The Ghassanids were Arab Christians that emigrated in 250 CE from Yemen to the Hauran, in southern Syria. The term Ghassan refers to the kingdom of the Ghassanids, and supposedly means "a spring of water". The Ghassanid emigration has been passed down in the rich oral tradition of southern Syria. It is said that the Ghassanids came from the city of Ma'rib in Yemen. There was a dam in this city, however one year there was so much rain that the dam was carried away by the ensuing flood. Thus the people there had to leave. The inhabitants emigrated seeking to live in less arid lands and became scattered far and wide. The proverb "They were scattered like the people of Saba" refers to that exodus in history. The emigrants were from the southern Arab tribe of Azd. The king Jafna bin ‘Amr emigrated with his family and retinue north and settled in Hauran (south of Damascus) where the Ghassanid state was founded. There it is assumed that the Ghassanids adopted the religion of Christianity from the native Aramaeans and Romans. Modern southern-Syrians are a mix of these three peoples. The Hauran refers to the southern region of modern-day Syria. ... There are three factors which may assist to varying degrees in determining whether someone is considered Arab or not: Political: whether they live in a country which is a member of the Arab League (or, more vaguely, the Arab world); this definition covers more than 300 million people. ... The Azd Tribe is a branch of the Qahtanite Tribe. ... The Hauran refers to the southern region of modern-day Syria. ... Christianity is an Abrahamic religion based on the life, teachings, death by crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth as described in the New Testament. ... The Arameans or Aramaeans (also called Syriacs) were a Semitic, nomadic people who dwelt in Aram-Naharaim or Aram of the two rivers, also known as Mesopotamia a region including modern Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Iran that is mentioned six times in the Hebrew Bible. ... Ancient Rome was a civilization that existed in Europe between 753 BC and its downfall in AD 476. ...

The Ghassanid kingdom was an ally of the Byzantine Empire. More accurately the kings can be described as phylarchs, native rulers of subject frontier states. The capital was at Jabiyah in the Golan Heights. Geographically, it occupied much of Syria, Palestine, Jordan and the northern Hijaz as far south as Yathrib (Medina). It acted as guardian of trade routes, policed Bedouin tribes and was a source of troops for the Byzantine army.The Ghassanid king al-Harith ibn Jabalah (reigned 529-569) supported the Byzantines against Sassanid Persia and was given the title patricius in 529 by the emperor Justinian. Al-Harith was a Monophysite Christian; he helped to revive the Syrian Monophysite (Jacobite) Church and supported Monophysite development despite Orthodox Byzantium regarding it as heretical. Later Byzantine mistrust and persecution of such religious unorthodoxy brought down his successors, al-Mundhir (reigned 569-582) and Nu'man. The Byzantine Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered at its capital in Constantinople. ... The Golan Heights, previously known as the Syrian Heights, are a plateau on the border of Israel, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. ... The term Palestine may refer to: Palestine: A geographical region in the Middle East, centered on Jerusalem. ... Hejaz (also Hijaz, Hedjaz) is a region in the northwest of present-day Saudi Arabia; its main city is Jeddah, but it is probably better-known for the holy city of Mecca. ... This article is about the Saudi city of Medina. ... Bedouin resting at Mount Sinai Bedouin, derived from the Arabic badawi بدوي, a generic name for a desert-dweller, is a term generally applied to Sahara via the Western Desert, Sinai, and Negev to the eastern coast of the Arabian desert. ... For other uses, see number 529. ... Events The Nubian kingdom of Alodia is converted to Christianity, according to John of Ephesus. ... Sassanid Empire at its greatest extent The Sassanid dynasty (also Sassanian) was the name given to the kings of Persia during the era of the second Persian Empire, from 224 until 651, when the last Sassanid shah, Yazdegerd III, lost a 14-year struggle to drive out the Umayyad Caliphate... Persian art is conscious of a great past, and monumental in many respects. ... Justinian may refer to: Justinian I, a Roman Emperor; Justinian, a storeship sent to the convict settlement at New South Wales in 1790. ... Monophysitism (from the Greek monos meaning one and physis meaning nature) is the christological position that Christ has only one nature, as opposed to the Chalcedonian position which holds that Christ has two natures, one divine and one human. ... The Syriac Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Middle East with members spread throughout the world. ... Separate articles treat Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Orthodox Judaism. ... Heresy, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is a theological or religious opinion or doctrine maintained in opposition, or held to be contrary, to the ‘catholic’ or orthodox doctrine of the Christian Church, or, by extension, to that of any church, creed, or religious system, considered as orthodox. ... Events Maurice I succeeds Tiberius II Constantine as Byzantine Emperor. ...

