Доклады Международного конгресса ИИСАА. Т. 1

II. Middle East, Caucasus and Central Asia / Ближний Восток, Кавказ и Центральная Азия Доклады Международного конгресса по источниковедению и историографии стран Азии и Африки. Т. 1. 2020 107 SouthArabia. 1 Certainly, there are frequent references to the pre-Islamic times in the Arabic sources, but, as Robin suggests, we are not sure whether these people were actually real Jews. 2 There are no archaeological remains to corroborate the relevant literary sources. Bowersock’s assumption that a building found in Qāni’ (Ar. Bi’r ‘Alī) of South Arabia was a synagogue 3 is not persuasive. 4 The general impression we can mainly glean from the epigraphic evidence is that Judaism was practiced in an unusual way in the Himyarite Kindgom and, as characterized by Robin and Gajda, it was a unique type of Judaism, 5 the nature of which still remains unclear. The Martyrdom of Saint Arethas in its Greek version corroborates the peculiarities of the Himyarite Judaism which was practiced in the Himyarite Kingdom in the 6 th century with the vague reference that the Jews of Ḥimyar “did not live according to the Law”, without reporting which parts of the Law were violated. 6 Ιt should be noted that an Arabic translation of the Martyrdom states that “the Himyarites did not strictly follow Moses’ Law save for some dietary matters”. 7 It is also necessary to point out that the controversial Byzantine hagiographical source, The Acts of Saint Gregentius , describes certain characteristics of the Him- yarite Jews, i.e. common habitations, inter-marriages, etc., but it is not clear whether 1 Robin Ch. J. Introduction. Judaïsme ancient et origines du christianisme // Costa J., Hamidovic D., Piovanelli P. (eds). Le judaïsme de l’Arabie antique, Actes du Colloque de Jérusalem (février 2006). Turnhout, 2015 . P. 8 . 2 Robin Ch. J. Introduction. P. 7. 3 Bowersock G. W. The New Inscription from SouthYemen // Langdon J. S., Reinert S. W., Stanojevich J., Ioannides Ch. P. (eds.). ΤΟ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΟΝ. Studies in Honor of Speros Vryonis, Jr., Volume I. Hellenic Antiquity and Byzantium. New York, 1993. P. 3–8; likewise, Tobi Y. The Jews of Yemen in Light of the Excavation of the Jewish Synagogue in Qanī’ (poster) // Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies . 2013. 43. P. 354. 4 Abuljadayl Aisha. The Death of King Dhū Nuwās (ca 517–525 CE) in the Himyarite Inscriptions, Syriac, Greek and Arabic sources: His Military and Religious Policy // Chris- tides V. (ed). Interrelations between the Peoples of the Near East and Byzantium in Pre-Is- lamic Times. Cordoba, 2015. P. 14; Sedov A. V. Qana’ (Yemen) and the Indian Ocean. The Archaeological Evidence // Ray H.P., Salles J.-Fr. (eds.). Tradition and Archaeology. Early Maritime Contacts in the Indian Ocean. Proceedings of the International Seminar Tech- no-Archaeological Perspectives of Seafaring in the Indian Ocean 4th cent. B.C. — 15th cent. A. D. NewDelhi, February 28—March 4, 1994. NewDelhi, 1996. P. 27; SedovA.V. Temples of Ancient Hadramawt. Pisa, 2005 (Arabia Antica, 3). P. 35; SedovA. V. New archaeological and epigraphical material from Qana (South Arabia) // Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy . 1992. 3. P. 135: fig. 14; p. 136. 5 Robin Ch. J. Le judaïsme de Ḥimyar // Arabia . 2003. 1. P. 151; Gajda I. Le royaume de Ḥimyar à l’époque monothéiste. Paris, 2009. P. 239. 6 οὐκ κατά τὰς ἐντολάς τοῦ νόμου ζῶντες… (without following the rules of the Law in their lives…). Le martyre de Saint Aréthas. P. 185, lines 11–12. 7 Monferrer-Sala J. P. Redefining History on Pre-IslamicAccounts. TheArabic Recension of the Martyrs of Najrân. Piscataway, NJ, 2010. P. 41.