The Nicene Age · AD 313–400

Mavia

queen; revolted c. AD 377–378; d. after 378 · Queen of the Tanukhid Saracens · Ally, then patron, of the church · the Arabian and Palestinian frontier

The Nicene Age

Who Mavia was

An Arab queen who took her federate people to war against Rome about 377, beat the imperial army in the field, and then dictated the peace — and what she demanded was a bishop. She named the hermit Moses, refused any consecration at the hands of the Arian Lucius of Alexandria, and got her way; her people entered the church on her terms. She is attested by four independent historians, one of them contemporary, which makes her better evidenced than most of the men in the same decade. Sozomen calls her Mania and Socrates gives Mavia; the variant is recorded. Rufinus, writing within a generation, is the earliest witness.

Also listed in women.

Common questions

When did Mavia live?

Mavia is dated queen; revolted c. AD 377–378; d. after 378 in the archive, which places Mavia in the Nicene Age (AD 313–400). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.

Which early sources mention Mavia?

Mavia is named in 3 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Rufinus of Aquileia, Socrates Scholasticus and Sozomen. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Where was Mavia from?

The archive associates Mavia with the Arabian and Palestinian frontier.

Who were Mavia’s contemporaries?

The archive links Mavia to 3 other figures, including Moses the Saracen, Zokomos and Emperor Valens. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.

Primary-source mentions (3)

Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Ecclesiastical History XI.6 — contemporary with the events

c. AD 402
Mavia, the queen of the Saracens, began to rock the towns and cities on the borders of Palestine and Arabia with fierce attacks.
Rufinus of Aquileia · Ecclesiastical History XI.6 · source text

Ecclesiastical History IV.36

c. AD 439
[Mavia, queen of the Saracens, made war on the Romans, and on making peace demanded that Moses be ordained bishop of her nation.]
Socrates Scholasticus · Ecclesiastical History IV.36 · source text

Ecclesiastical History VI.38

c. AD 445
[Sozomen, who calls her Mania, records the war, the peace and the ordination of Moses.]
Sozomen · Ecclesiastical History VI.38 · source text

Connected in the archive

People

Named alongside Mavia in the sources

These figures are placed with Mavia by the record — in a council roll, a martyr-act, a letter or a history — without Mavia naming them in return.

Events in this lifetime

Place