Ghassanids

"Ghassan" redirects here. For people with the given name Ghassan, see Ghassan (given name).

The Ghassanids (Arabic: Template:Rtl-lang) were a group of South Arabian Christian tribes that emigrated in the early 3rd century from Yemen to the Hauran in southern Syria, Jordan and the Holy Land where they intermarried with Hellenized Roman settlers and Greek-speaking Early Christian communities. The term Ghassan itself refers to the kingdom of the Ghassanids.

Migration from Yemen 3rd Century AD

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 of the Kahlan branch of Qahtani tribes.

Settling Syria

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 Greco-Romans. Modern Syrians are a mix of these three peoples.

The Ghassanid Kingdom in the Roman era

The Romans found a powerful ally in the new coming Arabs of Southern Syria. The Ghassanids were the buffer zone against the other Bedouins penetrating Roman territory. 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, Mount Hermon (Lebanon), and Palestine, and its authority extended via tribal alliances with other Azdi tribes all the way to the northern Hijaz as far south as Yathrib (Medina).

Phillip the Arab

Precise Arab ancestry of the Roman Emperor Philip the Arab is not known, since all sources give only the Latin names of him and his family members. However, having originated from the general area in which the Ghassanids settled, many historians consider he may have been of that origin. His being mentioned either as a Christian himself or at least tolerant of Christians would fit with his originating from a people which was in the process of Christianization at the time of his rule.

The Ghassanid kingdom in the Byzantine era

Near East in 565 AD, showing the Ghassanids and their neighbors.

The Byzantine Empire was focused more on the East and a long war with the Persians was always their main concern. The Ghassanids maintained their rule as the 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 I. 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 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.

The Ghassanids and Islam

The Ghassanids remained a Byzantine vassal state until its rulers were overthrown by the Muslims in the 7th century, following the Battle of Yarmuk in 636 AD. 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.

Jabalah ibn-al-Aiham ordeal with Islam

There are different opinions why Jabalah and his followers didn't convert to Islam. All the opinions go along the general idea that the Ghassanids were not interested yet in giving up their status as the lords and nobility of Syria below the famous story of Jabalah return to the Byzantines land.

Jabalah ibn-al-Aiham sided with the Ansar (Azdi Muslims from Medina) saying, "You are our brethren and the sons of our fathers" and professed Islam. After the arrival of 'Umar ibn-al-Khattab in Syria, year 17 (636AD), Jabalah had a dispute with one of the Muzainah (Non Arab Caste) and knocked out his eve. 'Umar ordered that he be punished, upon which Jabalah said, "Is his eye like mine? Never, by Allah, shall I abide in a town where I am under authority." He then apostatized and went to the land of the Greeks (the Byzantines). This Jabalah was the king of Ghassan and the successor of al-Harith ibn-abi-Shimr.

The Ghassanids After Jabalah

In the Levant

Most of the Ghassanids remained Christians and stayed in the Levant.

Many Christian families of Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and Palestine trace their roots to the Ghassanid dynasty, including the Abou Haidar, Al-Khazen, Ayoub, Ammari, Barakat, Bayouth, Farhat, Farhoud, Gharios, Ghanem ,Ghanma, Ghulmiyyah, Hamra, Howayek, Hadadin, Ishaq, Jabara (Jebara or Gebara, Gibara), Kandil, Khazens, Lahd, Maalouf, Madi, Makhlouf, Matar, Moghabghab, Mokdad, Nayfeh, Nimri, Obeid, Oweis, Rached, Rahhal, Razook, Saab, Saah, Saliba, Sheiks Chemor, Sweidan, Theeba and Tyan. The religious backgrounds of these families tend to be either Greek Orthodox or Greek Catholic and some are Maronite Catholic, despite the Ghassanids' initial affiliation to Non-Chalcedonian Syriac Orthodox Christianity. They are identified by being Christian families, with South Arabian names.

The Palestinian city of Ramallah was a majority Christian city until the 1960's when many Palestinian Arab Christians immigrated to America and Canada. Most of the Arab Christian families of Ramallah are linked to the Ghassanid Arab tribe known as the Hadadins.

In the Byzantine empire

Jabalah and about 30,000 Ghassanids left Syria North and settled the new Byzantine borders they were never able to build another kingdom. However, they maintained a high status within the Byzantine empire and even produced the Nikephoros Byzantine dynasty that ruled the Byzantine empire 802AD-813AD.

Nikephoros was credited for his efforts to revive the greatness of the Byzantine empire in the 9th century. He was the first Byzantine emperor to refuse paying the Tribute to the Caliph in Baghdad. However, he was betrayed by his own officers and later defeated in Phrygia, forcing him to make peace and focus on the Balkans; during his era he settled Byzantine loyal tribes from Anatolia in what is today northern Greece to prevent Bulgar incursions.

In Alexanderia and Malta

After the council of Nicea a small group of Ghassanids settled Alexanderia. Three centuries later a bigger Ghassanid settlement was present in Alexanderia. This group spread to Northern Egypt and Malta prodcuing the Schebbara's (Gebara) Maltese nobility that sold the peninsula named after them. The capital Valleta will be buit on the Xiberras peninsula in the 16th century.

In the rest of the World

Ghassanid Christian families are found in Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. Most native Christians in these countries are Ghassanid Christians. Many have since emigrated to the Americas, Europe and the rest of the world due to persecution during the Ottoman period in the 19th century and following the Lebanese civil war.

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)

"Ghassan" as a first name

Arab Nationalism, seeking to unite all Arabs regardless of their religious affiliation, took up the memory of the Ghassanids as part of its historic heritage. "Ghassan" is currently used as an Arab first name, attested among Muslims as well as Christians - a tribute to the lasting impression made by the Ghassanids' valour, even among their foes. Present-day use of the name does not necessarily imply that the bearer claims a Ghassanid descent (see Ghassan (disambiguation)).

References

• Aramco world article on Ghassanids
• Britannica entry on Ghassanids
• The History of Ghassanids from the Sabean Kingdom
• Ghannoum family history of Ghassanids
• Small entry on Ghassanids by xmission

Sources

• Bosra of the Ghassanids in the Catholic Encyclopedia [1]
• Almaqhafi, Awwad: Qabayl Wa Biton Al-Arab
• Almsaodi, Abdulaziz; Tarikh Qabayl Al-Arab
• Zahran, Yasmine; Ghassan Resurrected; Stacey International Publishers, 2007.