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The Ghassanids (Arabic: <big></big>) were Arab Christians that emigrated in the year 250 from Yemen to the Hauran, in southern Syria. The term Ghassan refers to the kingdom of the Ghassanids, and is the name of a spring of water in the Hauran. The Ghassanid emigration has been passed down in the rich oral tradition of southern Syria. It is said that the Ghassanids came from the city of Ma'rib in Yemen. There was a dam in this city, however one year there was so much rain that the dam was carried away by the ensuing flood. Thus the people there had to leave. The inhabitants emigrated seeking to live in less arid lands and became scattered far and wide. The proverb “They were scattered like the people of Saba” refers to that exodus in history. The emigrants were from the southern Arab tribe of Azd. The king Jafna bin ‘Amr emigrated with his family and retinue north and settled in Hauran (south of Damascus) where the Ghassanid state was founded. There it is assumed that the Ghassanids adopted the religion of Christianity from the native Aramaeans and Romans. Modern southern-Syrians are a mix of these three peoples.