Editing Ghassanids (section)

===Byzantine–Sasanian Wars===
{{see also|Roman–Persian Wars}}
The Ghassanids fought alongside the Byzantine Empire against the [[Persians|Persian]] Sasanians and Arab Lakhmids.<ref name="bury" /> The lands of the Ghassanids also continually acted as a buffer zone, protecting Byzantine lands against raids by Bedouin tribes. Among their Arab allies were the [[Banu Judham]] and [[Banu Amilah]].

The Byzantines were focused more on the East and a long war with the Sasanians was always their main concern. The Ghassanids maintained their rule as the guardian of trade routes, policed Lakhmid tribes and was a source of troops for the imperial army. The Ghassanid king [[al-Harith ibn Jabalah]] (reigned 529–569) supported the Byzantines against the Sasanians and was given in 529 by the emperor [[Justinian I]], the highest imperial title that was ever bestowed upon a foreign ruler; also the status of patricians. In addition to that, al-Harith ibn Jabalah was given the rule over all the Arab allies of the Byzantine Empire.<ref>Irfan Shahîd (1995). ''Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century'', vol. 2, part 1. pp. 51-104</ref> Al-Harith was a Miaphysite Christian; he helped to revive the [[Syriac Orthodox Church|Syrian Miaphysite (Jacobite) Church]] and supported Miaphysite development despite [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] Byzantium regarding it as [[heresy|heretical]]. Later Byzantine mistrust and persecution of such religious unorthodoxy brought down his successors, [[Al-Mundhir III ibn al-Harith]] (reigned 569–582).

The Ghassanids, who had successfully opposed the Lakhmids of [[al-Hirah]] in [[Lower Mesopotamia]], prospered economically and engaged in much religious and public building; they also patronized the arts and at one time entertained the [[Islamic poetry|Arab poets]] [[al-Nabighah]] and [[Hassan ibn Thabit]] at their courts.<ref name="Hoberman"/>