor in the chair of Dioscorus, was safe only in the protection of his numerous guard ; on the emperor's death he was massacred by the people of Alexandria, and Timothy iElurus, or the Cat, his murderer, substituted in his place.5 After years of tumult and disorder, when the bitterness of religious warfare was mitigated by the Henoticum of Zeno, Petrus Moggus, the patri arch of Alexandria, and Petrus Gnapheus, the patriarch of Antioch, were at the head of the Mono physite sect.6 and spirits cast down from heaven have assembled." Asseman. Bibl. Orient, tom. i. p. 295. 5 Theodorus Lector. Benaudot. Victor, Chron. pp. 322, 4. 6 Evagrius, Kb. 2, 3 ; Liberatus, cc. 14 — 19 ; may be consulted for a general history of the troubles in Egypt. The Henoticum was violently opposed by the Bomans. Zenon imperator, Eutychiani poculo erroris sopitus, Acatium Constantinopolit. episcopum damnatoribus synodi Chalcedonensis Petro Alex- andrino et Petro Antiocheno episcopis, per Henoticum a se prolatum socians, eorum communione poUuitur, et cum eis a Catholica fide recedit. — Victor, Chron. p. 324. The three primates of the east, Peter of Alexandria, Peter of Antioch, and Acatius of Constantinople, were included in the anathemas of Leo. Ib. pp. 324, 5. 120 EARLY CHRISTIANITY In the reigns of Zeno and Anastasius, the Mono physites had themselves separated into several sects and parties. Anastasius is accused of being him self a Jacobite,1 and of being instigated by Xenaias of Mabug or Hierapolis, to the persecution of those bishops who were most zealous for the doctrines of the synod of Chalcedon. Euthemius and his suc cessor Macedonius were banished from the see of Constantinople for their opinions. A similar charge was formed against Flavian, bishop of Antioch, and a number of Syrian monks were assembled there to demand his abjuration of the doctrine of the two natures. But the zeal of the people of Antioch in defence of their pastor, afforded a more convenient pretence for his persecution ; they rose against the Syrian monks, many of whom were slain or drowned in the Orontes whilst endeavouring to make their escape, and Flavian was accused of sedition, and banished to Petra. Severus, a zealous Monophysite, was called from his monastery at Gaza, raised to the chair of Flavian, ascended the pulpit of Antioch, and pronounced a general anathema against those who acknowledg-ed two natures in Christ.2 1 Eutychius, tom. ii. p. 131. Leontius (de Sectis, p. 512. in the Bibl. Magn. Pat. tom. xi.) says, toiv yap SiaKpivopcviov nv 6 Avao-rao-iog. The name of doubters or hesitaters (ol SiaKpivo- pEvoi) was given by the Melchites to those who received the Henoticum. Timotheus de recept. Haeret., in Cotelier, tom. ii. A synod at Tyre anathematized the Henoticum. Asseman. tom. ii. p. 19. 2 The elevation of Severus took place in 512. His history is IN ARABIA. 1S1 Severus thus became the head of the Syrian Mo nophysites. His character is drawn by his enemies, probably not without reason, in the blackest colours. He had been originally a pagan, and he appears to have been a restless and ambitious man, proud, cun ning, and malignant, but learned, and a subtle con troversialist. He commenced his episcopal career with the most violent measures against those bishops and priests in his diocese who were favourers of the council of Chalcedon. Those who had ventured to oppose him, such as Epiphanius bishop of Tyre, Julian of Bostra, and Peter of Damascus, were obliged to take refuge from his resentment in Pales tine and other parts that were beyond the reach of his jurisdiction. Elias bishop of Jerusalem was cele brated for his firmness in the orthodox creed. He called together the bishops of his party and anathe matized Anastasius and Severus, and all who followed their opinions, thus drawing upon himself the full resentment of the emperor. Sabas, in company with others of the monks of Palestine, repaired to Con stantinople, to expostulate, and he was treated with great respect by Anastasius, " who," to use the words of the old historian, " although he had been led astray by wicked advisers, was still a great lover of collected from Evagrius, Hist. Eccl. lib. iii. Eutychius, p. 141. tom. ii. Benaudot, Hist. Patriarch. Alexand. p. 129. Cyril. in Vit. S. Sabae, p. 308. (Cotelier, tom. ii.) Severus was a native of Sozopolis. 122 EARLY CHRISTIANITY the monks ;'" but 'Elias was deposed, and his see given to the Eutychian John.'-2 It was not without reason that the Monophysites accused the emperors of introducing the creed of Leo, and the doctrine of two substances, two natures, and two wills, in one person, with all the troubles and dissensions entailed upon it, into the eastern church.3 The authority of Marcian had first pro cured the deposition of Dioscorus, and the condem nation of Eutyches, and he and his successors after wards were the cause of the persecution of their followers. The Monophysites, accordingly, who considered themselves as holding the orthodox faith, that faith which had condemned the heresy of Nes torius, denounced the emperors as innovators and heretics, and stigmatized those, whom fear had in duced to accept their form of faith, by the name of Melchites or royalists.4 Justinian was characterized as the most orthodox, and at the same time the most illiterate of the emperors.5 Whilst he was defining and dictating- a form of faith to his subjects, the offices and dignities of the empire were sold to un- 1 liv yap fiXopovaxog, ei Kai vwo riviov piapinv TrapEirKEva^ETO ttjv opBnv EKiroXEfinirai ttiotiv. Cyril, vit. S. Sabas, p. 299. 2 Eutychius, tom. ii. pp. 141, 2. Victor, Chron. pp. 337. Cyril, vita S. Saba?, (in Cotelier, tom. ii.) pp. 295 — 308. 3 Makrizi, Hist. Copt. p. 59. 4 Niceph. Callist. Hist. Eccl. lib. xviii. c. 52. s OpdoSo^orarog. vv Se apaBvrog ypapparwv, Kai to Se XEyopevov avaXipafiriTOg. Suidas in lovariviavog. IN ARABIA. 128 worthy bidders, whose only anxiety was to gratify their own and the emperor's insatiate avarice.6 The reign of Justinian was a continued scene of persecu tion, but, while the decrees of the council of Chalce don were by him forced on the eastern bishops, the cause of the Eutychians found a powerful advocate in the person of the empress. Theodora had been educated in the faith of the Monophysites, and whilst her husband was assisting the partisans of the Melchite sect with his authority, she supported the opposite party with her money and her influence.7 The accession of Justin, who held the orthodox creed of Chalcedon, had been the signal for new disturbances and persecutions. The bishops who had been banished during the late reign were recalled, Severus fled to Egypt,8 the see of Antioch 8 'Os irpoiroig roig aXXoig KaKoig, Kai Eg rag iroXiTtKag apxag Ka BiarnavSpag airnvEig, Kai wporarovg, Civ nv 'SiTEipa.vog 6 Euvov^og Hepatic rapiag tojv (iacriXiKwv xpnp-emov. Id. ib. Compare what the same writer says in v. QEoSorog, and Evagrius, lib. iv. c. 30. 7 AW' 6 pEV rav ev KaXxnSovi avvrEdEipevojv paXa airov- Saiwg avTEXap(3avETO, f/ Se, pEra toiv awEvavrtag ovaa, tujv XEyov- ruiv fiiav (pvaiVTraVTOiwg irpovvOEi, Kai rovg y£ ripsSairovg TTEpiEBaiTTE, Kai rovg aXXoSanovg pEyaXoig xPWaaiv eSs^iovro. Evagrius, lib. iv. c. 10. See Barhebraei Chron. Syr. p. 83. 8 Eenaudot, p. 138. Eutychius, p. 149. tom. ii. Victor, Chron. p. 329, &c. A synod was held at Constantinople, Kara Svooefiovg IiEvnpov Kai rwv ra opoia avrio typovntjavTwv aipETiKwv. Montfaucon, Bibliotheca Coisliniana, p. 86. In a MS. con taining, Opoi wio-TEwg op6oSo£iag ayiwv irarEpuv Kara Evrvxovg tov arvxovg Kai AioaKopov tov aoEfiovg (p. 265), he is termed, "ZEvnpov tov aoeftn Kai EXXnvofpovov (p. 266). Many of his 124 EARLY CHRISTIANITY was given to Sergius, and his friend Xenaias died a fugitive in Paphlagonia.1 Fifty -four Monophysite bishops were participators with them in exile,2 and the prisons of Constantinople were filled with the ecclesiastics of the eastern Church. Under the protection of their empress, however, and by the labours of Jacobus Baradseus, from whom the sect afterwards took the name of Jacobites, the doctrine of the one nature was spread over the eastern and southern provinces of the Byzantine empire. letters are preserved in the same collection, (pp. 44, 55, 68, &c.) A poem of G-eorge of Pisidia against Severus is pubhshed amongst his works, p. 171. 1 Xenaias or Philoxenus, bishop of Mabug, was celebrated for his wisdom and learning. Asseman. tom. ii. p. 10. Yet he was accused by his enemies of being inclined to Manicheism. (p. 19.) But we need not wonder at this, for we know that the Melchites censured Eutychianism itself as Manicheism and worse — Mavi^aioe ovrog b Xoyog Kai TTEipavraapEvog ttoXXu) paXXov ekeivov. Suidas in JLvTvxng- Philoxenus was ordained bishop of Hieropolis by Petrus Gnapheus. Theophanes, Chronograph, p. 115. 2 Amongst the Monophysite bishops under Severus we find mention of those of Apamea, Laodicea, Aleppo or Berrhaea, Seleucia, Kennesrin, Amida, Damascus, Abila, Jabrudi, Tad- mor or Palmyra, Hurini, Cyrus, G-ermanicia, Edessa, Haran, Ammiria, Perrhi, Bhesamae, Circesium, Callinicus, Sura, Tela, Dara, Arsamosata, Anazarba, Hegari, Mopsuestia, Epiphania, Irenopolis, Alexandria Minor, Colonia, Therma, Sebaste, &c. who were banished by Justinian. Assem. torn. ii. Diss, de Monophys. IN ARABIA. 125 SECTION X. Jacobus Baradteu3, or Zanzalus, was a Syrian monk, had been educated in the doctrines of Seve rus,3 and they both rose to fame under the favour of Anastasius.4 After the death of that emperor he was created bishop of Edessa by the Monophysite bishops who were confined at Constantinople,5 and his unceasing labours in their cause made him worthy to be looked on as the head of the Mono physite sect.6 By Baradseus and his partisans, who were spread over every part of the Syrian fron tiers, and by the numerous bishops and presbyters whom he created there,7 the Monophysite faith ap pears to have been first firmly established among the Arab tribes.8 Hareth, the king of the western 3 Eenaudot, Hist. Patr. Al. p. 133. 4 Asseman, Bibl. Orient, tom. iii. p. 384. 5 Barhebrasus, in Asseman. tom. ii. p. 327. 6 In an Arabic MS. cited by Asseman. tom. ii. p. 64, Bara- daeus is termed primate of the Jacobites, Syrians, Copts, and ^Ethiopians — ^\ijtJ\ .UftUjJt aSuLI ^J, ^cjj^l L-jyuo jL 7 He made above a hundred thousand bishops, priests, and deacons, if we believe Barhebraeus. Assem. tom. ii. p. 332. 8 Barhebraeus, Hist. Dynast, p. 93. 126 EARLY CHRISTIANITY Arabs, and his son after him, ardently supported their cause amongst the tribes of Ghassan, and re ceived under his protection Paul the patriarch of Antioch, and other bishops who fled from the per secution of Justinian j1 a Christian king of Hirah resolutely withstood the pressing importunities of the Chalcedonian bishops;2 and the Jacobite faith was established at the two widely separated towns of Nadjran and Hormus, and amongst all the Scenite tribes.3 The designs of Baradseus were seconded by the chiefs of the desert, and he was carried from place to place on the swiftest drome daries of an Arab king.4 By his zeal the anti- Chalcedonian doctrines were supported also in the southern peninsula, and amongst the distant Chris tians of Ethiopia. The Abyssinian Christians have always acknow ledged as their head the primate of Alexandria.5 They seem to have received at an early period the 1 Asseman. tom. ii. p. 326, 331. tom. iii. p. dcyi. Paul was made patriarch of Antioch by Baradaeus. Tom. ii. p. 63. 2 Theodorus Lector, Excerpt, p. 564. 3 Asseman. tom. ii. p. nov. 4 It was ,_sjJa!! iJDjs?' ciU*S! king Hareth the Beduite, according to Amrus, ap. Assem. tom. ii. p. 63. 5 Abudacnus, Hist. Copt. c. 2. p. 3. The Abyssinians were under the same rule and discipline as the Copts. Bogatus Tecla Maria, Abyssinus presbyter, an a Coptis Abyssini dis- creparent, respondet, nullam esse differentiam inter eos et in omnibus rebus concordare. Esse etiam sub ejusdem patriarchs imperio. Hottinger, Hist. Eccl. Sec. 16. part i. p. 44, IN ARABIA. 127 heresy of Eutyches, and steadily refused to acknow ledge the councils that were held against it.6 On the death of the chief of the Ethiopian bishops, another had been immediately appointed in his place by the Melchites, or those who professed the same faith as the emperor ; but by the united interest of Theodora, of the Coptic Jacobites of Egypt, and of Baradaeus, the bishop who had been appointed by the Chalcedonians was detained at the court of one of the independent chiefs,7 through whose dominions 6 In the modern Ethiopian liturgy, they offer up their prayers in the name of Christ, of the virgin, of the apostles, of the saints, et patrum nostrorum principum episcoporum trecento- rum decern et octo qui fuerunt Niceaa, et centum quinquaginta qui fuerunt ConstantinopoH, et ducentorum qui fuerunt Ephesi. (Missa iEthiopum, in Bibl. Magn. Patrum. Par. 1654, tom. vi. col. 54.) ; thus acknowledging the synod at Ephesus, and dis carding that of Chalcedon and those which followed. Again at p. 45 : Et per os trecentorum et decern et octo episcoporum qui pro recta fide in synodo Nicena congregati fuerunt, et centum quinquaginta in Constantinopolitana, et ducentorum in synodo Ephesina, et per os pontificis nostri Saviros, Joannis Chrysostomi oris aurei, Cyrilli, Basilii, Theophili, Athanasii, Gregorii, &c. 7 Barhebraeus calls him governor of the Thebaid. The Ara bian writer de fide Syr. Jacobitarum says he was king of the Suachini. Philostratus says that Apollonius came to a district on the borders between Egypt and Ethiopia, which was called Syeaminum, whieh may be the same, cm ra AtBwirwv te Kai Aiyvirriwv opia, IwKapivov Se avra ovopa^ovai. Vit. Apol. Tyan. lib. vi. c. 2. On which Olearius observes, 'lEpav SvKafiivov post Thebarum vopov et Elethyiam in iEgypto memorat Ptolemaeus. 128 EARLY CHRISTIANITY he had to pass, whilst another bishop, probably created by Baradseus, hastened to Abyssinia, was received by the Auxumites, and the Melchite bishop, when he arrived, found his see already occupied, and the Christians of Ethiopia not inclined to change their opinions in his favour.1 The bishops whom Baradseus had created were in the mean time carrying his doctrines towards the east and north. Achumedes, one of the most cele brated, converted many of the Persian Magi at Tacrit.2 Baradaeus is recorded to have traversed in person the regions of Armenia and Mesopotamia, and in a general massacre of the Christians of Tacrit, by orders of Khosroes Parvis, he escaped only by assuming the costume of a Persian sage.3 His death in 578, after having been bishop of Edessa seven and thirty years,4 was no less a subject of exultation to his enemies than the miserable end of the empress Theodora.5 Whilst Baradseus was 1 MS. de Pide Jac. Syr. ap. Asseman. p. 384. tom. i. — Barhebraeus, ap. eundem, tom. ii. p. 330. 2 Barhebraeus, ap. Assem. tom. ii. p. 414. Ibn Batric, ap. Hotting. Topog. Eccles. p. 20. •¦> MS. Arab. ap. Assem. tom. ii. p. 63. Amrus, ap. eund. tom. iii. p. 384, The history is adopted by Benaudot, but dis carded by Asseman. i Asseman. tom. ii. p. 65. The name of Jacobus occurs in a Greek writer among the Eutychian heretics, in Cotelier, tom. ii. p. 396. 5 The Melchites boasted that — Theodora Augusta, Chalcedo- nensis synodi inimica, canceris plaga corpore toto perfusa vitam prodigiose finivit. Victor, Chron. p. 332. ed. Canisii. IN ARABIA. 129 supporting by his zeal the Monophysites of Nubia and Ethiopia, the persecution of the Jacobite bishops in the less remote districts was raging with redoubled vigour. Eight hundred bishops and archbishops, who had refused to conform to the synod of Chal cedon, filled the imperial prisons,6 and Maras of Amida, Isidore of Causarum, and other Syrian prelates, were only recalled from Petra, their place of exile, at the earnest intercessions of Theodora.7 The unsubmitting and irritable character and pre datory habits of the Saracen Arabs, always made them suspected and distrusted by the Bomans, and, to use the words of the historian, neither to be de sired as friends or enemies.8 It is one of their own proverbs, that " There is no authority where there is no obedience," the truth of which was experienced equally by the court of Byzantium and the house of the Khosroes. Although Noman ibn Mondar, the king of Hirah, governed the Arabs only as the lieu tenant and tributary of Noushirwan, and although the distance between Hirah and Modaine, the capital of Persia, was but a few farsangs, yet he was con tinually in open rebellion against his master ; when 6 MS. Arab, de Laud. Jacobit. ap. Asseman. tom. ii. pp. 63, 4. ' Joan. As. Episc. ap. Assem. tom. ii. p. 51. 8 Saraceni tamen nee amici nobis unquam nee hostes optandi, ultro citroque discursantes, quidquid inveniri poterat momento temporis parvi vastabant, milvorum rapacium similes ; qui si praedam dispexerint celsius, volatu rapiunt celeri, aut nisi impe- traverint, non immorantur. Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. xiv. c. 4. K 130 EARLY CHRISTIANITY he appeared at the imperial court he assumed an offensive degree of familiarity and boldness, and when the Khosroes attempted to force him to obedience, he always found a secure shelter in the solitude of the desert.1 The Romans had frequent causes of complaint against their Saracen allies. During the reign of Anastasius they more than once invaded the districts of Euphratesia, Palestine, and Syria, but were defeated by the promptitude of the governors of the provinces f and Amru'1-Keis ben Naukal had obtained by force several districts to the south of Palestine, and the island of Iotabe, and had been confirmed in his conquest and made a governor of the Arab tribes by the emperor, on his submission.3 With a people of this character, it may be supposed that the violent measures of Justinian against the Monophysites would be the least hkely to produce submission. Hareth, the king of the 1 Pakhr-eddin Eazi, Hist. Chron. Dynast, ap. De Sacy, Chres tomathie Arab., tom. i. p. 62. 2 Theophanes, Chronograph, pp. 121 — 123. 3 This occurrence is placed by Theophanes (p. 121) in the reign of Anastasius. The historian Malchus (EclogaB Legat. ed. Hoeschelio, p. 73), has given a particular relation of it, and says it was under Leo ; he calls Amru'1-Keis 6 ApopKEaog tov NokoXiov, and says that he had left the service of the Persians, had invaded western Arabia, and had made war on the Saracens, but not on the Bomans. He had afterwards turned Christian, and sent a priest to Byzantium to solicit an alliance with the emperor. IN ARABIA. 131 Christian Arabs of Ghassan, persisted obstinately in his faith ;4 he opposed force to force, and the perse cution of their bishops was the signal of revolt to the Arab tribes, who harassed the Syrian borders with their incursions.5 The people of Hamyar and southern Arabia presented yearly petitions to the emperor for bishops to occupy their vacant sees; such as might be agreeable to the doctrines which they all professed, and who had not subscribed to the council of Chalcedon. But their ambassadors #only returned with a refusal, and an earnest admoni tion that they should receive the bishop whom he had appointed for them, and who was then at Alex andria. But the Hamyarites chose rather to create bishops for themselves than submit to the arbitrary commands of those who, b}r the rules of the church, were alone capable of ordaining them. The as sembled priests and clergy selected men out of their own order, constituted them bishops by the operation of cheirotony, or placing their hands on their heads, 4 Asseman, torn. ii. pp. 326—331. 6 The account of this invasion is given in Pococke, Spec. Hist. Arab. The cause of it is given by an Arabian writer in Asseman, tom. ii. p. 494. *. !l. l. j,«!I ^jj s'IL&JIl-^Jjm Jt id**yi ^klb ^UJI Ull u.yuk-jj ti&dl J^kil **> " The cause of the dissension between the Arabs and the Eomans was that the emperor Justin (Justinian) persecuted the Monophysite fathers ; for the Christian Arabs at that time pro fessed solely the Jacobite faith." K 2 132 EARLY CHRISTIANITY and agreed to pay them the same respect and obe dience as though they had been created by the Alexandrian primate. But many were unwilling to admit the authority and legitimacy of bishops thus created, and the Christian power in Arabia Felix was weakened by its own divisions and dis sensions. The defect of discipline was the cause of the introduction of innumerable schisms and heresies, amongst which, not the least was that of the Phantasianists or Julianists.1 This sect originated in Syria,2 and received its name from. Julian of Hahcarnassus, who was a great opposer of the synod of Chalcedon. His doctrines are characterised as a mixture of those of Eutyches, Apollinaris, Manes, and Eudoxius ; they met with a favourable reception amongst some of the monks of Egypt, but were opposed by the Jacobites, and Julian himself was denounced by Severus as a most destructive dragon.8 On the death of Procopius bishop of Ephesus, who had embraced the Phan- tasiast doctrines, seven priests of the same persua sion met together to choose another, who should take his place ; and as there was no bishop of that sect to ordain him, having chosen one Eutropius, they consecrated him by placing on his head the hand of the dead bishop, and at the same time 1 Jo. As. Episc. p. 44. (in the Syrische Chrestomathie of Michaelis). 2 Takri-eddini Makrizii Hist. Copt. p. 75. 3 Eenaudot, Hist. Patr. Alex. pp. 132, 133. IN ARABIA. 133 recitingthe formula of cheirotony. Eutropius being thus consecrated, ordained ten others, who were deputed to various parts of the east, to spread their doctrines. The first Phantasiast bishop of the Hamyarites was Sergius, who was succeeded on his death, four years afterwards, by a bishop of the name of Moses.4 The difference between the Romans and Arabs was further widened by an accidental circumstance. The Saracen chiefs were seldom included in the treaties of peace between Rome and Persia, and being at continual variance with each other, were often the cause of misunderstanding, and even of open war, between the two rival empires. At the time of the Persian embassy under Mebodes to the court of Justinian, Amrus, the Persian phylarch, made a demand on the emperor for a sum of money, which he alleged to be due to him for some service he had done for the empire.5 On the refusal of Justi- 4 Jo. As. Episc. ap. Asseman. tom. ii. The monks of Sinai appear at this time to have been Melchites, and perhaps this was the cause of their being exposed to the depredations ofthe Arabs, on which account Justinian built them a monastery. — Cum autem audiissent monachi montis Sinaa de bona imp. Justi- niani intentione, quamque condendis ecclesiis et monasteriis struendis delectaretur, ad ipsum profecti, conquesti sunt Arabes IsmaeHtas ipsis damnum inferre, penum ipsorum devorando, locaque diruendo, cellasque ingredientes, quicquid ibi esset diripere, et in ecclesias irruentes eueharistiam deglutire. Euty- chius, tom. ii. p. 161. ex versione Pocock. 5 Menander, excerp. Legat. p. 82, et seq. 134 EARLY CHRISTIANITY nian to listen to his demands, the Arabian chief ordered his brother Kabus to invade the domains of the king of Ghassan,1 which he immediately did, carrying away the camels and flocks of the Roman Arabs. In revenge, the king of Ghassan, Mondar the son of Hareth, as he is named, collected his forces, invaded Hirah, defeated Kabus, recovered his camels, and took also a rich booty. The king of Hirah again invaded the dominions of the Roman phylarch, but being defeated, he fled to the king of Persia. In expectation of an invasion by the united forces of Hirah and Persia, Mondar sent to the emperor, and represented to him his danger, requesting from his more powerful ally assistance to oppose the threatened attack. But Justinian wished to preserve the peace which then existed, and determined to g-et rid of his Saracen plrylarch, as the only obstacle to the continued friendship between the courts of Byzantium and Persia. He wrote accordingly to Marcianus, his general, who was then encamped near Nisibis, di recting him to invite the king of Ghassan to his camp, where he was to detain and put him to death. The emperor is reported to have dictated two letters, one to Marcianus, the other to Mondar, desiring him to go to Marcianus, who would communicate to him something of consequence, which could not be communicated by a letter. The scribe, when he had ' Id. p. 85. IN ARABIA. 135 written and sealed the letters, inscribed, by mistake, that which was intended for Marcianus with the name of Mondar, and that which should have gone to the king of Ghassan was directed to Marcianus. When, therefore, the Arabian chief read the orders of the emperor to his general, inflamed with rage, he made peace with the Persian Arabs, and joined them in the invasion of Syria, where they laid waste with fire and sword the whole country up to the walls of Antioch.2 On the accession of Tiberius, Mondar repaired to Constantinople, excused himself for his past conduct, shewed the emperor the letters of Justinian, and was again received with favour. The Arab chief, however, fell once more under suspicion, and a Syrian governor, named Magnes, under pretence of friendly converse, sent for him, threw him into chains, and carried him to Constantinople. Noman, his son, collected the Arabs of Ghassan, and invaded Syria, in revenge for the treacherous behaviour of the Byzantine court ; but he narrowly escaped falling- a victim to the same fraud which had twice been made use of towards his father, and afterwards was par doned by Maurice, who liberated Mondar, on his swearing eternal friendship to the Romans, and enmity to the Persians. When it was proposed to him to subscribe to the council of Chalcedon, he positively refused, alleging that all the Arab tribes ' Barhebraei Chronicon Syr. p. 90. 136 EARLY CHRISTIANITY professed the orthodox faith, and that if he departed from it he should draw upon himself their enmity.1 1 Barhebraeus, pp. 92, 93. Evagrius says that both Mondar and his son Noman were in confinement in the time of Maurice, lib. vi. c. 2. IN ARABIA. 137 SECTION XL The division of the northern tribes between the Persians and Romans, the overthrow of the ancient and once powerful kingdom of Hamyar, and the weakness of the Ethiopian government in the penin sula, had thrown the Arab states between Sabeea and the northern frontiers into a state of tumultuous anarchy. The various chiefs were perpetually at war with each other, and in these wars the powers of Hirah, of Ghassan, and of Yaman, became con tinually implicated. Their mutual hostilities were carried to such a height as to gain for them from one of their own poets the character of " men, like strong-necked lions, who menace one another with malignant hate, like the demons of Badiya, with feet firmly rivetted in the conflict." 2 A quarrel about the swiftness of the favourite horses of their chiefs, which were named Dahes and Ghabra, gave rise to a war between the Absites and the Dzobijamites. From the first conflict, the day of Morkateb, which was fought at Dzu'l-Morkateb, a place in the district of Scharabah, and in which the Absites triumphed, to the battle of the marsh, 2 Zohair, Moallakah, couplet 71. 138 EARLY CHRISTIANITY which was followed by a truce, it lasted forty years.1 This war ended about the period of the birth of Muhammed, during the reign of Amru ben Hind/ and was followed by many wars and battles between the Amerites, Ghafanidites, Absites, Kei- sites, and other tribes, which originated in as many petty, perhaps often imaginary, injuries.3 Many of these conflicts took place within the bounds of the Roman and Persian provinces, and one is re corded to have happened at Ras-el-Ain, or Theodo siopolis, only fifteen farsangs, or forty-five miles, from Nisibis.4 The Taglabites, or Arabs of Ghassan, were always celebrated for their personal bravery.5 Between 1 Basmussen, Hist. Praacip. Arab. Eegn. pp. 83 — 88. 2 Id. ib. p. 89. 3 Id. pp. 89—110. The following may be cited as an instance of the trifling causes of these hostilities. " Dies Pagar secundus fuit inter Koreischitas et Havazenitas : juvenes nempe aliquot Koreischitae mulieri cuidam e beni Amer ben Dsadsah (fc^x*) [Havazenitis] in foro Ocads consederunt. Complures subinde adolescentes Cananitaa eam eircumdederunt, rogantes, ut vultum, velo demto, retegeret ; quod cum negasset, aliquis eorum, a tergo subrepens, indusium ejus dorso spina affixit, unde factum, ut cum incauta surrexit, in conspectum data esset pars ejus postica. In risum effusi juvenes ei dixere : conspectum faciei tui nobis denegasti, sed conspiciendam partem adversam nobis praebuisti. Convocavit in auxilium mulier tribules Ameritas, unde orta altercatio leviorque conflictio ; mox tamen rem com- posuit Harb filius Omijah." Nuweir, in Basmussen, p. 75. 4 Easmussen, p. 103. 5 Vullers, Prolegom. ad Hareth, Moallaca, p. ii. IN ARABIA. 139 them and the Becrites,, who were also a powerful tribe, including the tribes of Keis, Hanifah, Ed- schlah, and Lodschainah in Yamama and Hadra- maut, and who had gained no less than eight victories in a war with the Tamimites,6 a series of mutual enmities and jealousies had long existed. Of the origin of these animosities no certain account is given. The war of Basus, which ended just before Hogr the Kendite was made king- of the Becrites, is said to have originated from a camel,7 or, according to others, from a goose.8 But it appears most pro bable that the chief cause of their hostilities was a quarrel about water, the most valuable article to a wandering Arab. Some of the tribe of Taglab, it seems, running short of water, applied for relief to the tribe of Beer, and on being refused, took arms, and obtained by force what had been denied to their entreaties.9 After having exhausted each other by their mutual and continual struggles, they at length called in the mediation of Amru ben Hind, the king of Hirah, who reigned from about the sixty-third to the seventy-ninth years of the sixth century.10 Of this event we have two authentic documents, the poetic addresses ofthe chiefs ofthe rival tribes, which deserved a place among the Moallaka that were suspended in the temple of Mecca. Hareth was of the tribe of Beer, and his Moal- 6 Basmussen, p. 117, et seq. 7 Id. pp. Ill, 115. 8 Vuller, Prolegom. in Hareth. Moall. 9 Id. ib. 10 563 or 564 to 576 or 579, according to Basmussen. 140 EARLY CHRISTIANITY laka is addressed to the king of Hirah in defence of his countrymen. At the beginning he expatiates on the injuries which the Becrites had suffered from the tribe of Taglab, and launches out in praise of his own personal innocence and valour. He re counts the various battles in which the Taglabites had been defeated, and reminds Amru of the nume rous occasions in which the Becrites had assisted the kings of Hirah. He refers also to the bravery of his tribe in the war between the Arabs of Yaman and the Maadites and descendants of Adnan, and lastly appeals to the Taglabites themselves, who were present, to acknowledge their innocence.1 The poet Amru ben Kelthum was a chief of the tribe of Taglab, and had himself conquered the tribe of Temim, and had made war both on Hanifah and Hirah.2 He was chosen to advocate the cause of the Taglabites before Amru at Hirah, and there re peated the Moallaka which bears his name. He answers the address of Hareth by celebrating the glory of his own tribe, and comparing their actions with those of the Becrites. He boasts of having assisted the tribe of Nesar in the invasion of Yaman,3 1 Hareth, Moallaca, ed. J. Vullers. 4to. Bon. 1827. 2 Abu'l-faradsch Ali, ap. Kosegarten, in Amrui.ben Kelthum Moallaca, p. 38. He was celebrated as an excellent poet, and composed much. 3 Amru ben Kelthum, MoaUaca, coupl. 68. It has been pub lished by G. L. Kosegarten, Jen. 1819. 4to. and translated by Sir W. Jones. IN ARABIA. 141 of having encamped in Syria at Dzu Tholuch, at Baalbec, and at Damascus, and even at Kasarun in Persian Irak, and of having repelled every at tempt of his enemies to drive him away.4 "We severed their heads," he says, " and made them bow tlieir necks ;s none ever knew us dejected or retreat ing."8 The judgment of the king of Hirah was perhaps guided by partiality and interest ; but the violent spirit of Amru was incapable of bearing what he considered to be an injury, and he slew the king in his own palace, and hastened with his attendants to the Syrian desert.7 Amongst the numerous poets who flourished at this period are recorded the names of Ascha and Nabega.8 Ascha was a Kadarite, or professor of Pinximus tentoria nostra Dsutholuchi ' Ad Syriam usque, et repulimus minantes. coupl. 28. Saepius pocula exhausi Baalbeki, Aliaque Damasci et Kasseruni. coupl. 7. Kasseruni is, according to Meninski, Kasserun in Persian Irak, or the province of Pars, which is mentioned by Sir W. Ouseley, (Travels, vol. i. p. 271) as a place founded by Kobad, or per haps earlier. It was noted in the time of the Arabian geo graphers for the number of its fire temples. Kosegarten, de Mohammede Ebn Batuta, p. 31. ' Pindimus illis capita agminis findendo, Demetunt colla, ita ut succidantur. coupl. 38. c Ohe, non cognoverunt gentes nos Abjectos unquam neque torpentes. coupl. 58. 7 Kosegarten, Amrui Moallac. p. 39. His violence came into a proverb — " Violentior Amruo ben Kelthum." 8 A learned Arab being asked who was the best Arabian 142 EARLY CHRISTIANITY the doctrine of free will, which he is said to have learnt from the Christians of Hirah.1 He was de scended from Adnan,2 and wrote in the reign of Khosroes Parviz, and his poem, in which he praises his mistress, and bids defiance to his enemies, was suspended in the Kaaba, where it remained till the capture of Mecca by Muhammed.3 Ascha was con cerned in several quarrels between the Arab tribes, and was once taken prisoner and confined in the castle of Ablak, but he contrived to make his escape.4 The mondar who succeeded Amru ben Hind, Noman abu Kabus, who reigned at Hirah from the year 589 to 611/ is said to have embraced Chris tianity.6 The progress, even the existence, of Chris tian^ in the kingdom of Hirah, seems to have been always uncertain and inconstant, as it was dependent on the character and policy of the king, or rather on that of his master, the Khosroes of Persia. Chris tian bishops, however, were stationed there, at Hirah poet, said, " Amru'1-Kais when he is in a rage ; Nabega when under the influence of fear ; Zohair, when under that of desire ; Ascha, when he is transported with joy." Abul-faradj, in the Fundgruben des Orients, band v. p. 1. 