Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/752

 734 UIMILOO HIMYARITES ished that the city had to be repeopled with new colonists, who, being mostly of the Dorian race, rendered it thenceforward a Doric city. After the death of his father, Thrasydaeus was expelled, and then the citizens whom he had driven into exile were allowed to return. In 409 B. C. the second expedition of the Cartha- ginians to Sicily took place, under Hannibal, the son of Gisco and grandson of Harailcar, to whom after a desperate resistance the city suc- cumbed. The greater part of the inhabitants were put to the sword ; 3,000 of those who had been taken prisoners were sacrificed by Hanni- bal to the manes of his grandfather Hamilcar, who had fallen in the great battle above men- tioned, while the city itself was utterly de- stroyed. Himera was never rebuilt, but such of its inhabitants as survived its destruction fled to the neighboring town of Thermae, to which they gave the name of Himera. IIIMILCO, the name of several distinguished Carthaginians, the most eminent of whom were the following: I. A navigator, who lived in the 6th or 5th century B. C., and who was sent on a voyage of discovery northward from Gades at the same time that Hanno was com- missioned to explore and colonize the W. coast of Africa. On his return he is said to have re- ported that the stagnant nature of the sea, the vast mass of seaweed that floated on its sur- face, and the absence of wind, had prevented his progress toward the north. II. A general who commanded, in conjunction with Hannibal the son of Gisco, the third expedition sent by the Carthaginians to Sicily (406 B. C). The latter having been carried off by sickness soon after their arrival, Himilco succeeded to the command. Having reduced Agrigentum and destroyed several of the Greek cities, he con- cluded an advantageous peace with Dionysius the Elder, tyrant of Syracuse, and returned to Africa. When Dionysius declared war against Carthage, and attacked her dominions in Sicily, Himilco was appointed to defend them. Be- ing worsted, he retired from Sicily, but in the following spring returned with a powerful force, and after recovering the greater part of the lost territory advanced against Syracuse. This enterprise failed, and Himilco concluded an ignominious peace, returned to Carthage, and committed suicide by starvation. HIMMEL, Friedrieh Heinrieh, a German com- poser, born at Treuenbrietzen, Prussia, Nov. 20, 1765, died in Berlin, June 8, 1814. He early attracted the notice of Frederick Wil- liam II., who afforded him the means of pur- suing his musical studies, and afterward ap- pointed him royal chapelmaster. His chief opera was Semiramide, first performed in Na- ples in 1795. This work was said to contain the material of ten ordinary operas. He com- posed many cantatas and occasional pieces, and an immense number of pianoforte compo- sitions and songs. HIMYARITES, and Himyarltie Language and Inscriptions* Ethnologically and linguistically considered, the term Himyarittc denotes the whole group of races and languages from the basin of the Euphrates, across South Arabia, to Abyssinia. The Himyarites are mentioned in classical literature under the name of Ho- merites. They traced their origin to Himyar, grandson of Saba and descendant of Joktan or Kahtan, one of the mythical ancestors of the Arabs. According to their traditions, they became the dominant race in Yemen about 3,000 years before the time of Mohammed. Abulfeda, in his "Short History of the Hu- man Race," assigns to their dynasty a duration of 2,020 years. The date of the destruction of the first Adite empire, which apparently in- cluded the whole of Arabia Felix, and not alone Yemen proper, has been fixed by Caussin de Perceval at 18 centuries B. C. It is supposed that it was caused by the invasion of the Jok- tanite tribes. But the Cushites, or the first Adites, soon recovered the supremacy, and for many centuries the Joktanites continued in subjection, but increased in strength, and finally usurped the dominion. During the first cen- turies of the second Adite empire Yemen was temporarily subjugated by the Egyptians, who called it the land of Pun. They seem to have lost it again at the close of the 18th dynasty; but Rameses II. regained it, and it was not finally lost till the time of the 20th dynasty. The Joktanites under Yarub gained the politi- cal supremacy, according to Caussin de Perce- val, at the beginning of -the 8th century B. C. Ibn Khaldun, a comparatively trustworthy Arab historian, says: "Lokman and his chil- dren (the new Adite empire) preserved the royalty for 1,000 years. The power of this family lasted till it was overthrown by Yarub, son of Kahtan. Conquered by him, the Adites took refuge in the mountains of Hadramaut, and finally entirely disappeared." Yashjob, Yarub's son, was a feeble prince, who allowed the chiefs of the various provinces of his states to make themselves independent; this is the origin of the separate kingdoms of Hadramaut and Mahrah, which from that time always had their own rulers, sometimes independent, and sometimes vassals of Yemen. Yashjob's son, Abd Shems, surnamed Sheba, recovered the power, and reunited under his government all the petty dynasties of Arabia Felix. Abul- feda ascribes to him the construction of the famous dike of Mareb, the rupture of which a short time after the Christian era was one of the great events of the ancient history of Yemen. The more popular tradition, however, which attributes it to Lokman and the second Adites, is considered more probable. Its ruins remain to our day. Abd Shems had several children, among them Himyar and Kahlan, from whom were descended the greater part of the Yemenite tribes at the time of the rise of Islamism. The Himyarites seem to have settled in the towns, while the Kahlanites in- habited the country and the deserts of Yemen. Himyar was only an appellation signifying