Ghassanids

The Ghassanids were devout Christians (Shahîd, Irfan. Byzantium And The Arabs In The Sixth Century (BASIC) II, Part 2. The Ghassanid Identity. p.338). Of all the Arab groups before the rise of Islam who converted to that faith, it was the Ghassanids whose lives were most fully permeated by Christianity. The importance of Christianity to them was reflected in their services to it. They revived Monophysitism around a.d. 540. In the latter part of the 530s, the Monophysite movement went through a crisis unleashed by Patriarch Ephraim of Antioch (BASIC I, Part 2. Arethas and the Consecrations of 542/43: Jacob and Theodore. p.755). The issue was that of the consecration of bishops for the Monophysite church after their ranks had been depleted by exile and persecution. By meeting Ephraim and persuading Empress Theodora to help in the consecration of two bishops for the church, Jacob et Theodore, Arethas was instrumental in re-establishing the Monophysite hierarchy and preserving it from extinction. John of Ephesus described the situation: “then the glorious Hereth Bar Gabala, the great king of the Saracens, with many others asked the Christ-loving queen Theodora to give orders that two or three bishops might immediately be instituted by the orthodox in Syria” (Life of James and Theodore, p.153-54).

They protected the Holy Land. Their Christian Arab soldiers provided security for Christian holy sites and Christian pilgrims in Palestine and protected the holy land from Lakhmid and nomad raids (BASIC II, Part 2. Ghassanid Federate Society: Christianity. p.63-64). Ghassanid troops were involved in guarding the holy sites in Palestine and the pilgrims’ routes, which thus provided the Ghassanid kings with huge military resources and strategic influence over Palestine (Masalha, Nur. Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History. p.142). They erected churches and monasteries and their king presided over church councils [1]. Several churches were built by the Ghassanids: ordinary churches; an episcopal church; martyria (built over relics); churches that served as pilgrimage centres; and votive churches (BASIC II, Part 2. The Ghassanid Sedentary Presence. p.268).

1. They spread Christianity. With the episcopal appointment, thanks to Arethas, of Jacob Baradeus, 89 bishops and 100,000 priests were ordained, allowing the Syrian Church to obtain virtual independence from Constantinople and the Monophysite movement to spread ( Ball, Warwick. Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire. p.103-105). Ghassanid missionary activity extended deep into Arabia as well as across the Red Sea to Ethiopia. Their social life was so profoundly suffused by their faith that poets, such as Al-Nabigha, from distant parts of the Arabian Peninsula, noted its effect on their character. Al-Nabigha also noted in his Diwan that they had an Arabic version of the gospel (The Monastery as a Cultural Center. p.291).
2. Architecture
3. The Ghassanids were great patrons of architecture. Their activity found expression in the erection of fortresses, churches, monasteries, domiciles, palaces, hunting estates, reception halls and commercial centres. In Arabic sources, the Ghassanids are presented as lovers of building who actively contributed to the artistic life of Oriens. Inheriting the architectural styles of their Tanukhid and Salihid Arab predecessors, the Ghassanids developed an architecture characterized by the construction of tall buildings, wall mosaics, domes, and the important use of marble (Architecture and Decorative Art. p.277). Authors like Isfahani or Yaqut described the Ghassanid churches as beautiful, tall, decorated with mosaics, having domes and golden ceilings (Abu Al-Faraj Al-Isfahani. Kitab Al-Diyarat, ed. J. al-ʿAtiyya (London, 1991). 163–64, Yaqut. Mu’jam. s.v. Matirun). In several of his poems, Hassan Ibn Thabit repeatedly mentions high Ghassanid buildings and marble mansions ( Diwan of Hassan: I, 106, verse 10).

For the Ghassanids, the dome would have reminded them of the qubba, a conical tentlike structure used by the Arabs on important occasions, thus suggesting that the form of Ghassanid churches may have reflected their background as Arabs. The Ghassanids also gave great importance to gardens. In a prose composition, Al-Nabigha refers to the beauty of the Ghassanid’s gardens and says that the Ghassanid king had the most attractive and appealing of gardens (Abu Al-Faraj Al-Isfahani. Al-Aghana (Beirut, 1958). XV, 124).

Gardens were not only attached to secular structures, they were also an essential part of Ghassanid monasteries: in choosing where to build a monastery, they looked for sites that abounded in trees, gardens (riyad), and streamlets.

