Published: 2023-12-221

The Fall of al-Nuʿmān ibn al-Mundìhir (580–602 CE), the Last Ruler of al-Ḥīra

Abstract

For three centuries the Lakhmid state with its capital in al-Hira, ruled by the Nasrid dynasty, was an ally of the Persian Empire. Its rulers supported the shahs in the struggle against Byzantium and its Arab allies and protected them from nomadic attacks. Although the alliance was mutually beneficial, a conflict arose in the early seventh century between Shah Chosroes II Parviz and the king of al-Hira, al-Numan ibn al-Mundhir. Its reasons include al-Numan’s conversion to Christianity, the death of poet Adi ibn al-Zayd, and refusal to send Arab women, including the king’s own daughter to the court at Ctesiphon. While those reasons may explain the removal of al-Numan from the throne, they do not explain the incorporation of his country into Persia. That was decided for strategic reasons - Sassanid concerns about the increasing independence of the Lakhmids, withthe liquidation of the state of the Ghassanids, confederates from Byzantium and the expansionist plans of Chosroes.

Keywords:

al-Ḥīra, al-Nuʿmān ibn al-Mundìhir, Nasrids, Persia, Sasanids, Khosrow II Parviz

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Wolińska, T. (2023). The Fall of al-Nuʿmān ibn al-Mundìhir (580–602 CE), the Last Ruler of al-Ḥīra. Theological Yearbook, 65(2), 381–429. https://doi.org/10.36124/rt.2023.16

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