ABRAHA

also spelled Abreha flourished 6th century AD Ethiopian Christian viceroy of Yemen in southern Arabia. Abraha was viceroy of the principality of Saba' in Yemen for the (Christian) emperors of Ethiopia. A zealous Christian himself, he is said to have built a great church at San'a' and to have repaired the principal irrigation dam at the Sabaean capital of Ma'rib. Abraha is chiefly famous, however, for the military expedition that he led northward against the city of Mecca in the same year as Muhammad's birth, about 570. Though it was supported by elephants, the expedition failed, and Muslims believe that Mecca escaped capture only through a miracle. Abraha's rule ended in 575 when the Persian Sasanians invaded the region and brought the Sabaean kingdom to an end.