Minaean Kingdom (410 - 300 BCE & 190 - 50 BCE)

The Minaeans were the inhabitants of a string of city-states that developed in the highlands adjacent to the southern and western fringes of the Sayhad Desert (ca. 900-600 BCE), under the dominion of the Sabaean hegemony. These city-states (Qarnaw, Haramum/Haram, Kaminahu, Nashq, Najran, Baraqish/Barakish, Nashan, and Inabbah) were part of the same cultural-linguistic sphere as the Sabaeans and Qatabanians—the Minaean language was essentially a regional variation of the language used by the Sabaeans (an Hamitic language), and they worshipped many of the same gods (Wadd, Nakrah, and Athtar being the most prominent). Although the Sabaean city-states were ethno-cultural satellites of Saba, and they usually acted as middlemen in the early caravan trade that developed between Saba, the Dedanites of northern Arabia, and the Semitic peoples of the Levant, they grew increasingly independent (ca. 700-685 BCE). The Minaeans established close diplomatic ties with the Dedanites of northern Arabia and were allowed to establish a number of outposts and colonies on the Plain of Tihama and in the Hijaz (at that time, the Dedanites controlled the Hijaz and the northern quarter of Tihama). Their growing power and independence, however, sometimes led to conflict with the Sabaeans, eventually leading to the conquest of the Minaean city-states by Karibil the Great (ca. 685-675 BCE) of Saba (he made Baraqish the symbolic capital of the league of Minaean city-states under Sabaean hegemony, re-naming it Yathill/Aythel). Although there were occasional rebellions by different Minaean city-states, for the most part the Minaeans remained vassals of the Sabaeans until the disintegration of the Sabaean hegemony (ca. 410-400 BCE). The Minaeans initially gained their independence by forming an alliance with the Hadramite kings (ca. 400-300 BCE), and for about a century the Minaean-Hadramite alliance challenged the power of Saba (the Minaean city-states seemed to have established the same sort of arrangement with the Hadramites as they had originally enjoyed with the Sabaeans—a league of semi-independent city-states that acted as middlemen in trade). The Minaean-Hadramite alliance eventually fell apart (we don't know why, but the Sabaeans may have had a hand in it), and the Minaeans again fell under the dominance of the Sabaeans (ca. 300-190 BCE). Minaean independence was again declared by Waqah'il Sadiq (190-175 BCE), founder of the Kingdom of Ma'in (190-50 BCE) with its capital at Qarnaw, but by that time the overland trade caravans had been eclipsed in importance by seaborne trade, and the Minaeans were facing steadily increasing pressure from the nomadic Kahlans. As a result, the Kingdom of Ma'in lacked the vigor of the initial city-states and the first independent kingdom, it lost its outposts in the Hijaz to northern Arab tribes, and it lost its outposts in Tihama to a combination of Arab tribes, Kahlans, and Axumites (ca. 100-50 BCE). Eventually, the Sabaean king, Sharih Yadhib (60-20 BCE), reconquered the heartlands of the Minaean Kingdom one final time (ca. 55-50 BCE), and therafter the Minaeans disappear as a distinct group.

 

Qatabanian Kingdom (410 - 335 BCE & 200 BCE - 150 CE)

