Al-Mundhir III ibn al-Harith
Encyclopedia
Al-Mundhir ibn al-Ḥārith, known in Greek
sources as [Flavios] Alamoundaros , was the king of the Ghassanid Arabs
from 569 to c. 581. A son of Al-Harith ibn Jabalah
, he succeeded his father both in the kingship over his tribe and as the chief of the Byzantine Empire
's Arab clients and allies in the East, with the rank of patricius. Despite scoring victories over the rival Persian
-backed Lakhmids
, throughout Mundhir's reign his relations with Byzantium were lukewarm due to his staunch Monophysitism
. This led to a complete breakdown of the alliance in 572, after Mundhir discovered Byzantine plans to assassinate him. Relations were restored in 575 and Mundhir secured from the emperor both recognition of his royal status and a pledge of tolerance towards the Monophysite Church.
In 580/581 Mundhir participated in an unsuccessful campaign against the Persian capital, Ctesiphon
, alongside the Byzantine general (and future emperor) Maurice
. The failure of the campaign led to a quarrel between the two and Maurice accused Mundhir of treason. Byzantine agents captured Mundhir who was brought to Constantinople
but never faced trial. His arrest provoked an uprising among the Ghassanids under Mundhir's son al-Nu'man VI
. When Maurice ascended the throne in 582, Mundhir was exiled to Sicily
although, according to one source, he was allowed to return to his homeland after Maurice's overthrow in 602.
, ruler of the Ghassanid tribe and supreme phylarch
of the Arab foederati
in the eastern frontier of the Byzantine Empire
. Situated on the southern flank of the frontier, the Ghassanids faced the Lakhmids
, another powerful Arab tribe who were in turn the chief client of Byzantium's main antagonist, the Sassanid Persian Empire
. Harith had been raised to the kingship and to the position of supreme phylarch by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I
(r. 527–565), who wished thereby to create a strong counterpart to the Lakhmid rulers. Mundhir had been confirmed as his father's heir as early as 563, during the latter's visit to Constantinople, and succeeded after Harith's death in 569. It appears that Mundhir immediately inherited – uniquely, as they were not hereditary but only acquired progressively – his father's Byzantine titles, i.e. the rank of patricius, the honorific appellation paneuphemos ("most honorable") and the prestigious honorific gentilicum "Flavius
", borne by the Byzantine emperors and consuls
.
Soon after Harith's death, Ghassanid territory was attacked by Qabus ibn al-Mundhir
, the new Lakhmid ruler, who sought to take advantage of the situation. Qabus' forces were repulsed and Mundhir invaded Lakhmid territory in turn, seizing much plunder. As he turned back, the Lakhmids again confronted the Ghassanid army, but suffered a heavy defeat. After this success, Mundhir wrote to the Byzantine emperor Justin II
(r. 565–578) asking for gold for his men. This request reportedly angered Justin, who sent instructions to his local commander to lure the Ghassanid ruler into a trap and have him killed. The letter however fell into Mundhir's hands, who then severed his relations with the Empire and refused to commit his forces during the war with Persia
that began in 572.
As the Byzantines relied upon the Ghassanids to cover the approaches to Syria, Mundhir's withdrawal left a gap in the Byzantine southern flank, which persisted for three years until 575 when Mundhir returned to the Byzantine allegiance through the mediation of the general Justinian
. Immediately after this reconciliation, Mundhir assembled an army in secret and launched an attack against Hirah
, the Lakhmid capital — at the time arguably the Arab world's largest, most prosperous, and culturally vibrant city. The city was sacked, plundered and put to the torch, except for the churches. According to John of Ephesus
, Mundhir donated much of his booty from this expedition to monasteries and the poor. In the same year, Mundhir visited Constantinople
where he was awarded a crown or diadem (stemma), marking the formal renewal of his role as Byzantium's chief Arab client-king.
The war with Persia was interrupted by a three-year truce agreed in 575. In 578 hostilities were renewed, but the sources on the period, fragmentary as they are, do not mention a Ghassanid participation for the first two years. In 580 Mundhir was invited by Emperor Tiberius II (r. 578–582) to visit the capital again. He arrived in the city on 8 February, accompanied by two of his sons, and was lavishly received. On this occasion, among a multitude of other gifts, he was also presented with a royal crown, instead of the simpler coronet or diadem he had been awarded before.
