Writing the History of the “Persian Arabs”: The Pre-Islamic Perspective on the “Naṣrids” of al-Ḥīrah

Modern scholarship on Arabs in the pre-Islamic period has focused on Rome's Arab allies—the so-called “Jafnids” or “Ghassānids,” with much less attention paid to Persia's Arab allies, the so-called “Na?rid” or “Lakhmid” dynasty of Arab leaders at al-?īrah in Iraq. This article examines select pre-Islamic sources for the Persian Arabs, showing that even with the meager evidence available to us, and the lack of archaeological material, it is possible to draw a relatively complex portrait of the Persian Arabs. This article situates the Persian Arabs as important figures in some key themes and phenomena of late antiquity, such as the growth of Christian communities, the conflict between Rome and Persia, and the struggle for influence in the Arabian peninsula.     

From the “Cleavage” of Central Asia to Greater Khurasan: History and Historiography of Late Antique East Iran

The history of Central Asia is normally considered peripheral to those of the civilizations that surrounded it—Marshal Hodgson termed it a civilizational “cleavage.” However, in the early Islamic period this region, particularly its southern and western parts, emerges as the dominant entity of Greater Khurasan to play a central role in the affairs of the Islamic Caliphate. This paper considers the history of the region, dubbed East Iran, before this rise to importance and proposes a different historiographical approach focusing on the developments in East Iran during the period of late antiquity and in interaction with the Sasanian Empire. It is proposed that the Greater Khurasan emerged as the result of the merging of the socio-cultural worlds of East Iran and that of the Sasanian Empire.     

The decline of eastern Arabia in the Sasanian period

This paper lists and reviews the archaeological evidence for the Sasanian period in eastern Arabia (third–seventh centuries AD). Much of the published evidence is shown to be either erroneous or highly doubtful, leaving very little evidence that is reliable. It is argued that the paucity of evidence in comparison to the Hellenistic/Parthian period indicates that this was a time of marked and continuing decline in the number and size of settlements, the number of tombs and the amount of coinage in circulation, all of which probably result from a population that was both declining in size and participating less in the types of production and consumption that leave discoverable traces in the archaeological record. This is in contrast to the historical evidence, which, although patchy, is stronger for the Sasanian period than it is for the Hellenistic/Parthian period. The argument for decline challenges some generally accepted historical views of eastern Arabia at this time, which see the region as undergoing a notable period of growth. In conclusion, some brief consideration is given to the possible causes of the decline.     

Oman and late Sasanian imperialism

Arguments about the nature of late Sasanian imperial involvement in Oman have become quite polarised over the past few decades. Historians and archaeologists have used their different caches of evidence to suggest quite variant conclusions concerning the extent of the Sasanians’ imperial involvement in south‐east Arabia and the impact that this involvement may have had on the prosperity of Omani local agriculture and the economy there. This article, however, seeks to demonstrate that the evidence of literary sources for the late pre‐Islamic history of south‐east Arabia, written primarily in Arabic by Muslims several centuries after the events being described, can be placed alongside other written evidence for the late Sasanian empire to suggest a picture of late Sasanian imperial involvement in Oman that is not all that far removed from the conclusions reached by many archaeologists working in the region. The article demonstrates that late Sasanian imperial interest in Oman may not have led to the intense settlement and agricultural development of the coastal plain sometimes suggested, but that there was nonetheless a significant place for Oman within ērān?ahr, the territory of the king of kings.