The Qatabanians first emerged in the ninth century BCE. Like the Sabaeans, they were agro-pastoralists that inhabited what is today western Yemen—the Sabaeans dominated the northeastern valleys and foothills within the curve of the Haraz Mountains, while the Qatabanians dominated the western and southern highlands along the outside of the curve of the Haraz Mountains. The Qatabanian city-state of Awsan/Ausan (850-670 BCE) developed in the Valley of the Markhah, in the northeastern quarter of Qatabania, and challenged Saba for control of southern Arabia until Awsan was destroyed by Karibil the Great (ca. 675-670 BCE). Karibil and his immediate successors went on to annex the remainder of Qatabania (ca. 670-600 BCE). Like the Minaeans, the Qatabanians were ethnically related to the Sabaeans, and spoke a regional dialect of the same language. Also like the Minaeans, the Qatabanians spent much of their early history under the hegemony of Saba (ca. 600-410 BCE), and when the Sabaean hegemony collapsed in the late fifth century BCE, a Qatabanian Kingdom (410-335 BCE) emerged, with its capital at Timm/Tamna in the Baihan Valley. Unlike the Sabaeans and Hadramites, the Minaeans and Qatabanians never used the title of mukarrib, their leaders always assuming the title of malik. The Kingdom of Qataban encompassed the Baihan/Beihan, Harib, Markhah, and Jubah valleys and surrounding highlands, as well as the wadis and plains leading down to the Red Sea in the west, and the Erythraean Sea in the south. This left Saba land-locked, and with the growing importance of sea trade, Saba and Qataban were set on a collision course. By the early fourth century BCE the Sabaeans were again moving toward regional hegemony, and they reconquered Qataban in 335 BCE, and held it until about 200 BCE. When the Sabaeans again lost control of Qataban, the center of gravity of the second Qatabanian Kingdom (200 BCE-150 CE) seems to have shifted toward the southern and western coastal regions, where the Qatabanians constructed a number of ports to concentrate on sea trade (Aden/Adin was the most important of these). As with many of the developing coastal enclaves during the last two centuries BCE, Aden seems to have been heavily influenced by Hellenism—Greek and Roman writers mention Qataban as a trade partner of the Seleukid Dynasty of Persia (the Hellenistic dynasty that inherited Persia from Alexander the Great), the Nabataean Kingdom (a Hellenized Arabo-Aramaean kingdom centered in Jordan, but at that time also controlling the Sinai and Hejaz), and the Kingdom of Charakene (a Syro-Persian state located at the head of the Persian Gulf, but also controlling parts of Bahrayn), and archeological finds in the region have revealed Hellenistic material goods in sufficient quantities to confirm strong trade ties with the Hellenistic world (as well as Hellenistic influence on architecture, art, etc.). The patron deity of the Qatabanians was Amm, a moon god, although his consort, Asherah, was also important, as were several other southern Arabian deities—Athtar (god of battle), Anbay (god of judgment), Hawkum (the oracle), and the goddesses Dhat-Santim and Dhat-Zahran (water and savior goddesses). The Hadramites had made a similar shift toward the coast by conquering the Mehri (to the east of Saba and Qataban), and in 150 CE the Hadramites formed an alliance with Saba and destroyed the Kingdom of Qataban. Hadramawt annexed the eastern territories of Qataban, and Saba annexed the central regions (including Timna and Aden). However, the western regions of Qataban remained unconquered, including the port city of Okelis, and after a period of fragmentation into various Qatabanian tribal groups (ca. 150-110 BCE), the Qatabanians again united under the kings of Himyar (a previously obscure group of western Qatabanian tribes).

 

Hadramite Kingdom (410 BCE - 253 CE)