While at Constantinople Mundhir received permission from the emperor to hold a Monophysite church council, which convened on 2 March 580. This council managed, albeit for a brief time, to reconcile the various factions and sects of the Monophysites. It was a goal towards which Mundhir had long striven, as when he intervened in the quarrel between Jacob Baradaeus
and Paul the Black
, the Monophysite patriarch of Antioch
. Before leaving the imperial capital, the Ghassanid ruler also secured a pledge from the emperor that the persecutions of the Monophysites would cease. When he returned home Mundhir discovered that the Lakhmids and Persians had used his absence to raid his domains. Gathering his forces, he fell upon their army, defeated them and returned home laden with booty.
In the summer of 580 or 581 Mundhir went to Circesium
on the river Euphrates
, where he joined the Byzantine forces under the new magister militum
per Orientem
, Maurice
, for a campaign deep into Persian territory. The combined force moved south along the river, accompanied by a fleet of ships. The allied army stormed the fortress of Anatha and moved on until it reached the region of Beth Aramaye in central Mesopotamia
, near the Persian capital of Ctesiphon
. There, however, they found the bridge over the Euphrates destroyed by the Persians. With any possibility of a march to Ctesiphon gone, they were forced to retreat, especially since at the same time the Persian commander Adarmahan
had taken advantage of the Byzantine army's absence and was raiding freely in Osroene
, where he sacked the provincial capital Edessa
. The retreat was arduous for the exhausted army, and Maurice and Mundhir exchanged recriminations for the expedition's failure. Mundhir and Maurice cooperated however in forcing Adarmahan to withdraw, and inflicted a defeat upon him at Callinicum. Upon returning to his lands, Mundhir learned that a combined Persian-Lakhmid force was preparing another attack against the Ghassanid realm. Immediately he set out to meet them, engaged their army and defeated it comprehensively, before going on to capture the enemy camp. It was to be his last victory.
explicitly calls this assertion a lie, for either way the Byzantine intentions must have been plain to the Persian commanders. Both Maurice and Mundhir wrote letters to the emperor Tiberius, who tried to reconcile them. Finally, Maurice himself visited Constantinople, where he was able to persuade Tiberius of Mundhir's guilt. The charge of treason is almost universally dismissed by modern historians. According to Irfan Shahîd, the foremost scholar on pre-Islamic Arabian Christianity and Arab relations with Byzantium, it had probably more to do with Maurice's dislike of the veteran and militarily successful Arab ruler. This was further compounded by the Byzantines' habitual distrust of the "barbarian
" and supposedly innately traitorous Arabs, as well as by Mundhir's staunchly Monophysite faith.
Tiberius ordered Mundhir's arrest, and a trap was laid for the Ghassanid king: summoned to Constantinople to answer charges of treason, Mundhir chose his friend, the curator Magnus, as his advocate. Magnus was probably a Byzantine, hailing from Huwwarin (Evaria). There he had built a church, and he now called on Mundhir to join him and the patriarch of Antioch
Gregory in the dedication ceremony. Mundhir arrived with only a small escort and was arrested by Byzantine troops stationed in secret at the location. He was transported to Constantinople, joined along the way by his wife and three of his children. At the capital, he was treated well by Tiberius, who allowed him a comfortable residence and a subsidy, but denied him an audience. Irfan Shahîd believes that this generous treatment, as well as the fact that he was not brought to trial for his supposed treason, indicate that Tiberius too did not believe the charges, but ordered the arrest chiefly to placate the strong anti-Monophysite faction in the imperial capital.
In the meantime, Mundhir's arrest provoked a revolt led by his son Nu'man
and his remaining three brothers. For two years the Ghassanid army launched raids into the Byzantine provinces from their bases in the desert, even defeating and killing the Byzantine dux
of Arabia in a battle at Bostra. Tiberius reacted by raising a Chalcedonian
brother of Mundhir to the Ghassanid kingship. A large army with Magnus at its head was dispatched east to counter Nu'man and install his uncle as king. The latter was swiftly done, but the new king died after only twenty days. Magnus also had some success in subduing or subverting the allegiance of some minor Arab tribes away from the Ghassanids. Magnus died shortly before Tiberius' own death in August 582, and with Maurice's accession to the throne, Nu'man journeyed to Constantinople to achieve a reconciliation with Byzantium. Instead he too was arrested, tried, and convicted to death, although the sentence was quickly commuted to house arrest.
