ABSTRACT
From the fourth century c.e. onward, the prosperous Jewish communities of Syria (Tyre, Apamea, Antioch, Palmyra) encountered an imperial legislation that progressively limited their rights. The increasing aggressiveness of bishops, who considered Judaism too attractive for Christians, forced Jews to greater public discretion from the fifth century onward. Outside of the Byzantine Empire, ancient Jewish communities existed in the northern oases of Arabia. Judaism triumphed in the kingdom of Himyar between the end of the fourth and the beginning of the sixth century, when the monarchy adopted monotheism as its preferred religion and led the fight against Christianity, supported by the king of Aksum.
