Al-Hira

Al-Hira (Arabic: الحيرة, romanized: al-Ḥīra Middle Persian: Hērt ) was an ancient city and a major metropolis located in Mesopotamia, in what is now south-central Iraq. It was the capital city of the Lakhmid kingdom, the major Arab client kingdom of the Sasanian Empire in pre-Islamic times, between the fourth and the seventh centuries. In Islamic times, it remained inhabited until the tenth century.

Despite its major role in the history of late antiquity, little is known about its society and culture. Most histories of the city come from early Abbasid times in Islamic sources. While earlier sources are sometimes incorporated into these histories, they have also been substantially reworked to construct a legendary narrative of what was then a declining and, ultimately lost, city. Pre-Islamic Al-Hira was remembered as an urban Christian city, as a city where many of the most renowned pre-Islamic poets performed, and where a distinct musical genre was created. Al-Hira linked the Sasanian empire to the Arab lands stretching into Syria and the Arabian Peninsula.