Mundhir remained in Constantinople until the death of Tiberius and the accession of Maurice, when he was exiled to Sicily
. It is likely that he is to be identified with a man named Alamundarus mentioned by Pope Gregory the Great in 600, indicating that he was still alive at the time. A 13th-century Syriac chronicle further records that after Maurice's overthrow and murder in 602, Mundhir was allowed to return home.
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
sources as [Flavios] Alamoundaros , was the king of the Ghassanid Arabs
Ghassanids
The Ghassanids were a group of South Arabian Christian tribes that emigrated in the early 3rd century from Yemen to Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and the Holy Land....
from 569 to c. 581. A son of Al-Harith ibn Jabalah
Al-Harith ibn Jabalah
Al-Ḥārith ibn Jabalah , [Flavios] Arethas in Greek sources and Khalid ibn Jabalah in later Islamic sources, was a king of the Ghassanids, a pre-Islamic Arab people who lived on the eastern frontier of the Byzantine Empire. The fifth Ghassanid ruler of that name, he reigned from ca...
, he succeeded his father both in the kingship over his tribe and as the chief of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
's Arab clients and allies in the East, with the rank of patricius. Despite scoring victories over the rival Persian
Sassanid Empire
The Sassanid Empire , known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran , was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651...
-backed Lakhmids
Lakhmids
The Lakhmids , Banu Lakhm , Muntherids , were a group of Arab Christians who lived in Southern Iraq, and made al-Hirah their capital in 266. Poets described it as a Paradise on earth, an Arab Poet described the city's pleasant climate and beauty "One day in al-Hirah is better than a year of...
, throughout Mundhir's reign his relations with Byzantium were lukewarm due to his staunch Monophysitism
Monophysitism
Monophysitism , or Monophysiticism, is the Christological position that Jesus Christ has only one nature, his humanity being absorbed by his Deity...
. This led to a complete breakdown of the alliance in 572, after Mundhir discovered Byzantine plans to assassinate him. Relations were restored in 575 and Mundhir secured from the emperor both recognition of his royal status and a pledge of tolerance towards the Monophysite Church.
In 580/581 Mundhir participated in an unsuccessful campaign against the Persian capital, Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon, the imperial capital of the Parthian Arsacids and of the Persian Sassanids, was one of the great cities of ancient Mesopotamia.The ruins of the city are located on the east bank of the Tigris, across the river from the Hellenistic city of Seleucia...
, alongside the Byzantine general (and future emperor) Maurice
Maurice (emperor)
Maurice was Byzantine Emperor from 582 to 602.A prominent general in his youth, Maurice fought with success against the Sassanid Persians...
. The failure of the campaign led to a quarrel between the two and Maurice accused Mundhir of treason. Byzantine agents captured Mundhir who was brought to Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
but never faced trial. His arrest provoked an uprising among the Ghassanids under Mundhir's son al-Nu'man VI
Al-Nu'man VI ibn al-Mundhir
Al-Nu'man ibn al-Mundhir, known in Greek sources as Naamanes was a king of the Ghassanids, a Christian Arab tribe allied to the Byzantine Empire. The eldest son of Al-Mundhir III ibn al-Harith, he rose in revolt with his tribe after his father was treacherously arrested by the Byzantines in 581...
. When Maurice ascended the throne in 582, Mundhir was exiled to Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
although, according to one source, he was allowed to return to his homeland after Maurice's overthrow in 602.
Succession and early career
Mundhir was the son of al-Harith ibn JabalahAl-Harith ibn Jabalah
Al-Ḥārith ibn Jabalah , [Flavios] Arethas in Greek sources and Khalid ibn Jabalah in later Islamic sources, was a king of the Ghassanids, a pre-Islamic Arab people who lived on the eastern frontier of the Byzantine Empire. The fifth Ghassanid ruler of that name, he reigned from ca...
, ruler of the Ghassanid tribe and supreme phylarch
Phylarch
A phylarch is a Greek title meaning "ruler of a tribe", from phyle, "tribe" + archein "to rule".In Classical Athens, a phylarch was the elected commander of the cavalry provided by each of the city's ten tribes....
of the Arab foederati
Foederati
Foederatus is a Latin term whose definition and usage drifted in the time between the early Roman Republic and the end of the Western Roman Empire...
in the eastern frontier of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
. Situated on the southern flank of the frontier, the Ghassanids faced the Lakhmids
Lakhmids
The Lakhmids , Banu Lakhm , Muntherids , were a group of Arab Christians who lived in Southern Iraq, and made al-Hirah their capital in 266. Poets described it as a Paradise on earth, an Arab Poet described the city's pleasant climate and beauty "One day in al-Hirah is better than a year of...
