Friday, September 25, 2009

The Arab Christian Kingdom of Ghassan--Vassal state of the Eastern Roman Empire

One of the infuriating stereotypes about Arabs is that they are all Muslims. Today, there are many Arab Christians and, once upon time, there were even entire Arab kingdoms that were Christian. Philip the Arab, the only Arab emperor of Rome, may well have been the first Christian emperor of Rome, 75 years prior to the "conversion" of Constantine.

This video, which is deficient in its many spelling errors, gives information on the Kingdom of Ghassan which was a vassal state of the Eastern Roman Empire (i.e. Byzantine Empire) which served as a buffer against the aggressive Persian Sassanids, the nomadic Bedouins but also was a major cultural nexus for far the far east and the middle east. It was also a Christian Kingdom, though it was Monophysite. The Monophysites, are non-Chalcedonian Christians, who believed that Christ had only one nature--divine. Though non-Chalcedonian Christians today would counter that as a wrong interpretation of their belief and faith, it is what has stuck for a long time. No pejorative connation is not to be infered.

Anyway, enjoy the video. There are some really cool pictures of the Kingdom of Ghassan which was located mainly in modern Syria, Golan Heights, Jordan, parts of Iraq and Saudi Arabia, their art, architecture, etc.. Many of the Christians that still remain in the middle east are located still in the confines of this old kingdom.

1 comment:

Mother Effingby said...

One can ask, Why there are so few Christians left in the Muslim majority Middle East? Did they go the way of Europe and become faithless, practicing a form of Godliness while denying its power?