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Himyar: Spätantike im Jemen/Late Antique Yemen. By PAUL YULE. Aichwald: LINDEN SOFT VERLAG, 2007. Pp. 192.
Himyar was the last major ancient polity in southwest Arabia before the coming of Islam. Despite its important position at the juncture of key moments and places implicated in global cultural change, the Himyarites have been little studied or written about in contemporary western scholarship. Paul Yule's book makes an important step towards filling the gap in general knowledge about this important kingdom.
Yule sets out to present a comprehensive picture of the kingdom of Himyar, utilizing historical as well as archaeological information. His assessment relies much more heavily on historical data and art than on archaeology, but this is rather unavoidable given the limited archaeological research carried out on H imy ari te-peri od remains prior to the publication of this book. Such an endeavor is also limited by the fact that even the known historical data for Himyar are scattered and incomplete. However, Yule does an admirable job of compiling the disparate sources of data for the kingdom and bringing it all into a coherent narrative.
Himyar: Late Antique Yemen is presented bilingually on each page, in English and German. The book is well illustrated, with maps and full color images that help to craft...