Ghassanids

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Ghassanid war banner with the image of St. Sergius

The Ghassanids ( Arabic الغساسنة, DMG al-Ġasāsina or Arabic بنو غسان, DMG Banū Ġassān ) were an Arab tribal association and an important ally of the (Eastern) Romans in late antiquity .

The term “Ghassanids” is not documented at the time, but only appears in later sources (Millar 2010). In current research, Jafnids are increasingly used instead of Ghassanids, since it was this dynasty in particular that gave cohesion to the group later known as the Ghassanids (Fisher 2011). The family of these princes came from southern Arabia; they began migrating north in the 3rd century AD. The Jafnid clan traced its ancestry back to Jafna (Jafna), a son of the famous Himyar king Amr ibn Amir Muzaiqija. They reached the Roman border area probably in the 5th century. Possibly they were or became Monophysite Christians even then . There seems to have been a power struggle with the Salīh, who had previously been the most powerful clan in the Arab-Syrian border area and the closest allies of the Romans and who have now apparently been ousted by the Jafnids.

The first sheikh of the Jafnids to appear by name in the Eastern Roman sources (around 498) is Ǧabala (Djabala, Jabalah; Greek: Gabalas). He invaded Palestine but was defeated by the Romans and made peace with Emperor Anastasius around 502 ; the Jafnids and the Arabs who were dependent on them became contractually bound allies ( foederati or σύμμαχοι) of the Eastern Romans , who in turn committed themselves to regular monetary payments. Ǧabala was appointed phylarchos ("tribal leader") by the emperor and may already be at the head of all Arabs allied with the Romans. According to several researchers, this was the prerequisite for the formation of the “Ghassanids”, which consisted of several tribes, under the leadership of the Jafnids. The rise of the Jafnids took place against the background of the 502 wars that broke out again between Romans and Persians .

Ǧabala's son was al-Ḥāriṯ ibn Ǧabala (Greek: Arethas , 529-569), the most famous Ghassanid prince. After another war broke out between Ostrom and the Persian Sassanids in 526 , Emperor Justinian appointed him "King" ( βασιλεύς ) around 530 . He fought against the Persians and their Arab allies, the Lachmids , and took part in the Battle of Callinicum (Kallinikon) under Belisarius in 531 . The emperor awarded him the high title of patricius for this. In 540 conflicts between Ghassanids and Lachmids triggered another war between Romans and Persians. In 554 the Ghassanids won a major victory over the Lachmids, whose Sheikh Al-Munḏhir fell, allegedly killed by Arethas himself. In terms of church politics, like his successors, he advocated monophysitism , which was tolerated by the emperor for political reasons. His son al-Munḏhir ibn al-Ḥāriṯ (Greek Alamundaros, 569-582) was also militarily successful. In connection with the outbreak of another Roman-Persian war, however, tensions arose between him and the imperial court in 572, so that Justin II is said to have commissioned his murder; but the attack failed. In 575 there was a brief reconciliation between the Romans and the Ghassanids. But after Alamundaros was finally deposed by the Eastern Romans in 582 on suspicion of betrayal of their interests and banished to Sicily , the association began to break up into several principalities. Although the phylarchy of the Ghassanids was restored under Emperor Heraclius (610-641), the Eastern Roman border defense on the Arabian Peninsula was considerably weakened and collapsed after 634 under the onslaught of Muslims . Allegedly some of the Ghassanids defected to the Muslims in the decisive battle at Jarmuk 636; However, a significant number of the Arabs allied with Ostrom seem to have remained loyal to the emperor and left their homeland after the defeat.

King list of the Jafnids

The historicity of the Jafnid princes before the late 5th century is not certain.

