Letter to the Himyarites

Not to be confused with Book of the Himyarites.

The Letter to the Himyarites was composed by Jacob of Serugh and sent to the Christian community of Najran as they were persecuted by the Jewish monarch Dhu Nuwas (r. 517–530 AD), then-king of the Himyarite Kingdom. Some related compositions were produced during this time period, such as Simeon of Beth Arsham's Letter on the Himyarite Martyrs, although Jacob's letter was addressed directly to that community.[1][2]

Jacob's letter may be contextualized by the interest of the Miaphysite Church in the kingdoms of Pre-Islamic Arabia[3] and also reflects the wide and non-elite readership that his writings would sometimes draw.[4]

A Syriac edition of Jacob's letter was published by Gunnar Olinder in 1937.[5] The letter is itemized and sometimes referred to as Letter 18.[6]

  1. ^ Forness 2019, p. 115–131.
  2. ^ Durmaz 2022, p. 75.
  3. ^ Forness 2019, p. 123–125.
  4. ^ Forness 2019, p. 133.
  5. ^ Olinder, G. (1937). Iacobi Sarugensis epistulae quotquot supersunt. pp. 87–102.
  6. ^ Tannous 2020, p. 74–75.