Kaleb of Axum

Timeline

1. c. 514–524Aksum · Ethiopian HighlandsAfter acceding to the throne, Kaleb became the supreme ruler (negus) of the Aksumite Empire, actively maintaining religious and diplomatic ties with the Byzantine Empire and promoting the spread of Miaphysite Christianity within the empire. His kingship was recognized by Byzantine Emperor Justin I, and the two formed a strategic alliance to counterbalance Sasanian Persia.
2. c. 525–527Himyarite Kingdom · South ArabiaThe Himyarite king Yūsuf Asʾar Yathʾar carried out a large-scale massacre of the Christians of Najran, causing international outrage. With Byzantine support, Kaleb personally led a combined land and sea force across the Red Sea, routed and killed Yūsuf, ending the Judaized Himyarite dynasty, and installed the Christian Abraha as governor of Yemen, bringing the Aksumite Empire to its greatest territorial extent.
3. c. 535–540Aksum · Ethiopian HighlandsAccording to Ethiopian Orthodox tradition, in his later years Kaleb sent his crown to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, abdicated, became a monk, and spent the rest of his life in a monastery near Aksum. He is listed as an Orthodox saint, with his feast day on 17 Meskerem in the Ethiopian calendar (around 27 October in the Gregorian calendar).