User:Al Ameer son/Tanukh

Tanukh were an Arab tribal confederation that

Pre-Islamic period

Origins

The origins of the Tanukh lie in the northward Arab tribal migrations from southern Arabia. The 8th-century historian and genealogist Ibn al-Kalbi holds that the Tanukh was formed out of components of the Quda'a, Azd and Ma'add tribes that allied and migrated from Tihamah to Bahrayn (Eastern Arabia). According to modern historian Irfan Shahid, "It was in Bahrayn that the Tanukh is supposed to have become a confederacy" and acquired their name tanūkh, which may translate from Arabic as "sojourn". In Ibn al-Kalbi's account, the early leaders of the Tanukh were, in succession, Malik and 'Amr, both sons of Fahm ibn Taymallah ibn Asad ibn Wabara. The confederation was supposedly formed or expanded when Malik ibn Zuhayr, a descendant of 'Amr, invited the Azdi tribesman, Jadhima al-Abrash ibn Malik ibn Fahm al-Azdi, to dwell with in his encampment and married Jadhima to his sister Lamis. This firmly established the connection between the Tanukh and Azd. The Tanukhid confederation was further enlarged by the incorporation of the Banu Lakhm which came about after Jadhima married off his sister Raqash to the Lakhmid leader 'Adi ibn Nasr. Shahid maintains that it is not clear whether the Azd and Lakhm became actual confederates of the Tanukh or just close allies. In any case, following these marital connections, the Tanukh migrated northward to southern Mesopotamia where Jadhima became king of the confederation; Greek and Aramaic inscriptions both attest to Jadhima's kingship of the Tanukh.

A supposed leader of the Tanukh, Malik ibn Fahm, founded the city of al-Hirah in lower Mesopotamia, though some sources represent Malik ibn Fahm as a member of Azd. In any case, the Tanukh long became associated with tribal kingdom centered in al-Hirah. In the 3rd century CE, the Azdi chieftain Jadhimah al-Abrash became king of the Tanukh. He married Lamis, a sister of the Tanukhid chieftain Malik ibn Zuhayr, thus establishing a marital bond between the Azd and Tanukh. Meanwhile Jadhima's sister, Raqash, married Adi ibn Nasr, a chief of the Lakhmids and by extension connected the Tanukh with the Lakhm. Jadhimah was slain in a war against Zenobia of Palmyra, and following his death, power in al-Hirah was monopolized by the Nasrid household of Lakhm. Nonetheless, the Tanukh remained a strong factor in al-Hirah's affairs. The tribe staffed an entire military division of the Lakhmid kingdom and were one of three tribal groups to inhabit al-Hirah. Other dwelling places of the Tanukh were the marches west of the Euphrates River between al-Hirah and Anbar.

Parts of the Tanukh apparently migrated to Hatra and Byzantine Syria following a battlefield defeat at the hands of the Sassanian king Shapur II (r. 309–379) in the 4th century. Prior to that time, some clans of the tribe may have already adopted Christianity, evidenced by their alleged Christian war cries during their battle with Shapur II and the construction of a monastery in al-Hirah by the Tanukhid clan of Banu Sati'.

In Syria, they Tanukh concentrated themselves in the areas around Qinnasrin (Chalcis) and Aleppo (Beroea), and became the first Arab foederati (allies) of the Byzantines. Two of the most important figures of the foederati in Syria were associated with the Tanukh: Imru' al-Qays ibn 'Amr (d. 328), the "king of all the Arabs", was a Lakhmid convert to Christianity who had Tanukhid blood, and Queen Mavia, who is commonly attested as a Tanukhid but whose origins are definitively known. The Tanukh rebelled against the Byzantines in 380, but the revolt was quelled three years later by the senior Byzantine commander, Flavius Richomer. This defeat ultimately led or contributed to the Tanukh's eclipse as the Byzantines' major foederati by other Arab tribes. Nonetheless, they remained in the Byzantines' military service for the next three centuries.

In the 6th century, relations deteriorated between the Tanukh and the Lakhm and the former were defeated in the battle of Quhad by the Lakhmid king Qabus ibn al-Mundhir (r. 569–573).

Bibliography

• Bianquis, Thierry (2000). "Tanūkh". The Encyclopedia of Islam, New Edition, Volume X, Tā'-U. Leiden and New York: BRILL. pp. 190–192. ISBN 90-04-11211-1. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Unknown parameter |editors= ignored (|editor= suggested) (help)