1.
Lakhmid
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The Lakhmids or Banu Lakhm were an Arab kingdom of southern Iraq with al-Hirah as their capital, from about 300 to 602 CE. They were generally but intermittently the allies and clients of the Sassanian Empire, the Lakhmid Kingdom was founded by the Lakhum tribe that emigrated from Yemen in the second century and ruled by the Banu Lakhm, hence the name given it. The founder of the dynasty was Amr, whose son Imru al-Qais is claimed to have converted to Christianity according to Western authors, Imru al-Qais dreamt of a unified and independent Arab kingdom and, following that dream, he seized many cities in the Arabian Peninsula. He then formed an army and developed the Kingdom as a naval power. In 325, the Persians, led by Shapur II, began a campaign against the Arab kingdoms, when Imru al-Qais realised that a mighty Persian army composed of 60,000 warriors was approaching his kingdom, he asked for the assistance of the Byzantine Empire. Constantius II promised to assist him but was unable to provide that help when it was needed, the Persians advanced toward Hira and a series of vicious battles took place around and in Hira and the surrounding cities. Shapur IIs army defeated the Lakhmid army and captured Hira, in this, the young Shapur acted much more violently. He installed Aws ibn Qallam and retreated his army, with him ended the dream of a united Arab kingdom until after the advent of Islam. When he died he was entombed at al-Nimarah in the Syrian desert, Imru al-Qais funerary inscription is written in an extremely difficult type of script. Recently there has been a revival of interest in the inscription, two years after his death, in the year 330, a revolt took place where Aws ibn Qallam was killed and succeeded by the son of Imru al-Qais, Amr. Thereafter, the Lakhmids main rivals were the Ghassanids, who were vassals of the Sasanians arch-enemy, the Lakhmid kingdom could have been a major centre of the Church of the East, which was nurtured by the Sasanians, as it opposed the Eastern Orthodox Church of the Byzantines. The Lakhmids remained influential throughout the sixth century, at that point, the city was abandoned and its materials were used to reconstruct Kufa, its exhausted twin city. The Battle of Dhi Qar pitted the Arabs of southern Iraq against the Sasanian army around 609. According to the Arab historian Abu ʿUbaidah, Khosrow II was angry with the king, al-Numan III ibn al-Mundhir, for refusing to give him his daughter in marriage, Hira stood just south of what is now the Iraqi city of Kufa. Al-Hirah became the cradle of the Arabic alphabet, poets born in the Kingdom included, al-Nabigha, Laqete ibn Yaamur al-Ayadi, Alqama ibn Abada and Uday ibn Zaid al-Abbadi. Other great poets visited, like Tarafa and Amr ibn Kulthum, the military of the Sasanian Empire, along with al-Mundhir III ibn al-Numan himself and his army, defeated the famed Byzantine general Belisarius at the Battle of Callinicum. After the death of al-Numan III, the Arabs defeated the Persians in the Battle of Dhi Qar, bahram V lived in Hira and was educated at the court of al-Mundhir I, whose support helped him gain the throne after the assassination of his father. The founder and most of the rulers of the kingdom were from the Banu Lakhm dynasty
2.
