470 On the Gkassdnite Kings. [No. 6. 



between Zabyd and Rima' g°j : Pliny and Ptolemy place the Cassanitse 

 or Gasanitse in the same spot. It would therefore appear that their 

 original seats were in Yaman on the coast of the Red Sea. Arabic au- 

 thors fable that the Ghassanites and the tribes related to them originally 

 inhabited the city of Saba which is mentioned by Mohammad in the 

 Qoran probably on Jewish authority. There was a tank above the city, 

 and a priestess foretold that rats or some other animals would perforate 

 the dyke and that the city would be inundated. The inhabitants were 

 so alarmed by this prediction that they emigrated. European critics 

 have displayed an extraordinary amount of ingenuity in ascertaining 

 what animal could have undermined the dyke ! but none has for a mo- 

 ment doubted the truth of the fable. 



The emigration of the Ghassanites from Yaman has probably taken 

 place in the third century after Christ. This at least is the date of 

 the immigration of the Khoza'ahites into Makkah and of the Awsites 

 and Khazrajites into Madynah, and these three tribes migrated with 

 the Ghassanites. 



A generation in Arabia, as appears from the comparison of several 

 hundred genealogies may be calculated at thirty lunar or twenty-nine 

 solar years. The Ghassanite dynasty ceased 16 years after the Hijrah 

 — A. D. 632. If therefore the Ghassanites had come to the throne of 

 Arabia Petrea immediately after their migration, and if in all circum- 

 stances the eldest son had succeeded the father, we might suspect that 

 there reigned from the time they emigrated from Yaman to the time 

 when their dynasty ceased, that is to say, during a space of less than 

 400 years — about 13 kings ; but it is certain that they did not at once 

 conquer the country, and in oriental countries it seldom happens that 

 the eldest son succeeds the father. 



Hamzah of Ispahan, whom most other authors follow, gives us the 

 following list of kings : — 



1. 'Amr Mozayqiya. 



2. Jafnah. 



3. His son 'Amr. 



4. His son Tha'labah. 



5. His son al-Harith. 



6. His son Jabalah. 



7. His son al-Harith called the son of Maria. 



