Sykes' History of Persia - Heritage Institute

534 HISTORY OF PERSIA chap.
Medina and explained the situation to Abu Bekr. The
latter, from his deathbed, gave orders to Omar to raise
without delay a further levy
for the Persian campaign.
At first no one responded to the summons, but Abu
Obayd of Tayif, encouraged by a stirring speech from'Mothanna,
agreed to go, and was given command of the thousand
men who were first enlisted. Returning to his army,
Mothanna learned that a powerful column of the enemy
was advancing on Hira with a second column in support. I
He therefore evacuated the entire district and retreated
into the desert towards Medina, where he awaited the
arrival of Abu Obayd at the head of a force now considerably
increased. After the junction of the forces the Arabs
attacked the two Persian armies in succession, and in
neither case met with any obstinate resistance.
Rustam, the Persian Governor of Khorasan, who was
now invested with full powers at Ctesiphon, speedily
organized a fresh army, which he placed under Bahman,
the " beetle browed." This force marched to a spot near
Babylon where the Arabs succeeded in crossing the
Euphrates by a bridge of boats. The elephants, of which
Bahman had thirty,
so frightened the Arab horses that
they refused to charge, and the attack had to be made on
foot. Abu Obayd was seized and trampled to death by
a huge white elephant which he had wounded. Leader
after leader was killed, and for the first time the Arabs
wavered. A soldier, inspired by the heroic idea that the
army should conquer or perish, cut the first boat adrift,
and this act caused a panic. Mothanna, who mainly on
account of his being a Beduin Arab and not of high
birth had been superseded by Abu Obayd, now rushed to
the front and strove to hold the Persians at bay while
the bridge was being restored ; but his efforts— in the
course of which he was wounded—were only partially'
successful, and the Moslem loss was 4000, while 2000
Arabs fled back to Medina. In short, after this battle,
which is known as the " Battle of the Bridge," Mothanna
could muster only 3000 men, and, had Bahman pur-
sued, the whole army must have been annihilated. But^
fortunately for the Arabs, news of a rising at Ctesiphoi