The Hadramite peoples originated in the region of southern Arabia that bears their name (spelled variously—Hadramawt, Hadhramaut, Hadhramout, Hadramut, or Hasarmawet)—consisting of a line of mountains that runs from the Sayhad Desert in the southwest to the Dhofar Desert in the northeast, and the broad plateau broken by wadis (seasonal river beds) that runs parallel to these mountains to the east. This plateau extends from the mountains to a steep escarpment, beyond which lies a coastal plain that was inhabited by the Mehri peoples (an indigenous group that arose from a Neolithic population). The Hadramites originally inhabited only the highlands and plateau on the eastern side of the Hadramawt Mountains, and the Mehri peoples inhabited the coastal plain, but by about 600 BCE the Hadramites had conquered the Mehri and established their hegemony along the Erythraean coast (modern Arabian Sea coast). To the southwest of Hadramawt lay the Haraz Mountains (home to the Sabaeans, Qatabanians, and Minaeans), to the west was the Sayhad Desert, to the north was the Great Arabian Desert, and to the northeast was the Dhofar Desert. The nomadic Kahlan peoples inhabited the arc of desert and steppe regions that curve around the northern fringes of Hadramawt, stretching from the Sayhad across the southern reaches of the Great Arabian Desert and into the Dhofar. The pre-Islamic Hadramites are probably the least well-attested of the southern Arabian peoples, despite the longevity of their state—they had a mukarrib-led hegemony (ca. 1000-410 BCE) and a malik-led kingdom (ca. 410 BCE-253 CE) that rivalled Saba throughout most of the pre-Islamic period. The Hadramite capital, Shabwa/Sabata, was located on the eastern edge of the Sayhad Desert, at the western end of the Hadramawt Mountains—the location was strategic, making it a rival trade entrepôt from which the Hadramites could bypass the Sabaeans. However, the capital remained at Shabwat even after the caravan routes were eclipsed by seaborne trade (ca. 200 BCE-100 CE). The Hadramite conquest of the coastal Mehri peoples (ca. 600 BCE) allowed the Hadramites to take advantage of both overland caravan trade and seaborne trade as it developed (they established a major port at Qana). Other major Hadramite cities included Shibam, Sena/Sanaw, Tarim, and Ubar. The Hadramites were ethnically related to their agro-pastoralist neighbors to the west (the Sabaeans, Qatabanians, and Minaeans), and they spoke a similar Hamitic language, but as you might expect from their geographical position, they were much more heavily influenced by the nomadic Kahlans and the Persians (via eastern Arabia) than were their western neighbors. The Hadramites were forced into an alliance by Saba during the Iron Age (ca. 650-410 BCE), but later they formed an alliance with the Minaeans that allowed both peoples to reassert their independence from Saba (ca. 410-300 BCE). When this alliance fell apart, the Minaeans returned to Sabaean control, but the Hadramites continued as an independent state (ca. 300 BCE-253 CE) until the Hadramite king, Il'azz Yalut, was defeated by the Sabaean king, Sha'r Awtar, at the Battle of Dhat-Ghayl. The capital city of Shabwat was looted and razed to the ground, Il'azz Yalut's dynastic line was extirminated, and the Hadramites broke up into several tribal coalitions. Saba had been severely weakened, however, by the same forces that had weakened Hadramawt (i.e., shift of trade routes, climatic shifts, nomadic incursions), and was unable to annex it. Some Hadramite tribal groups migrated north, and those that remained failed to unite under any centralized leadership, leading to the conquest of Hadramawt by king Shammar Yuhar'ish of Himyar (ca. 280-295 CE).

 

Himyarite Kingdom (110 - 25 BCE & 100 - 528 CE), Raydanite Kingdom (25 BCE - 100 CE),

Kingdom of Yaman (528 - 570 CE), Marzubanate of Yaman (570 - 628 CE)

