in the country having been overthrown, and reinforcements from across the Red Sea being for the time being cut off, Dhu Nuwas turned his attention to the Christian city of Najran in the north of Yaman. Finding it bravely defended, he had recourse to deception, and gained entrance on the strength of an oath that he would spare the lives of the citizens and allow them the exercise of their religion. The oath was not kept. The Christians are said to have been given the choice of adopting Judaism, or at any rate of acknowledging Jesus Christ to have been merely a man. This may indicate an option of becoming Nestorians, for there were probably Nestorian Christians among the supporters of Dhu Nuwas. The option was, however, refused, and many of the Christians were put to death with great cruelty. The story of the burning trench into which they were forced to leap is, however, not borne out by contemporary evidence. But it must have come early into circulation, for there is in all probability a reference to it in the Qur'an (Surah lxxxv).^[*] The number of those who suffered has also in some of the accounts been exaggerated, running into thousands. The more moderate number given in the hymn attributed to Johannes Psaltes, viz. over 200, is good evidence of the genuineness of that hymn and its almost contemporary date.

The event may be taken as having happened in October A.D. 523. News of it found its way into the Roman Empire by the channel which has been already mentioned—the letter of Simeon of Beth Arsham—and also by the report of a

Christian who escaped from Najran and made his way to Constantinople to lay complaint before the Emperor. To punish the author of this enormity lay in line with the policy of the Empire, and the Abyssinians also were not inclined to allow their influence in South Arabia to be thus overthrown. As a result the Imperial Government encouraged the King of Abyssinia to undertake an expedition against Dhu Nuwas and promised him support. Allowing for the time necessary to make arrangements this expedition would not take place until A.D. 525, the traditional date assigned to it. Dhu Nuwas was completely overthrown and put to death or, according to another less reliable account, threw himself into the sea and perished. Abyssinian overlordship in South Arabia was again established.

For some years thereafter the situation is obscure. Then emerges an Abyssinian ruler of Yaman named Abraha (or Abraham), who held power for upwards of forty years, and whose expedition against Mecca has become famous through the reference to it in the Qur'an.^[*] The story of this expedition is recounted at length by the Arab historians. It is also thought by Nöldeke ¹ to be referred to by Procopius in the statement that "Abramus, when at length he had established his power most securely, promised the Emperor Justinian many times to invade the land of Persia, but only once began the journey and then straightway turned back". The object of the expedition thus falls into the network of international politics. The Romans were seeking