Abraha, also known as Abraha al-Ashram, was a viceroy for the Kingdom of Aksum who ruled the Himyarite Kingdom of Yemen and much of the Arabian Peninsula in the 6th century. He is famous for the tradition of his attempt to destroy the Kaaba, a revered religious site in Mecca, using an army that included war elephants, an event known as Year of the Elephant. During his reign, Christianity was the most populous of all.
Rock carvings from Najran, southern Arabia. The dating of the patina confirms that they are old but the precise date of the carving cannot be established. The carving depicts elephants with their mahouts.
14th-century Persian illustration of Abraha on his attempted destruction of the Kaaba, taken from a "Tarikhnama" (history book).
The Kingdom of Aksum also known as the Kingdom of Axum, or the Aksumite Empire, was a kingdom in East Africa and South Arabia from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages. Based in what is now northern Ethiopia and Eritrea, and spanning present-day Djibouti and Sudan, it extended at its height into much of South Arabia during the reign of Kaleb of Axum.
Kingdom of Aksum
An Axumite stela
The Obelisk of Axum
14th century Islamic portrayal of the First Hijrah