The Ghassanids, who had successfully opposed the Persian allied Lakhmids of al-Hirah (Southern Iraq and Northern Arabia), prospered economically and engaged in much religious and public building; they also patronised the arts and at one time entertained the poets Nabighah adh-Dhubyani and Hassan ibn Thabit at their courts. Ghassan remained a Byzantine vassal state until its rulers were overthrown by the Muslims in the 7th century, following the Battle of Yarmuk. It was at this battle that some 12,000 Ghassanid Arabs defected to the Muslim side due to the Muslims offering to pay their arrears in wages. Their real power, however, had been destroyed by the Persian invasion in 614. The Lakhmids were originally a Bedouin tribal kingdom ruled by the Banu Lakhm, hence the name Lakhmids. ... A puppet state is a state whose government, though notionally of the same culture as the governed people - owes its existence (or other major debt) to being installed, supported or controlled by a more powerful entity, typically a foreign power. ... A Muslim is a believer in or follower of Islam. ... (6th century - 7th century - 8th century - other centuries) Events Islam starts in Arabia, the Quran is written, and Arabs subjugate Syria, Iraq, Persia, Egypt, North Africa and Central Asia to Islam. ... The Battle of the Yarmuk (also spelled Yarmuq or Hieromyax) took place between the Muslim Arabs and the Byzantine Empire in 636. ... Events The Persian Empire under general Shahrbaraz captures and sacks Jerusalem; the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is damaged by fire and the True Cross is captured. ...

Ghassanid Kings

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 Th`alabah(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. al-Nu`man 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. al-Nu`man II ibn al-Mundhir I(361-362)
15. al-Nu`man III ibn 'Amr ibn al-Mundhir I(391-418)
16. Jabalah III ibn al-Nu`man(418-434)
17. al-Nu`man IV ibn al-Aiham(434-455) with...
18. al-Harith III ibn al-Aiham(434-456) and...
19. al-Nu`man V ibn al-Harith(434-453)
20. al-Mundhir II ibn al-Nu`man(453-472) with...
21. `Amr III ibn al-Nu`man(453-486) and...
22. Hijr ibn al-Nu`man(453-465)
23. al-Harith IV ibn Hijr(486-512)
24. Jabalah IV ibn al-Harith(512-529)
25. al-Harith V ibn Jabalah(529-569)
26. al-Mundhir III ibn al-Harith(569-581) with...
27. Abu Kirab al-Nu`man ibn al-Harith(570-582)
28. al-Nu`man VI ibn al-Mundhir(582-583)
29. al-Harith VI ibn al-Harith(583)
30. al-Nu'man VII ibn al-Harith Abu Kirab(583- ?)
31. al-Aiham ibn Jabalah(? -614)
32. al-Mundhir IV ibn Jabalah(614- ?)
33. Sharahil ibn Jabalah(? -618)
34. Amr IV ibn Jabalah(618-628)
35. Jabalah V ibn al-Harith(628-632)
36. Jabalah VI ibn al-Aiham(632-638)

External links

• Aramco world article on Ghassanids (http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198302/the.king.of.ghassan.htm)
• Britannica entry on Ghassanids (http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=9036664)
• Ghannoum family history of Ghassanids (http://www.ghannoum.net/ghassanids.htm)
• Small entry on Ghassanids by xmission (http://www.xmission.com/~bob/lote13/Nations/Ghassanids.html)