Downfall of the Ghassan

Last updated: May 23rd, 2025 at 12:17 pm · Est. Reading Time: 3 minutes

The Ghassans (Ghassanids) ceased to be main phylarchs of Byzantine Rome by fourth quarter of sixth century CE.

The Background

Despite having them as allies, the Byzantine looked down upon the Arabs.  Whenever a contemporary Byzantine writer mentions character of an Arab, he expresses contempt for him.  Theophylact Simocatta notes, “The Saracen tribe is known to be most unreliable and fickle, their mind is not steadfast and their judgement is not firmly grounded in prudence.”¹  Similarly, Roman ambassador John states in 566 CE, “Whenever I mention Saracens, just consider Persians – the uncouthness and untrustworthiness of the nation.”²

The Events

First hint of Byzantine Ghassan friction emerged when the Byzantine Emperor Tiberuius II (r. 578 – 582 CE) arrested Ghassan Phylarch Mundhir bin Harith (Mundhir bin Ḥārith مَنذِر بِن حارِث, Flavios of Byzantine sources) on the ground that he was a Monophysite Christian and deported him to Sicily.  The arrest resulted in widespread unrest among the Arab population of Syria.  Tiberius himself died in 582 CE and was succeeded by Maurice (r. 582 -602 CE).  In 584 CE the new emperor met with the rebellious son of Mundhir, Nu’man bin Mundhir (not to be confused with Nu’man III bin Mundhir IV, the Lakhmid kinglet).  Maurice showed his willingness to recall Mundhir, but only on condition that Nu’man accepted Chalcedonian Christianity and campaigned with the Byzantine forces against the Sasanians.   The phylarch refused, and he too was arrested and sent to join his father, Mundhir, in exile in Sicily.  Maurice then changed the Byzantine policy towards the Arabs that was being followed since times of Justinian I.  He let the main privileged phylarchate under Ghassans degenerate and the Syrian Arabs got divided into fifteen phylarchates.³

The Real Reason Behind the Fallout

The arrest of Mundhir bin Harith was on the grounds that he was a Monophysite Christian, which was not the official religion of Byzantine Rome.  This was the reason given to him at that time.  It is, however, unlikely that only this reason resulted in his arrest and downfall.  Byzantine kings knew very well for the last eighty years that the Ghassans were Monphysite Christians.  The arrest came in the backdrop of failed Byzantine campaign of 580 CE against the Iranians.  The Byzantine suspected treachery on the part of the Ghassans during the campaign.  This appears to be the real reason.  Arrest on basis of religious differences was simply an excuse.

Aftermath

Probably the Ghassans worked out a modus vivendi. They did not change their religion but the Byzantine restored them to their payroll.  Thyophylact Simocatta shows two of them participating in Byzantine-Sasanian war from the Byzantine side in 586 CE.⁴ Yet they never gained the top position in hierarchy of Arab phylarchs of Syria, which they previously enjoyed.  Multiple poems of Hassan bin Thabit, their panegyrist, are about their participation in the Last War of Antiquity from the Byzantine side.⁵  The poems don’t portray them as the most needed Arab troops in the war.  Their participation in defence of Byzantine borders against the Muslim invasions in 630 CE, again, was half hearted.⁶

Further Reading 

Irfan Shahīd. Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century Washington: Dumbarton Oaks, 2002.

https://historyofislam.org/pre-islamic-arab-politics

Endnotes

1. Theophylact Simocatta. The history of Theophylact Simocatta: An English Translation with Introduction, trans. Michael Whitby and Mary Whitby, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986), 135.
2. Menander (Protector). The History of Menander the Guardsman, ed. and trans. R. C. Blockley, (Liverpool: Francis Cairns, 1985), 101, (fragment 9.1, lines 67 – 69).
3. For these historic events see: John of Ephesus. Ecclesiastical History: Third part, trans. Payne Smith, (Oxford: University Press, 1860), 236 – 243.; Michael the Syrian. Chronique de Michel le Syrien, ed. and trans. J.-B. Chabot, (Paris, 1899-24), II, 372.
4. Theophylact Simocatta. The history of Theophylact Simocatta: An English Translation with Introduction, trans. Michael Whitby and Mary Whitby, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986), 45.; Irfan Shahīd, Byzantium and The Arabs in The Sixth Century, Vol. 1, part 1 (Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oak, 1995), 550
5. Hassan bin Thabit, Diwan of Hassan ibn Thabit, ed. W. N. ‘Arafat, Gibb Memorial Series (London, 1971), I, 307 – 9. The relevant verses 8 – 15 AND I, P 624 – 426.  AND I, P 316).
6. Ya’qūbī, Ibn Wāḍiḥ al-, The Works of Ibn Wāḍīḥ al-Ya’qūbī: An English Translation, Eds. and Trans. Matthew S. Gordon, Chase F. Robinson, Everett K. Rowson and Michael Fishbein, (Leiden: Brill, 2018),767.