As mentioned in the narrative for the Sabaeans and Qatabanians, the Himyarites originated amongst the Qatabanian tribes of the western Haraz highlands, and they do not appear in historical records until after Qataban was divided between Saba (central Qataban) and Hadramawt (eastern Qataban)(ca. 150 CE). The western Qatabanians remained unconquered (ca. 150-110 BCE), and eventually united under the kings of the Himyarite federation of tribes (ca. 110 BCE). This early Himyarite Kingdom was relatively short-lived, although the subsequent period of Sabaean annexation (ca. 25 BCE-100 CE) seems to have been a period of almost constant rebellion by the Himyarites against Sabaean control. Nevertheless, there was a series of Sabaean-Himyarite kings, several of whom styled themselves "King of Saba and Dhu Raydan," Raydan being the Sabaean rendering of Zafar, the name of the capital city of the Himyarites located in the northern quarter of Himyarite territory. Thus, the polity ruled by this dynasty is sometimes referred to as the Raydanite Kingdom (however, rebel Himyarite kings of this period only styled themselves "King of Himyar"). The Himyarites regained their independence in 100 CE, and drove the Sabaeans from Raydan/Zafar, in part due to an alliance with the Axumite Kingdom of East Africa. The Axumites/Aksumites were Agaws—the name of the Kushitic peoples that inhabited the Red Sea coast of what is today Eritrea and northern Ethiopia—and the name of their state comes from their capital city of Axum/Aksum, which was originally one of the cities of the ancient Kingdom of D'mt/Damot (see my history of the Sabaean Kingdom). By 100 CE, the Axumite Kingdom had replaced Damot as the primary coastal kingdom on the East African side of the Red Sea. Indeed, it seems that the Himyarite-Axumite alliance allowed both peoples to emerge as the dominant powers in the southern Red Sea region—soon after coming to power, the Axumites expelled the Sabaean trading colony in Damot, and established several colonies of their own in Tihama (this was almost certainly done with the support of the kings of Himyar). The most important Axumite colony in Tihama was at the former Minaean city of Najran, which commanded one of the main passes in the southern Sarawat Mountains that led from Saba into Tihama (it also lay on the path from Zafar into Tihama), and with the Sabaeans cut off from both the sea (by the Himyarites) and the caravan trade (by the Kahlans and Axumites) the strategic advantage thus gained by Himyar led to the gradual decline of Saba (ca. 100-280 CE). Unfortunately, the early history of the Axumite state is unknown (Damot's history is equally obscure), but its heartlands were the same as those of Damot (i.e., Eritrea), so it is possible that the beginning of the Axumite era simply marks a change of dynasties in the same polity (certainly, both the Damotis and Axumites were Kushitic peoples, while the peoples of the Ethiopian highlands were Abyssinians). The Axumites were far more aggressive than the Damotis, however, and they went on to conquer the Abyssinian peoples of the Ethiopian highlands, and to form an economic-military alliance with the Roman Empire that was aimed at dominating the Red Sea.

 

In the following two centuries (ca. 100-300 CE), however, the relationship between Himyar and Axum deteriorated, as it became clear that the Axumites considered Himyar a vassal state, and the Himyarites insisted on their independence. The growing antipathy of the Axumites and Himyarites led to an invasion of Himyar by the Axumite prince, Azaba/Adhebah (called Bayga/Beygha in Himyarite sources), who succeeded in occupying Zafar and the western and southern coastal regions, including the Himyarite port cities of Aden and Muza (ca. 211-240 CE). His father, King Gadarat of Axum (200-235 CE), placed an Himyarite puppet king, Shamir Yuhahmid, on the throne of Himyar. The occupation continued when Azaba came to the throne of Axum (ca. 235-240 CE). Meanwhile, as we have seen in the narrative for Saba, the Sabaeans were making one final bid to regain their power in southern Arabia under the leadership of a dynamic king, Sha'r Awtar (225-235 CE). The Sabaeans defeated the Hadramites and Kahlans (ca. 235 CE), but failed to drive the Axumites from Najran/Tihama, and after the death of Sha'r Awtar the Sabaeans went through a round of internecine struggles for the throne that prevented them from consolidating their control over Hadramawt and fatally weakened Saba (ca. 235-280 CE). The Himyarites succeeded in driving the Axumites from Zafar (ca. 227-229 CE), but the Axumites retained control of the coastal regions and the ports of Muza and Aden. The Himyarite king, Karib'il Ayfa, also blocked an attempted invasion of Himyar by the Sabaean king, Ilsharah Yadhub, at the Battle of Dhu-Hurma (253 CE). Himyarite power continued to grow, and the dynamic Himyarite king, Shamir Yuhar'ish (270-300 CE), recaptured Muza and Aden (ca. 270 CE), conquered the Axumite colony at Najran (ca. 275 CE), and annexed Saba (ca. 280 CE). He went on to conquer the remaining Hadramite tribes (ca. 280-295 CE), and his successor, Yasir Yuhan'im, successfully invaded the island of Socotra (ca. 320 CE), which commands the mouth of the Red Sea where it flows out into the Arabian Sea (previously, the island seems to have been ruled by the indigenous Mehri islanders, although there were Qahtanite, Axumite, Greco-Roman, and Palmyrene enclaves). This left Himyar in control of all of southern Arabia and southern Tihama.

