G. W. Bowersock is a historian of late antiquity, and this Oxford University Press book is his standard short account in English of the Himyarite and Aksumite conflict of the 520s CE, a war fought partly over religious persecution of Christians in South Arabia. Its strength is that Bowersock draws directly on the Sabaic inscriptions from South Arabia alongside the Syriac and Greek narrative sources, combining archaeological epigraphy with literary history in one account, which is why it remains the reference English-language treatment of this specific conflict. Its limit is that it is a short account focused on this one conflict, so a claim about the broader religious landscape of pre-Islamic South Arabia beyond this episode needs a source with wider scope.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier1
Published by Oxford University Press as G. W. Bowersock's academic history of the Red Sea wars on the eve of Islam, peer reviewed university press scholarship. NotesThe standard short account in English of the Himyarite and Aksumite conflict of the 520s, using the Sabaic inscriptions alongside the Syriac and Greek narratives.
Citation
AuthorG. W. Bowersock
PublisherOxford University Press
Publication Year2013
Source Typeacademic monograph
Claims Backed By This Source (42 claims)
This source backs 42 claims across the atlas. As facts: 28 well-attested, 1 scholarly debate, 3 open question. As cited relationships: 4 holds, 1 connected. Plus 5 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Open Questions, 17 claims: 13 well-attested, 1 holds, 1 connected, 2 general references.
- Historical Figures, 8 claims: 2 well-attested, 1 scholarly debate, 3 open question, 1 holds, 1 general references.
- Sources, 7 claims: 7 well-attested.
- Bodies of Water, 5 claims: 2 well-attested, 2 holds, 1 general references.
- Articles, 3 claims: 3 well-attested.
- Figures, 2 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 general references.
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.