Last updated: May 23rd, 2025 at 12:18 pm · Est. Reading Time: 2 minutes
Himyar were sedentary Arabs who ruled over Yemen in the 6th century.1 Yemen of the 6th century is sometimes referred to as the Himyar state.
Origin
Yemen (Al-Yemen يمن) in the Arabian Peninsula had developed states since ancient times.2 By the beginning of the 3rd century CE, Yemen had many small states. The rulers of one of them were the Himyar. They expanded their boundaries gradually, and by 240 CE, kings belonging to Himyar (Ḥimyar حِميَر) were masters of all Yemen, controlling the Red Sea as well as Gulf of Aden.
Seat of Governance
Initially, Himyar’s capital city was Zafar (Ẓafār ظفار), whose extensive ruins can still be seen near Yarim in modern Yemen.3 Later, they shifted their capital to Sana’a.
The Only Arab State
Arabs used to dwell all over Arabian Peninsula as well as its surrounding lands during late antiquity. However, Himyar’s Yemen was the only independent Arab state. Other Arabs lived either in Tribal Zone or under the control of non-Arab states.
Source of Income
The main source of income of the Himyar state was agriculture. Trade was not far behind, though. Himyar state was an important part of to West’s international trade
Decline and the End
Himyar state extended its influence all over Arabia in the middle of the 6th century CE. At that time, mutual feuds of the ruling elites made the country weak. After a gradual but steady decline, the country ceased to exist when Ethiopia captured Yemen in 525 CE.
Further Reading
https://historyofislam.org/pre-islamic-arab-politics
Endnotes
- Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, Ed. and Trans. Alfred Guillaume, ( Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2013), 14.
- Alesandro de Maigret. Arabia Felix. An Exploration of the Archaeological History of Yemen, trans. Rebecca Thompson. London: Stacey International, 2002.; J. F. Breton, Arabia Felix From the Time of the Queen of Sheba, Eighth Century B.C. To First Century A.D., trans. Albert LaFarge, (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Nortre Dame Press, 1998).
- Paul Alan Yule, Late Antique Arabia Ẓafār, Capital of Ḥimyar, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2013.; Paul Yule, Himyar Later Antique Yemen/Spatantike im Jemen. Aichwald: Linden Soft Verlag, 2007.