• 27
• 16
• • Diamond Log
  • Favorite Log
  • Feature on profile
  • Embed
  • Report

• Change My Minecraft Skin
• Download Minecraft Skin
• Papercraft it

St. Elesbaan
King Kaleb of Axum

Reign: 514–542

---

King Kaleb was the King of Axum during his reign he invaded Yemen around 520, against the Himyarite king, Yusuf Asar Yathar, known as Dhu Nuwas, a Jew who was persecuting the Christian community of Najran. After much fighting, Kaleb's soldiers eventually routed Yusuf's forces and killed the king, allowing Kaleb to appoint Sumuafa' Ashawa', a native Christian, as his viceroy of Himyar. As a result of his protection of the Christians, Kaleb is known as Saint Elesbaan after the sixteenth-century Cardinal Caesar Baronius added him to his edition of the Roman Martyrology despite his being a Miaphysite.

A reference map of the empire of Kaleb of Axum. Axumite control of Arabia Felix continued until c. 525 when Sumuafa' Ashawa' was deposed by Abraha, who made himself king. Procopius states that Kaleb made several unsuccessful attempts to recover his overseas territory; however, his successor later negotiated peace with Abraha, where Abraha acknowledged the Axumite king's authority and paid tribute. Munro-Hay opines that by this expedition Axum overextended itself, and this final intervention across the Red Sea, "was Aksum's swan-song as a great power in the region." A historical record survives of a meeting between the Byzantine ambassador and historian Nonnosus and Kaleb in the year 530. Ethiopian tradition states that Kaleb eventually abdicated his throne, gave his crown to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, and retired to a monastery.

---

This skin was requested by GoldenAppleIV