Between Empires: Arabs, Romans and Sasanians in Late Antiquity

In the sixth century the tension between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Sasanid Empire of Persia dominated the political landscape in the "Fertile Crescent". To all intents and purposes the Arabs were sandwiched between these two monolithic empires and were often forced to choose between them. Unfortunately, the dominance of Rome and Persia resulted in the Arabs being reduced to secondary participants in the major events of the time, with the result that little is known about them. Especially in "Western" sources - mainly Procopius - the Arabs are reduced to the status of untrustworthy allies, the pro-Roman Ghassanids and the pro-Persian Lakhmids...

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