Al-Ḥīrah (from Syriac ḥirtā, "warehouse"), English Hira , ancient city south of al-Kūfah in south-central Iraq; it was prominent in pre-Islamic Arab history. The city was originally a military camp but in the 5th and 6th centuries ad it was the capital of Lakhmiden who were Arab vassals of Sāsānian Persia (Iran). As such, it was a center of diplomatic, political, and military activity in which Persia, the Byzantine Empire and the Arabian Peninsula . It protected the Sāsānians from the attacks of Arab nomads and served as an important station on the caravan route between Persia and the Arabian Peninsula.
Britannica Quiz The Middle East:Fact or Fiction? Is the literacy rate very high in Afghanistan? Does Yemen take its name from the Arabic word "northern"? Sort the facts in this quiz about Syria, Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries. Al-Hira is very important , but in the cultural history of the Arabs before the advent of Islam . The Lakhmids decorated the city with palaces and castles in their heyday in the 6th century. Tradition has it that There was Arabic script developed, and Al-Ḥīrah's role in the development of Arabic poetry and Christianity was of particular importance. Some of the most famous poets in pre-Islamic Arabia ( z. Ṭarafah and an Nābighah adh-Dhubyānī ) retreated to Lakhmid Court. As the seat of a diocese for Nestorian Christians, al-Ḥīrah exerted a strong influence on Eastern religious life and helped Christian monotheism permeate the Arabian Peninsula.
Al-Ḥīrah began to decline in the early 7th century after the Persians caused the collapse of the Lakhmid dynasty brought about and 633 the city before the Muslims surrendered .