Basus War

The Basus (or Basous) War (often written al-Basus War; حرب البسوس ḥarb al-basūs) was a conflict for 40 years between two rival clans in medieval Arabia because of a dispute over a camel. The Taghlib and Bakr tribes fought for roughly forty years (from 494-534 CE), locked in a perpetual cycle of vengeance. In parts of the Arab World today, the Basus War has been incorporated into an aphorism warning people against vendettas.