Cenmar

{{Short description|Iranian architect}}

{{refimprove|date=January 2009}}

File:Al-Nu'man I ibn Imru' al-Qays.jpg

Senemar or Sanamar (pronounced "Sinimmār" in Arabic: سِنِمَّار){{Cite web|date=2021-04-02|title=جزاء سنمار|url=https://al-hikma.org/%D8%AC%D8%B2%D8%A7%D8%A1_%D8%B3%D9%86%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B1|access-date=2021-05-11|website=الحكمة|language=ar}} was a Byzantine{{cite book|last1=Shahîd|first1=Irfan|title=Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century|date=1995|publisher=Dumbarton Oaks|isbn=9780884022848|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfwAG3-rpzcC&dq=Senemar+byzantine&pg=PA73|language=en}}{{cite book|last1=Meisami|first1=Julie Scott|last2=Starkey|first2=Paul|title=Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature|date=1998|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=9780415185721|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DbCFBX6b3eEC&dq=sinimmar+byzantine&pg=PA623|language=en}} architect who was requested by the Lakhmid king Al-Nu'man I ibn Imru al-Qays to build the most beautiful palace of the Arab Lakhmid Empire.

After 20 years, Senemar finished building the palace, named Khawarnaq (Arabic: الخورنق), and invited the king to see it. It was a real piece of art. After a small discussion between the two, Senemar told the king two things: the first was about a brick within the palace that would cause the whole construction to collapse if moved, and that he was the only one to know where it lies; the second was that he could build a palace that moved with the sunlight wherever it went. The king, who became afraid of Senemar’s knowledge of the brick and jealous he might build a bigger and more beautiful palace for another king, ordered his guardians to kill Senemar by throwing him off the palace down to the ground.

"Senemar’s compensation" or "Senemar’s Reward" (juzʾ Sinimmār) is used proverbially in Persian and Arabic to refer to a situation where one does good work but is instead punished or given an unfair or too small reward.See Hans Wehr, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, ed. by J. Milton Cowan, 4th edn., 1960, p. 508.