The Political Development of the Ghassān between Rome and Iran

Abstract

State-formation and the centralization of political power in the Near East is a topic of enduring interest. Especial attention has fallen on the transformation of weak and diffuse peripheral groups, often located between or on the fringes of states and empires, into more cohesive political and cultural entities. Numerous case studies have examined the many forces that influenced the growth of such groups from the Bronze Age to the present day. Against this wider context, and taking into account as well that of Roman client management practices, particularly those directed towards other peripheral Arab groups, this study explores how Roman policy concerns towards Iran helped to catalyse political and cultural development amongst the Ghassānids, an Arab tribal group on the periphery of the empire. The growth in prestige and political power of the Ghassānids, revealed in inscriptions, literature, and archaeology, marked the apex of four centuries of interactions between Rome and the Arabs, and, in the end, foreshadowed the events of the seventh century.