Laughmids

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Map of the Lachmid Dynasty

The Lachmids were a late antique Arab ruling family in what is now Iraq . This family is sometimes confused with the tribe of the Banū Laḫm ( children of the Laḫm ), to which they belonged and from whose ancestor Laḫm their name is derived. The common name "Lachmiden" for the dynasty is misleading in that this sex was only part of the tribe.

The Banū Laḫm

According to the genealogical tradition, the ancestor Laḫm came from Yemen , which was controversial in ancient times and is now considered untrustworthy. He is said to have lived at the time of the Old Testament patriarchs . In late antiquity , the Banū Laḫm settled parts of Syria , Iraq, Palestine and the north of the Arabian Peninsula . In Syria, they mixed with the tribe of Banū Ǧuḏām. The genealogical tradition leads the Banū Ǧuḏām back to a brother of Laḫm, who was called ʿAmr (nickname Ǧuḏām). In the 6th and 7th centuries AD, the Banū Ǧuḏām dominated Syria; the Banū Laḫm were absorbed by them over time.

Third and fourth centuries

The founder of the Laughmid dynasty was ʿAmr ibn ʿAdī, who lived in the late 3rd century AD. He was apparently an upstart who derived his legitimacy for rule from the fact that he was on his mother's side a nephew of the king Ǧadīma al-Abraš, who ruled the tribal association of the Tanūḫ; he was also descended from the Osrhoene royal family . The Tanūḫ were an association of Arabs of different origins who - apparently in the early 3rd century - had advanced to Bahrain and southern Iraq, probably taking advantage of the turmoil in the Parthian Arsacid Empire at the time . However, ʿAmr, the founder of the new dynasty, did not belong to the Tanūḫ. He made the city of Ḥīra (derived from the old Syrian Herṯa for "army camp") on the western bank of the Euphrates (southwest of Naǧaf in Iraq) his capital. The city was located in a fertile area and was famous for its pleasant and healthy climate. ʿAmr carried out campaigns of conquest on the Arabian Peninsula. The reports about his alleged conflict with Queen Zenobia of Palmyra (see also Imperial Crisis of the 3rd Century ) are to be seen as legends.

ʿAmr's son and successor Imruʾ al-Qays († 328) withdrew from Persian influence and allied with the Romans. With this change of side was connected the loss of the capital Ḥīra and a shift of the center of gravity of his power to the west. His funerary inscription calls him exaggeratedly “King of all Arabs” - a title he acquired after converting to Rome. After his death, the Lachmids apparently declined, even interrupted their rule, and the rival Syrian tribe of the Ghassanids took advantage of this power vacuum.

Fifth century

The resurgence of the Lachmid Empire was initiated by King an-Nuʿmān I. al-Aʿwar ( the one-eyed ) († 418). His power was based, among other things, on the presence of the elite Persian cavalry, which was then stationed in Ḥīra. He built the famous al-Ḫawarnaq castle on a hill east of Ḥīra as the new residence of the laughmid kings. His son Munḏir I ( 418 - 462 ) achieved such a position of power that after the death of the Sasanid king Yazdegerd I he was able to assert the succession to the throne from his son Bahrām V against considerable resistance. Bahrām had spent part of his youth at the Lachmidenhof. 421/422 Munḏir participated in Bahrām's war against the Eastern Roman Empire , where he suffered a heavy defeat (see Roman-Persian Wars ).

At the end of the 5th century, king an-Nuʿmān II. († 503) ruled, who participated as a vassal of the Sasanid king Kavaḏ I in the war against the Eastern Romans and was killed in the process. In the absence of Nuʿmāns II, enemy Arabs raided and sacked his capital.

