Al-Nu'man ibn al-Mundhir, known in Greek

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 Naamanes (Νααμάνης) was a king of the Ghassanids

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....

, a Christian Arab tribe allied to 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...

. The eldest son of Al-Mundhir III ibn al-Harith

Al-Mundhir III ibn al-Harith

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...

, he rose in revolt with his tribe after his father was treacherously arrested by the Byzantines in 581. After two years of revolt, seeking to reconcile himself with the Empire, he visited the new 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...

 (r. 582–602), at 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:...

. Refusing to renounce his Monophysite faith, he was arrested and 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,...

, where his father had been banned earlier. This event marked the end of the Ghassanid control over the Byzantines' 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...

and the fragmentation of this strong buffer

Buffer state

A buffer state is a country lying between two rival or potentially hostile greater powers, which by its sheer existence is thought to prevent conflict between them. Buffer states, when authentically independent, typically pursue a neutralist foreign policy, which distinguishes them from satellite...

against invasions from the desert.