1 Silvester de Sacy, ibid. 3 Eichhorn, Monum. Ant. Hist. p. 137. 3 This poem was edited by de Sacy, in the Pundgruben des Orients, band v. with an introduction and translation. 4 Pundgruben des Orients, band v. p. 3. 5 Id. band ii. p. 37. Id. ib. Evagrius, lib. vi. c. 22. Pococke, Spec. Hist. p. 75. IN ARABIA. 143 and at Kufa. Christianity is said to have been first carried into this part of Arabia by a monk, about the year 363.T A king of Hirah is mentioned as having been converted in the beginning of the sixth century, and as having built several churches in various parts of his dominions.8 Noman abu Kabus is said to have been led to embrace the reli gion of Jesus by his admiration ofthe constancy and punctuality of a Syrian Christian, whom he had de signed to put to death. In a fit of drunkenness he had wantonly killed two of his friends, and when sober, in repentance for his cruelty, and in remem brance of their friendship, he erected tombs over their graves, and vowed to moisten them once every year with the blood of an enemy. One of the first victims intended for the fulfilment of his vow was this Christian of Syria, who entreated the mondar to allow him a short space of time to return home, for the purpose of acquitting himself of some duty with which he had been entrusted ; and the boon was granted on his solemn promise to return at an ap pointed time. The time came and he was punctual to his word, and thus saved his life.9 Noman abu Kabus proved the sincerity of his conversion by melting down a statue of Venus, of solid gold, which had been worshipped by his tribe, and by distributing 7 Pundgruben des Orients, band ii. p. 360. 8 Abulfeda, ap. Pococke, p. 75. 9 Pococke, ibid. Pundgruben des Orients, band hi. p. 38. 144 EARLY CHRISTIANITY the produce among-st the poor.1 Many Saracens of Hirah followed his example, and were baptized. 1 Tote Kai ^aapaviig ruiv eiflpiov HkT]itiTb)v ijivXapxog, E^ayterrog Kai irappiayog 'EAAtjj' (i.e. a pagan), ' avrov to} 6eu —poaayayiov. Evagnus, lib. vi. c. 22. This account agrees remarkably with that of tbe Arabian writers. IX ARABIA. I4.3 SECTION XII. Of the reign of Yecsoum, the son and successor of Abrahah, the page of history has not preserved a single particular. His mother was of the ancient ro}ral family of Hamyar. Arabian writers declaim against his cruelties and tyrannic oppressions of the people, which drove many to seek protection from the tribe of Koreish, whose victory over his prede cessor had raised them to importance among the Arabian tribes.2 The only Greek writer who men tions him, and whose authority may be doubted, calls him Serdius, and informs us that he resembled his father injustice and piety.3 When the chiefs of Hangar saw that the do minion of the Abyssinian conquerors continued, and that the crown of their country descended in regular succession through a family whom they considered as usurpers, and whose treatment of their subjects caused them now to be regarded as tyrants, they began to conspire for their expulsion. The last ofthe old royal race of Hamyar was Seif, the son of Dzu 8 Tabeir, p. 126. Mesoud, p. 144. Conf. Abulfeda, Hamza, and Nuweir. 3 napttXij^jj Se SEpSios 6 vlog avrov ra aKtjTTTpa rng flaaiXEiag, Kat tfv Kara 7ravra wg b irarnp avrov, tui paKapio) TptiyevTio) EiropEvog. Grregent. Tapbr. Episc. disputat. cum Herbano Jud., p. 204. L 146 EARLY CHRISTIANITY Jezen. At the instigation of the Arabian nobles, who furnished him with money and other necessaries for his journey, Seif repaired to Constantinople to implore the assistance of the emperor in delivering- his country from the Abyssinian yoke. He was liberally received by Maurice,1 and is reported to have waited in patient expectation at the Byzantine court for some time/ but he was at length told that unity of faith prevented the emperor of the Bomans from being hostile to the Abyssinian nadjash. Dis appointed in his hopes, the Arabian prince left Con stantinople and went to Hirah, where he was kindly received by Noman ibn Mondar, who offered to introduce him to the Persian monarch. Accordingly, Seif accompanied the king of Hirah soon after to the court of the Khosroes. When Seif had obtained an audience of Noushir wan, after having gone through the accustomed ceremonies of adoration to the great king,3 he de- 1 The Arabians say it was Heraclius, but the Greeks are in this respect better authority. See Theophylact. Symocatta, Hist. Byzant. lib. iii. e. 3. 3 Seven years „,ajWj y>J*u according to Mesoud, p. 144. 3 " The Khosroes was accustomed," says the Arabian his torian, " to give audience in a portico, in which his crown, which was as large as & great medimnus, and was composed of hya cinths, emeralds, pearls, gold, and silver, was suspended from the roof by a chain of gold, for the neck of the king was not able to sustain so great a weight. He was covered with a veil until he sat down and placed his head in this crown. Thus when he had ascended, and was sitting on the throne, the veil IN ARABIA. 147 clared the purpose of his embassy, represented the state of his country, which was suffering under the tyranny of the Abyssinians, shewed the advantage which the Persians would derive by the recovery of Yaman from the Christians, and called on their rela tionship, the relationship that always exists between people ofthe same colour and of much the same reli gion, in opposition to a race of dark Ethiopian Chris tians, as a sufficient claim on his assistance. But the king, deterred by the distance of Hamyar from Per sia, and having his attention occupied by a series of continual wars in other parts, expressed his unwil lingness to undertake any enterprise of which the resulting advantages might be doubtful. He de clared that he would not risk a Persian army for a barren country, whose only riches were sheep and camels, and dismissed the Arabian prince with a present of ten thousand pieces of gold. No sooner had Seif left the royal presence, than he distributed the whole of the king's present among the crowd of slaves and other people whom he met in the street. The Khosroes, when informed of this transaction, ordered Seif to be brought before him, and de manded the reason of his strange conduct. The answer was at once calculated to excite the cupidity and compassion of Noushirwan. "What need," said he, " have I of the riches of Khosroes, when the very mountains of my own country are nothing was removed, but none were allowed to look on him till they had fallen down and worshipped him." Tabeir, p. 128. L 2 148 EARLY CHRISTIANITY but silver and gold 1 I came to the king not for wealth, but for deliverance from oppression and in sult." The king was moved by his words and ap pearance, and promised to take his affairs into consideration. By the advice of his ministers, Noushirwan, we are told, armed all the malefactors who filled his prisons, amounting to three thousand and six hundred men. These were placed under the com mand of Wehraz, a Persian noble. They landed, accompanied by Seif Dzi Jezen, on the coast of Hadramaut, at a place called Maijoun, and their forces were quickly swelled by the partisans of Seif, and by those who had suffered from the oppressions of the Ab}Tssinian king of Hamyar, Mesrouk, the brother of Yecsoum, and son of Abrahah, to twenty thousand men. Intelligence of this formidable host soon reached the ears of Mesrouk, who prepared to oppose the invader with a powerful army. When they were on the point of engaging, Wehraz, we are told, desired Seif to point out to him the king of Hamyar ; the latter was then seated on an elephant, and from his crown a red hyacinth was suspended by a golden chain over his forehead, between his eyes. Whilst the Persian was looking at him, he descended from his elephant and mounted a camel ; soon after wards, he changed the camel for a horse, then de scended on foot, and last of all mounted a mule. "Thus," said Wehraz, "shall perish his kingdom, it shall be debased as he is debased." Thereupon he IN ARABIA. 149 seized an arrow, and aimed it at the hyacinth which glittered on the monarch's brow, directing his attend ants, when the}^ saw Mesrouk fall, to commence the attack on his army. The arrow of Wehraz reached its destination, the king of Hamyar was slain, and the Abyssinian army, confounded by the death of their leader, made but a. feeble resistance. After the defeat and death of the Abyssinian king, Seif was placed on the throne of Hamyar, as the vassal and tributary of Noushirwan, and all the Abyssinians that were found in Yaman were either put to death or reduced to slavery.1 On the arrival of Seif at Sanaa, the capital of the kingdom of his forefathers, his return was welcomed by the Arabian chiefs, and the regal hall of the Gamadan, or palace of the kings of Hamyar, re- 1 Nuweir, p. 96. Mesoud, pp. 146 — 148. According to the latter it was Maadi-Carb, the son of Seif, who was assisted by Noushirwan ; Seif himself having died in Persia. The inva sion of Hamyar by the Persians is briefly related by a Greek historian, who calls Wehraz, Meranes— Aio Kai 6 Koapong ev AiBioivag, ipiXovg ovrag Pujpaioig, rovg iraXai pEv MaKpopwv.g, vvv St 'Opvpirag KaXovpEvovg, EarparevaE' Kai tov fiaoiXEa rwv 'O/xnpL- tu)v 'SiavarovpKtiv, Sia Mnpavovg tov UEpawv arpartiyov E^oiypt]aE' Ttjv te iroXiv avrivv E^ETropBr/aE, Kai to cBvog wapEarriaaTO. Theo phanes Byzant. ap. Phot. Biblioth. no. lxiv. p. 79. The history is also recorded in the Persian historians ; see, for example, Ommia Jahhia Ad-TJllatifi fil. Lubb-It Tavarich, Hist. Pers. in Biischings Magazin fiir die neue Historie und G-eographie, band xvii. pp. 40, 41, and Nikbi ben Massoud, in the Notices et Extraits des Manuscrits de la Bibliotheque du Eoi, tom. ii. p. 340. 150 EARLY CHRISTIANITY sounded with festivity.1 Then the poet Ommia Ibn Abisselt recited before the nobles his poem in praise of their deliverer, in which he described the long and perilous expedition which he had undertaken in their cause, and the hardships and disappointments he had suffered in soliciting the aid, first of the emperor of the Romans, and afterwards of the king of Persia, and finally he celebrated the invasion of Yaman, and the bravery of Wehraz.2 Amongst the Arabian chiefs who came to congra tulate the new king of Hamyar,. was Abdolmotalleb ibn Hasjemi, the prince of the Koreish, who ex pressed the greatest joy on the occasion, addressed him as " the head of all the Arabians, as their spring from whence originated all their prosperity, their leader, and the pillar on which they all depended ;"3 • Abulfeda, p. 12. ij jm (_).-£..j &.) L-v—**Jlj And having gained by our arms the region of Kehtan, "We next penetrated into the palace of Gramada ; And then we indulged in joy and pleasure, And we. contracted marriages with the Kehtan women. Poeta ap. Mesoud, p. 150. ' Abulfeda, p. 12, who gives part of the poem. It is also given, with some httle variation, by Mesoud (p. 154), who attributes it to Abu Zemaa, of whom Ommia was a descendant. 3 " Caput es Arabum, eorumque Ver, per quem laeta copia abundeut : Arabum quoque eminens Vertex, cui se ducendos tradunt ; itemque Columna, super quam recumbatur." IN ARABIA. 151 and reminded him of the glory of his ancestors, and of the lofty station to which he had attained. The king embraced him as his kinsman, and in the course of their conversation, Abdolmotalleb informed him of the coming of the prophet, and of the purpose of his mission.4 From amongst the captive Abyssinians, Seif had, on his accession, chosen a certain number as his own attendants and guards. These, having determined to revenge the sufferings of their enslaved countrymen, seized an opportunity, when they were attending the king to Sanaa, and suddenly rushing on him put him to death with their spears, after a reign of four years. When they had effected their purpose, the conspirators found refuge in the mountains, and the murder was retaliated on all their countrymen who -were so unfortunate as to be found in Sanaa.5 Seif was the last native king of Hamyar ; after- his death the kingdom was g-overned by Persian vice roys, the first of whom was the same Wehraz who had recovered it from the Abyssinians. He was followed in succession by Sigian, Howraz, Nousis- jan, Hersjhu*, and Badsan, who governed Yaman under Khosroes Parviz, at the time when Muham med was by dint of arms converting the northern tribes to Islam." » Mesoud, pp. 152, 154. ' Mesoud, p. 156. Tabeir, p. 134. 6 Mesoud, ib. Tabeir, p. 136. Hamza, p. 45. Abulefda, p. 16. 152 EARLY CHRISTIANITY SECTION XIII. The same year which had witnessed the defeat of the Christian power in Arabia by the idolaters of Mecca, about two months after that event,1 and whilst Abrahah still occupied the throne of Yaman,2 gave birth to one of the greatest enemies the church has ever experienced. The grandfather of Muham med was the same Abdolmotalleb who had opposed the arms of Abrahah, who was not onlv the chief of the tribe of Koreish, but appears to have been related to the royal family of Hamyar.3 The history of Muhammed prior to his assumption of the character of a prophet is exceedingly obscure, perhaps we may venture to say entirely unknown. The earliest Arabian writers who have composed his life lived at least some centuries after the events they relate ;4 1 Pive and fifty nights after £\jJ ^uA.i-j imajs! according to Nuweir, p. 92, that is, he adds, ^J^ ^ iXm ^^ ^ iJ)j"'y' in the twentieth year of the reign of Noushirwan. 2 Hamza, p. 40. 3 "When he went to congratulate Seif Dzi Jezen on his resto ration to the crown of Hamyar, Seif demanded who he was. " I am," said he, " Abdolmotalleb, the son of Hashem, the son of Abd Menaf." " Then," said the king, " you are the son of our brother," LwjM ^j)\ Mesoud, p. 152. The Sonna, which is the chief source of the Arabian his- IN ARABIA. 153 and the evident absurdity of the greater part of their anecdotes is sufficient to justify us in rejecting the whole. One portion was most likely invented by the impostor himself, the other, perhaps the greater, was the work of his followers.6 Amongst the igno- tories of Muhammed, was not compiled within two or three centuries of the time in which he hved. Abulfeda, who is the best authority, was king bf Hamah, and was born in the year 672 of the Hegira, and died in 733. The Greek historians who were nearly contemporary with Muhammed, give no par ticulars of his Hfe. Nicephorus, who was born about a.d. 758, and wrote the Byzantine history from the death of Maurice, does not give any account of Muhammed, but says that a.d. 631, the Saracens broke out from JEthribus (AiBpifiov — Yatreb) a region of Arabia Pelix, and invaded the surrounding regions, (p. 15,) and that in 634 they invaded the district of Antioch, and com mitted many atrocities,fbut were defeated, (p. 16.) At pp. 17, 18, he gives a brief history of the invasion of Syria by Omar. The later writers, Theophanes, Zonaras, Euthymius, &c. have taken all they say of him from Saracen information. 5 The foUowing may be taken as a tolerable specimen of their compositions — Un jour Abdo'llah (the father of Muhammed) raconta a son pere un miracle des plus surprenans : " 6 mon pere," dit-il, " apres m'etre promene dans le champ des caiUoux de la Mecque, comme j'etois au haut du mont Yatreb, il sortit incontinent de mon dos deux lumieres, dont l'une s'eleva vers P orient, et l'autre vers P Occident. En meme tems ces deux lumieres, apres avoir fait dans Pair plusieurs cercles, entrelaces Pun dans l'autre, se rejoignirent ensemble en forme d'une nuee subtile et rarefiee, qui s'en volant versle ciel, y entra et disparut a, mes yeux : Un moment apres, cette nuee sortit du ciel, elle ce rapprocha de moi en un clein d'ceil; et comme je m'assis au meme lieu, saisi d'etonnement, j'entendis une voix, comme sortant de dessous moi, et qui me dit : Paix soit a toi, 6 Ab do'llah, dans le dos du quel est renfermee la lumiere Mahomed. 154 EARLY CHRISTIANITY rant and superstitious every uncommon event is full of mystery and terror, an ominous intimation of the events of futurity, and thus the revolutions of comets drag with them those of kingdoms and empires, and every meteor or planetary motion is the precur sor of misery, of famine, or of massacres. Abun dance of such inauspicious appearances, if we believe the historians of the time, announced the coming ofthe future scourge of Eome and Persia. The hour which gave him birth extinguished the eternal fires on the idolatrous altars of Persepolis r1 and at the same time fourteen towers of the royal palace of Noushirwan at Moda'ine (Al Madayn) fell with a terrible crash, portending by their downfall that of the empire of the Khosroes.2 The confidential minister of the Persian king-, Al Mubedhan, in ad dition to these prodigies, dreamt that he saw his camel beaten by an Arabian horse, and that the Puis m'etant avance qa et la en quelque Heu sec et aride pour m'y asseoir, sous quelqu'arbre, Pherbe et Parbre reverdissaient, 1'arbre meme recourbait sur moi ses branches ; et quand je m'en eloignais, la terre ou il etait plante semblait se mouvoir vers moi, pour me congratuler. G-agnier, Vie de Moham. tom. i. p. 63. 