, another powerful Arab tribe who were in turn the chief client of Byzantium's main antagonist, the Sassanid Persian Empire
Sassanid Empire
The Sassanid Empire , known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran , was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651...
. Harith had been raised to the kingship and to the position of supreme phylarch by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I
Justinian I
Justinian I ; , ; 483– 13 or 14 November 565), commonly known as Justinian the Great, was Byzantine Emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the Empire's greatness and reconquer the lost western half of the classical Roman Empire.One of the most important figures of...
(r. 527–565), who wished thereby to create a strong counterpart to the Lakhmid rulers. Mundhir had been confirmed as his father's heir as early as 563, during the latter's visit to Constantinople, and succeeded after Harith's death in 569. It appears that Mundhir immediately inherited – uniquely, as they were not hereditary but only acquired progressively – his father's Byzantine titles, i.e. the rank of patricius, the honorific appellation paneuphemos ("most honorable") and the prestigious honorific gentilicum "Flavius
Flavius
Flavius was a gens of ancient Rome, meaning "blond". The feminine form was Flavia.After the end of the popular Flavian dynasty of emperors, Flavius/Flavia became a praenomen, common especially among royalty: the adoption of this praenomen by Constantine I set a precedent for some imperial...
", borne by the Byzantine emperors and consuls
Roman consul
A consul served in the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic.Each year, two consuls were elected together, to serve for a one-year term. Each consul was given veto power over his colleague and the officials would alternate each month...
.
Soon after Harith's death, Ghassanid territory was attacked by Qabus ibn al-Mundhir
Qabus ibn al-Mundhir
Qabus ibn al-Mundhir was the king of the Lakhmid Arabs in 569–573.His name is an Arabic form of the Persian name "Kavus", adopted under the influence of his Sassanid Persian overlords. He succeeded his brother 'Amr III ibn al-Mundhir...
, the new Lakhmid ruler, who sought to take advantage of the situation. Qabus' forces were repulsed and Mundhir invaded Lakhmid territory in turn, seizing much plunder. As he turned back, the Lakhmids again confronted the Ghassanid army, but suffered a heavy defeat. After this success, Mundhir wrote to the Byzantine emperor Justin II
Justin II
Justin II was Byzantine Emperor from 565 to 578. He was the husband of Sophia, nephew of Justinian I and the late Empress Theodora, and was therefore a member of the Justinian Dynasty. His reign is marked by war with Persia and the loss of the greater part of Italy...
(r. 565–578) asking for gold for his men. This request reportedly angered Justin, who sent instructions to his local commander to lure the Ghassanid ruler into a trap and have him killed. The letter however fell into Mundhir's hands, who then severed his relations with the Empire and refused to commit his forces during the war with Persia
Roman-Persian War of 572–591
This was a war fought between the Sassanid Empire of Persia and the Roman Empire, termed by modern historians as the Byzantine Empire. It was triggered by pro-Roman revolts in areas of the Caucasus under Persian hegemony, although other events contributed to its outbreak...
that began in 572.
Return to Byzantine allegiance
Justinian (general)
Justinian was an East Roman aristocrat and general, and a member of the ruling Justinian dynasty. As a soldier, he had a distinguished career in the Balkans and in the East against Sassanid Persia...
. Immediately after this reconciliation, Mundhir assembled an army in secret and launched an attack against Hirah
Al-Hirah
Al Hīra was an ancient city located south of al-Kufah in south-central Iraq.- Middle Ages:Al Hīra was a significant city in pre-Islamic Arab history. Originally a military encampment, in the 5th and 6th centuries CE it became the capital of the Lakhmids.The Arabs were migrating into the Near East...
, the Lakhmid capital — at the time arguably the Arab world's largest, most prosperous, and culturally vibrant city. The city was sacked, plundered and put to the torch, except for the churches. According to John of Ephesus
John of Ephesus
John of Ephesus was a leader of the non-Chalcedonian Syriac-speaking Church in the sixth century, and one of the earliest and most important of historians who wrote in Syriac.-Life:...
, Mundhir donated much of his booty from this expedition to monasteries and the poor. In the same year, Mundhir visited Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
where he was awarded a crown or diadem (stemma), marking the formal renewal of his role as Byzantium's chief Arab client-king.
