Al-Nu'man III ibn al-Mundhir

[2][5] According to al-Tabari, he was reared in childhood by the Christian poet Adi ibn Zayd, who with his brothers served as secretaries of Arab affairs for the Lakhmids' overlord, the Sasanian king.

The Sasanian monarch, Hormizd IV (r. 579–590), appointed Iyas ibn Qabisah al-Ta'i as interim governor, while a suitable candidate was sought among the Lakhmid dynasty.

[1][12] Unlike his predecessors, al-Nu'man was scarcely concerned with the Lakhmids' traditional Arab rivals, the Ghassanids, as the latter had fallen out with their Byzantine overlords in c. 580 and been eliminated as a power factor in the region.

[1] Once he became aware of Khosrow's hostility, Al-Nu'man fled his capital and sought refuge among the Banu Bakr, but was eventually forced to surrender and was executed by being crushed by elephants.

[14][20] Very quickly, the ill effects of this made themselves felt, when the Bakr, dissatisfied with Iyas, rose in revolt, and defeated a Persian force at the Battle of Dhi Qar.

[1] The Lakhmid capital of al-Hira continued to be the major Arab cultural centre of its time, particularly through al-Nu'man's patronage of poets, most notably Adi ibn Zayd and the panegyrist al-Nabigha.

This enhanced al-Hira's importance as a major Nestorian Christian centre, particularly for missionary activities in the Persian Gulf and Eastern Arabia,[1] and was the seat of a bishopric.