1 Sir ~W. Ouseley, Travels in Pers. vol. ii. Abulfeda, Vit. Moham. p. 3. " And the portico of Kisra (Khosroes) became broken, as also the friends of Kisra were not in unity." Abu Abdallaa carmen mysticum Borda dictum, ed. Uria, 4to. Traj. 1771, complet 61, &c. See also Abulfed. Vit. Moham. p. 3. (ed. Gagii.) IN ARABIA. 155 river Tigris had overflowed its bounds. The minis ter of Noushirwan, we are told, was endowed with the faculty of divination, and in the morning he compared his dream with the other events of the night, and was enabled to inform the terrified monarch that some new and unexpected danger was impending from the quar ter in which Arabia lay. The king immediately con ferred with Al Noman, the king of Hirah, by whose advice he deputed Abdo'l-Masihun, an Arab of the tribe of Ghassan, to make strict inquiries throughout the peninsula.3 Such were the events which, ac cording to the Arabian writers, preceded the coming of their prophet. But part of the Persian palace might have fallen, or the sacred fires might have been unexpectedly extinguished, had Muhammed never been born. Prom his birth to his fortieth year, Muhammed is said to have been educated, and to have lived, in the sinful and idolatrous manners of his fellow- countrymen.4 Part of the intervening period he is reported to have spent in Syria, but in what manner may be considered as somewhat uncertain.5 His 3 Abulfeda, de Vit. Moham. ibid. Abu Abdallah, p. 25. Gagnier, Vie de Mahomet, tom. i. p. 79. * Maracci, Prodrom. pp. 10, 16. » The oriental accounts of his mercantile life, and his expe ditions to Bostra and Damascus, are very little to be depended upon. I am not aware of one contemporary or nearly contem porary writer who mentions them, and if known to the Christian writers, they would certainly have taken advantage of them in their controversial writings. Michael Pebure, in his Teatro della 156 EARLY CHRISTIANITY usurpation of the title of a prophet of God was doubtlessly a plot which had been maturely formed, and his expectations of its ultimate success were en tirely grounded on the political state of the age. He had watched with no eye of unconcern the two great rival empires tearing each other to pieces, and he had ventured from the first to promise his fol lowers the plunder of the treasures of Khosroes and of Caesar.1 He saw how readily the Arabs of the north embraced the new faith of the Christians, and he doubted not that a new religion, formed agreeable to their character, and seconded by the pretence of s divine mission, would be equally successful among the Arabs of the interior. His first attempts, which were made on his own family and relations, were enforced by dint of persuasion and deception. When, however, he began to make public his pretensions, he met with greater opposition than perhaps he had ex pected ; the Koreish were bigotted to their old idola- Turchia, says that Muhammed was a soldier in the army of Heraclius, and that he had deserted, and afterwards, with the assistance of Sergius, had raised a rebellion in Arabia. It would be curious to know what was his authority. If such had been the case, Muhammed would not fail to conceal it, and in the state in which Arabia was, few or none would be likely to know whether in Syria he had acted the part of a soldier or a merchant. See Maracci, p. 36. 1 Afterwards, in expressing their discontent, some of his fol lowers complained — " promittebat nobis Mohammed fore, ut Kesrae et Caesaris thesauros devoraremus." Abulfeda Vit Moham. p. 76. IN ARABIA. 157 trous creed, and the Christians and Jews would do all in their power to set their minds against him. His persuasions were treated with contempt, his threats were resented with violence, and his followers were obliged to seek refuge from persecution in Ethi opia, and himself, with some of his most faithful partisans, at the city of Yatreb or Medina.2 In his prophetic character, Muhammed had hitherto affected to profess the meek humility of that Jesus, whose ministry he pretended that he was come to supersede, aud declared that it was not the will of God that his worship should be propagated by force.3 But change of power brought with it change of principles. He had now gained a band of followers, and became in every sense a robber, a bandit, an enemy of all around him; a year or two brought about another change, and he became a conqueror. To recount the predatory ex ploits of the prophet and his followers against the various tribes around Medina, would but be wearisome to the reader :4 within eight years after his flight, Muhammed was solemnising the festival of the Ramadhan at Koda'id, on his way to the conquest of Mecca.5 The Koreish were terror-struck at his 2 Abulfeda, de Vit. Moham, c. xi. p. 23, Ac. 3 Koran, Sura 2. 4 The exploits of Muhammed from the hegira, or flight, to the conquest of Mecca, are given compendiously by Gibbon, and in detail by Gagnier and Abulfeda. 5 G-agnier, Vie de Mahomet, tom. ii. p. 114. Koda'id is de- 15S EARLY CHRISTIANITY unexpected approach, and the city was quickly de livered into his hands. Muhammed was sensible that by acquiring pos session of the sacred city he had not secured the affections of the Koreish ; but by an affected show of clemency he hoped to banish hatred and dis trust from their minds. The keys of the Kaaba were delivered to him by Otham ; but he returned them to their former possessor, who either won by his clemency, or awed by his sword, embraced the faith of the conqueror.1 Khalid was severely re primanded for permitting the slaughter of eight and twenty of the Koreish, and a general pardon was extended to the whole tribe, with the exception of six men and four women, who had been noto rious for their hatred to the doctrines and person of the prophet. The penitence, however, or rather the riches and influence, of Hobar ibn al Aswad, who had been his personal enemy, procured his pardon, and he was informed that Islamism had the power of effacing and abolishing all past offences.2 A mongst the Celtic inhabitants of ancient Britain, the bards had a predominating influence over the mind of the prince and his warriors, and it is pretended that they roused the resentment of the English king Edward, as being the greatest obstacle to his conquests. A si milar influence was enjoyed by the poets of the turbu- scribed by Al Edrisi, as a place between Medina and Mecca, seventy miles from the latter, and five from the sea. 1 Gagnier, tom. ii. p. 131. a Id. ib. IN ARABIA. 159 lent tribes of Arabia, and several, who had drawn on themselves the wrath of the conqueror by the bit terness of their invectives ag-ainst him, were included among the number of the proscribed.3 The poet Achsa had made verses in honour of Muhammed, and was once on his way to visit him, but the Koreish, fearing lest his verses might encourage the Arabs to fight in the cause of their enemy, pre vailed on him to return.4 Chofah ibn Nadijah, another poet of celebrity, was slain in the war be tween Muhammed and his native tribe.5 Caab ben Zohair, as well as his father Zohair, were among the most celebrated of the Arabian bards, and belonged to the family of Kais Ghilan, of the tribe of the Masenites. His grandfather, uncle, and many of his kinsmen, had also excelled in the same art.6 Mu hammed considered that the same talents which had been exerted against him, might be equally efficacious when employed in his service ; their conversion pro cured them a share in the pardon/ and the clemency of the prophet was rewarded with a poem by Caab composed in his praise.8 This piece of flattery ap pears to have had its desired effect, and the son of 3 Gagnier, tom. ii. p. 207. 4 Pundgruben des Orients, band v. pp. 3, 4. 5 Basmussen, Hist. Praecip. Arab. regn. p. 93. 5 Preytag, prologus in Carmen Caabi ben Sohair, p. xii. xiii. 7 Gagnier, tom. Hi. p. 207. B The original Arabic of this poem, with a Latin version, has been edited in 4to. by Preytag, under the title of Caabi ben Sohair carmen in laudem Mohammedis diet, cum carm. Motenabbi et carmine ex Hamasa. Hal. 1823. 160 EARLY CHRISTIANITY Zohair was rewarded by the gift of Muhammed's own cloak.1 The poets Amru'1-Kais2 and Lebid were also amongst the enemies of the new religion, but the latter changed his opinions on reading one of the chapters of the Koran which had been sus pended on the walls of the Kaaba, and Muhammed gloried in his conversion.3 His example was fol lowed among others by the poet Alhothaijah, who afterwards deserted and relapsed into his former opinions.4 The year which made Muhammed master of Mecca, may be considered as that which established the religion of Islam, and the empire of the Sara cens. The greater part of the Arabian tribes had been expecting in silence the issue of the contest ; the possession of the Kaaba had made the Koreish the most powerful of the independent tribes, and their fall was speedily followed by the subjugation of the rest. Embassies and deputations crowded from all quarters seeking the protection and favour of the victor, and the Giadamites, and some few others, were solitary instances of opposition.5 1 Caab filius Zoheir, cui, quamvis sibi infesto, ob elegantissi- mum epigramma iu laudem suam conscriptum, lacernam pro- priam donavit. Maracci, Vit. Moham. p. 28. 3 Amru'1-Kais wrote satires against Mohammed. D'Her belot, BibHotheque Orientale, in Ainru'l-Kais. 3 Peiper, Dissertat. de Moallaka Lebidi, p. 13. ? Preytag, prolog, in carmen Caabi ben Sohair, p. xiv. 5 Al Bochanu, ap. Gagnier, not. in Abulfed. p. HI. Gag nier, Vie de Moham. tom. ii. p. 154. IN ARABIA. 161 When we contemplate with impartiality the cha racter of Muhammed, we must be convinced that he was a man of superior natural abilities to most of his contemporary countrymen. The influence, how ever, which he obtained over his disciples, was in most cases the effect ofthe lowest species of cunning, work ing on an ignorant class of people. His enterprise was begun and carried through under the pompous title of a divine mission, and its authority was sup ported by documents which he asserted to have been an immediate communication of the Deity, and which his own affected ignorance of writing and reading satisfied them were not his own. These documents collected together formed the Koran, that mass of wild and unmeaning matter, which has been received so devoutly by his followers.6 6 Vix diei potest, quid determinate contineat Alcoranus : est enim misceUa et farrago innumerarum rerum. Maracci, p. 34. The German translator of Mosheim, J. A. Christoph von Einem, imagined that the work which now bears this name is not the real Koran of Mohammed. Das Buch, welches von den Mahumedaner der Koran genennt wird, bestehet aus verschie- denen Papieren und Beden, die Man nach seinem Tode gefun- den und gesammlet hat, und ist nicht das achte Gesetz, dessen VortreflichkeitMuhammed selbst so sehr erhebt. Veilleicht heset Man einige Stukke des wahren Korans in dem heutigen Koran : dass aber der eigenthche Koran, oder das von Muhammed den Arabern vorgeschriebene Gesetz, von Muhammed selbst in unserm Koran auf seinen wahren Koran sich beruft, und ihn lobt . Ein Buch, welches in einem andern Buche empfohlen und gelobt wird, das muss von dem Buche, in welchem es gelobt wird, unterschieden sein. (not. in Mosheim, band iii. pp. 22J , 292.) M 162 EARLY CHRISTIANITY If we consult the opinions of the Moslem on the subject of the Koran, we shall find them as unintel ligible and incoherent as the work itself. One tells us that it contains sixty thousand miracles j1 another that it is itself a miracle greater even than that of raising the dead to life ;2 and all true believers were compelled to acknowledge that it was uncreate, and had been in existence long before the creation of the world.3 When we turn to the Christian writers, we find many of their opinions equally inconsistent, and scarcely more satisfactory ;4 but presuming on this reputed ignorance of the impostor, they have generally agreed in assig-ning to him at least an as sistant in its composition. Muhammed himself com plains that on their first publication, some had attri buted his Korans to human authority, and even intimates that a stranger was the object of their suspicions, and the argument by which he repels the But H. von Einem does not appear to have considered that each Sura was originally a separate Koran, and therefore that one Koran might without impropriety be mentioned and extolled in another. 1 Al Janabi, ap. Maracci, Vit. Moham. p. 43. 2 Ahmed ibn Abdolhalim, ibid. 3 Maracci, p. 44. 4 Maracci piously thinks that it may be the production of the devil, who appeared to Muhammed in the shape of an angel. Est enim locutio Alcoranica valde similis HH qua utuntur dcemones Hi energumenis, vel arreptitiis, vel quando se ab ho minibus audiri sinunt. (p. 41). Maracci lived in a superstitious age, and we. must pardon his want of judgment, and excuse his credulity. IN ARABIA. 163 charge is calculated to convince no one but a Mus sulman.5 The generality of the Arabian commen tators are agreed that the person suspected was a Greek, or at least, a Christian.6 That others were concerned in his plans, and assisted him perhaps by publishing his miracles, we may easil}' believe ; but the legends of Bohira, or Sergius, are obscure, ab surd, and therefore improbable.7 5 " We know indeed that they already say — truly a man teacheth him : but the language of him whom they suspect is a barbarous language, and this is pure Arabic ..Jou <>^--" Koran, Sur. 16. § K)S" 6 Maracci, p. 37. 7 On Muhammed's first journey to Bostra, they tell us, a cer tain learned monk, caUed Bohira, or Sergius, or according to others, Caab, met him, and declared that he was destined by God to be his prophet, that he had read prophecies of him in the evangelists and in the prophets, and that he had a book, which was written in the time of Christ, and which related en tirely to Muhammed, and contained his whole history. Maracci, p. 13. The words of the Koran afford indisputable testimony that some one was suspected of assisting Muhammed, and that he was a stranger ; by comparing this with the legends of BohHa, I think it not improbable that some such Christian was an accomphce with him, and that he was employed in spreading reports of his sanctity, and in publishing false prophecies of his mission. The Arabic and Christian legends may be consulted in Maracci, pp. 35, 36 ; Gagnier, tom. i. p. 79 ; Abulpharagius, in the Arabic edition of Pococke, p. 162 ; Sale, Preliminary Discourse, § 2 ; Prideaux, who supposes him to have been a Jew. Euthymius says that the doctrines of Muhammed were composed ofthe dogmata of the Nestorians, Arians, and Jews. Maome- thica, pp. 537, 552, in the Bibliotheca Veterum Patrum, tom. xH. M 2 164 EARLY CHRISTIANITY The Arabian writers have improved upon the asserted ignorance of Muhammed ; and it has be come a fundamental principle of belief that he could neither read nor write a single letter.1 This, com bined with the pure and elegant language in which they agree that the Koran is not only unequalled, but that it is utterly impossible to equal it, is one of their great arguments for its divine extraction. But those who have most obstinately defended the ignorance of Muhammed, contrasted with the ele gance of the Koran, with a view of depriving him of the credit of its composition, have not contem plated the state of literature in Arabia at the time of his appearance, or considered what might, under his peculiar circumstances, bear such a denomina tion. The time of his birth was the golden age of Arabian literature, for it was during the reign of Amru ben Hind at Hirah, who was contemporary with the greatest of the Arabian poets.2 Under the despotic government of the khalifs the Arabs might be more celebrated for their learning, for their skill in astrology, in grammar, in geography, or in the more abstruse science of geometry and numbers, but taste and purity of language belonged only to 1 Chardin, Voyages en Perse, tom. iv. p. 33. A Persian poet cited by d' Herbelot in Mohammed, speaking of the prophet, says — "Mon bien-aime n'a jamais ete a l'ecole et n'a jamais sgu ecrire une seule Hgne, et eependant H s?ait resoudre, d'un seul clin d'eeil, toutes les plus grandes difficultes." p. 649, • Maracci, Vit. Muham. p. 10. IN ARABIA. 