  1. Jafnah I. ibn Amr (220-265)
  2. Amr I. ibn Jafnah (265-270)
  3. Tha'labah ibn Amr (270-287)
  4. al-Harith I ibn Thalabah (287-307)
  5. Jabalah I ibn al-Harith I (307-317)
  6. al-Harith II. ibn Jabalah "Ibn Maria" (317–327)
  7. al-Mundhir I. Senior ibn al-Harith II. (327-330) with ...
  8. al-Aiham ibn al-Harith II. (327-330) and ...
  9. al-Mundhir II. Junior ibn al-Harith II. (327-340) and ...
  10. an-Nuʿman I. ibn al-Harith II. (327–342) and ...
  11. Amr II. Ibn al-Harith II. (330–356) and ...
  12. Jabalah II. Ibn al-Harith II. (327-361)
  13. Jafnah II. Ibn al-Mundhir I (361–391) with ...
  14. an-Nuʿman II. ibn al-Mundhir I (361-362)
  15. an-Nuʿman III. ibn Amr ibn al-Mundhir I (391-418)
  16. Jabalah III. ibn an-Nuʿman (418-434)
  17. an-Nuʿman IV. ibn al-Aiham (434–455) with ...
  18. al-Harith III. ibn al-Aiham (434–456) and ...
  19. an-Nuʿman V. ibn al-Harith (434–453)
  20. al-Mundhir II. ibn an-Nuʿman (453–472) with ...
  21. Amr III. ibn an-Nuʿman (453–486) and ...
  22. Hijr ibn an-Nuʿman (453-465)
  23. al-Harith IV. ibn Hidschr (486-512)
  24. Jabalah IV. Ibn al-Harith (512-529)
  25. Al-Amr IV. ibn Machi (529)
  26. al-Harith V ibn Jabalah (529-569)
  27. al-Mundhir III. ibn al-Harith (569-581) with ...
  28. Abu Kirab an-Nuʿman ibn al-Harith (570-582)
  29. an-Nuʿman VI. ibn al-Mundhir (582-583)
  30. al-Harith VI. ibn al-Harith (583)
  31. an-Nuʿman VII. ibn al-Harith Abu Kirab (583–?)
  32. al-Aiham ibn Jabalah (? -614)
  33. al-Mundhir IV. ibn Jabalah (614-?)
  34. Sharahil ibn Jabalah (? –618)
  35. Amr IV. Ibn Jabalah (618–628)
  36. Jabalah V. ibn al-Harith (628-632)
  37. Jabalah VI. ibn al-Aiham (632-638)

literature

  • Greg Fisher: Between Empires. Arabs, Romans and Sasanians in Late Antiquity. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2011, ISBN 978-0-19-959927-1 .
  • Denis Genequand, Christian Robin (ed.): Les Jafnides. Des rois Arabes au service de Byzance. De Boccard, Paris 2015.
  • Wolf Liebeschuetz : Arab Tribesmen and Desert Frontiers in Late Antiquity. In: Journal of Late Antiquity 8, 2015, pp. 62–96 (also reprinted in Wolf Liebeschuetz: East and West in Late Antiquity. Leiden / Boston 2015, pp. 288ff.).
  • Fergus Millar : Rome's 'Arab' Allies in Late Antiquity. In: Henning Börm , Josef Wiesehöfer (eds.): Commutatio et Contentio. Studies in the Late Roman, Sasanian and Early Islamic Near East. In Memory of Zeev Rubin. Wellem-Verlag, Düsseldorf 2010, ISBN 978-3-941820-03-6 , pp. 199-226 ( series history 3).
  • Irfan Shahid: Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century. Vol. 1, Part 1 and Part 2. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington (DC) 1995, ISBN 0-88402-214-5 .
  • Mark Whittow: Rome and the Jafnids. Writing the history of a 6th-century tribal dynasty . In: John Humphrey (Ed.): The Roman and Byzantine Near East . Vol. II. Portsmouth 2002, pp. 207-224.
  • Yasmine Zahran: Ghassan Resurrected. Stacey International Publishers, London 2006, ISBN 1-905299-28-1 .