Share 

The history of the Tobiads Dynasty has both fascinated and challenged historians and archeologists. It spans over a thousand years, covering what one might call the entire "Biblical Period". The first we hear of this dynasty is the levite-judge Tobiyah sent by the Judean king Jehoshaphat around 849 BCE. Next we learn of the Tobiad tax-collectors in the Lachish ostraca, often dated immediately prior to the Babylonian captivity around 586 BCE. Much of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah concern Tobias the Ammonite, covering the years 538-413 BCE. There is mention of the governors of the Trans-Euphrates in the Elephantine papyri, a generation later, 495-399 BCE. In the Zenon papyri, the Tobiads are influential Jewish landowners in Transjordan, before 260 BCE. Josephus documents the helenizing activities of the Tobiads immediately prior to the Maccabean revolt 205-167 BCE, information echoed by the author of 2 Maccabees. Josephus leaves open a possible connection between the Tobiads and the Herodians. Lastly we read of the Jewish prince "Tobiyah" described by Moses of Chorene (circa 410-490 CE) who is said to have introduced Thaddæus, and thus Christianity, to Edessa (in modern day Şanliurfa, Turkey). This Tobiyah is said to be the ancestor of the Armenian-Georgian royal family of Bagratuni and by some accounts the basis of their claim to "descent from King David".

There has been significant research concerning the Tobiads Dynasty on the basis of textual evidence and archaeological excavations at their palace in ‘Iraq al-Amir, Jordan. We know that the Tobiads played a prominent part in the process of hellenization of the Jewish people. They supported first the Ptolemic and later the Seleucid regimes in their control over the Land of Israel. Most research has focused on the Hellenistic period, but since the discovery of the Lachish ostraca and the Elephantine papyri, a great deal of attention has also been made on the post-exilic period of the Jewish people. With the successful Maccabean revolt however, almost all mention of the Tobiads ceases, and likewise the attention of scholars.

Moses of Chorene, however, traces a glorious continuation of the dynasty in the form of the royal family of Bagratuni. This is not the only royal family which claimed a connection to the Tobiads, however. We wish to explore the proposed relationship between the Tobiads and the Tubba' kings of Himyar, a dynasty which controlled much of Arabia during late antiquity. The purpose of this paper is to understand who the Tobiads were, what was the extent of their kingdom, and the nature of their religion. By documenting the transition of Tobiads from Syria to the Tubba's of southern Arabia, we hope to provide a key to understanding the context, indentity and religious system of the residents of Medina on the eve of Islam.