165 their free ancestors of the ages which preceded the reign of Islam. As the writers of the age of fallen Greece employed their talents in writing scholia on the pure writers of past times, so the learned Sara cens could only recite and explain the works of the illiterate writers who preceded them, without possess ing the power to imitate them. The poets of Arabia, like the bards of the west, were not shackled by minute and crippling rules of composition, their works were the spontaneous productions of their imagination, and perhaps they might disdain the servile task of perpetuating their effusions by the use of writing-. At least we may suppose that skill in writing was no proof of a liberal education, as among their descendants it has generally been the business of more servile minds.3 The genius of Muhammed might equal that of any of his con temporaries,4 and it would be quite sufficient to produce the Koran, although he were unable to write at all. The poet Lebid, the last ofthe seven authors ofthe Moallakat, pretended to be converted to the religion 3 An illustration of this may be found in the travels of D'Arvieux in Arabia. 1 Muhammed war ein Genie, er fuhlte das Schone, doch mis- gliickte ihm aus grosser Unkunde das Nachamen, und nur von selbst brachen bisweilen durch seine ungelehrte Erziehung eigenthumliche Punchen des Schonen hervor. MichaeHs, Be- view of Boysen's Koran, in the Orientahsche Bibliothek, band viii. p. 75. 166 EARLY CHRISTIANITY of Muhammed, by reading a single passage out of the second Sura of the Koran. He had suspended his own poem in the Kaaba to challenge competition ; on his return he found the passage from the Koran which Muhammed had placed by the side of it ; he read it, instantly withdrew his own, and declared that no one was able to write such elegant language without divine inspiration. The passage is still ex tant, and is considered one of the most beautiful in the Koran, but it does not answer the expectations which we mig-ht be led to form, and speaks less to the credit of Muhammed, than it evinces the bad taste of Lebid.1 The language of these vaunted revelations is not more calculated to strike with con viction than the matter they contain. Had the people been more civilized, the clumsiness of Muham- med's miracles must in themselves have frustrated his purposes. But the monks, who in this kind of argu ment were not inferior to himself, had paved the way, the angel Gabriel most providentially forbade discussion or controversy, and the swords of his associates effected the rest. He knew that his re ligion was weak in spiritual strength, and he called upon his people to defend it with the streng'th of their arms. i The language of the Koran, and the history of Lebid, is discussed at length by Michaelis, in the Yorrede to his German edition of the Arabic Grammar of Erpenius. IN ARABIA. 167 There were three classes of people in Arabia whom it was Muhammed's wish to conciliate,— the Ko reish and other tribes who were idolaters — the Christians— and the Jews.2 The conversion of the Koreish was always the first object of his desire. The possession of the Kaaba would give him an in fluence over that vast number of pilgrims who yearly repaired to it ; he changed indeed the name but not the form of their rites, and the idolatrous worshippers of its idols continued to encompass it with their steps in the name of the prophet.3 When he en tered Mecca as a conqueror, he gave immediate orders for the destruction of its idols, but he ap peased their exasperated adorers by his extravagant tales of the sanctity of their abode. He declared to them that the place was the immediate choice of God ;4 that the same day in which the Almighty had created the heaven and the earth, he had 2 " Truly, those who beHeve, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabasans, whoever will believe in God and in the last day, and shaU act uprightly ; they shall have their reward with their God, neither shaU they fear, or be sad." Sur. ii. § 61. 3 Maracci, p. 27. In Chardin's time the number of pilgrims who visited Mecca every year was estimated at 900,000. Voyage en Perse, tom. iv. p. 16S. Warner pretended that the Koreish had abstained from idolatry from the time of Abraham to that of Muhammed, and that they worshipped one God. Vertot, discours sur l'Alcoran, in his Histoire des Chevaliers de Malte, tom. i. p. 557. 4 Koran, Sur. ii. § 126 ; iii. § 90. 168 EARLY CHRISTIANITY established Mecca to be an inviolable sanctuary and asylum -,1 in the time of Adam the spot was occu pied by a tent sent down from heaven to serve as a place for man to render worship to his Creator, and to solicit the forgiveness of his sins, and the holy tent was often visited by Adam and Seth, till the latter built over it a temple of stone for the use of his posterity ; this temple having been overthrown by the deluge, was rebuilt by Abraham and his son Ismael.2 The Arabians had been long famed among profane and ecclesiastical writers for the worship of a stone ;8 it was this stone, placed in the most holy spot of the Kaaba, that attracted the homage of so many thousands ; Muhammed encouraged the con tinuance of the same adoration, and declared that this holy stone came out of paradise, and was brought from heaven by Gabriel, who gave it to Abraham ; the Christians, with more truth, declared it to be an 1 Gagnier, tom. ii. p. 136. 2 Herbelot, v. Caaba. The temple of the Kaaba is evidently referred to by Diodorus Siculus, who says that between the country of the Thamudites and the Sabaeans iepov ayiwrarov ISpvrat TtpojfiEvov vito wavTiav Apafiwv TTEpiTTOTEpov. Hb. Hi. p. 2. 3 Apapto i aEpovai pEV, ovriva Se ovk oiSa' to Se ayaXpa b EiSov, XiBog nv TETpaywrog. Max. Tyr. Dissert, viu. § 8. naAcu pEv ot 2iKv8ai, Ttjv aKivaKtjV ol Apaj^Eg, tov XiBoV ot JlEpaai, tov irorapov npoaEKvvovv. Clem. Alex. Protrept. p. 29. Arnobius caUs it informem lapidem, lib. vi. Suidas describes the Arabian deity — to Se ayaXpa XiBog eart peXag, TErpaywvog, aTVKtvrog, tnpog 7roSwv S' Evpvg Svo, cwaKEn ai Se etti (laaeuig xPucrri^JXTOU' Suidas ill &evaaptjg. IN ARABIA. 169 ancient idol, the personification of Venus ;5 the same charge was alleged by the Carmathians, who carried it away among the plunder of Mecca during the khalifate of Mocktader,6 and it has been again re newed by the Wahabites of the present day.7 Thus the religion of Muhammed was established without altering the form of that which had preceded it, the worship of the Pagan Arabs was permitted to pro ceed in its usual course, the Koreish were still allowed the possession of the house of God, and continued to reap the same profit as usual from the devotees who came to visit the Kaaba, and drink of the sacred well of Zemzem, to which their devotion was increased by 5 Atari E-xavo) avrovataoE rtf Ayap b Afipap' aXXoi Se, ort irpoaE- SnaEV avro) rtjv KapvXov, peXXojv Bvaai tov laaaK. — 6 Se pnBEtg XiBog, KE(j>aXri rng ApoSiTne eariv, f/v iraXai irpoaEKvvovv of lapatj- Xirai. — ipEpEi yap ptXP1 Kal vvv r0'£ aKpifiwg KaraaKOirovaiv ek yXvtfiiSog airorviruiaiv KEipaXng. Euthymius Zingabenus, p. 14, ed. Sylburg. 6 Les Carmathes, apres avoir pille la Mecque sous le khalifat de Moctader, enleverent cette pierre, qu'Hs disaient, avec assez de vraisemblance, etre un ancien idole : on voulut leur donner cinq mHle dinars d'or pour la racheter : mais ils les refuserent, et la retinrent pendant 22 ans, a scavoir, depuis l'an 317 de I'Hegire, jusqu' au 339, qu'ils la rapporterent a, Coufah, sous le khalifat de Mothi. D'Herbelot in Hagiar Alassouad. 1 " The Wahabees have asserted that the veneration paid to the black stone was idolatrous ; and disapproved of the cere monies practised by the pilgrims at the stone of Abraham, which is placed near the well of Zemzem, and supposed to have on it the mark ofthe patriarch's foot, formed whfie he stood there to build the Caaba." Lord Valentia's Travels, vol. ii. p. 389. 170 EARLY CHRISTIANITY the assurance that it was the identical spring which had been produced by God to allay the thirst of Hagar and Ismael.1 The memory of those who had constructed the fiery pits into which were thrown the Christians of Nadjran, was marked with detes tation,8 but the recent glory of his tribe was sancti fied by divine revelation, and it was declared that God himself, by his miraculous interposition, had punished the impiety of Abrahah, who had dared to violate the sanctity of a place which had been made holy by the presence of the patriarchs.3 The new re ligion was suited to the inclinations of those for whom it was made, for it allowed and even encouraged their predatory habits, and flattered their lusts.4 1 tJV J^. Pu^ews Zemzem. Dicitur hic a Deo productus, ut Hagar et Ismael sitim suam levarent. Beland de Belig. Moham. p. 121. * " Accursed were the contrivers of the pit of fire supplied with fuel, when they sat round the same, and were witnesses of what they did against the true believers ; and they afflicted them for no other reason, but because they believed Hi the mighty, the glorious God, unto whom belongeth the kingdom of heaven and earth." Koran, Sur. lxxxv. Sur. xv. p. 501. Sale's Vers. * The Mussulmans boast that at Muhammed's birth, angels were heard in the clouds, singing — Induite Hlum stola Adam, et sublimitate Noe, et scientia Abraham, et lingua Ismael, et pulchritudine Joseph, et patientia Jacob, et voce David, et castitaie Johannis, et honorificentia Jesu, et fortitudine Moysi &c. Maracci, p. 11. "When the Arabian ladies complained that Muhammed had not left them a corner of paradise, he readily answered — qu'elles ressusciteraient toutes a l'age de quinze ans IN ARABIA. 171 At first Muhammed affected to shew great favour towards the Christians. His nurse was an Ethio pian slave,5 and in his own country, as well as during his stay in Syria, he must have had numerous oppor tunities of learning the corrupted doctrines of Chris tianity then professed in those parts, and the charac ters of their professors. " Tell them," he said to Omar, " that their souls are as our souls, their riches as our riches, and that we rejoice at their prosperity, and grieve for their misfortunes, as we do for our own. He who oppresses a Christian shall have him for an accuser at the day of judgment. He who injures a Christian injures me."6 He saw with what ease every new sectary obtained a party amongst them, and it was his object to gain one to support himself. He accused them of a blind and improper submis sion to their monks and priests,7 whilst he wished to reduce them to a still more blind subjection to himself. He acknowledged the Gospel history, and the books et avec une beaute parfaite ; ce qui consola et rejouit les vielles et les laides. Vertot, Discours sur 1' Alcoran. Conf. Hottinger, Hist. Orient, hb. ii. c. 4. The liberty, however, which was aUowed Hi regard to women does not appear to have always been approved — Quatre choses, mon frere, observes a Mahome dan doctor, sont pleines de dangers, evite les avec som: la faveur des princes, la societe des mechans, 1' amour du monde, et le commerce desfemmes. Pend !N"ameh, in the Pundgruben des Orients, band ii. p. 20. 6 Her name was Omm Ai'man. Abulfed. Vit. Moham. p. 2. 6 Elmacin, Hist. Saracen, lib.i. p. 11. 7 Sale, note in Koran, Sur. iii. p. 41. 4to. edit. 172 EARLY CHRISTIANITY ofthe Old Testament, he even made the history, sanc tity, and miracles of Jesus a fundamental part of his belief,1 and on the conversion of a Jew he was com pelled first to acknowledge the Redeemer,2 and to ] The foUowing is an epitome of the Mohammedan history of Christ, given by Leland (de Belig. Moham. p. 42) from the Taarich — "Isa (Jesus — ^f*^) was the son of Mary (*}./*), who was the daughter of Imram of the chUdren of Israel ((_jo (JjJLwl) : and he was a legate sent from the high God, who sent to him from heaven the book of tbe Gospel. He was also a lawgiver, and called men to the worship of God : and when the Jews endeavoured to MU him, he was carried away to heaven." See Petri Abbatis Epist. in Bibhander, tom. i. pp. 2, 3. PiKapSov avaaKEvn rng Kara tov Karaparov MaxovpsB, in the same collection, tom. ii. p. 124, 125. In the tract on the Mohammedan religion, edited by Beland, p. 20, is the following account of the canonical books which were acknowledged to have descended from heaven: — "These books are Hi number one hundred and four, of which the high God sent ten to Adam, fifty to Seth, thHty to Idrisi (Enoch), ten to Abraham, one to Moses, which is the Pentateuch (h jjl) — rmn), one to Isa (Jesus), which is the Gospel ({Jj.s'iSl — tuayytXeai'), one to David, which is the book of Psalms, and one to Muhammed, which is the Koran." In this enumeration he adopted the opinions of the old Sabians, who pretended to possess the books of Adam, Seth, Enoch and Abraham, of the Jews, and of the Christians. He pretended that Hi his ascent to heaven he saw Yahia (^j^- John) and Isa (^wx Jesus) Hi the second heaven. Abulfed. Vit. Moham. p. 35. 2 Et si quis Judaeus fieri vult Mahumetista, cogitur prius credere Christo : cui talis fuit interrogatio : credisne Christum fuisse flatu dei ex virgine natum, et ultimum prophetam He- braeorum ? Quo concesso, fit Mahumetanus. Mart. Alph. Vi- valdus, in not. ad Petri de la CevaUeria, Zelum Christi. IN ARABIA. 173 believe in his miraculous birth. But he said they had lost or altered the true Gospel, and accused them of having corrupted its doctrines by their dissensions and divisions.3 He told them that he was come direct from God for the purpose of composing their dissensions, and to lead them in the right way, that he had existed before the existence of the world, which was made for him,4 artfully applying to him self the prophecies of former ages.5 With these professions, he invited the Christians to join his standard,6 and declared his willingness to embrace 3 Koran, Sur. v. p. 84. Sale. * Chardin, tom. iv. pp. 34, 35. — " L'Ulustre apotre des croyans est le prince du monde present et du monde futur, il est le sceau des envoyes du Tres-Haut, le dernier dans l'ordre des temps, U est la gloire de tous les prophetes qui l'ont precede. Pend-Nameh, translated in the Pundgruben des Orients, band ii. p. 15. " Comment a-t-U pu eprouver le besoin de quelqu'- une des creatures, ce Prophete pour qui seul runivers a ete tire de neant, Mohammed, le maitre de l'un et de l'autre monde, des genies et des hommes, des Arabes et des Barbares!" Arab poet cited by the translator. 5 Maracci, Prodrom. p. 15. The Muhammedans said that there was a passage in the Testament, where Eiwovrog tovto tov Xpiarov rotg lovSaioig, ort EvayyEXifapai vpiv, tva ytvuaKnTE, on pET epE pEXXei eXBeiv b airoaroXog Kai irpotp-nTrig : to avTo sari yEypappEvov Kai ev tu) tov Mwitewc iraXaiu) — but that the Chris tians had erased these passages from all the copies out of envy. Johan. Catacuzen, Kara tov Mojaped, airoXoyta TETaprr], p. 55. ed. BasU. See d'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orient, in Mohammed. p. 650. 6 Koran, Sur. v. § 15. Sur. lxi. 174 EARLY CHRISTIANITY them. The wild professions and doctrines of Manes and Mazdak had found numbers to embrace them, and they were less rational even than those of Mu hammed. The Jews were, perhaps, least, inclined to embrace the proposals of the impostor, yet his followers were allied to them by similarity of customs and tradi tions ; and, when they were included among-st the number of those who were invited to repentance, many, believing- Muhammed to be the promised Mes siah, were induced to join him.1 1 Anastasius, Hist. Eccl. p. 103 ; Theophanes, p. 276 ; Enustinus Hi Genealog. Mahom. p. 10 ; and Abbas Urspergensis in Chronico, p. 150, ap. Bayle, art. Moham. [CO.] IN ARABIA. 175 SECTION XIV. The invasion and conquest of Hamyar by the Persians, afforded a pretext for continuing the wars between the king and the Romans ; the latter complained of the hostility of the Persians towards their ally the king of Ethiopia, and the Persians easily found causes for complaints in return.2 In the beginning of the reign of Maurice this war was not ended,3 and the Saracens still attended the Bo man army for the purpose of reconnoitring the enemy, and making incursions into his territories ;* but they began to be the subject of great distrust, on account of their inconstancy and faithlessness.5 A continued peace lasted during the reign of Khos roes Parviz, who, on the usurpation of Baharam, had been escorted through the desert by the Arab chiefs 6 to the territory of Rome, and had recovered the throne of his ancestors by the assistance of 2 Theophylact. Symocafcta, Hist. lib. Hi. c. 9. 3 Theophylact. lib. i. cc. 9, 12, 13, et seq. lib. ii. e. 1, &c. * Id. lib. ii. c. 10. 5 AirtaTOrarov yap Kai aXXoTrpoaaXXov ro 'ZapaKnviKov cpvXov KaBEartiKE, nayiov te tov vow Kai rnv yvojpvv irpog to aoi(j>pov ISpvpEvrjv ovk exov. Theophylact. lib. iii. c. 17. 6 Nikbi ben Massoud, in the Notices et Extraits de la Biblio- theque du Boi, tom. ii. p. 354, et seq. 176 EARLY CHRISTIANITY Maurice,1 although the friendly understanding be tween the two empires had been nearly broken by the predatory incursions of the Roman Arabs into the territory of Babylon.2 Hostilities, however, commenced after the death of Maurice, and in the Persian war, which lasted from this period till the victories of Heraclius, the Roman and Persian Saracens make again a considerable figure. 