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imperium and imperial politics 693
the pre-eminent power on the desert fringe there. Compared to the
Lakhmids, the Ghassānids were a more nomadic group; though they were
often associated with the camping-ground called al-Jābiya sixty-five km
southwest of Damascus, they had no real fixed centre comparable to that
of the Lakhmids at al-H · īra. Their influence was not as broad-ranging as
that of the Lakhmids, and though they had trading connections with Iraq
through Nisibis and Dara, their control over the relevant routes was
tenuous. Nevertheless, Byzantium granted the Ghassānid shaykh the title
of phylarch and showered him with honours, privileges and money. In
return, it was expected that the chieftain would keep his own tribe under
control and protect imperial interests from other tribes as well. 78
The Ghassānids and Lakhmids, confronting one another across the Syrian
desert, were thus drawn into the series of great Byzantine–Persian wars that
began in 502 and ended with a decisive Byzantine victory in 628. Significant
fighting between them began in the 520s and continued sporadically for sixty
years, with dire consequences for the agricultural infrastructure of both Syria
and Iraq. Several observers describe the destruction in Syria, 79 and whatever
survived the passage of raiding parties and military expeditions was exposed
to the brigands and outlaws hovering around such forces. 80
The military strife tends to overshadow other developments in which the
two sides were variously involved. The Ghassānids were responsible for the
establishment of several small towns in the hinterlands south of Damascus
and perhaps also for some of the so-called ‘desert palaces’ of the Syrian
steppe. 81 Sponsors of Monophysite Christianity, they also erected numerous
churches and monasteries. In Iraq, al-H · īra grew from a camp (which is
what the name means in Arabic) into a lively Arab town noted for its
churches and monasteries, impressive residential compounds and taverns.
Persian Gulf shipping could sail up the Euphrates as far as al-H · īra, and
Lakhmid income included proceeds not only from raids but also from agricultural
rents and produce, trade, and taxes from tribes they controlled.
There also seems to have been a nascent literary tradition emerging there. 82
Both sides, especially the Lakhmids, were also major patrons of Arab oral
culture, and some of the most important poets of pre-Islamic times gained
generous support from Ghassānid or Lakhmid shaykhs. 83
78 Nöldeke (1887); Simon (1989) 27–32, 55–8; Sartre (1982); Peters (1984). On the term phylarch,
which originated as a post in the provincial administration, not necessarily relating to nomads, see
Macdonald (1993) 368–77.
79 John Moschus, Pratum spirituale 2957–8, 2995–8, 3023–4 nos. 99, 133, 155; Delehaye (1927) 23–4;
al-T · abarī, Ta�rīkh i.1007 (cf. also Nöldeke (1879) 299 n. 4); al-Washshā�, Kitāb al-fād · il fol. 105r. Cf. also
Foss (1975); (1977) 68–71; Schick (1995) 25, 31–3.
80 Abū l-Baqā�, Al-Manāqib al-mazyadīya i.105–6. Early Islamic works on jihād also mention the problems
posed by these elements. 81 Gaube (1984).
82 Much valuable material is collected in �Abd al-Ghanī (1993) 25–138.
83 Nicholson (1907) 38–54; Blachère (1952–66) ii.293–356; �Abd al-Ghanī (1993) 365–469.
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