Zenobia
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Septimia Zenobia was a third-century queen of the Syria-based Palmyrene Empire. Many legends surround her ancestry, she was born to a noble Palmyrene family and married the ruler of the city. Her husband became king in 260, elevating Palmyra to supreme power in the Near East by defeating the Sassanians, after Odaenathus assassination, Zenobia became the regent of her son Vaballathus and held de facto power throughout his reign. In 270, Zenobia launched an invasion which brought most of the Roman East under her sway, by mid-271 her realm extended from Ancyra in the north to southern Egypt, although she remained nominally subordinate to Rome. However, in reaction to Roman emperor Aurelians campaign in 272, Zenobia declared her son emperor, the Romans were victorious after heavy fighting, the queen was besieged in her capital and captured by Aurelian, who exiled her to Rome where she spent the remainder of her life. Zenobia was a monarch and fostered an intellectual environment in her court. She was tolerant toward her subjects, and protected religious minorities, the queen maintained a stable administration which governed a multicultural, multiethnic empire. Zenobia died after 274, and many tales have been recorded about her fate and her rise and fall have inspired historians, artists and novelists, and she is a national hero in Syria. Her face was dark and of a hue, her eyes were black and powerful beyond the usual wont, her spirit divinely great. So white were her teeth that many thought that she had pearls in place of teeth and she bore the gentilicium Septimia, and her native Palmyrene name was Bat-Zabbai. In Greek—Palmyras diplomatic and second language, used in many Palmyrene inscriptions—she used the name Zenobia, the ninth-century historian al-Tabari, in his highly fictionalized account, wrote that the queens name was Naila al-Zabba. In Palmyra, names such as Zabeida, Zabdila, Zabbai or Zabda were often transformed into Zenobios, historian Victor Duruy believed that the queen used the Greek name as a translation of her native name in deference to her Greek subjects. No contemporary statues of Zenobia have been found in Palmyra or elsewhere, most known representations of Zenobia are the idealized portraits of her found on her coins. British scholar William Wright visited Palmyra toward the end of the century in a vain search for a sculpture of the queen. The author of the Augustan History invented many events and letters attributed to Zenobia in the absence of contemporary sources, when an Augustan History account deals with an event corroborated from other sources, however, its details are more credible. Byzantine chronicler Joannes Zonaras is considered an important source for the life of Zenobia, the Augustan History contains details of Zenobias early life, although their credibility is doubtful. According to Augustan History, the hobby as a child was hunting. Apparently not a commoner, she would have received an education appropriate for a noble Palmyrene girl, according to the Augustan History, in addition to her Palmyrene Aramaic mother tongue, Zenobia was reportedly fluent in Egyptian and Greek and spoke Latin
3.
Manichaeism
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Manichaeism was a major religious movement that was founded by the Iranian prophet Mani in the Sasanian Empire. Manichaeism taught a dualistic cosmology describing the struggle between a good, spiritual world of light, and an evil, material world of darkness. Through an ongoing process which takes place in history, light is gradually removed from the world of matter and returned to the world of light. Its beliefs were based on local Mesopotamian gnostic and religious movements, Manichaeism was quickly successful and spread far through the Aramaic-Syriac speaking regions. It thrived between the third and seventh centuries, and at its height was one of the most widespread religions in the world, Manichaean churches and scriptures existed as far east as China and as far west as the Roman Empire. It was briefly the main rival to Christianity in the competition to replace classical paganism, while most of Manichaeisms original writings have been lost, numerous translations and fragmentary texts have survived. An adherent of Manichaeism is called, especially in older sources, Mani, an Arsacid Persian by birth, was born 216 AD in Mesopotamia, which was ruled by Persia, then within the Sassanid Empire province of Asuristan. According to the Cologne Mani-Codex, Manis parents were members of the Jewish Christian Gnostic sect known as the Elcesaites, Mani composed seven writings, six of which were written in Syriac Aramaic. The seventh, the Shabuhragan, was written by Mani in Middle Persian and presented by him to the contemporary King of Sassanid Persia, Shapur I, in the Persian capital of Ctesiphon. Although there is no proof Shapur I was a Manichaean, he tolerated the spread of Manichaeism, while Manichaeism was spreading, existing religions such as Zoroastrianism were still popular and Christianity was gaining social and political influence. Although having fewer adherents, Manichaeism won the support of many high-ranking political figures, with the assistance of the Persian Empire, Mani began missionary expeditions. The date of his death is estimated at AD 276–277, Mani believed that the teachings of Buddha, Zoroaster, and Jesus were incomplete, and that his revelations were for the entire world, calling his teachings the Religion of Light. Manichaean writings indicate that Mani received revelations when he was 12 and again when he was 24, with the discovery of the Mani-Codex, it also became clear that he was raised in a Jewish-Christian baptism sect, the Elcesaites, and was influenced by their writings as well. It taught him truths which he developed into a religion and his divine Twin or true Self brought Mani to self-realization. He claimed to be the Paraclete of the Truth, as promised in the New Testament, Manichaeisms views on Jesus are described by historians, Jesus in Manichaeism possessed three separate identities, Jesus the Luminous, Jesus the Messiah and Jesus patibilis. Jesus the Messiah was a historical being who was the prophet of the Jews, however, the Manichaeans believed he was wholly divine. He never experienced human birth as notions of physical conception and birth filled the Manichaeans with horror, since he was the light of the world, where was this light, they asked, when he was in the womb of the Virgin. Jesus the Messiah was truly born at his baptism as it was on occasion that the Father openly acknowledged his sonship
4.
