Arethas of Najran
The aged head of the Christian community of Najran in south Arabia, called Harith in the Syriac sources and Arethas in Greek. They report that he refused to deny Christ before the Himyarite king and was beheaded with his companions.
The letter of Simeon of Beth Arsham calls him Harith son of Khanab, a venerable old man and the chief of the leading men of Najran. As Simeon heard it from a messenger sent to the town, Harith told the king that he had warned his companions not to trust the king’s oath, that he had lived long, had children and grandchildren and had won renown in war, and that he would not deny Christ to become a Jew. He asked his companions whether any of them feared the sword, left part of his estate to the church that would be rebuilt, made the sign over them and was the first to be beheaded (Zachariah, Chronicle 8.3 (letter of Simeon of Beth Arsham)).
The Book of the Himyarites gives the day as Sunday, 25 November, and lists him first among the “freeborn men” of Najran who died, with the names that those who buried them could remember (Book of the Himyarites chapter 19 (Moberg, pp. cxv–cxvi)). The Greek account of the persecution bears his name, the Martyrdom of Arethas (Book of the Himyarites introduction, pp. xxiv–xxvi). For the year, 523 or 518, see the Martyrs of Najran (Book of the Himyarites introduction, p. lviii).
In the timeline
- AD 523 (or 518), estimated dateThe Martyrs of Najran
Yusuf, the Jewish king of Himyar in south Arabia, makes war on the Christian town of Najran. Syriac writers report that he put its leading men, with their chief Harith (Arethas), and many women to death. Kaleb, king of Aksum, then crosses the sea and overthrows him.