Al-Nu'man III ibn al-Mundhir
Al-Nu'man III ibn al-Mundhir | |
---|---|
Sassanid Empire | |
Issue | Al-Mundhir I |
Religion | Nestorian Christianity |
Al-Nuʿmān III ibn al-Mundhir (
Biography
Childhood and siblings
Al-Nu'man was the son of al-Mundhir IV ibn al-Mundhir (r. 575–580) and Salma. She was the daughter of a Jewish goldsmith, Wa'il ibn Atiyyah, from Fadak, and had been a slave of al-Harith ibn Hisn, of the Banu Kalb tribe.[1][2] The base, and even servile, origin of his mother was often used to mock al-Nu'man by contemporary poets.[3][4] Furthermore, the Arabic sources unanimously portray al-Nu'man as a particularly ugly individual, and remark on his red hair, small stature, and mottled skin.[2][5]
According to
Reign
Al-Nu'man's succession in 580 was not unopposed, as the clan of Banu Marina backed his brother al-Aswad. The Sasanian monarch, Hormizd IV (r. 579–590), appointed Iyas ibn Qabisah al-Ta'i as interim governor, while a suitable candidate was sought among the Lakhmid dynasty. The Arabic sources report that the intervention of Adi ibn Ziyad was decisive: Adi had the other sons of al-Mundhir present themselves first to Hormizd, who asked them whether they could fulfill the duties of the office. To this they all replied, schooled by Adi, "We can control the Arabs for you, except al-Nu'man". When al-Nu'man came last, he confidently promised to not only control the Arabs, but also his siblings, boasting "If I can't cope with them, then I can't cope with anyone!" Pleased with his answer, Hormizd appointed him king and gave him a gold-and-pearl encrusted crown worth 60,000 dirhams to confirm his position.[9][10]
Al-Nu'man was a strong and energetic ruler,[1] but not much is known about his reign.[11] He was faced with divisions among the tribes and clans subject to him. Thus when he tried to remove the right to lead a division into battle (the so-called ridāfa) from the Yarbu, a subtribe of the Banu Tamim, and give it to the Darim, another subtribe, this provoked a violent clash between the two at Tikhfa. Despite the support given by al-Nu'man to the Darim, the Yarbu won and even took prisoner al-Nu'man's brother and son, who had to be ransomed for one thousand camels.[1][12]
Unlike his predecessors, al-Nu'man was scarcely concerned with the Lakhmids' traditional Arab rivals, the Ghassanids, as the latter had fallen out with their Byzantine overlords in c. 580 and been eliminated as a power factor in the region.[1] The only recorded military activity of al-Nu'man is an attack on the Byzantine fortress of Circesium during the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 572–591.[1][13] According to Arab accounts, al-Nu'man gave refuge to Hormizd's son, Khosrow II (r. 591–628), during his flight from the usurper Bahram Chobin in 590, and fought alongside him in a battle at al-Nahrawan against the usurper's forces.[1][14]
Downfall, death and aftermath
Despite the assistance rendered to Khosrow, after the latter was restored to his throne, the two fell out. The sources provide no clear reason for this, attributing their dispute to al-Nu'man's refusal to give his horse to Khosrow or marry one of his daughters,
Once he became aware of Khosrow's hostility, Al-Nu'man fled his capital and sought refuge among the
The end of al-Nu'man's reign is generally placed in c. 602 by modern scholars.
Legacy
According to Irfan Shahîd, in the later histories, al-Nu'man ibn al-Mundhir's reign "was the most memorable after that of his grandfather, al-Mundhir III".[1] The Lakhmid capital of al-Hira continued to be the major Arab cultural centre of its time, particularly through al-Nu'man's patronage of poets, most notably Adi ibn Zayd and the panegyrist al-Nabigha.[1]
Al-Nu'man was also the first to openly convert to Christianity, likely after the conclusion of the peace with Byzantium in 591. This enhanced al-Hira's importance as a major Nestorian Christian centre, particularly for missionary activities in the Persian Gulf and Eastern Arabia,[1] and was the seat of a bishopric.[1]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Shahîd 1995, p. 119.
- ^ a b Bosworth 1999, p. 341.
- ^ Bosworth 1999, p. 341 (note 807).
- ^ Rothstein 1899, pp. 108–109.
- ^ Rothstein 1899, p. 108.
- ^ a b Rothstein 1899, pp. 109–110.
- ^ Bosworth 1999, p. 340.
- ^ Bosworth 1999, pp. 340–341.
- ^ Bosworth 1999, pp. 340–344.
- ^ Rothstein 1899, pp. 110–111.
- ^ Rothstein 1899, p. 111.
- ^ Rothstein 1899, pp. 112–113.
- ^ Rothstein 1899, pp. 111–112.
- ^ a b c d e f Bosworth 1983, p. 3.
- ^ Shahîd 1995, pp. 119–120.
- ^ Philip De Souza and John France, War and peace in ancient and medieval history, p. 139; Khuzistan Chronicle 9
- ^ Hamad Alajmi, 'Pre-Islamic Poetry and Speech Act Theory: Al-A`sha, Bishr ibn Abi Khazim, and al-Ḥujayjah' (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Indiana University, 2012), p. 4.
- ^ Rothstein 1899, p. 71.
- ^ Bosworth 1983, p. 4.
- ^ a b Shahîd 1995, p. 120.
- ^ Bosworth 1983, pp. 3–4.
Sources
- ISBN 0-521-20092-X.
- ISBN 978-0-7914-4355-2.
- Rothstein, Gustav (1899). Die Dynastie der Lahmiden in al-Hîra. Ein Versuch zur arabisch-persichen Geschichte zur Zeit der Sasaniden [The Dynasty of the Lakhmids at al-Hira. An Essay on Arab–Persian History at the Time of the Sasanids] (in German). Berlin: Reuther & Reichard.
- ISBN 978-90-04-09834-3.
See also
Further reading
- Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (2018). "al-Nu'man III b. al-Mundhir". In Nicholson, Oliver (ed.). ISBN 978-0-19-866277-8.