Narseh
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Narseh was the seventh Sasanian king of Ērānshahr. He was the son of Shapur I, during the rule of his father Shapur I, Narseh had served as the governor of Sakastan, Sindh and Turan. Prior to becoming King of Persia, he held the title Great King of Armenia, Narseh overthrew the increasingly unpopular Bahram III in 293 with the support of most of the nobility. The circumstances of Narsehs rise to power are detailed in the Paikuli inscription, Narseh was known for his tolerance of other religions. Narseh is quoted in an inscription by his father Shapur I as the governor of Sindh, Narseh was later appointed as governor of Armenia. Following the death of Bahram II in 293 CE, his son Bahram III was proclaimed king in Pars by a group of nobles led by Wahnam and supported by Adurfarrobay, governor of Mesan. Four months into Bahram IIIs reign, Narseh was summoned to Ctesiphon by the request of members of the Persian nobility. According to the Paikuli inscription these nobles swore their allegiance to him there. In a brief revolt, Wahnam was captured and executed and Bahram was removed from the throne and it is assumed Bahram III was also killed in the uprising though there is no documentation of this so his fate remains uncertain. During Narsehs time, Rome was ruled by Diocletian and it was with Diocletian, in 296, fed up with incursions made by the Armenian monarch Tiridates III, Narseh invaded Armenia. Surprised by the attack, Tiridates fled his kingdom. The Roman Emperor Diocletian dispatched his son-in-law Galerius with an army to Tiridatess aid. Galerius invaded Mesopotamia, which Narseh had occupied hoping to check his advance, three battles were fought subsequently, the first two of which were indecisive. In the third fought at Callinicum, Galerius suffered a defeat and was forced to retreat. Galerius crossed the Euphrates into Syria to join his father-in-law Diocletian at Antioch, on his arrival at Antioch, Galerius was rebuked by Diocletian who disgraced him for his shameful defeat at the hands of Narseh. Vowing to take revenge, Galerius made preparations throughout the winter of 297, supported by the Armenians, Galerius surprised Narseh in his camp at the Battle of Satala and inflicted a crushing defeat on the latter forcing him to flee in haste. His wife, prisoners, his sisters and a number of his children were captured apart from his prodigious military chest, eastern Mesopotamia was recovered by the Romans and Tiridates was reinstated as the monarch of Armenia. In the meantime, he consulted Diocletian at Nisibis who persuaded Galerius to offer terms of peace to the Persians, accordingly terms of peace were agreed upon, and were ratified by a treaty concluded by Narseh with the Romans
5.
Paikuli inscription
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These inscribed stone blocks are now in the Sulaymaniyah Museum, the field only contains the stones that were used in the construction of the tower. It was set up as a monument to victory, and tells how, in 293 Narses marched from Armenia in open revolt against his nephew with a host of supporters and allies, whose names are recorded on the Paikuli inscription. This list includes king Tiridates, possibly of Armenia, the Paikuli inscription of Narses shows that Asuristan at least was in Persian hands, but says nothing of Nisibis and Singara. The fact of Amrus vassalage to Narses was preserved by the latter in the Paikuli inscription, some suggest that Narses in the inscription sought to compare his succession to the throne with that of his grandfather Ardashir, just as Ardashir had succeeded Shapur. Skjærvø and H. Humbach, The Sassanian Inscription of Paikuli, the Sassanian Inscription of Paikuli The Sassanian Inscription of Paikuli by Prods Skjærvø Herzfeld and the Paikuli Inscription at Encyclopaedia Iranica
6.
Imru' al-Qays ibn 'Amr
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Imru al-Qays ibn Amr was the second Lakhmid king. His mother was Maria bint Amr, the sister of Kab al-Azdi and he was the first Lakhmid king to convert to Christianity. Al-Tabari states that he ruled for the Persians in all the land of the Arabs in Iraq, Hejaz and Mesopotamia. Imru al-Qays is called in his inscription, The king of all Arabs who owned the crown. The same inscription mentions that Imru al-Qays reached as far as Najran and besieged it from the king, some scholars have identified Imru al-Qays ibn Amr in some South Arabian inscriptions with that one. In those same inscriptions his name is mentioned along with Shammar Yahrish, the epitaph, the Namara inscription, is one of the earliest examples of Arabic
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