Page:Early Christianity in Arabia.djvu/17

Rh literature was universally encouraged and patronised by the munificence of the great and the study of eloquence and philosophy was ardently prosecuted.

The Arabs of the times of ignorance, as the Moslem term the ages which preceded Muhammed, were not less celebrated for their skill in astronomy, astrology, and other sciences, than their descendants in the days of Islam. The religion of the Hamyarites resembled that of the idolatrous nations who surrounded them, and their devotions were addressed