Denis Genequand and Christian Julien Robin (eds.), Les Jafnides: des rois arabes au service de Byzance

Abstract

The volume under review revisits the Ghassānids, the famous Arab dynasty allied to Byzantium that has attracted considerable scholarly attention over a good century or more. This undertaking begins with a challenge to the very name granted to the dynasty: “Ghassānid” is indeed quite a misnomer. Names ending in –ids (-idès in Greek) imply a common ancestor and so one should more accurately refer to them as Jafnids, that is the descendants of one Jafna (80 and n. 2, 193).