Dhu Nuwas - Sources and Names

Sources and Names

Dhū Nuwās is mentioned in a number of contemporary Old South Arabian, Syriac and Byzantine sources. Many later Jewish, Christian (such as the Book of the Ḥimyarites and the Kebra Negast) and Islamic sources (such as the Quran 85:4) also refer to his war with the Axumites. In the Old South Arabian inscriptions his name appears as Yūsuf As'ar Yath'ar ( Y(w)s_1f 's_{1'r Yṯ'r} ), and the Islamic tradition knows him better as Dhū Nuwās ( ذو نواس ). The Christian sources use various names, thus in the letter of his contemporary Simon of Beth Arsham he is called Dimnon; and in the later Book of the Ḥimyarites his name is Mashrūq.