Al-Harith ibn Jabalah

Al-Harith V ibn Jabalah
King of the Ghassanids, Roman Patrician and Phylarch of the Saracens
Reign	c. 529 – 569
Predecessor	Jabalah IV
Successor	al-Mundhir III
Died	569
Father	Jabalah IV

Al-Ḥārith ibn Jabalah (Arabic: الحارث بن جبلة‎‎; [Flavios] Arethas ([Φλάβιος] Ἀρέθας) in Greek sources and Khālid ibn Jabalah (خالد بن جبلة) in later Islamic sources), was a king of the Ghassanids, pre-Islamic Arabs who lived on the eastern frontier of the Byzantine Empire. The fifth Ghassanid ruler of that name, he reigned from c. 528 to 569 and played a major role in the Roman–Persian Wars and the affairs of the Syriac Orthodox Church. For his services to Byzantium, he was made patrikios and vir gloriosissimus.

Harith was the son of Jabalah IV (Gabalas in Greek sources) and brother of Abu Karib (Abocharabus), phylarch of Palaestina Salutaris. He became ruler of the Ghassanids and phylarch of Arabia Petraea and Palaestina Secunda probably in 528, following the death of his father in the Battle of Thannuris. Soon after (c. 529) he was raised by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565), in the words of the historian Procopius, "to the dignity of king", becoming the overall commander of all the Empire's Arab allies (foederati) in the East with the title (πατρίκιος καὶ φύλαρχος τῶν Σαρακηνῶν, "patrician and phylarch of the Saracens"). His actual area of control, however, may initially have been limited to the northeastern part of Byzantium's Arab frontier. At the time, the Byzantines and their Arab allies were engaged in the Iberian War against the Sasanian Empire and their Arab clients, the Lakhmids, and Justinian's move was designed to create a counterpart to the powerful Lakhmid ruler, Mundhir, who controlled the Arab tribes allied to the Persians.

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