The ‘Persian’ Arabs of al-Hira: Known Unknowns and Historiographical Uncertainties

In contrast to their Roman counterparts, the Jafnids (Ghassanids), sources for the ‘Persian Arabs’ of al-Hira, often called Nasrids or
Lakhmids, are scarce. A hostile tradition from Roman classicising and ecclesiastical writers, and compilations from much later traditions—the medieval Syriac chronicles, the Christian Arabic Chronicle of Seert, the Arabic-Islamic tradition, and a few mentions in medieval Persian
texts—form the basis for our understanding of Persia’s late antique Arab allies. Compounding the challenges of the literary sources is the lack of detailed excavation of locations associated with the Nasrids, such as al-Hira itself, or any of the surrounding palaces known primarily from the Arab-Islamic tradition.
This paper will offer a brief discussion of the evidence for the Persian Arabs, including an assessment of the utility of the different source
traditions. It is often assumed that little of certainty can be said about the Nasrids, because of historiographical problems and ‘known unknowns’ – vast lacunae in the sources – and to some extent this paper reinforces this general conclusion. But it will also offer an upbeat assessment: while the sources constitute significant obstacles to our knowledge of the Nasrids, a surprisingly complete picture of their activities and place in late antique eastern history can be outlined through the careful use, in particular, of pre-Islamic material contemporary to the Nasrids themselves.