ABSTRACT
A great triangle of territory, lying to the south-east of the Byzantine frontier and to the south-west of the Persian, was effectively an extension of Arabia, the wide peninsula lying to its south-east, between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. Arabs was split three ways: amongst the Byzantine Empire, ruled by the emperors from the city Constantinople; the Persian Empire, ruled by the shahs from the city of Ctesiphon; and a series of Arab tribal groups and other political entities. A comparable kingdom well to the north was Palmyra, with its capital, the city of Palmyra, and north-east of Damascus. The kingdom of the Ghassanids was a further development of this type on the edge of the Byzantine Empire's provinces, south-east of Damascus. The Ghassanids were also Arabs, and their rulers were closely associated with the Byzantine Empire.