 

We see at this time the first use of the term Yaman in reference to the Haraz Mountains region of southern Arabia (including Himyar and the former heartlands of Saba, Ma'in, and Qataban). Yaman is believed to have been derived from the Old South Arabian word, yumn, meaning "happy," and is probably related to the Roman name for southern Arabia, Arabia Felix ("Happy Arabia"). This may seem ironic, considering the conflict between Himyar and Rome's regional ally, Axum, but Christian communities in the region can be traced back to the original Axumite alliance with Himyar (ca. 100 CE), and certainly after the Axumites had established dominion in Tihama and Himyar (ca. 100-275 CE). The Axumites are believed to have been introduced to Christianity quite early in the evolution of the Oriental Orthodox Churches—traditionally, Axumite merchants residing in Jerusalem were among the converts made by Jesus' apostles, inspired to preach by the Holy Spirit after the ascension of Jesus to Heaven (the modern Holiday of Pentecost)—although Christianity was not organized into a formal church in Axum until the reign of Ezana/Aezana/Aizana (320-360 CE). The Axumite colonies in southern Arabia/Tihama were increasingly important in the second, third, and fourth centuries CE, and maintained close ties with both Axum and Rome—although Rome was not officially Christian until the reign of Constantine I (306-337 CE), the Roman presence in western Arabia (particularly in the Hijaz) had steadily grown after the conquests of Trajan (ca. 117 CE), and Roman Christians fleeing persecution within the empire found a natural outlet in western and southern Arabia (ca. 100-300 CE). Several early Himyarite kings promoted a syncretic monotheistic deity named Rahmann, the Lord of Heaven, which is believed to have been an attempt to provide a native alternative to Judaism and Christianity, but worship of Rahmann never seems to have gained a lot of traction. The Himyarite king, Dhara'amar Ayman, made a treaty with emperor Constantine II (337-361 CE) that allowed Constantine to send a Roman bishop, Theophilus, to the Himyarite court, and Theophilus organized some of the local Christian communities into churches sanctioned by Rome. It is likely that Dhara'amar Ayman was trying to undermine Axumite Christian influence in his kingdom, notably emanating from the Axumite colonies that had fallen under Himyarite control (located in Aden, Muza, Najran, and in the capital, Zafar), and possibly to try to drive a wedge between the Axumites and Romans—at that time, the Roman Empire was in the midst of the Christological Controversies (see my notes on the history of the Ghassanids), and the dominant sects in the Roman Empire were different from those developing in East Africa. Dhara'amar Ayman also seems to have promoted Judaism within his kingdom, once again probably as a counterbalance to the Christians. Jewish communities had lived in southern Arabia for much longer (likely from the time of the Queen of Sheba), and Judaic influence may have been more integral to the development of the cult of Rahmann than Christianity.

 

