Mavia (queen)

Mavia
Queen of the Tanukh (Queen of Syria)
Reign	375–425
Predecessor	al-Hawari (her husband)
Died	425
Burial	Anasartha (modern Syria)
Full name Mawiyya
House	Tanukhids
Religion	Christian, perhaps pagan convert

Full name
Mawiyya

Mavia, (Arabic: ماوية‎‎, Māwiyya; also transliterated Mawia, Mawai, or Mawaiy, and sometimes referred to as Mania) was an Arab warrior-queen, who ruled over a confederation of semi-nomadic Arabs, in southern Syria, in the latter half of the fourth century. She led her troops in a rebellion against late Roman rule, riding at the head of her army into Phoenicia and Palestine. After reaching the frontiers of Egypt and repeatedly defeating the Roman army, the Romans finally made a truce with her on conditions she stipulated. The Romans later called upon her for assistance when being attacked by the Goths, to which she responded by sending a force of cavalry.

Considered to be "the most powerful woman in the late antique Arab world after Zenobia," much of what is known about Mavia comes from early, almost contemporaneous accounts, such as the writings of Rufinus, thought to be derived from a now lost account by Gelasius of Caeserea. Later authors transformed her into a Christian of Roman stock, though she was evidently Arab, and perhaps initially pagan.

The ancestors of Mavia, whose Arabic name was Mawiyya, were Tanukhids, a loose affiliation of Arab tribes that migrated northwards from the Arabian peninsula a century before Mavia was born, because of growing Sassanian influence in Iran. Mavia's husband was al-Hawari, the last king of the semi-nomadic Tanukh confederation in southern Syria in the latter half of the fourth century. When he died in 375 CE without leaving an heir, Mavia rose to command the confederation in a revolt against Roman rule that extended throughout the Levant.

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