The war with Persia was interrupted by a three-year truce agreed in 575. In 578 hostilities were renewed, but the sources on the period, fragmentary as they are, do not mention a Ghassanid participation for the first two years. In 580 Mundhir was invited by Emperor Tiberius II (r. 578–582) to visit the capital again. He arrived in the city on 8 February, accompanied by two of his sons, and was lavishly received. On this occasion, among a multitude of other gifts, he was also presented with a royal crown, instead of the simpler coronet or diadem he had been awarded before.
While at Constantinople Mundhir received permission from the emperor to hold a Monophysite church council, which convened on 2 March 580. This council managed, albeit for a brief time, to reconcile the various factions and sects of the Monophysites. It was a goal towards which Mundhir had long striven, as when he intervened in the quarrel between Jacob Baradaeus
Jacob Baradaeus
Jacob Baradaeus was Bishop of Edessa from 543 until his death. One of the most important figures in the history of the Syriac Orthodox Church, and the Oriental Orthodox churches generally, he was a defender of the Monophysite movement in a time when its strength was declining...
and Paul the Black
Paul the Black of Alexandria
Paul II or Paul the Black of Alexandria was the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch during 550—575. He became a monk at the Outer Monastery of Gubba Baraya. He studied the literatures of both the Greek and the Syriac languages. He later became a secretary to the Patriarch Theodosius I of...
, the Monophysite patriarch of Antioch
Patriarch of Antioch
Patriarch of Antioch is a traditional title held by the Bishop of Antioch. As the traditional "overseer" of the first gentile Christian community, the position has been of prime importance in the church from its earliest period...
. Before leaving the imperial capital, the Ghassanid ruler also secured a pledge from the emperor that the persecutions of the Monophysites would cease. When he returned home Mundhir discovered that the Lakhmids and Persians had used his absence to raid his domains. Gathering his forces, he fell upon their army, defeated them and returned home laden with booty.
In the summer of 580 or 581 Mundhir went to Circesium
Circesium
Circesium was an ancient city in Osrhoene, corresponding to the modern city of Buseira, in the region of Deir ez-Zor in Syria, at the confluence of the Khabur River with the Euphrates.- History :...
on the river Euphrates
Euphrates
The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...
, where he joined the Byzantine forces under the new magister militum
Magister militum
Magister militum was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine. Used alone, the term referred to the senior military officer of the Empire...
per Orientem
Diocese of the East
The Diocese of the East was a diocese of the later Roman Empire, incorporating the provinces of the western Middle East, between the Mediterranean Sea and Mesopotamia...
, Maurice
Maurice (emperor)
Maurice was Byzantine Emperor from 582 to 602.A prominent general in his youth, Maurice fought with success against the Sassanid Persians...
, for a campaign deep into Persian territory. The combined force moved south along the river, accompanied by a fleet of ships. The allied army stormed the fortress of Anatha and moved on until it reached the region of Beth Aramaye in central Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
, near the Persian capital of Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon, the imperial capital of the Parthian Arsacids and of the Persian Sassanids, was one of the great cities of ancient Mesopotamia.The ruins of the city are located on the east bank of the Tigris, across the river from the Hellenistic city of Seleucia...
. There, however, they found the bridge over the Euphrates destroyed by the Persians. With any possibility of a march to Ctesiphon gone, they were forced to retreat, especially since at the same time the Persian commander Adarmahan
Adarmahan
Adarmahān was a Persian general active in the western frontier of the Sassanid Persian Empire against the East Roman forces, during the Roman–Persian War of 572–591.- Life :...
had taken advantage of the Byzantine army's absence and was raiding freely in Osroene
Osroene
Osroene, also spelled Osrohene and Osrhoene and sometimes known by the name of its capital city, Edessa , was a historic Syriac kingdom located in Mesopotamia, which enjoyed semi-autonomy to complete independence from the years of 132 BC to AD 244.It was a Syriac-speaking kingdom.Osroene, or...
, where he sacked the provincial capital Edessa
Edessa, Mesopotamia
Edessa is the Greek name of an Aramaic town in northern Mesopotamia, as refounded by Seleucus I Nicator. For the modern history of the city, see Şanlıurfa.-Names:...
. The retreat was arduous for the exhausted army, and Maurice and Mundhir exchanged recriminations for the expedition's failure. Mundhir and Maurice cooperated however in forcing Adarmahan to withdraw, and inflicted a defeat upon him at Callinicum. Upon returning to his lands, Mundhir learned that a combined Persian-Lakhmid force was preparing another attack against the Ghassanid realm. Immediately he set out to meet them, engaged their army and defeated it comprehensively, before going on to capture the enemy camp. It was to be his last victory.
