Mardaites

From Maronite History

The Mardaites, or Marada, were a warlike people employed by the Byzantine emperors in the seventh and eighth centuries against the Umayyad armies that made incursions into Lebanon. Maronites claim to be the descendants of the Mardaites, making them one and the same. Some claim that the Mardaites' bishops ordained John Maron as patriarch of Antioch.

Sources

• Matti Moosa - The Maronites in History (Syracuse University Press, 1986).