Heyday

Under the son of an-Nuʿmāns II, King Mundir III. (Greek Alamoundaros; † 554 ), the most famous Lachmiden, experienced the Lachmid Empire a glamorous era. His reign was marked by clashes with the Eastern Romans and the Ghassanids allied with them , where he was on the offensive and wreaked havoc on his raids in Syria. Shortly after taking office, he undertook a campaign to Palestine. Probably in 519 (not 524, as was previously assumed) he was able to conclude an advantageous peace treaty with Emperor Justin I at the famous conference of Ramla (a town southeast of Ḥīra), but it did not last long. Envoys and clergy from the Sasanid Empire also took part in this conference, and important decisions were made for the future of the Arabian Peninsula and for a settlement of religious conflicts. The Lachmid Empire was able to demonstrate its key position as an important regional power. The historian Ṭabarī reports that Munḏir's rule included Oman and Bahrain and extended to aṭ-Ṭā'if . Even Yaṯrib ( Medina ) was under his control. In 531 he played an essential part in the Persian victory at the Battle of Callinicum (today Ar-Raqqa ) over the Eastern Roman general Belisarius . Later he apparently received considerable tribute payments from the Eastern Romans.

However, Munḏir also temporarily suffered a spectacular setback: In the second half of the twenties, the Kinda tribal association living in central and northern Arabia conquered its capital Ḥīra under al-Ḥāriṯ ibn nAmr. Munḏir was soon able to drive the Kinda away. He himself died in 554 in the fight against the Ghassanid al-Ḥāriṯ ibn Ǧabala (Greek Arethas), whose son he had captured in the 1940s and sacrificed to the goddess al-'Uzzā . His son and successor ʿAmr ibn Hind (554–569 / 570) plays an important role in poetry; he is described as a warlike and cruel ruler and was murdered by the famous poet ʿAmr ibn Kulṯūm. He was named after his mother ibn Hind; she was one of Munḏir III. captured daughter of the Kinda ruler al-Ḥāriṯ.

Downfall

After the death of King ʿAmr ibn Hind, the Lachmids under the kings Qabuz ibn al-Mundhir (569-573) and Al-Mundhir IV. Ibn al-Mundhir (574-580) suffered several defeats against the Ghassanids, who captured Ḥīra in 575 and burned down. King an-Nuʿmān III. (580–602), the last Laughmid ruler, was involved in battles with Arab tribes that turned out unfavorably but did not pose a serious threat to his rule. His undoing was that he lost the trust of his overlord, the Sasanid ruler Ḫusraw II ( Chosrau II ). A court intrigue is given as the reason for this; possibly Ḫusraw wanted to counter efforts of the Lachmids to evade Persian influence. An-Nuʿmān had to flee from Jīra. Finally he was handed over to Ḫusraw or surrendered to him. In 602 2usraw had him killed. His fate provided poets and historians with ample material to build legends. With the glorious downfall of this ruler, the Laughmid dynasty ended.

Ḫusraw initially set up an interim administration headed by a non-Lachmid Arab and a Persian; In 611 he completely incorporated the territory into his empire. This turned out to be a mistake, because the Lachmids had both shielded the Sasanid Empire from attacks from the Arabian Peninsula, kept the Ghassanids somewhat at bay and fought the Eastern Romans. The fatal misjudgment of the Sasanid king led to the Persian defeat at Ḏū Qār (611 at the latest) against invading Arabs, which destroyed the myth of Sasanid superiority as the first Arab victory over the great Persian power. The annihilation of the Lachmid Empire was an important step in the downfall of Sasanid rule in the fight against Muslims. Already in 633 Ḥīra surrendered to the Muslims under Ḫālid ibn al-Walīd (see Islamic expansion ).

