 These annual events gave the tribes a sense of common identity and made Makkah an important focus for the peninsula.The "Year of the Elephant" is the name in Islamic history for the year approximately equating to 570 CE, when, according to Islamic sources such as Ibn Ishaq, Abraha descended upon Makkah, riding an elephant, with a large army after building a cathedral at San'aa, named "al-Qullays" in honor of the Negus of Axum.It gained widespread fame, even gaining attention from the Byzantine Empire.