Tikvah
Editors’ Pick

March 17, 2016

Saudi Arabia’s Forgotten Jewish Past

An ancient Arabic inscription mentions a fleeing Jewish warlord.

Two years ago, a team of French and Saudi researchers found what they believed to be the oldest extant examples of written Arabic, which they dated to the late 5th and early 6th centuries CE. Among the inscriptions is a reference to Yusuf As'ar Yath'ar, the last leader of the Himyarite kingdom, an ancient Jewish (or quasi-Jewish) entity that existed in what is now Yemen and southwestern Saudi Arabia. Ariel David writes (free registration required):

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