Lakhmid

Bani Lakhm

لخمی ، ملوک لَخمی‌ها،بنی‌لخم،مناذره،دودمان لخمی

The Lakhmids were a vassal of Persians since the Achaemenid Empire in Mesapotamia. They were a group of Arabs who lived in Southern Iraq, and later made al-Hirah their capital in 266 AD. They became a center for supplies of well-trained horses for the Savaran guards of the Sassanid army whose main task was border patrol. They sided with Arabs during their invasion of Persia in 635 with promises of heavens on earth but they were assimilated by Caliphates later on and perished in time.
Poets described it as a Paradise on the earth; an Arab Poet described the city's pleasant climate and beauty "One day in al-Hirah is better than a year of treatment". The al-Hirah ruins are located 3 kilometers south of Kufa, on the west bank of the Euphrates. Their descendants today are the Arslans (Arslan meaning Lion in Turkish) which is a very powerful Lebanese family and is a hereditary Druze leadership. It is a princely family.
The Lakhmid Kingdom was founded by the Lakhum tribe that emigrated from Yemen in the 2nd century and ruled by the Bani Lakhm, hence the name given it. The founder of the dynasty was Amr, whose son Imru al-Qais (not to be confused with the famous poet Imru al-Qais who lived in the 6th century) converted to Christianity. Gradually the whole city converted to that faith.
During a power vaccuum, a bandit named Amrolgheis sacked some cities in the Sassanid Empire and gradually built a strong army that dared invading Kerman.
In 325, the Persians, led by Shapour 2nd, began a campaign against the Arab kingdoms. When Amrolgheis realized that a mighty Persian army composed of 60,000 warriors was approaching his kingdom, he asked for the assistance of the Roman Empire. Constantinus II promised to assist him but was unable to provide that help when it was needed. The Persians advanced toward al-Hirah and a series of vicious battles took place over al-Hirah and the surrounding cities.
Shapour II crushed the Lakhmid army and captured al-Hirah. He ordered the extermination of its population in retaliation of their raids on Pars. In this, the young Shapour acted much more violently than was normal at the time in order to demonstrate to both the Arab Kingdoms and the Persian nobility his power and authority. Shapour's title in Arabic is Zolaktaf meaning owner of the shoulders, as he pierced the shoulders of his captives and chained them to each other by a rope. He installed Aus ibn Qallam and gave the city autonomy, thus making the kingdom a buffer zone between the Persian Empire's mainland and the territory of other Arabs in the Peninsula.
Two years after his death, in the year 330, a revolt took place where Aus ibn Qallam was killed and succeeded by the son of Amrolgheis. Thereafter, the Lakhmids main rivals were the Ghassanids, who were vassals of the Sassanid arch-enemy, the Byzantine Empire. The Lakhmid kingdom was a major centre of the Nestorian sect of Christianity which was nurtured by the Sassanids, as it opposed the Orthodox religion of Byzantium.
The Lakhmids remained influential throughout the 6th century. Nevertheless, in 602, the last Lakhmid king, Numan III, was put to death by the Sassanid king Khosrau 2 because of a false suspicion of treason, and the Lakhmid kingdom was annexed. Islam overran the Sassanid Empire in the 7th century. At that point, the city was abandoned and its materials were used to re-construct Kufa, its exhausted twin city.
It is now widely believed that the annexation of the Lakhmid kingdom was one of the main factors behind the Fall of Sassanid dynasty to the Muslim Arabs and the Islamic conquest of Persia, as the Lakhmids agreed to act as spies for the Muslims after being defeated in the Battle of Hira by Khalid ibn al-Walid.
Arab-Persian War
The Battle of Dhi Qar (Arabic,يوم ذي قار) was a Pre-Islamic battle fought between Arabs in southern Iraq and a Persian army, c. 609.
According to the Arab historian Abu Ubaida (d. 824), Khosrau II was angry with King Numan III for refusing to give him his daughter in marriage, and therefore imprisoned him. Subsequently, Khosrau sent troops to recover the Numan family armor, but Hani bin Masood (Numan's friend) refused, and the Persian forces were defeated at the battle of Dhi Qar, near Al-Hirah, the Lakhmid dynasty's capital.
Lakhmid Kingdom facts
al-Hirah was the cradle of the Arabic alphabet.
It was the birthplace of famous poets like al-Nabighah al-Thubyani, Laqete ibn Yaamur al-Ayadi, Alqama ibn Abada and Uday ibn Zaid al-Abbadi. It was visited by other great poets like Tarafah ibn al-Abd, Amr ibn Kulthum (who killed Amr III).
Sassanid army along with al-Monzar III ibn al-Numan himself and his army defeated the famed Byzantine general Belisarius at the Battle of Callinicum (531).
After the death of al-Numan III, Arabs defeated the Persians in the Battle of Thi-Qar.
Lakhmids sometimes had good relations with Persians. Bahram V lived in Al-Hirah and was educated at the court of al-Monzir I, whose support helped gain the throne after the assassination of his father.
Lakhmid rulers
1 'Amr I ibn Adi 268–295
2 Amrolgheis I ibn 'Amr 295–328
3 'Amr II ibn Imru' al-Qays 328–363
4 Aws ibn Qallam (non-dynastic) 363–368
5 Amrolgheis II ibn 'Amr 368–390
6 al-Nu'man I ibn Imru' al-Qays 390–418
7 al-Monzir I ibn al-Nu'man 418–462
8 al-Aswad ibn al-Monzir 462–490
9 al-Monzir II ibn al-Monzir 490–497
10 al-Nu'man II ibn al-Aswad 497–503
11 Abu Ya'fur ibn Alqama (non-dynastic, uncertain) 503–505
12 al-Monzir III ibn al-Nu'man 503/5–554
13 'Amr III ibn al-Monzir 554–569
14 Qabus ibn al-Monzir 569–573
15 Suhrab (Persian governor) 573–574
16 al-Monzir IV ibn al-Monzir 574–580
17 al-Nu'man III ibn al-Monzir 580–602
18 Iyas ibn Qabisah al-Ta'i (non-dynastic)
with Nakirjan (Persian governor) 602–611
19 Azadhbeh (Persian governor)
Perished after the Arab conquest of Persia 635

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