Beate Dignas & Engelbert Winter - Kaveh Farrokh

172 5 Arabia between the great powers
Arabian allies were explicitly included in the peace when in 562 the great
powers tried to end the war and to establish an overall peace (20).
This may suffice to illustrate the important role the Arab Saracens played
in the confrontation of the great powers. The end of the Lahmid dynasty
once more reveals the significance of the client relationship for the Sasanians
and the consequences for the course of Sasanian history. Whereas the
Lahmid subjects had converted to Christianity for a long time, their rulers
had remained pagans. Only the last Lahmid king Numān III (580–602) 112
professed himself a Christian. 113 This may have contributed to the break
with the Persian king Xusrō II Parvēz (590–628) as much as the fact that
Xusrō accused the Lahmid king of lacking support against Bahrām Čōbīn.
By treason Numān III was lured to the court of Xusrō II and assassinated. 114
The Lahmid monarchy ended with the death of Numān III. Xusrō II
entrusted an Arab of non-Lahmid descent with the tasks previously carried
out by the Lahmid dynasty. Alongside this new ruler a Sasanian governor
was appointed. 115 In the eyes of the Sasanian ruler the Lahmids had obviously
gained too much power. Although Xusrō II had liberated himself
from an inconvenient vassal, he had destroyed the balance of power in the
region. In the following period, the protection of the South-western borders
of the Sasanian Empire against the attacks of nomadic Arab tribes, which
had been one of the most important tasks of the Lahmids, was lacking. As
a result, several Arab Bedouin tribes formed an alliance and probably in
604 destroyed a Sasanian army at DūKār. From a Sasanian perspective this
defeat was rather insignificant but the battle had important psychological
effects on the Arabs. The victory showed them how powerful they could be
when they cooperated. A few years later the Arabs united under the banner
of Islam, put an end to the Sasanian Empire and rose to become the new
power in the Near and Middle East. 116
112 Shahîd 1995a: 486–7 (vol. i). 113 Rothstein 1968: 139–43 and Preißler 1975: 47–8.
114 Shahîd 1995b: 119–20. 115 Rothstein 1968: 119–20.
116 Preißler 1975: 54 and Funke 1996: 234.