Religion and culture

The founder of the dynasty ʿAmr ibn ʿAdī offered refuge in Ḥīra to the Manichaeans , whose religion was suppressed in the Sasanid Empire under the kings Bahrām I and Bahrām II . His son and successor Imruʾ al-Qays, as Ṭabarī - following Hišām al-Kalbī - reported, opted for Christianity in the early 4th century. But his successors were pagan. Apparently an Eastern Church ( Nestorian ) diocese was established in Ḥīra as early as the 4th century ; several Nestorian bishops of the 5th and 6th centuries are known. In the Lachmid Empire, the Nestorians dominated the Christians, the Monophysites apparently could not found a diocese. With the Ghassanids, however, Monophysitism prevailed. The wife of the laughmid king Munḏir III. was a Christian and founded a monastery in Ḥīra, but Munḏir made human sacrifices to the goddess al-ʿUzzā and the kings still refused to accept Christianity. However, numerous churches and monasteries sprang up in the capital and its surroundings. Only the last Lachmid ruler, an-Nuʿmān III., Was baptized Nestorian at the latest in 593. However, the acceptance of the Christian faith did not prevent an-Nuʿmān from continuing to practice polygamy .

From the fourth century onwards, Ḥīra was the only significant urban center in northern Arabia. The role of the city as a trading center contributed to this; it was on the caravan route from Iran to the Arabian Peninsula. Therefore, the Lachmid capital also had the function of a cultural center, especially in the late period of the empire. It is believed that Jīra played a role in the development of the Arabic script; Details are controversial. The city experienced a decline after the conquest by the Muslims in the shadow of the newly founded nearby Kufa; in the 11th century it disappears from the sources.

Lachmid rulers emerged as patrons of the poets, who praised them accordingly. The different characters and changeable fates of the Lachmid rulers offered ample occasion for poetic representation. The Christian DichtAdī ibn Zayd al-ʿIbādī, who at the succession to the throne at-Nuʿmāns III, was one of the important poets who stayed at the court of Ḥīra during the Laughter Mids' era. played an essential role, but was then imprisoned and killed by this king. A court poet at-Nuʿmāns III. was an-Nābiġa aḏ-Ḏubyānī , one of the most famous Arab poets; he fell temporarily out of favor with his ruler and barely got away with his life. Because of the feared capriciousness of the kings, the life of the poets at court was dangerous. Other well-known poets who stayed in Ḥīra during the cultural heyday in the 6th century were Abū Dāwūd al-Iyādī, who was at the court of Munḏir III. held the office of stable master and stepped forward with poems on horses, his contemporary ʿAbīd ibn al-Abraṣ, who is valued for his nature and animal poetry, the aforementioned ʿAmr ibn Kulṯūm, al-Mutalamis and his grandson Ṭarfa (ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAbd ibn Sufyān), Maymūn ibn Qays al-Aʿšā and Labīd ibn Rabīʿa.

literature

  • Greg Fisher: Between Empires. Arabs, Romans and Sasanians in Late Antiquity. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2011, ISBN 978-0-19-959927-1 .
  • Irfan Shahid: Byzantium and the Arabs in the Fourth Century , Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington (DC) 1984, ISBN 0-88402-116-5 .
  • Irfan Shahid: Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century , Vol. 1, Part 1 and Part 2, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington (DC) 1995, ISBN 0-88402-214-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The details are presented in Shahid (1995), Vol. 1.1, pp. 13-15.
  2. ↑ Shahid (1995), Vol. 1.1, pp. 17f., 26-28.
  3. ↑ For the dating see Shahid (1995), Vol. 1.1, pp. 40–42.
  4. ↑ On the role of the Arabs in this battle, see Shahid (1995), vol. 1.1, pp. 134-143.
  5. ↑ Shahid (1995), Vol. 1.1, pp. 277f.
  6. ↑ For the dating see Shahid (1995), Vol. 1.1, p. 389f.
  7. ↑ Irfan Shahid: Lakhmids article , in: The Encyclopaedia of Islam , Vol. 5 (1986), p. 633; Irfan Shahid: Article Al-Nuʿmān (III) , in: The Encyclopaedia of Islam , Vol. 8 (1995), pp. 119f.
  8. ↑ Shahid (1995), Vol. 1.2, pp. 703-709.
  9. ↑ Shahid (1995), Vol. 1.2, pp. 722-726.