Arrest and exile
Despite his successes, Mundhir was accused by Maurice of treason during the preceding campaign. Maurice claimed that Mundhir had revealed the Byzantine plan to the Persians, who then proceeded to destroy the bridge over the Euphrates. The chronicler John of EphesusJohn of Ephesus
John of Ephesus was a leader of the non-Chalcedonian Syriac-speaking Church in the sixth century, and one of the earliest and most important of historians who wrote in Syriac.-Life:...
explicitly calls this assertion a lie, for either way the Byzantine intentions must have been plain to the Persian commanders. Both Maurice and Mundhir wrote letters to the emperor Tiberius, who tried to reconcile them. Finally, Maurice himself visited Constantinople, where he was able to persuade Tiberius of Mundhir's guilt. The charge of treason is almost universally dismissed by modern historians. According to Irfan Shahîd, the foremost scholar on pre-Islamic Arabian Christianity and Arab relations with Byzantium, it had probably more to do with Maurice's dislike of the veteran and militarily successful Arab ruler. This was further compounded by the Byzantines' habitual distrust of the "barbarian
Barbarian
Barbarian and savage are terms used to refer to a person who is perceived to be uncivilized. The word is often used either in a general reference to a member of a nation or ethnos, typically a tribal society as seen by an urban civilization either viewed as inferior, or admired as a noble savage...
" and supposedly innately traitorous Arabs, as well as by Mundhir's staunchly Monophysite faith.
Tiberius ordered Mundhir's arrest, and a trap was laid for the Ghassanid king: summoned to Constantinople to answer charges of treason, Mundhir chose his friend, the curator Magnus, as his advocate. Magnus was probably a Byzantine, hailing from Huwwarin (Evaria). There he had built a church, and he now called on Mundhir to join him and the patriarch of Antioch
Patriarch of Antioch
Patriarch of Antioch is a traditional title held by the Bishop of Antioch. As the traditional "overseer" of the first gentile Christian community, the position has been of prime importance in the church from its earliest period...
Gregory in the dedication ceremony. Mundhir arrived with only a small escort and was arrested by Byzantine troops stationed in secret at the location. He was transported to Constantinople, joined along the way by his wife and three of his children. At the capital, he was treated well by Tiberius, who allowed him a comfortable residence and a subsidy, but denied him an audience. Irfan Shahîd believes that this generous treatment, as well as the fact that he was not brought to trial for his supposed treason, indicate that Tiberius too did not believe the charges, but ordered the arrest chiefly to placate the strong anti-Monophysite faction in the imperial capital.
In the meantime, Mundhir's arrest provoked a revolt led by his son Nu'man
Al-Nu'man VI ibn al-Mundhir
Al-Nu'man ibn al-Mundhir, known in Greek sources as Naamanes was a king of the Ghassanids, a Christian Arab tribe allied to the Byzantine Empire. The eldest son of Al-Mundhir III ibn al-Harith, he rose in revolt with his tribe after his father was treacherously arrested by the Byzantines in 581...
and his remaining three brothers. For two years the Ghassanid army launched raids into the Byzantine provinces from their bases in the desert, even defeating and killing the Byzantine dux
Dux
Dux is Latin for leader and later for Duke and its variant forms ....
of Arabia in a battle at Bostra. Tiberius reacted by raising a Chalcedonian
Chalcedonian
Chalcedonian describes churches and theologians which accept the definition given at the Council of Chalcedon of how the divine and human relate in the person of Jesus Christ...
brother of Mundhir to the Ghassanid kingship. A large army with Magnus at its head was dispatched east to counter Nu'man and install his uncle as king. The latter was swiftly done, but the new king died after only twenty days. Magnus also had some success in subduing or subverting the allegiance of some minor Arab tribes away from the Ghassanids. Magnus died shortly before Tiberius' own death in August 582, and with Maurice's accession to the throne, Nu'man journeyed to Constantinople to achieve a reconciliation with Byzantium. Instead he too was arrested, tried, and convicted to death, although the sentence was quickly commuted to house arrest.
Mundhir remained in Constantinople until the death of Tiberius and the accession of Maurice, when he was exiled to Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
. It is likely that he is to be identified with a man named Alamundarus mentioned by Pope Gregory the Great in 600, indicating that he was still alive at the time. A 13th-century Syriac chronicle further records that after Maurice's overthrow and murder in 602, Mundhir was allowed to return home.