3 Till after the conquest of Mecca, the progress of Muhammed had been unobserved by, perhaps un known to, the great powers around. The victorious army of Noushirwan was overrunning the richest tracts of Syria, and was only separated from the capital ofthe Caesars by the breadth ofthe Helles pont ; but the coffers of Persia were emptied and its best blood wasted in a continuance of desperate efforts, and it would require no very prophetic spirit to foresee that their conquests must soon be aban doned. After having at Mecca given a death-blow to the 1 Theophylact. lib. Hi. cc. 6 — 18. Hb. iv. cc. 1 — 16. lib. v. cc. 1 — 15. gives the history of Persia during the reign of Maurice ; as also Evagrius, Hb. vi. c. 16. 2 Theophylact. lib. viii. c. 1. 3 George of Pisidia mentions the hostUe Arabians in Hera- chus' expedition: — Tlaptiv rig apxt(j>vXog EvroXpov yevovg, To SapaKwvwv raypa tujv iroXvrpixw Ayoiv aw avrut, Kai wEpiaKOTrhiv, oiroig AaBwv etceXBoi tio arparu) aoV irpog fiXafiriv. De Expedit. Heracl. Acroas. ii. v. 217. IN ARABIA. 17? power of his idolatrous opponents, Muhammed began to make advances towards the subversion of Chris tianity. The chief of the Taiites was a Christian named Adi ; his subjects, we are told, were idolaters, and he was obliged to seek refuge in Syria from the arms of the prophet ; but his wife and fa mily fell into the hands of the victor, and he was compelled to redeem them by his apostacy.4 The Christian inhabitants of Dumato'l-Gjaudal, a town on the frontiers of Syria, five days from Damascus, and fifteen or sixteen from Medina,5 were induced by the persuasions of Abdo'l-Rahman to accept the faith of Islam, and the daughter of their prince, who was a Calbite and named Ashas, was be trothed to their converter.6 But their conversion was perhaps insincere, for after the battle of Muta Muhammed was obliged to confirm them by force in their new religion ;7 and at the same time the church of the tribe of Ganam, whose crime, accord ing to the Arabian writers, was that of hypocrisy, wras levelled with the ground.8 But the conquests of Muhammed only extended as yet over the north ern districts of Arabia, while the whole of Yaman was subject to Badhan, the Persian viceroy. ' Gagnier, Vie de Mahom. tom. H. p. 211. 5 Soad al Yemenista, ap. Gagn. not. in Abulfed. p. 125. Al Edrisi makes it four stations from Timal. 6 Gagnier, tom. i. pp. 431, 432. 7 Gagnier, tom. H. p. 225. Abulfeda de Vit. Moham. p. 125. 8 Gagnier, tom. H. p. 229. N 178 EARLY CHRISTIANITY From Medina Muhammed had directed letters to the sovereigns of the various kingdoms around, to invite them to embrace the new religion, and among the rest to the king of Persia.1 The Khosroes treated his proposals with contempt, and dispatched an order to the governor of Hangar to send him either the head or the body of the impostor. But Muhammed was safe amongst his followers from the distant threats of his enemies ; Badhan, perhaps, was little inclined to perform the commands of his master, and the dominions of the great king were devoted to future division and destruction by the malediction of the prophet.2 The latter part of the reign of Khosroes Parviz was clouded by his crimes and his imprudence ; he became hateful to his sub jects ; they revolted against him, confined him in a subterraneous apartment where he had kept his treasures, and raised his son Shoru'ia or Siroes to the throne, who commenced his reign by the murder of his fathers Muhammed, who had been early informed of this event by his emissaries, before it could have reached the peninsula, pretended to have received the news by supernatural means the same moment in which it occurred, and immediately sent an account of it to the governor of Yaman, who, con- 1 Gagnier, tom. H. p. 30. Abulfed. p. 97. 2 Gagnier, ibid. 3 Mirkhond, ap. Gagn. p. 32. Nikbi ben Massoud, in the Notices et Extraits de la Bibl. du Boi, gives the history of the death of Parviz and his successors, tom. ii. pp. 358— 364. IN ARABIA i 179 vinced by this pretended miracle, perhaps before determined in his mind, deserted the service of Per sia, accepted the proffered grace, and became the con vert and subject of the ruler of Mecca, and brought with him the greater part of the people of Yaman.4 The power of the prophet was increased by the con version of the mondar of Hirah, who also deserted the Khosroes, and afterwards distinguished himself by his bravery in the cause of Islam against the Per sians. About the same time he was joined, though reluctantly, by Howadah ibn Ali, the Christian king of Yemama.5 The dissensions among the Christians greatly assisted the designs of their enemies. The greater part of the Arabs had been separated from the Roman interest by the persecution of their Monophy site pastors. The faith of Heraclius leaned towards his Jacobite subjects, and he was accused of being a Monothelite,6 and of having drawn upon himself the judgment of heaven for his heretical opinions ;7 yet most of them preferred seeking protection from the new power which had risen in Arabia, to being 4 Gagn. p. 34. Abulfeda, pp."93, 94, 5 Abulfeda, pp. 96, 97. 6 Zonaras, p. 85. tom. ii. Paris ed. 7 Per id tempus Cyrus Alexandrinus episcopus et Sergius Coiistantmopolitanus patriarcha Monothehtarum hseresin prss- dicabant, &c. Unde divino judicio Agareni, qui et Saraceni dicuntur, Hummaro duce, coeperunt lacerare. Chronica Sarace- norum, in Bibliander, tom. ii. p. I. N 2 180 EARLY CHRISTIANITY exposed to the implacable resentment of their enemies, under the precarious protection of the court of By zantium. In Egypt the two parties were powerful ; the Melchites1 possessed the capital, and the Copts, or Egyptian Jacobites, waged a continual but use less war from the cloisters of the Thebaid. Mu hammed was perhaps well aware of the state of affairs in Egypt ; at least, his invitation was directed to the Coptic primate, and not to the orthodox ruler of Alexandria. If the Egyptian Christians were unwilling to change their faith, they were not un willing to change masters, and they expected to profit by the change. The messenger of the pro phet was honourably entertained, and returned with four valuable gems, two virgins, of whom one named Mary was the mother of his son Ibrahim, a mule named Daldal, and an ass whose name was Ya'fur, as presents to his master.2 Muhammed well knew the 1 Prom continual usage the name of Melchites seems to have been applied to all who were of the party of the emperor, and a principle of the Jacobite faith seems to have been indiscrimi nate opposition. The difference Hi reHgious opinions between the two sects appears to have become very trifling, and to have consisted chiefly in terms and modes of expression. Amongst the principal charges against them urged by the Nestorians were, that their priests approached the altar barefooted — that they did not always receive the communion fasting — that they had many pictures in theH churches— and, which was worst of aU, that they placed pictures of Christ and the Virgin in their baths and other unclean places. Asseman, Bibl. Orient, tom. iii. p. 305. 5 Abulfeda, Vit. Muham. p. 97. Gagnier, tom. ii. p. 37. IN ARABIA. . 181 importance of this alliance ; and, as he might already contemplate the future conquest of Egypt, the Copts were allowed to continue in their faith ; they pur chased the protection of the Arabians by a trifling tribute,3 and the prophet was heard to express his benevolent regard for the Copts of Egypt.4 The Monophysites of Arabia and Syria were no less ready to change their masters than the Copts. Many of them sought refuge from their Catholic persecutors in the camp of the Moslem, and their bishops and priests went to negotiate an alliance and a tribute.5 Seid, the Christian prince of Nadjran, with the patriarch Jesujabus, procured by their valuable gifts a favourable audience of Muhammed himself; they demanded a written document of al liance between the Christians and the Arabs who had embraced the predatory faith of Islam, and the diploma of the prophet stipulated that his subjects should defend them from their enemies ; that they should never be compelled to go to fight, or to change their religion ; that their priests should be free of tribute, and that that of the laity should be confined within moderate bounds ;fi that the Christians should 3 Gagnier and Abulfeda, ibid. Makrizi, Hist. Copt. p. 89. 4 Dixit quoque : Benefacite Coptitis iEgypti : sunt enim vobis genere et affinitate juncti. Elmacin. Hist. Sarac. p. 11. Christiano Coptita? qui nocet, mihi nocet. Abudacnus, Hist- Copt, praefat. s Asseman. tom. i. p. 494. 0 A laicis vero pauperibus nummos quatuor, a divitibus num- mos duodecim dumtaxat. 182 EARLY CHRISTIANITY be allowed to repair their churches, and that Christian slaves mig-ht serve among the Arabians without changing their faith.1 Similar diplomas are said to have been granted by some of the earlier khalifs to different societies of Christians, perhaps under the guidance of a similar policy.2 The influence of these lenient measures was quickly perceived in the Roman territories. A lieutenant of Syria is recorded to have deserted the service of Heraclius for the reli gion of the Koran.3 The invitation of Muhammed to the king of Ghassan, Hareth ibn Abu-Shamar, had been treated with coldness and neglect,4 but a similar message to Gabala, the last of the Syro- Arabian princes, who was residing at Tadmor, was followed by his conversion, and he continued a strict Mussulman till the khalifate of Omar, when he was accused of resenting with violence an insult which he had received from a Fazarite, whilst he was re ligiously performing the circuit of the Kaaba. The affair was brought before the khalif, the Arab bore the marks of his injuries, and the offender was con demned to punishment according to the laws of talion? or publicly to beg the pardon of the man ? Asseman. tom. H. p. 418. Maracci, Vit, Moham. p. 28. An Arabic tract is stUl extant, bearing the title of a copy of this diplopia, and has been published in several editions, but its authenticity has been much disputed. 2 Asseman. tom. Hi. pars 2. p. xcv. 3 Gagnier, tom. H. p. 252. < Abulfed. p. 96. Gagn. p. 41. 5 Mnlius, de Mohammedismo ante Mohammed, p. 9, has IN ARABIA. 183 whom he had injured. The king of Ghassan was unwilling to submit to either ; he fled to Constantino ple, again turned Christian, and remained so to the end of his days. " May God," says the Moslem historian, " preserve us from so great a misfortune, and from a crime so enormous."6 The Arabians boast that the embassy of Muham med was received with favour by Heraclius, who was then at Emessa, or Hems, on his return from his Persian expedition; they even assert that in secret he had embraced the faith of the prophet.7 The Christian writers assure us that the emperor was personally visited by Muhammed, and that he granted him a district of land on the borders of Syria.8 This parade of his peaceful intentions was not, however, long kept up. The murder of the Muhammedan ambassador to the governor of Bostra by Sherheil al Mutar, a Christian chief of the dis trict of Balka, afforded a plausible pretext for hos tilities. Three thousand Moslems invaded the Syrian territories of Rome to revenge the insult, and ad- shewn that Muhammed transmitted to his posterity the same identical laws and modes of administration of justice as were in use among the pagan Arabs. See also the authorities he cites. The lex talionis is one instance. 5 Al Jannabi, ap. Gagn. tom. H. p. 71. Basmussen, Hist. Prsecep. Arab. Begn. p. 46. Eichhorn, Monument. Antiq. Arab. p. 170. 7 Gagnier, pp. 34, 36. 8 Euthymius, p. 552 (in the Bib. Vet. Patr.). Zonaras, torn. H. p. 86. 184 EARLY CHRISTIANITY vanced to Muta, in the domain of Balka ; the Romau army which opposed them was composed chiefly of Arabs.1 The battle of Muta was obstinately disputed, and three of Muhammed's favourite generals fell, but the faithful believers were led back in safety to Yatreb, by Khaled, the future conqueror of Syria.2 The hostile intentions of Muhammed towards the Greeks were now nolong-er disg-uised; it was reported that the emperor was preparing to stop the career of the impostor, and the latter, immediately after the conquest of Mecca, publicly declared war against the empire of Mourn, and collected an army for the invasion of Sj'ria. He proceeded as far as Tabuc, on the road to Damascus, but the perils of the expedition and the discontent of his followers obliged him to retreat, and he declared himself satisfied of the peaceable intentions of his enemies.3 But the failure of his Syrian expedition was com pensated by the reduction of the territory on the Euphrates, and the kingdom of Hirah fell finally beneath the sword of Khaled Ebno'l Walid.4 The impostor was now less scrupulous towards the Chris tians ; another revelation urged the making war on » Abulfeda, p. 101. 2 Abulfeda, p. 100. Gagnier, tom. H. pp. 327, 431. The Greek writers who mention the battle of Muta, caU the castle he went against Movxew, the battle that of Mo&ovg. Theo phanes, Chronograph, p. 278. 3 Abulfeda, p. 123. * Pococke, Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 75. Theophanes, p. 279. IN ARABIA. 185 all unbelievers, and, though his projects were frus trated by his death, his last command was the invasion of Syria, and the revenge of his generals who fell at Muta.4 The Syrian provinces had been but lately ravaged by the arms of the Persians, and were in no condition to make a powerful resistance.5 Within a few years after the death of the prophet, the cres cent had spread its baleful influence over Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia, and Egypt. With the death of Muhammed the last sparks of Christianity in Arabia were extinguished. The professions of Abubeker, were marked by a spirit of moderation,6 but he was surrounded by men whose only virtues were ferocious bravery and an unrelenting hatred to the enemies of their religion. The treatment of the conquered infidels accorded but Gagnier, tom. ii. p. 27. The Greek account of the war which followed, may be consulted in Theophanes, &c. The Arabian account, in Elmacin. 5 Cooperabant sane ad eorum propositum, quod paucis ante annis prsdictus Cosdroe eandem Syriam violenter ingressus, urbes dejecerat, vel incenderat, suburbanasque ecclesias subver- tens, populum captivaverat : et urbe sancta effracta, hostUiter in ea triginta sex civium millia gladio perimens, crucem domi nicam, et loci ejusdem episcopum Zachariam, cum residuo populi tam urbis quam regionis universal secum transtulit Hi Persidem. Ingressi igitur Arabes, terram habitatoribus reperientes vacuam, majorem subjiciendi eam sibi repererunt opportunita- tem. Gulielmus Tyrius, lib. i. c. 2. Basil, ed. 4 See the instructions of Abubeker to his generals as given by Gibbon. 186 EARLY CHRISTIANITY little with those which, from such professions, we might be led to expect. The Christians of Jerusa lem were subjected to a heavy tribute, and to such galling conditions as were calculated to give a tole rable foretaste of what might follow.1 The treat- i The foUowing are the conditions of the capture of Jerusa lem by Omar. " That the Christians should build no new churches, either Hi the city or the adjacent territory, either by night or day. That they should set openjthe doors of them to aU passengers and travellers. If any Mussulman should be upon a journey, they should be obliged to entertain him gratis the space of three days. That they should not teach their chUdren the Alcoran, nor talk openly of theH reHgion, nor persuade any one to be of it : neither should they hinder any of their rela tions from becoming Mahometans, if they had an inchnation to it. That they should pay respect to the Mussulmans, and rise up to them if they have a mmd to sit down. That they should not go like the Mussulmans in theH dress ; nor wear such caps, shoes, nor turbants, nor part their hair as they do, nor speak after tbe same manner, nor be caUed by the same names used by the Mussulmans. Neither should they ride upon saddles, nor bear any sort of arms, nor use tbe Arabic tongue Hi the in scriptions of their seals ; nor seU any wine. That they should be obliged to keep to the same sort of habit wheresoever they went, and always wear girdles upon their waists. That they should set no crosses upon theH churches, nor shew their crosses nor theH books openly Hi the streets of the Mussulmans. That they should not ring, but only toll theH beUs. Nor take any servant that had once belonged to the Mussulmans. Neither should they overlook them Hi their houses. Some say, that Omar com manded the inhabitants of Jerusalem to have the fore parts of theH heads shaven, and obliged them to ride upon the pannels sideways, and not hke the Mussulmans." Ockley, Hist, of the Saracens, vol. i. p. 257, IN ARABIA. 