Al-Hīra and Its Histories

This study considers the production of history-writing in the Nasrid kingdom of al-hīra at the end of the sixth century. It argues that hīran history-writing encompassed king-lists, stories of tribal migration, and episcopal histories for the see of hīra, and that the majority of these were composed in the era of the last Nasrid king, al-Nu'mān III. It goes on to argue that the hīran material embedded in later sources such as al-Tabarī reflects the politics of the hīran court in the period ca. 590–610, the last generation of hīran independence.