The Himyarite Kingdom (300-528 CE) reached its apex under Abu-karib As'ad Toban, who extended Himyarite dominion north into Tihama as far as the city-state of Yathrib (ca. 400 CE). The Kindah originated in the northeastern reaches of the Great Arabian Desert, in the vicinity of the Liwa Oasis, located between modern United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia (ca. 400 BCE-200 CE), but as allies of the southern Arabian Kingdom of Saba they had expanded into the southern reaches of the Great Arabian Desert, the Sayhad Desert, and the Dhofar Desert (ca. 200-258 CE). They alternated between alliance and competition with the southern caravan kingdoms, but when the Himyarites conquered the Hadramites (ca. 285-290 CE), the Himyarites used a combination of diplomacy and military campaigns to pacify the Kindah in the Sayhad and Dhofar regions under Shamir Yuhar'ish (ca. 300-425 CE). In 425 CE the Himyarite king, Hasan Yuhan'im Tubba (420-433 CE), made the Kindite chief, Hujr Akil al-Murar ibn Amr (425-458 CE), the first king of the Kindite Kingdom (425-570 CE), tasked with taking control of the overland trade routes of central Arabia. Although the overland caravans had been eclipsed by seaborne trade from about the first and second centuries CE, they were still lucrative, and the Persians and Lakhmids had come to control much of this trade (ca. 325-425 CE). Hujr Akil and his successors, Amr al-Mansur ibn Hudjr (458-489 CE) and Harith Talaban ibn Amr (489-528 CE), were largely successful in dominating the Kahlan and Adnanite tribes of the Great Arabian Desert, the Najd Plateau, and the Dahna Desert, even managing to install a pro-Kindite Lakhmid king (see history of the Lakhmids) in Hira (ca. 497-503 CE). The Himyarite king, Abu-karib As'ad Toban, converted to Judaism in about 390 CE, and his successors—Sharab'il Ya'fur and Sharab'il Yakkaf—had largely succeeded in making Judaism the dominant faith in Himyar by about 523 CE (the Kindah and Hadrami remained pagan, Tihama had a mix of Christian, Jewish, and pagan groups, and there were still pagan and Christian communities in Himyar and Socotra). However, the Himyarite king, Marthad'ilan Yanuf, was forced to allow the Axumites to build a palace in Zafar (ca. 509 CE), for the use of their envoys to Himyar, which implies that Axumite influence in southern Arabia had not fully waned (as mentioned, they still had communities in Zafar, Najran, Aden, and Muza).

 

It is the growing influence of the Axumites that seems to have precipitated the rebellion of a Jewish Himyarite usurper named Yusuf ibn Sharhabeel (a.k.a. Dhu Nuwas), who overthrew Ma'dibkarib Ya'fur and took the throne of Himyar as Yusuf As'ar Yath'ar (523-528 CE). Dhu Nuwas/Yusuf As'ar Yath'ar ejected the Axumite envoys from Zafar, seized their palace, and declared a holy war on Christians in Himyar (although he only seems to have moved against Axumite Christians, so his "holy war" seems to have been less about theology than politics). The Axumites in Zafar, Aden, and Muza were persecuted, and the Axumite colony at Najran was besieged (ca. 525 CE). When the Axumites of Najran surrendered, having provided assurances of their loyalty to Himyar, Dhu Nuwas nevertheless ordered their massacre (they were said to have been "burned alive," but no source explains exactly how this was achieved—perhaps herded into a church, which was burned down around them). The Axumite Kingdom responded with an invasion of Himyar. King Caleb/Kaleb of Axum sent a large army (perhaps 100,000 strong, including a number of war elephants) under the command of a general named Abraha, who seized Tihama and then marched on Zafar. Dhu Nuwas was defeated and killed in battle (some sources say he escaped, and then committed suicide), Zafar was stormed, looted, and razed, and the Axumites seized control of Himyar (ca. 528-547 CE). Initially, Caleb preferred to rule Himyar through an Himyarite puppet king, Sumyafa' Ashawa, but in 547 CE he was overthrown by Abraha (547-570 CE)(known as Abraha al-Ashram, "Scar-faced," in Arabic sources). After the razing of Zafar, the capital had been moved to Sana'a (the capital of modern Yemen), which lay to the northeast of Zafar on the road to Najran. According to the Roman historian Procopius, Abraha's usurpation of the throne was in response to a large faction within his occupation forces that wanted to colonize Himyar (i.e., not just garrison it), and because Abraha was a zealous Christian who wanted to convert the Himyarites (his king, Caleb, appears to have only envisioned treating Himyar as a client kingdom). Another Axumite army was sent to bring Abraha to heel, but upon landing in Tihama, this army promptly overthrew its general (Ariat) and declared its loyalty to Abraha. Abraha assumed the title, "King of Saba, Dhu Raydan, Hadramawt, and Yaman, and of the lowland Arabs." The reference to "lowland Arabs" seems to have applied to the Kindah of the Sayhad and Dhofar desert regions, as well as Kahlan tribes that had been settled by the Sabaeans and Himyarites in parts of Saba and Hadramawt. However, with the fall of Himyar to the Axumites, the Kindite proxy state in central Arabia fell into civil war (ca. 528-540 CE), resulting in the breakup of the Kindite Kingdom into four tribal federations (the Banu Asad, Banu Taghlib, Banu Kinanah, and Banu Bakr), none of whom were particularly friendly with Axumite Yaman.