187 ment of the Christians of Egypt was not less rig-orous.2 Whether any Christians were left in the peninsula of Arabia at the death of Muhammed may be reasonably doubted. His dying injunction was that his native country might be inhabited solely by be lievers, and it was rigorously enforced in the khali- fate of Omar, who is said to have banished from Arabia the Jews who were left at Chaibar.3 Yet we read of a bishop of Yaman and Sanaa in Arabia, who must have flourished during the eighth cen tury/ and of a priest of Yaman at the commence ment of the tenth.5 Empires and kingdoms, like men, have their diseases and failings, their periods of health, of de cline, and recovery ; and the page of history is in tended to expose their vices, and by comparison to shew their remedies. If the fall of empires is de- 2 Por the persecution of the Christians Hi Egypt, see Taky- eddin Makrizi, in Sacy's Chrestomath. Arabe. On the bar barous conduct of the Moslem towards the Christians Hi Spain, &c. see the authors in the twelfth vol. of the Bibliotheca Vet. Patrum. 3 Elmacin, p. 9. Gagnier, tom. ii. p. 285. * Petrus ejusdem discipulus, quum ego Mar Abraham a secretis essem, adhuc superstes, Jamans et Sanaa in Arabia episcopa- tum obtinebat. Thomse Hist. Monast. ap. Asseman, tom. Hi. p. 488. Thomas flourished at tbe beginning of the ninth cen tury. According to Asseman, Timotheus, who ordained Peter, was bishop of Seleucia from 714 to 728. 5 Johannes V. Isaa fihus an. 901 ad Hasanum Jaman® pres- byterum epistolam dedit, &c. Asseman, tom. in. p. 249. 188 EARLY CHRISTIANITY termined and hastened by an over-ruling Providence, it is when their diseases are become incurable, and con sequently when the only mode of permanently bet tering mankind must be by their entire destruction. The infidel will boast exultingly that Christianity brought on the world the barbarism, ignorance, and in tolerance which marked the latter days of the empire of Rome, and that the religion of Islam is as equally marked by the stamp of miraculous success and divine authority as that of Christ. But his boasting rests on the misrepresentation of what he is himself either unable or unwilling to understand. The spirit of Christianity was a spirit of peace, not of barbarism but of civilization. Ignorance was produced by war and conquest. With the rise of the Roman power, the fate of literature was decided, although various causes delayed for a time its final fall. The Romans were a people whose genius was formed for war and not for civilization. When the world was conquered, and none other remained accessible to their arms, they gave themselves up not to literature but to luxury, and their patronage of learning was but a spirit of emulation. Christianity was propagated in peace, but it became in its progress mixed and tainted with the manners and sentiments of the va rious people who received it. Persecution, perhaps, is one of the surest schools of tyranny and intole rance ; the disciples of the Gospel underwent a long and arduous preparation in it, and when at length they obtained possession of the reins of power, we see that it had not been without effect. IN ARABIA. 189 A slight concurrence of circumstances ensured the success of Mohammedanism, and a. still slio-hter might have destroyed it at its first appearance. If its progress from obscurity be a proof of its truth, the rise of Rome proved the truth of its idolatry. The empires of Rome and Persia have passed away, the power of the Saracens has fallen before the same causes, and that which succeeded it is quickly fol lowing, but Christianity has arisen superior to every obstacle, and is now spread over countries unknown to Christians of former days. The name of Hamyar has sunk into oblivion, but the native songs of Ethiopia still celebrate the memory of Elesbaan the conqueror of Yaman, and of Arethas the pious martyr of Nadjran.1 1 See Ludolf, Hist. JEthiop. lib. H. c. 4. APPENDIX. (A) referred to at page 13. History of the tribes of Tasm and Hodaisah, from Ecche1- lensis, Hist. Orient, e. 1. " AHae duaa Tasmitarum et Hodaisitarum numero et poten tia non minus celebres erant. IUi nomen et originem a Tasmo filio Ludi, filH Aram, fUH Sem, filii Noe. Utrisque ex Tasmi tarum gente dudum regnarunt reges usque ad Amlukum, sub quo simultatibus et beUis extincti sunt. Causa tantorum malo- rum ab authoribus ita narratur. Dederat Masecus nobUis vir ex Hodaisitarum genere uxori nomine Hozaitas repudii libellum, qua? a domo UHus egressa, unicum quem ab ipso susceperat fiHum secum abduxit : maritus iUe invita et reluctante eiim reducere conabatur. Bes tandem ad Amlukum regem delata est, qui, cum eos minime conciliare potuisset, puerum neutri parentum tradendum pronunciavit, sed suorum servorum albo adscribendum accensendumque esse. Mater amissi nati dolore vix consolabih commotus, his versibus, quos, ubi gentium re- periebatur, accinebat, regis judicium et iniquitatem carpebat atque discindebat : — Begi adfuimus Tasmitarum, ut sequum, At pro nefas ! tyrannide justitiam commutans Hozaitam delusit : Sed quod sequum judicium reddere valet, qui judicio caret ? Sapientia qui penitus est destitutus, insipienter semper agit. Ah mater incipiens ! ab insipiente sapientiam quseris ? Ah imprudens mater ! nullus nunc poenitendi relinquitur locus. Haec percipiens rex maximo percitus est furore et ira, statim- que lata lege sanxit, ut nuUa puella ex Hodaisitis ad maritum APPENDIX. 191 deduceretur, antequam ab iUo deflorata fuerit. Salacissimi regis hsec lex perduravit, et executioni mandata est, usque ad Scia- musse cognomento HofaHas filise Habadi Hodaisitarum nobi- hssimi matrhnonium, quae susb sgtatis puellarum formosissima erat. Hsbc namque, cum ad Amlukum regem deduceretur suorum constipata turba, nuUumque evadendi videret locum, suas ita deplorabat vices. Heu ! trahor ad improbum meis etiam deducentibus, Nee miserse virgini uUus evadendi relinquitur locus ? Cumque sequente die dimissa fuerit proprio sanguine turpissi- mum Hi modum inquinata, suorum ignaviam ignominiamque shnul his versibus exagitare coepit. Hodaisitis quis vUior Hi toto reperitur orbe? Ita eum vestra virgine, o viri, coram etiam agitur ? Quis, prseter vos, ingenuus aequo animo id patitur ? Unus dotem dat, alius eorum carpit florem ? Nonne prsestat ejusmodi viro miUies oppetere mortem, Quam suam tam improbo prostituere sponsam ? Quas, cum suos stimulo honoris incitari et concitari animad- vertisset, hos alios addit versus provocans eos ad vindictam sumendam de tam sceleratissimo tyranno. Ad prostibulum vestras trahi patimini vHgines, Cum viri sitis, et quidem ingenui, ac innumeri ? Proh nefas ! HofaHa suo ita turpiter sanguine innatat ? Sane, si viri essemus, vos vero coHs, fusisque armati, Nequaquam tantum ferremus, ut vos, sequo animo flagitium. Quare pro honore aut oppetite mortem, aut perimite hostem, Ignemque beUi stimuli honoris accendite lignis ; Sin minus, patriae vale dicitote, loca deserta petentes, Ibique supremum cum gloria, virvagite diem. Qusa audiens Alasuad ejus pater, qui maxima? authoritatis inter Hodaisitas erat, supra quam diei potest indignatur stimuloque pungitur honoris, et Hodaisitarum coUectis ducibus ait : Quous- que fortissimi vHorum tanta torpebimus ignavia ? Quousque 192 APPENDIX. Arabum nobihssimi tantam ignominiae feremus notam ? Agite, agite igitur, arma capiamus, ac pro tot tamque horrendis sceleribus sumamus tandem vindictam, et sanguine ipso perac- tam abluamus maculam : luat salacissimus demum promeritam suorum criminum poenam. His dictis auditisque, somnum, qui tam alto profundoque illorum corda et animos occupaverat, excutiunt duces, et hortanti respondent r Tuisjussibus obsequi, et sequi exemplum, prsesto sumus omnes : at numero, potentia, et armorum supellectUe Tasmitis longissime sumus impares, ut nee te fugit. Quibus Ule : Ingenionumerus, potentia, et armo rum supeUex supplendse sunt ; sequimini mea consiha, victoria certa erit. Cui, age, inquiunt. Cum itaque omnium vota sibi obstrinxisset, et firmasset praestito juramento, sequente die tanquam sororis nuptias celebraturus, maximum regi ac Tas mitis instruxit convivium Hi amplissima quadam planitie, in qua Hodaisitse ex ejus jussu sub arma sua absconderunt arma, ad quod rex Hbenter ac lsstissimus properat, HofaHse adhuc captus incensusque amore. Prater autem ejus Alasuad, ubi hostes vino madidos et obrutos videt, suis dat signum, qui statim captis armis improviso in hostem inermem, et nihil tale suspicantem, irruunt, et omnes ad ultimum pene trucidarunt. Unus ex tanta clade Ulius famiha? evasit Baba fihus Marse, qui ad Hasa- num ArabisB fehcis regem confugiens auxUia ab iUo obtinuit, demumque post multa commissa prselia cecidit ipse Baba, et Hodaisitae extincti sunt ad ultimum, quibuscum utriusque gentis deletum est genus, unde Baieditce alhs Arabibus dicti sunt, nempe deleti et extincti." (B) referred to at page 39. Arabian accounts of the origin of Dzu Nowass' enmity to the Christians, from d'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale. " Abu-Nauas. H regnoit dans l'lemen ou Arabie heureuse, avant le temps de Mahomet, et etoit grand ennemi des Cretiens dont le nombre s'etoit fort multiplie dans ses etats. Houssain- APPENDIX. 193 Vaez sur le chapitre 85 de 1' Alcoran intitule Sourat-al-bourouge, des signes du Zodiaque, ou U est parle des Ashab-al-okhdoud, c'est-a-dHe de ceux qui avoient prepare des fosses pleines de feu, rapporte 1'histoHe suivante, qui est fort avantageuse aux Chretiens. II dit done qu' Abou-Nauas, roi idolatre, et fort a- donne a la magie, avoit aupres de lui un celebre magicien, que Ton regardoit comme son premier ministre, et lequelle en cette qualitc gouvernait avec une authorite presque absolue ses etats. Cet homme se voyant fort avance en age, dit au roi que le grand nombre de ses annees le rendant de jour a autre moins propre a, son service, il le prioit de lui donner quelque jeune homme bien ne, et qui fut capable d'apprendre tout ce qu'U lui enseig- neroit touchant son art, afin qu' apres 1'avoH bien instruit, U put lui rendre apres sa mort les memes services qu'il avait tache de lui rendre pendant sa vie. Le roi agrea cette proposition, et lui donna un de ses propres enfans a instruire. Le jeune prince doiie de beaucoup d'esprit, profitaitf tons les jours de plus en plus en l'ecole de ce vieiUard, et allait de tems en tems a, la campagne pour y pratiquer ce que son maitre lui avait appris. Un jour qu'U s'et'oit un peu ecarte du chemin, U trouvaUans un Heu fort retire1 un hermite Chretien, auquel U demanda quelle £toit la forme de vie qu'U menait dans ce . desert. Cet hermite en satisfaisant sa curiosity sur ce point, prit occasion de l'in- struire de la connoisance du vrai Dieu qu'U servait, et de l'a- veuglement de ceux qui n'adorant que des idoles, ou plutot des demons, abusaient par leurs enchantements la plus grande partie des Arabes. Le prince prit gout a ce qu'U entendait, et trouva la vie que menait cet Hermite si agreable, qu'U resolut de.l'imiter, de se soiimettre a sa conduite, et de se ranger sous son obei's? sance, pour etre pleinement instruit de la connoissance et du culte du soverain maitre dont il lui parloit. " H quitta done son magicien et s'attacha si bien a son nouveau maitre, qu'il fit en peu de tems de tres- grands progrez dans la vie spHitueUe. Dieu l'eclaira de ses plus pures lumieres, et le favorisa meme du don des miracles qui le desabuserent bien-t6t des faux artifices et des prestiges de la magie. Un jour qu'il O 194 APPENDIX. fut oblige de quitter son desert pour aUer a la ville, il trouva sur sa route un serpent d'une enorme grosseur, lequeUe avoit tellement effraye' tout le pays cHconvoisin, qu'aucun n'osait se hasarder de passer par cet endroit : U invoqua aussi tot le nom de Dieu createur du ciel et de la terre, et arme de la seule confi- ance qu'U avait en lui, il s'approcha de ce monstre, et lui com- manda de quitter ce lieu la, et de retourner dans celui d'ou il etoit sorti. Ce monstre obei't promptement, et tous ceux qui furent presens a. cette action, admHerent la puissance du Dieu qu'U avait invoque. II fit encore la meme chose a, 1'egard d'un Hon qui traversait son chemin, car s'approchant de lui il lui mit la mam. sur le col, et le caressa comme il aurait fait un agneau. Le bruit de ces miracles se repandit en peu de tems dans le pays, et chacun etait persuade que le Dieu qu'U adorait ne refusait rien a ses prieres. En effet un des principaux seig neurs de la cour, qu' avait perdu la v(ie, vint a lui pour la recouvrer, et le jeune prince lui dit que s'U voulait suivre la Ioi qu'U lui enseigneroit, et promettre de lui garder le secret, Dieu par sa toute-puissance lui rendrait infaiUiblement la vue. Ce seigneur n'eut pas grand peine a le lui promettre, et il fut in continent eclaHe' : mais il alia d'abord se presenter au roi, lequel lui ayant demande comment il avait recouvre l'usage de la vfle, Dieu tout-puissant, lui repondit-il, me l'a rendu par sa grace. Alors Abou-Nauas voulut savoir de lui qui etait ce Dieu, et il lui repliqua : C'est le seul et unique Dieu qui n'a point de semblable. Abou-Nauas, qui etait fort attache au culte de ses faux dieux, usa d'artifice pour apprendre de lui qui etait le maitre de cette nouvelle doctrine, et pour cet effet il lui dit : Je voudrais etre instruit, aussi-bien que vous, de cette divinite pour y croire ; et ce seigneur qui etait deja anime d'un grand zele, et desUoit extremement d'attirer le roi a la connoissance duvrai Dieu,ne manqua pas de lui decouvrir aussi-tot le docteur qui la lui avait enseignee, et apres s'etre informe exactement de tous ce qu'U croyait et enseignait aux autres, fit tous ses efforts pour le fair renoncer a cette creance : mais comme il s'appercut que ni les promesses ni les menaces n'etoient pas APPENDIX. 195 capables d'ebranler sa foi, il commanda qu'on le menat bien avant en haute mer, pour le fair perH ; mais U arriva que ceux qui la conduiserent furent tous submergez, et qu'U se sauva lui- seul. " Le roi fort irrite commanda derechef qu'on le jettat dans une fosse pleine de feu : mais le feu s'elevant au dessus de la fosse, brula tous les executeurs de cet sentence injuste, sans que ce jeune Chretien en fut endommage. Ou l'attacha en- suite a. un arbe, et on fit decocher contre lui miUe traits, dont aucun ne l'offensa ; et ce fut alors que cet invincible martyr dit au roi : Croyez en ce Dieu qui fait paroitre tant de prodiges a, vos yeux, c'est lui qui a, cree toutes choses, et qui en est par consequent le maitre absolu: mais le rois s'endurcissant de plus en plus dans son incredulite, lui dit : Je ne veux autre chose, sinon de vous 6ter la vie. Le Chretien alprs lui repartit ; Si vous voulez exeeuter ce dessem, tirez contre moi une fleche en disant ces paroles : Au nom du Dieu en qui tu crois, et vou verrez 1' effet qu'eUe produira. Le roi executa ce qu'U lui dit, et du seul coup U mit a, mort ce genereux martyr. Tous ceux qui assisterent a ce combat glorieux firent profession pubhque de la foi que le martyr leur avait annoncee, et remporterent une victoire signalee contre ce tyran, lequel irrite par leur Constance, les fit jettre tous dans des fosses qu'il fit creuser et remplir de feu dans la montagne voisine, et c'est de ces fosses ardentes, ou fournaises, que le nom de Ashab-al-okdoud est demeure a, ces peuples. — Houssain-Vaez. "H-y-a cependant d' autres historiens qui rapportent dif- feremment 1'histoHe des fosses pleines de feu dont U est parle dans l'Alcoran. Ils disent qu' Abou-Nauas s'etant un jour enyvre, coucha avec sa propre sceur, et qu'aussi-tot qu'il fut retourne en son premier etat, il lui dit : Que ferons-nous pour nous garantH de la honte qui nous couvrira aussi-tot que ce que c'est passe entre nous sera divulgue f Sa sceur lui dit : Je ne scai point de meiUeur expedient que celui-ci : Paites publier une Ioi par laquelle il sera permis a chacun d'epouser sa propre sceur ; car apres que cette Ioi aura ete re^ue et pratiquee par 190 APPENDIX. vos sujets, on ne s'etonnera point si vous m'epousez ; etlorsque Ton aura oublie ce qui s'est passe, vous en pourrez faH pubher une autre qui aboUra la premiere, et vous remettrez ausi les choses au meme etat qu'eUes sont a. present. " Le roi trouva ce eonseU fort bon, et s'en voulut servir : mais aussi-t6t que la Ioi qui permettoit aux freres et aux sceurs de se marier ensemble eut ete publiee, les peuples, et particuliere- ment les Chretiens qui etaient pour lors en tres-grand nombre dans l'Arabie, s'y opposerent si fortement, que le roi ne peut jamais le faH passer, nonobstant toutes les menaces et toutes les peines qu'il fit souffrir aus desobeissants. Mais enfin cette resistance si generale aUuma sa colere a, un teUe point, qu'U fit creuser plusieurs puits qu'U remplit de feu ou U commanda que Ton jettat tous ceux qui ne se rendaient pas a ses volontes. —Thiraz al-mankousch." GENEEAL INDEX. Page Abdolmotalleb Ibn Ilasjemi 98, 152 Page Cyril of Alexandria . . 109 Abrahah, king of Hamyar . 90 Dioscorus, patriarch of Alexan Abubeker . 185 dria . 112 Abyssinia . 40 Dzu Nowass, king . 53 Abyssinian Christians . 126 Dzu Nowass, history of . 192 Achsa, the poet . 159 Egypt .... . 44 Africa invaded . 16 Elesbaan, Christian king of Amru, the poet . 140 Abyssinia . . . 51 Arabians called Indians . . 29 Esimiphaeus . 61 Arabia, geography of . 1 Ephesus, Council of . 114 Arabian literature, the g olden Ethiopia .... . 40 age of . . . . 164 Eusebius of Dorylaeum . 