sense in which the name India is used by Greek and Latin writers.¹ We are hardly ever sure whether it refers to India proper or to South Arabia, to Abyssinia, or to some other part of the African or Asiatic coast. Thus we have the tradition given by Eusebius ² that Bartholomew had preached the gospel in India and had left there the Gospel of Matthew in Hebrew, which was still in existence in the time of Pantænus. This may possibly refer to South Arabia. For there were certainly in the first Christian century, and even many centuries earlier, frequent communications of commercial and other kinds between that part of the world and Palestine. Then there is the legend of Phemion given by Tabari,³ according to which an ascetic of that name wandering in Syria was captured by an Arab caravan and carried to Najran in South Arabia. The earliest really historical account of Christianity in South Arabia, however, has reference to the time at which Frumentius was bishop in Abyssinia. We learn from various sources ⁴ that in A.D. 356 Constantius sent an embassy to South Arabia. The leader of it was Theophilus, sometimes further designated as "the Indian". He is said to have belonged to the island of Dibu, which has been until recently identified as lying at the mouth of the Indus.

Glaser,¹ however, identifies it with an island on the Arabian coast of the Red Sea near Anfuda. If this be correct it would help to explain why Theophilus was sent on this embassy. He would be practically a native of the country to which it was directed. Coming as a hostage to the Empire in the reign of Constantine, Theophilus had embraced Christianity, adopted the ascetic life, and had been made deacon by Eusebius. Having undertaken the embassy he was invested by his own party (i.e. the Arians) with episcopal dignity. The embassy was lavishly fitted out by Constantius, and rich gifts, including two hundred Cappadocian horses, were sent to the king of the Homeritæ. The result is said to have been that the latter adopted Christianity and built three churches out of his own revenues. It is unlikely that the emperor expended so much on a purely religious mission, though it probably had some connection with the Arian and Athanasian disputes which were at that time troubling the Church. Both parties were seeking to extend their influence, and Theophilus is said to have had the further commission to go to Axum and move for the expulsion of Frumentius, the bishop there, who belonged to the Athanasian party. But behind this the real mainspring of the anxiety to introduce Christianity into both Abyssinia and South Arabia lay in international politics and the rivalry between the Roman and the Persian Empires. The adoption of Christianity meant an extension of the influence of Rome. South Arabia was, however, open to the influence of Persia,