 

Late in his reign, Abraha shared power with his sons, Masruq and Yaksum, who were made co-rulers. At that time (ca. 558-570 CE) Abraha faced a serious insurgency led by Sayf ibn Dhi-Yazan, a member of the disenfranchised Himyarite royal lineage, as well as a rebellion by the tribes of Tihama. Sayf ibn Dhi-Yazan sent emissaries to the court of the Sassanian emperor, Khosrow I Anushiruwan (531-579 CE), begging for aid. Khosrow was at that time engaged against the Romans/Byzantines and the Hephthalite Huns, but with the breakup of the Kindite Kingdom he was eager to help his Lakhmid allies to regain control of central Arabia, and he viewed the growing influence of the Byzantine-Axumite alliance in the Red Sea and southern Arabia with alarm. He sent a force of Dailamite mercenaries (only about 800 men) from Mazun (the Persian province in Oman) into Hadramawt under the command of a Dailamite commander called Vahrez, and the combined forces of the Himyarite rebels and Persian Dailamites defeated and killed Masruq at the Battle of Hadramawt (ca. 570 CE). Earlier in that same year, Abraha had been killed at the Siege of Yathrib, during Abraha's campaign aimed at bringing the tribes of Tihama to heel. Vahrez and Sayf ibn Dhi-Yazan then successfully besieged Yaksum at Sana'a, and Sayf ibn Dhi-Yazan took the throne of Himyar (570-574 CE). However, Sayf was murdered by some of his servants a few years later—they were believed to be agents of the Axumites—and Khosrow reinforced Vahrez with a force of 4,000 Persians. Although Sayf's infant son, another Yaksum (574-577 CE), was named king, Vahrez became the military governor of the newly formed Persian Marzubanate of Yaman (570-630 CE) and the boy-king's regent. Persian influence steadily increased in the following decades, and the last two Himyarite/Yamani kings—Sayf Zu-Yazan (577-587 CE) and Ma'adi Karib (587-599 CE)—were little more than puppets of the Persian governors. Thereafter, the Persians seem to have ruled Yaman with a light hand, allowing a high degree of autonomy exercised by a number of local tribal federations that only vaguely recognized the suzerainty of Persia. The Byzantine-Sassanid War of 602-628 CE—fought between Khosrow II Aparvez (590-628 CE) of Persia and Flavius Phocas (602-610 CE) and Flavius Heraclius (610-641 CE) of Byzantium—which was waged across a huge front (from Palestine and Syria to Upper Mesopotamia and the Caucasus), seems to have severely drained the resources of both empires, and the fall of the Lakhmids to intrigue at the imperial court of Persia (ca. 602 CE) severely weakened the network of alliances the Persians had formed in central Arabia. The Axumite Kingdom also declined during this period, due in large part to the depradations of the nomadic Beja peoples of the Sudan, and competition from the kingdoms of Nobatia/Nobadia (350-650 CE), Makuria (340-1276 CE), and Alodia/Alwa (350-1504 CE), successor kingdoms to the Kingdom of Kush (1070 BCE-350 CE). Thus, when the Arab tribes of Tihama united under the banner of the Prophet Muhammad, the Persians, Axumites, and Byzantines were in no position to oppose his takeover of Tihama (ca. 622-630 CE) and Himyar (630-631 CE).