1. Poetry
2. Oriens witnessed a flowering of poetry under the Ghassanids, who were its patrons and promoters. The Ghassanid court was a center of attraction to poets, who converged on it in great numbers from all parts of the Arabian Peninsula (Poetry. p.306).
3. As part of their peninsular heritage and being the central facet of their cultural life, poetry was encouraged and practiced in all aspects of Ghassanid life. Poetry had several functions, including a social function, sometimes celebrating various aspects of everyday life. Many odes must have been composed on occasions such as births, baptisms, weddings, and deaths. Being an important art in Arab culture, poetry was a source of rivalry between the Lakhmid court and the Ghassanid court. This rivalry found expression in a special genre of poetry called munafarat, strife poems: a poet would laud one of the two royal houses in response to another poet’s praise of the other, usually employing the same meter and rhyme.

1. Some fourteen poets wended their way to the Ghassanid court [14]. Five of them (Imru’ al-Qays, Al-Nabigha, ‘Amr ibn Kulthum, Labid, and Al-A’sha) are among the foremost poets of Arabia; their poems were included in the Suspended Odes of pre-Islamic poetry.
2. Monastery

The Ghassanids were enthusiastic Christians who sponsored monastic institutions. In the Ghassanid city, the monastery was the most important venue of cultural life. Of all the Arab groups of pre-Islamic times whose names are associated with monasteries and monasticism, the Ghassanids were the most outstanding. Along with the Lakhmids of Al-Hira and the Balhariths of Najran, they were the patrons and promoters of Arab Christianity before the rise of Islam (Part 1. Ghassanid Religious Architecture: The Churches and the Monasteries. p.143-213). The Ghassanids had an active cultural life. They attached great importance on the educational function of the monasteries and even tried to surpass their Lakhmid rivals in the cultural work of the monks.

Several monasteries were thus built or sponsored by the Ghassanids, or were associated with them, such as Dayr Bosra in Provincia Arabia, Dayr Al-Matirun in Phoenicia Libanensis, Dayr Al-Naqira in Syria Prima, Dayr Ghassan in Palaestina Prima. The Ghassanid monasteries were cultural centers where the monks were engaged in intellectual and literary pursuits. Like the Ghassanid kings, the Arab monks of these monasteries were thus heavily involved in theological disputes and related matters: they would have reflected upon them, discussed them in the quiet of their monasteries, and written about them.

Strongly aware of their Arab identity, Arabic was used in whatever pursuits they undertook. The Ghassanid monks thus participated in the development of an Arab Monophysite literature.

1. Horse Culture
2. Much of Ghassanid life revolved around the horse. Their cavalry always performed well in battles against the Persians, notably at Daras in 530 and Callinicum in 531 (Part 2. The Horse. p.230). From their Arab origin and from their experience in Oriens, the Ghassanids inherited expertise regarding the horse. The royal stables were thus one of the most important structures in the Ghassanid townscape.

The horse was so important in the Ghassanid culture that riders were sometimes identified by the name of their horse. The Ghassanids undoubtedly had their horse parades, a testimony of their attachment and admiration for the horse.

1. Women
2. Women always played a significant role in Arab history. Genealogical descent through the mother was a distinctive feature of Arab Society. Matronymics such as Ibn Mariya, Ibn Hind, and Ibn Salma have survived in the Ghassanid onomasticon (Part 2. The Women of Ghassan. p.81). The fact that they appear as appellations of Ghassanid kings, sometimes even without the king’s personal name, clearly implies that the Ghassanid queen mothers were strong and influential personalities in the history of the dynasty. The influence of Ghassanid queens and princesses in Oriens was a continuation of that of their predecessors in the previous four centuries. Memories of Mavia were certainly alive in the sixth century. In addition, Mavia was the model of the Christian warrior queen, and her name continued to be found among Christian Arabs in the sixth century. During military operations, Ghassanid women accompanied their men. They encouraged them, provided them with food, and cared for the wounded. In peacetime Ghassanid women played an even more important role.

The memory of Ghassanid women has survived among Arabs through the battle to which one of them, Halima, a Ghassanid princess, gave her name: the battle of Chalcis, Yawm Halima. Halima’s role was to perfume the Ghassanid warriors and clothe them in their coats of mail, acts that promoted the Ghassanid victory.