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MardaitesAn Aramaic-speaking group, possibly Iranian in origin, inhabiting the highland regions of southern Anatolia, Isauria, Syria, and Lebanon. The Mardaites were Monothelite Christians who became adherents of the Maronite Church. Following the conquest of the Levant by the Muslim Arabs, the Mardaites around Mount Lebanon founded the Marada polities. Byzantine rulers used them as proxies to wage guerilla warfare on Caliphate territories. On occasion, the Mardaites raided sites as important as Damascus. After the Battle of Yarmuk, the Caliph Umar appointed Muawiyah ibn Abu Sufyan, (later the first Caliph of the Umayyad dynasty) governor of Syria, and charged him with the subjugation of the Mardaites. Later, as Caliph, Muawiyah negotiated an agreement in 667 CE with the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IV, in exchange for an annual tribute. In the 690's, 12,000 Justinian II relocated a large number of these as part of a peace treaty with the Caliphate. One of the relocated "Isaurians", as they were called, would eventually become Emperor Leo III.
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