Ближний Восток и его соседи

g 121 h Arabs and Arabia in the Byzantine Sources: Hagiographical Testimonies Book of the Ḥimyarites and the Martyrdom of Arethas also record events of the period, important for the cult in the local religious communities. 29 The Martyrdom of Arethas relates the story of Arethas and his companions, placed in the city of Najran, in modern day Saudi Arabia. In this kind of literature, as it has been noticed, heroic resistance is praised, and in the Byzantine Empire itself, some texts were devoted to monks’ resistance in the face of pagan tyrants or barbarians; such works and similar ones are grouped and classified as martyrdoms. 30 The events of 523CE, caused intense shock in the region. The text, written in Greek, makes use of Syriac texts. 31 “From a literary point of view the Martyrdom of St Arethas, much marked by biblical models and especially the Books of the Maccabees, is a striking example of a Passio of a group of martyrs whose subject is an entire city: Najran” 32 . A balanced evaluation of this text can be found in Ch. Robin’s approach: “the Martyrdom of Arethas is an apologetic work that, although it is based on historical facts, aims to celebrate Kaleb's great deeds and have him recognized as a saint of the Christian Church and a model for the faithful”. 33 It is important to stress, that “at the time, the population of Najran included pagans and Jews, but it was dominated by Christians. Those Christians belonged to two different and antagonistic Christological denominations… one often called ‘Nestorians’ 34 …and… the others are usually known with the name ‘Monophysites’”. 35 This division among the Christians of the region is an element that, in addition to the extensive presence of Judaism in the area, draws particular attention. 29 Cf. Robin, Arabia and Ethiopia, 253. 30 Detoraki, Greek Passions , 73. 31 BHG 166. M. Detoraki (ed.), Le Martyre grec de saint Aréthas et de ses compagnons (BHG 166), with French tr. by J. Beaucamp (Monographies 27), Paris 2007. 32 Detoraki, Greek Passions , 75. 33 Robin, Arabia and Ethiopia, 291. For a comprehensive analysis of all information, with referenc- es to all relevant sources and additional literature, see the volume : Juifs et Chrétiens en Arabie au Ve et VIe siècles: regards croisés sur les sources , eds. Joëlle Beaucamp, Françoise Briquel-Chatonnet, Christian Julien Robin [Collège de France-CNRS, Centre de Recherche d’Histoire et Civilisation de Byzance, Monographies 32, Le massacre de Najrân II], Paris 2010 and especially the articles: Chris- tian Julien Robin, “Nagrān vers l’époque du massacre: notes sur l’histoire politique, économique et institutionnelle et sur l’introduction du christianisme (avec un réexamen du Martyre d’Azqīr )”, 39–107; M. Detoraki, “Un hagiographe à l’ouvre: le Martyre d’Arethas et ses sources”, 177–190; Gianfranco Fiaccadori, “On the Place of Composition of the Martyrion of Arethas”, 191–196. 34 Beaucamp, Joëlle, and Christian Robin, “L’ évêché nestorien de Māšmāhīg dans l’archipel d’al-Baḥrayn (v e –ix e siècle)’, in: ed. D. Potts, Dilmun: New Studies in the Archaeology and Early History of Bahrain (Berliner Beiträge zum Vorderen Orient 2), Berlin 1983, 171–196. 35 Robin, Arabia and Ethiopia, 283, with reference to Ph. Wood, “ Syriac and the ‘Syrians’”, in: Scott Fitzgerald Johnson (ed.), The Handbook of Late Antiquity , 170–194.