doubt, of the problems concerning the Bible’s Persian context, and he made a
point of telling his hosts that the tribes had no part in an episode that took place
within it. Another nice trick was retelling the Midrash about the offspring of
Moses and the Levites who refused to sing for Zion in Babylonian captivity and
were taken to Sambatyon.^22 The quick reworking of traditions made Eldad look
authentic in the eyes of the Qayrawani Jews. After all, they themselves held the
same traditions; this man seemed to be confirming each one of them.
Trickster Eldad aside, who was the historical Eldad? This is a question that
tormented historians critically engaged in his story, particularly during the
later nineteenth century.^23 Linguist Shlomo Morag solved a major part of the
mystery through careful scrutiny of Eldad’s Hebrew (language, syntax, pro-
nunciations) and specific words that he used during his exchanges with his
audience. Morag was able to demonstrate that Eldad “certainly belonged to a
community of Arabic speaking Jews from southern Arabia.” That is to say,
Eldad was a Yemeni Jew. Morag also found clear traces of Syriac in Eldad’s
speech, a point that prompted him to suggest that Eldad came from the “Jewish
community of Najran, in northern historical Yemen [today’s southwestern
Saudi Arabia].” The Najrani Jewish community had been in close contact
with Syrian Christian monks over several centuries, and the Hebrew spoken
by its members had, in addition to Arabic, a strong Syriac influence and was a
unique dialect. Morag also points out that the Najrani Jews enjoyed a special
status under Islamic rule in Yemen, and “the Muslims generally treated them
with great respect.”^24 This might explain Eldad’s arrogance and the fact that he
dares to tell a story about Israelite military/political power in a Muslim city like
al-Qayrawan.
Najran was the capital of the strong Himyar kingdom, ruled by a dynasty of
Judaized kings, most famously Yu ̄suf Asar Dhu ̄Nuwas (d. 525 CE), its last.
From the early Roman period, Himyar was an active member of a vibrant trade
network connecting Arabia, the Mediterranean, and the African kingdom of
Axum in Ethiopia. It was certainly the most significant polity in Arabia before
the rise of Islam, enough so to be at constant war with both the Ethiopians of
Axum and the Persian Empire. The effective end of this turbulent kingdom
came in 550 CE, when it was conquered by a Parthian army followed by an
Ethiopian invasion in 570. Several decades later, the first Islamic messengers
arrived.^25 Indian Ocean trade networks only grew larger during Islamic times,
and southern Arabia continued to play a significant role in them thanks to its
key location.^26 This would explain Eldad’s great familiarity with Asian and
Indian Ocean trade routes. Eldad himself, it should be recalled, told his hosts
that his adventure began when “crossing the other side of the rivers of”
Ethiopia, which contradicts his basic claim that the tribe of Dan resided
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