600: Pope Gregory the Great Intervenes in Favour of the Exiled Ǧafnid Ruler al-Munḏir b. al-Ḥāriṯ

Abstract

In a letter to Innocentius, the praefectus Africae, written in July 600, Pope Gregory I declares his support for the Ǧafnid prince al-Munḏir. Based on this letter, the article describes the situation of the pre-Islamic Arab ruling dynasties of the sixth and early seventh centuries which were active in the orbit of the Byzantine Empire. In this context, it sheds light on their Christianisation and religious-confessional tensions with Constantinople, the difficult situation between Byzantium and the Sassanid Empire, and the Roman Church's knowledge of these Arab-Byzantine relations.