Ghassanids

The Ghassanids, also called the Jafnids, were an Arab tribe which founded a kingdom which was in place from the third century to the seventh century in the area of the Levant and northern Arabia. They emigrated from South Arabia in the early third century to the Levant. Some merged with Hellenized Christian communities, converting to Christianity in the first few centuries, while others may have already been Christians before emigrating north to escape religious persecution.

After settling in the Levant, the Ghassanids became a client state to the Byzantine Empire and fought alongside them against the Sasanian Empire and their Arab vassals, the Lakhmids. The lands of the Ghassanids also acted as a buffer zone protecting lands that had been annexed by the Romans against raids by Bedouins.

A few Ghassanids became Muslims following the Muslim conquest of the Levant; most Ghassanids remained Christian and joined Melkite and Syriac communities within what is now Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon.