Died 290 AD | ||
Shammar Yahri'sh full name (Shammar Yahr'ish b. Yasir Yun'im b. 'Amr Dhu'l-Adh'ar) (Arabic: شَمَّر يرعش, "Shammar trembles") was a Himyarite king.
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Life
In AD 275, he led his troops to victory over Najran, Ma'rib (the Sabeans later reconquered their capital) and Hadhramaut. He succeeded in uniting much of Yemen, assuming the title "King of Saba and Dhu Raydan and Hadhramaut and Yamnat" (Yamnat may have been the name of the Southern part of Yemen). From his time forward the Himyarite kings were known as "Tubba kings", and praised for their courage and leadership in traditional Yemeni poetry.
Legacy
In about 280 AD, Shammar Yuharʿish, residing at his capital Ẓafār, united Yemen under his rule. One hundred years later Abu Karib Asad, who was nicknamed "Asad al-Kamel" (the perfect one) fulfilled the highest aspirations of Shammar Yuharish. Under his leadership the old Sabean state with Ma'rib as the capital ceased to exist as an independent kingdom. The Axumites, who had become a strong power and had occupied the Tihamah and part of the highlands more than once, were driven back to Ethiopia. During his rule pre-Islamic Yemen probably reached its greatest expansion including southern parts of present Saudi Arabia and Oman as a whole.