 Main areas under Mardaite control in the Levant,c. 7th century AD | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Levant,Anatolia, theBalkans | |
| Languages | |
| Unknown; possiblySyriac,Armenian, or anIranian language | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Maronites,[1]Greeks,[2]South Slavs,[2]Albanians[3] |
TheMardaites (Medieval Greek:Μαρδαΐται) oral-Jarajima (Syriac:ܡܪ̈ܕܝܐ;Arabic:ٱلْجَرَاجِمَة/ALA-LC:al-Jarājimah) were early Christians followingChalcedonian Christianity in theNur Mountains. Little is known about their ethnicity, but it has been speculated that they might have beenPersians (see, for a purely linguistic hypothesis, theAmardi, located south of theCaspian Sea in classical times) orArmenians, yet other sources claim them to have been Greeks native to theLevant[4] or possibly even from theArabian peninsula.[5] Their other Arabic name,al-Jarājimah, suggests that some were natives of the townJurjum inCilicia; the wordmarada in Arabic is the plural ofmared, which could mean a giant, a supernatural being like Jinn, a high mountain or a rebel.
The argument that the Mardaites were Greek,[4] is supported on two facts. Firstly, their loyalty to the Greek emperors in Constantinople: If they wereMaronites they would not have obeyed (as they did) his orders to make war or peace with the new Muslim Arab conquerors. The same argument is made against being Muslim Arab renegades. They would not exhibit such fierce loyalty to a Greek emperor. Linguistic evidence also supports this theory. The name Mardaites is found in use in areas of theByzantine empire at least until the 10th century. It was synonym toapelates, seen in Greek folk and epic poems (akrites). Finally, indicative of their ancestry and locality is that after the peace treaty was signed between the Byzantines and the Arabs, they remained in the land.
Whether their name was due to their existence outside of legitimate political authority or their residence in the mountains is not known. They were joined later by various escaped slaves and peasants during their insurgency and were said to have claimed territory from "the Holy City" to the "Black Mountain" (Nur Mountains).[6]
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After theMuslim conquest of the Levant, the Mardaites gained a semi-independent status around the Nur Mountains withinal-ʿAwāṣim, the Byzantine-Arab border region. They initially agreed to serve as mercenaries for the Arabs and to guard theAmanian Gate, but their loyalty was intermittent and they often sided with theByzantine Empire as their agenda varied.[6] According to Greek and Syriac historians, their territory stretched from the Amanus to the "holy city", the latter often identified asJerusalem, although more likely to refer toCyrrhus, also called Hagioupolis, the capital ofCyrrhestica, in upper Syria.[7] Their numbers were swelled by thousands of runaway slaves, making them an ethnically diverse group. In light of this, it is claimed that they forcedMuawiyah I, Caliph of theUmayyad Caliphate, to pay tribute to theByzantine emperorConstantine IV, or possibly to them instead.[7] EmperorJustinian II sent the Mardaites again to raid Syria in 688/9; this time they were joined by native peasants and slaves and were able to advance as far as Lebanon.
TheUmayyads were compelled to sign another treaty by which they paid the Byzantines half the tribute ofCyprus,Armenia and theKingdom of Iberia in theCaucasus Mountains;[4] in return, Justinian relocated around 12,000 Mardaites to the southern coast ofAnatolia, and the area ofLaconia in the Southern Peloponnese, being under Byzantine control,Nicopolis inEpirus andCephalonia as part of his measures to restore population and manpower to areas depleted by earlier conflicts.[6][8] There they were conscripted as rowers andmarines in theByzantine navy for several centuries.[9] Others however remained behind and continued raiding Muslim-held territories until their chief stronghold fell to Umayyad prince-generalMaslama ibn Abd al-Malik in 708. Maslama then resettled them throughout Syria, and although he allowed them to retain their faith, he conscripted them into his army.[5]
Describing theabna' of Yemen,Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani states in hisKitab al-Aghani that, up to his time (10th century), these people were called "banū al-aḥrār (بنو الأحرار) in Sanaa,al-abnāʾ in Yemen,al-aḥāmira (الأحامرة) inKufa,al-asāwira (الأساورة) inBasra,al-khaḍārima (الخضارمة) inal-Jazira, andal-jarājima (الجراجمة) inBilad al-Sham".[10]
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