The Zenith of Lakhmid Power

Last updated: May 18th, 2025 at 8:01 am · Est. Reading Time: 3 minutes

The Lakhmid Arabs enjoyed the zenith of their power from 528 CE to 502 CE.  This was the time when they controlled most of the Arab tribes of the Tribal Zone of Arabia.

The Period of Utmost Lakhmid Influence

The influence of the Lakhmids over the people of the Tribal Zone of Arabia was not constant.  It vexed and waned during three or so centuries of their rule.  They reached the zenith of their power in the first half of the 6^th century after the defeat of Kindah (كِنده) king Harith bin Amr (Ḥārith bin ‘Amr حارِث بِن عمرو) in 528 CE at their hands.  According to Tabari, Khosrow I Nawshirwan made Mundhir III bin Nu’man (called Alamoundaras by Procopius), the Shaykh of the Lakhmids, king over Oman, Bahrain, Yamama, and the neighbouring parts of Arabia as far as the town of Taif in the Hejaz.¹  This event might have taken place shortly after 531 CE because that is the year when Khosrau I Nawshirwan came to power.  Dinawari insists that the power of the Lakhmids extended to Yemen after the defeat of Kindah, and the Himyar rulers of Yemen were subordinate to the Lakhmids.  The situation persisted until Ethiopians interfered in Yemen.²  Whatever the truth of this assertion, Mundhir was certainly exercising sovereignty over the confederation of the Ma‘add in Central Arabia towards the middle of the sixth century, and it was he against whom Abraha sent an expedition from Yemen.  The expedition is commemorated in a contemporary inscription.³

Lakhmids remained the most influential Arab house in the Tribal Zone from the time of the defeat of Harith bin ‘Amr in 528 CE to the Lakhmids’ fall from power by 602 CE.  There could be a transient decrease in Lakhmid’s influence in Arabia when Abraha rose to dominance in 548 CE and remained so until his death around 558 CE.

The Penetration of Lakhmid Power

Tribal Zone of late antique Arabia was unruly.  Despite Sasanian backing, the Lakhmids could not control the whole of the Tribal Zone during the peak of their power.  Tamim and Bakr bin Wa’il (Bakr bin Wā’il بَكر بِن واءِل), who bordered Sasanian Iran, had no option but to be obedient to the Lakhmids.  Asad and Ghatafan, who lived away from the border, remained independent.  Tribes further away from the border, like Sulaym and Hawazin, just entered into contracts (ahad) with the Lakhmids to escort their caravans in their territory.⁴  Probably the Likhmids paid them for the service.

The Reason Behind the Power Struggle

Here, one may ask, why Lakhmids (and others) needed to gain influence over deeper parts of the Tribal Zone, which was economically too weak to organize a state and geographically too hostile to be occupied permanently.  If prevention of raids was the only goal, could it not be achieved by merely controlling the bordering tribes?  It was probably the trade routes for which they were vying.  Development of the marine route in the 1^st century CE had decreased inland insense trade but had not brought it to an end.  Incense trade continued right up to the Islamic period and later, albeit at a lower level.⁵  The marine route had its hazards.  The Roman Empire had to set up costly marine guards to keep sea pirates at bay.⁶  As time passed,  new trade items emerged.  Precious metals and stones mined in Arabia could only be transported by land route.

Further Reading

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Endnotes

1. Abū Jā’far Muḥammad bin Jarīr al-Ṭabarī, The History of al-Ṭabarī, Vol. V, ed. Ehsan Yar-Shater, trans. C. E. Bosworth (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999), 253.
2. Abū Ḥanīfah Aḥmad bin Dāwūd al-Dīnawri, al-Akhbār al-Ṭiwāl, ed. Vladimir Guirgass, (Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1888), 55, 56.
3. Gonzague Ryckmans, “inscriptions sud-arabes. Dixième sèrie,” Le Musèon 66 (1953): 267 – 317. (Ry 506; Murayghan I).
4. Abu al-Baqā’ Hibatallāh, Kitāb al-manāqib al-Māzayadiyah fi akhbār al-mulūk al-Asadiyah, ed. Ṣāliḥ Mūsā Darādikah and Muḥammad ‘Abd al Qādir Khrīsāt, (Amman: Maktabat al-Risālah al-Hadīthah, 1984), 100, 121. (British Museum, London, ms ADD. 23).
5. Sterenn Le Maguer, ‘The insense Trade during the Islamic Period,’ Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 45 (2015): 175 – 184.
6. Carl Phillips, François Villeneuve F, and William Facey, “A Latin Inscription from South Arabia,” Proceedings of the seminar for Arabian Studies 34 (2004): 246.