Lakhmids of Hira, The

The first Lakhmids are thought to have emigrated from Yemen in the second century. Establishing their empire across what is now Iraq and North-East Arabia, they held sway across the lands that lay between the the Persians and the Romans. The Lakhmids were a major force among the great pre-Islamic Arab peoples. Lakhmid culture and learning spread widely, and carried much influence. Hira, the centre of the Lakhmid kingdom, was where the early Arabic alphabet was standardised. In The Lakhmids of Hira, Yasmin Zahran brings her lively yet informed style to bear on a hitherto unjustly neglected dynasty of Arabia's history. Introduced by Dr Robert Hoyland, with a chronology and a detailed bibliography, The Lakhmids of Hira is a required addition to the shelves of any Arabist or Middle East historian.