[5] When he died in 375 CE without leaving an heir,[5] Mavia rose to command the confederation in a revolt against Roman rule that extended throughout the Levant.
[1] Her forces, which she often led personally, swept into Arabia and Palestine and reached the edges of Egypt, defeating the armies of Rome many times.
Mavia's highly mobile units, using classic guerilla warfare tactics, conducted numerous raids and frustrated Roman attempts to subdue the revolt.
Church historians record Mavia's exploits, focusing in particular on the condition she set for the truce she procured from the Romans, which is considered to be important to early Christian evangelical efforts in the Levant.
[3] For example, Rufinus writes, Mavia, queen of the Saracens, had begun to convulse the villages and towns on the border of Palestine and Arabia with a violent war and to ravage the neighboring provinces.
After she had worn down the Roman army in several battles, had felled a great many, and had put the remainder to flight, she was asked to make peace, which she did on the condition already declared: that a certain monk Moses be ordained bishop for her people.
[3]Socrates of Constantinople writes of these same events, and notes that Moses, "a Saracen by birth, who led a monastic life in the desert" had become "exceedingly eminent for his piety, faith and miracles."
"[3] Mavia's firm commitment to the truce, as exemplified in her marrying her daughter to Victor, the commander-in-chief of the Roman army, is also noted by Socrates.
At the war's conclusion, Mavia's daughter, Princess Khasidat, was married to a devout Nicene commander in Rome's army, Victor, to cement the alliance.
Her forces proved less effective outside of their native territory and the Goths pushed the Romans back to Constantinople, even killing Valens, the emperor, in the process.
For example, Irfan Shahid notes that the armies of both queens reached the same waterway dividing Asia from Europe, with Mavia even crossing the Bosporus into Byzantium.