Kaleb of Aksum

Cosmas, a merchant from Alexandria, was at Adulis, the port of the Aksumites, when their king Elesbaan was preparing an expedition against the Himyarites across the sea, and at the governor’s request copied Greek inscriptions there for the king (Cosmas, Christian Topography 2 (McCrindle pp. 55–56)). Procopius calls the king Hellestheaeus, “a Christian and a most devoted adherent of this faith”, and says that he crossed with a fleet because the Himyarites were oppressing the Christians, killed their king, and set up a Christian Himyarite named Esimiphaeus as a tributary. Later, Procopius adds, the Ethiopians who had stayed behind replaced Esimiphaeus with Abramus, and two armies sent against him failed (Procopius, Wars 1.20.1–8). The emperor Justinian I sent an envoy to ask both kings for help against Persia (Procopius, Wars 1.20.9–13).

The Syriac Book of the Himyarites calls him Kaleb. Its chapter headings tell how he was informed of the persecution, crossed with his army, received back Christians who had denied their faith and appointed a king over the Himyarites (Book of the Himyarites index of chapters 38–49 (Moberg, p. civ)). Its editor, Axel Moberg, identifies Kaleb with the Abyssinian king Ella Asbeha, the Elesbaas of the Greek writers (Book of the Himyarites introduction, p. xlii). See the Martyrs of Najran.