A report states that he hailed from Ḥimyar while his mother was Roman (1), and that he was called “the Philosopher’s Son” on account of his keen intellect.

One of the Ḥimyarites then recited boastful verses (2) in pride that Dhu l-Qarnayn was among his forebears:

[al-Kāmil metre]
“Indeed, Dhu l-Qarnayn—my grandsire—was a Muslim king,
before whom other kings bowed and rallied.
He reached the furthest east and west in search
of every means ordained by a guiding Sage.
He saw the sun set, as it was dipping,
in a spring turbid and thick with dark mud (3).
After him Bilqīs, my aunt, took the throne,
ruling them all—until the hoopoe came to her (4).”

Al-Suhaylī said: It has been claimed that his name was Marzbān ibn Marḏabah (5); Ibn Hishām records this. Elsewhere, Ibn Hishām writes that his name was al-Ṣaʿb ibn Dhī Marāthid, the first of the Tubbaʿ kings and the one who judged in favor of Abraham (6) regarding the well of Beersheba.

Another view identifies him as Afrīdūn ibn Athfyān, the slayer of al-Ḍaḥḥāk. In the sermon of Quss it is said: “O people of Iyād son of al-Ṣaʿb, Dhu l-Qarnayn—ruler of the two horizons, subjugator of jinn and mankind, who lived two thousand years—yet all of that passed like the blink of an eye” (7). Ibn Hishām then quoted these lines from Labīd (8):

[al-Kāmil metre]
“Al-Ṣaʿb, the Two-Horned One, now lies at rest—
O Umaym!—enshrined in his grave at al-Hanū (9).”

Al-Dāraqutnī and Ibn Mākūlā reported that his name was Hermes. It is also said he was Harwīs ibn Qayṭūn ibn Rūmī ibn Linṭā ibn Kashlūkhīn ibn Yūnān (10) ibn Yāfith ibn Nūḥ—and Allah knows best.