113 Architecture . 9 Eutyches, a byzant. archiman Aryat of Abyssinia, his ej cpedi- drite . 110 tion to A rabia . 59 Flavian, primate of Constanti Ascha, the poet . 141 nople . . 112 Auxuma, city . . 43 Frumentius, apostle . 29 Bab el Mandoub . . 57 Gardafui, Cape . 58 Balkis or Sheba . . 17 Ghassan, kings of . 67 Baradseus, a Syrian monk . 125 Gregentius, St., Bishop of Taphar 92 Bartholomseus, apostle . 28 Hamyar, king of . 9 Becrites, an Arab tribe . 139 Hamyar, of Yaman . . 15 Caab ben Zohair, a bard . 159 Hamyarites, religion of . 7 Caabah, Mecca . 23 Hareth, the warrior . 16 Cabatanon . 10 Hareth, king of the Arabs . 101 Cassanitse . 10 Hareth, king of Ghassan . . 131 China, invaded 20,21 Herban, a Jewish Rabbi . 92 China, its silk trade . 86 Hieroglyphics . . 44 Chorasm . . 19 Hirah, kings of 63,68 Christ, controversy about no Hodais, tribe of . 190 Christ, worship of . . 54 Icthyophagi . 12 Cilab, battle of . 38 Immortality, believed in . 8 Copts of Egypt . . 181 Indians, Arabs called so . 29 Council of Chalcedon . 116 Islamism, its power . . 158 Council of Constantinople . 113 Jacobite sect . > . 124 198 GENEEAL INDEX. Jacobus Baradaeus . Jerusalem, capture of Jews in Arabia Jews of Yatreb Page . 125 . 186 . 92 . 23 Justinian, the Roman Emperor 86 Kaaba, temple of Mecca . . 95 Kahtan 14 Khaled, the warrior . . .184 Khaulan, district of . ., .10 Khosroes Parviz, king of Persia 178 Kobad, king of Persia . 85,102 Koloe, town .. . . .48 Koran, its power . . .160 Koran, its composition . .161 Koreish, tribe of . 14, 97, 160 Koreish, their victory over Abra hah 99 Lebid, Arabian poet . .107 Leo, the Roman pontiff . .114 Maadites .... .38 Mariaba, city . . . 9, 12 Mary, tbe holy virgin . .111 Mazdak, the prophet . .101 Mecca, the pilgrimages to . 167 Melchite sect . . . .123 Mesopotamia, invasion of . .85 Mena, valley of . . .95 Minsei, prov. Hedjaz . . 9 Moallacat, Arabic poems . . 1C6 Mondar, Arabian chief . .134 Monks, the zeal of Eastern .116 Monophysite sect . . .119 Muhammed, birth of . .152 Muhammed, prophetic career . 157 Muhammed and the Christians . 171 Naaman, Arabian chief . . 78 Nabataei, people, of Petra . . 9 Nadjran, siege of . .52 Page Nestorius, the doctrines of . 109 Noman abu Kabus . . .142 Nonnosus, his embassy to Arabia 87 Noushirwan, king of Persia 105, 148 Ocelis, port of . . . .10 Omar, khalif . . . .187 Omar's laws for the Christians . 186 Petra, city of . . . .64 Poetry in Arabia . . .107 Rei, a town in Persia . .104 Saba, city of . . . .12 Sabsea, merchants of . . 4 Sabota, city of . . . .9 Sanaa, city of . . . .9 Sanaa, Christian church at .95 Saracens, name of . . .75 Scenite Arabs . . . .66 Seif Dzu Jezen, an Arab chief . 147 Severus, a Syrian bishop . .121 Shahpoor, king of Persia . . 69 Shamar, king . . . .18 Shamarchand, city of . .19 Simeon Stylites, an Arabian monk . . . . 77, 82 Sogd, land of . . . .19 Syria ... . . .64 Syria, the Persian invasion of . 85 Taglabites, Arabs of Ghassan . 138 Tuprobana, or Ceylon . . 47 Tasm, tribe of . . . .190 Theophilus Indus . . .33 Yaman or Arabia ... 1 Yaman, its inhabitants . . 13 Yecsoum, king of Hamyar . 145 Zemzem, holy well of . .95 Zenobia . . . . .71 Zohair, an Arabian poet . .159 O. 'NOEMAN, PRINTER, MAIDEN LANE, COVENT GARDEN. B. QUAEITCH'S LIST OF BOOKS. VALUABLE MODERN WORKS AT MUCH REDUCED PRICES. Owen Jones's splendidly Illuminated and Illustrated Publications, ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE PALACE OP THE ALHAMBRA. This fine and superb work comprises the Plans, Elevations, Sections, and Details of the Alhambra, with a complete translation, by Pasqual de Gayangos, of the Arabic Inscriptions, and an Historical Notice of the Kings of Granada, from the Conquest of that City by the Arabs, to the Expulsion of the Moors ; from Drawings taken on the Spot, in the year 1834, by the late Jules Goury, and in 1834 and 1837, by Owen Jones, Architect, 2 vols, folio Columbia, with 1 00 superb plates, 67 op which abe magnificently executed in Gold and Colours, the remainder are elaborate Engravings in Outline, also many fine woodcuts in the text, (pub. at s624.) half bound in morocco, gilt tops, £12. 1842-45 the same, 2 vols, grand eagle folio, Large Paper, Proof Impressions on India Paper, op the 33 Plain Plates, and the 67 in Gold and Colours, executed with Greater caee, (pub. at ,£36. 10s) half bound in morocco, gilt edges, £'2Q. 1842-45 For practical purposes, to architects the small paper copies will suffice ; but a gentleman desirous of adding a noble hook in its finest appearance to his library, must have a Large Paper copy. " In spite of earthquakes, mines and counter-mines — spite of Spanish convicts, French soldiers, Spanish bigotry, and Flemish barbarism of thieves and gipseys, contrabandists and brigands, paupers, charcoal-burners and snow- gatherers, the Alhambra still exists — one of the most recent of European ruins. It is the most perfect in repair and the richest in design ; it has suffered less from man, or the elements, and has fallen more gently into decay. It was not molten like Nineveh in an hour, or buried in a day like Pompeii ; it was not smitten down at a blow, like Corinth, or sapped for centuries, like Athens. Though it has been alternately a barrack, a prison, a tea-garden, and an almshouse — though its harem has been a hen-house, its prisons pens for sheep ; the Alhambra is still one of the most wonder ful productions of Eastern splendour, lingering in Europe long after the Moslem waves have rolled hack again into Asia, like a golden cup dropped on the sand, or like the last tent of some dead Arab, still standing, when the rest of his tribe have long since taken up their spears, untethered their camels, and sought their new homes in the far desert." Shaw's Specimens of Ornamental Metal Work, 4to. 50 fine plates of most elaborate designs, peculiarly well adapted for practical purposes, (pub. at £2. 2s) hf. bd. 20* 1836 The three copies sold separately at Mr. Shaw's sale fetched 25s, 34s, 31a. A work of great utility for the Manufacturing Districts. B. Quaritch's List of Books, 1 6, Castle Street, Leicester Square. Retzsch's Shakspeare Gallery, gallery to shak- SPEARE'S DRAMATIC WORKS IN OUTLINE, invented and engraved by Moritz Retzsch, complete in 1 vol. imp. oblong 4to. 101 exquisitely engraved plates, with descriptions in English and German, (pub. sd. at £2. 2s) hf. bd. red morocco, gilt edges, £\ . 10* Leipz. 1847 The same, oblong 4to. whole bound red morocco extra, gilt edges, £2. 2s 1847 CONTENTS. Plates. Hamlet 17 Macbeth 12 Plates. Romeo and Juliet 12 King Lear 12 Plates, The Tempest 12 Othello 12 Plates. Merry Wives of Windsor 12 King Henry IV. 12 These fascinating plates are now offered to the public at the above much reduced price. For sweetness of design, truth of expression, and variety, the Outlines of Retzsch are unsurpassed, — they nobly represent the thoughts of the immortal Shakspeare. Heraldry. Montagu's guide to the study of he raldry, 4to. many curious woodcuts of Heraldic Insignia and Coats of Arms, (pub. at 18s) cloth, 5s 1840 " My intention here is chiefly to point out to those who may have time and inclination to take up the study of Heraldry, what authors they may consult with advantage, what authorities for tbe bearing of Arms may be relied upon, and what are the absurdities and errors which they must avoid. It is from the mass of absurdities which have been written upon Heraldry, that the science has been brought into such disrepute ; for, purified of these, heraldry may put forth as strong a claim to rank as a science, as any subject, if classification and system be criteria."— The Author. Richardson's English Dictionary; a new Dictionary of the English Language, 2 stout vols. 4to. treble columns, (pub. at £5. 5s) cloth, £3. 10s " 1844 This valuable Dictionary combines Explanation with Etymology, illustrated by quotations from the best Authorities. The words with those of the same family in German, Dutch, and Swedish, or in Italian, French and Spanish, are traced to their origin. The explanations are deduced from the primi tive Meaning through the various Usages. The Quotations are arranged chronologically from the earliest period to the beginning of the present century. The labour bestowed upon this book is truly enormous : to eveby English word are added the quotations from classical authors, either poetical, prose, theological, scientific, or as the case requires, thus teaching the practical use and the meaning of the words for the last 400 years. Upon the composition of this work the author has been employed for more than twenty years : and though the expense of publication has exceeded the sum of £6000, it is published at the moderate price of five guineas. The two volumes contain nearly 2300 pages of three columns each, closely yet clearly and beautifully printed. In this Dictionary equal care has been bestowed upon the Etymologies and Explanation ; and also upon the copious selection of quotations in illustration of both : — these are arranged in Chronological series from Wiclif and Chaucer to Burke and Cowper. " This is an elaborate work,. which indicates an extensive and laborious research into the early and almost forgotten productions of English Literature; and it is highly valuable and interesting to one who is desirous of studying the history of the English Language." — Worcester's English Diet. LXV. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, with an Essay on his Lan guage and Versification, an Introductory Discourse, Glossary, and Notes, by Tyrwhitt, with Memoir by Sir Harris Nicolas, 6 vols, crown 8vo. -portrait, (pub. at £3. 3s) cloth, 25s 1845 " In elocution and elegance, in harmony and perspicuity of versification, he surpasses his prede cessors in an infinite proportion ; his genius was universal, and adapted to themes of unbounded variety ; and his merit was not less in painting familiar manners with humour and propriety, than in movin°- the passions, and in representing the beautiful or grand objects of nature, with grace or sublimity." — Warton. B. Quaritch's List of Books, 1 G, Castle Street, Leicester Square. Polyglott Alphabets, alphabete orientalischer und Occidentalischer Sprachen, royal 8vo. containing 4 1 different Alphabets, on stout paper, with the pronunciation, very useful, 2s 6d Leipzig, 1853 Even the general reader will use this handsome collection of Alphabets with much advantage, as quotations from learned Oriental writers are frequently introduced in English Books, which by means of these Alphabets can be made readable. List op the Alphabets : — Persian Arrow-headed, Alphabetical Arrangement of the Oldest Writing (viz. Hieroglyphic, Hieratic, Demotic, Phenician, Hebrew, Aramean, Numidian, Greek, Italian, Palmyrean, Cufic), Hebrew, Rabbinical, German-Rabbinical, Samaritan, Hebrew Cursive, Syriac, Arabic, Turkish, Ethiopic and Amharic, Armenian, Sanscrit, Mantchu, Persian, Zend, Birman, Tibetan, Mongolian, Coptic, Greek, Romaic, Russian, Russian Cursive. Cyrillian, Wallachian, Runio, Gothic, Polish, Wendish, Bohemian, Hungarian, and the German Alphabet. China. CHINESE VASES : Thorns on Ancient Chinese Vases of the Shang Dynasty, from 1743-1496 B.C. royal 8vo. illustrated with 42 Chinese wood engravings, (pub. at 3s) sd. reduced to Is . 1851 The illustrations of the above-mentioned book, with their descriptions, have been taken from the Ancient Chinese work, entitled Po-koo-teo, which extends to sixteen large Chinese volumes, containing several hundred plates of Vases, Jugs, Bottles, Mirrors, etc. of the Shang, Chow, and Ban Dynasties, comprehending a period of 1784 years before Christ. Spiers' French Dictionary : Dictionnaire general Fran?ais- Anglais, nouvellement redige d' apres le Dictionnaires Francais de l'Academie, de Laveaux, de Boiste, de Bescherelle, etc. les Dictionnaires Anglais de Johnson, Webster, Richardson, 2 vols. 8,vo. both parts, fifth edition, sd. 14s Paris, 1853 Spiers' French Dictionary may emphatically be called " The MOST practical of all published." Talented linguists of France and England have combined in the task of producing, in a compact form, a Dictionary comprising all modern Terms, Scientific Words, Idioms, Phrases, and Difficulties, thus making it an eminently useful Book of Reference to English and French Students. Sismondi, Histoire des Francais, 31 vols. 8vo. original & best edition, complete, with Index, (pub. at^filO. 10s) sd. £7. Paris, 1821-44 The same, 3 1 vols. 8vo. calf gilt, £12. 182 1 -44 The same, 3 vols. 8vo. hf. bd. calf, £10. 1820-44 The best History of France is undoubtedly that of the learned Sismondi, who diligently studied all the Original Sources, and guided by a sound critical judgment, and by liberal political views, produced a work which supersedes all other rivals. Sismondi's style is noble and vivid : he gives life to every character he describes. Many pages of Sismondi illustrate English History, and of the French His torians he is the most honest and candid with regard to this country. Guizot recommends Sismondi's History of France as the best book of its kind. Illustrated German Songs: 200 Aite und Neue studenten- Soldaten-und Volks Lieder, square 12mo. with the Tunes, and with 200 bold and characteristic woodcuts, by Richter, Pocci, Jiirgens, etc. bds. 3s 6d Leipzig, 1853 Contents — 43 Nursery Rhymes,-' 63 Student's Songs; 31 Soldier's Songs; 64 Popular Songs. — A more amusing volume at such a low price has never been offered before for sale. Gentlemen who visited Germany will derive particular pleasure from this pretty book, as German Manners and Customs are popularly illustrated in these Songs. German School Dictionary, elwell's german DICTIONARY, German-English and English-German, 2 vols, in 1, stout 12mo. third edition, (pub. at 7s 6d) sewed, 3s 6d Braunschweig, 1853 The same, 12mo. new in roan, 5s 1853 Elwell's is a new and very complete German Dictionary; it comprises the New and Scientific Words. The Genitive and Plural of every Noun is given, a feature of importance for beginners in the study of the German language. B. Quaritch's List of Books, 1 6, Castle Street, Leicester Square. Hellenistic edition of the Greek Testament, H KAINH AIA6HKH. Ek rng IlaXatae. AtadrjKng Kara rovg TLfiSopnKovra SiEpptivEvopEvtj. Novum Testamentum Ge^ecum Emtio Hellenistica. Instruxit et edidit Edv. Gul. Grinfield, M.A. 2 vols.-8vo. pp. 1500. — Scholia Hellenistica in Novum Testamentum, Philone et Josepho Patribus Aposto- lieis aliisque Ecclesise Antiqupe Scriptoribus necnon Libris Apocryphis • maxime depromta. Instruxit atque ornavit Edv. Gul. Grinfield, M.A. 2 vols. 8vo. — together 4 vols. 8vo. (pub. at £3. 12s) cloth, £1. Is Pickering, 1843-47 ¦ The same, 4 vols, in 3, 8vo. antique calf extra, £2. 2s 1843-47 The same, 4 vols, in 3,8 vo. olive mor. extra, gilt edges, £2. 10s 1843-47 This edition is designed to show the close connexion of the Greek Testament with the Septuagint. It contains upwards of 30,000 doctrinal and grammatical illustrations, which are arranged respectively under each verse for the convenience of the Student and Divine. Hungarian. wekey's grammar of the Hungarian LANGUAGE, with appropriate Exercises, a copious Vocabulary, and Specimens of Poetry, Hungarian and English, by Sigismund Wekey, late Aide-de-Camp to Kossuth, Svo. (pub. at 5s) cloth, 2s 6c? . 1852 " Besides the peculiarity of uniting in itself the softness of the Italian, with a manly strength, and something of a warlike accent, the Hungarian Language, in respect to the derivation of words, offers to the philologist a most interesting field of study and. enquiry." — Preface. Italian Dictionary : BLANC'S New Pocket Dictionary of the Italian and English Languages, from Baretti, Bottarelli, Polidori, Petroni and Graglia, 2 vols, in 1, 24mo. new edition, carefully revised and enlarged, (pub. at 5s 6d) new in roan, for 3s 6d Paris, 1854' A compact and very complete little volume. Spanish Pocket Dictionary, blancs Dictionary of the Spanish and English Languages, with a great variety of Terms relating to the Arts, Sciences, Manufactures, Merchandise, Navigation and Trade, the two Alphabets in 1 stout vol. 18mo. 1418 pp. new in roan, 5s 1848 The cheapest and best Spanish Pocket-Dictionary, it contains about double the matter of the small •' Neuman and Baretti, published at 8s. Turkish. Barker's Turkish Grammar, Dia logues and Vocabulary, a practical Guide to the acquisition of the Turkish Lan guage, 1 vol. 12mo. 166 pp. cloth, 4s 1854* The same, 12mo. limp calf, 5s 1854 Great pains should be taken to forward a copy of this useful work to every Officer, and even to all non-commissioned officers of the Army and Navy in the East. The Grammar is short and practical, the Dialogues embrace all the most useful questions and likely answers. The Vocabulary contains about 1250 of the most useful words. The book has all the Oriental words both in the original Turkish and the pronunciation in roman letters. " A little book of the time, very opportune in its appearance. This book should be the companion of every Englishman on his way to Constantinople."— Atlieneeum,, June 10, 1854.