Beate Dignas & Engelbert Winter - Kaveh Farrokh

14 The third Sasanian–Byzantine War 113
relationship with Byzantium, which was manifested in Abramos’ promise
to support Justinian I in his battle against the Persians. 195
When Abramos died affairs in the Yemen became unstable. The
Aksūmites were an occupying power in the area. After an unsuccessful
attempt to gain support from Byzantium the Himyarites turned to the
Lahmid ruler of Hīra, Numān ibn Mundhir. This vassal king acted as a
mediator and offered to plead their case before Xusrō I. 196 Allured by the
area’s wealth and by the prospect of gaining control over south-west Arabia
(and thereby inflicting great harm on the Roman trade) the Persian king
decided to send an army into the Yemen. 197
A fragment of a textile worked in the Gobelins technique seems to refer
to the successful Persian activities in South Arabia that led to the liberation
of the Yemen from Aksūmite domination. 198 On this fragment, which was
found at Antinoë in Egypt and is now at Lyons, Egyptian weavers used
Iranian motifs (Fig. 15). 199 Among other battle scenes, Persian mounted
archers are depicted in combat against a group of black soldiers, who identify
an African enemy. In the foreground, a majestic Sasanian king is observing
the battle. The textile shows that the celebration of the Sasanian triumph
by Persian weavers was copied by Egyptian artists towards the end of the
sixth or beginning of the seventh century.
In the Yemen, the Persians appointed a Himyarite as viceroy, who collected
taxes and administered the country on behalf of the Sasanian kings. 200
In order to prevent this viceroy from gaining too much power and in order
to collect their taxes directly, from the end of the sixth century onwards
the Persians appointed a governor, a move which obviously further intensified
the Sasanian influence in the region. Only when the Arab conquerors
embarked on their advance between 628 and 632 did the Yemen fall into
Muslim hands.
The Romans did not immediately respond to the successful Persian
attack that ended Aksūmite rule in the Yemen, because their own troops
were engaged in several military confrontations along the borders of the
Roman Empire. It is difficult to assess to what extent these developments
within the Arabian Peninsula were responsible for the outbreak of a new
Sasanian–Byzantine War in the year 572. Rather convincingly, Theophylact
Simocatta refers to the Persian accusations against Justin, namely that
the emperor wanted to free himself from the annual tributary payments
195 Ibid. i.20.13. 196 Tabarī, tr. Nöldeke 220–1; Bosworth 236–7 (946).
197 Ibid. 221–5 tr. Nöldeke; Bosworth 237–40 (946–9).
198 Harmatta 1974: 95–106; cf. also Compareti 2002. 199 Ghirshman 1962: 236.
200 Tabarī, tr. Nöldeke 236–7; Bosworth 251–2 (957–8).