Most of the details of his life are legendary and later inventions;[1] according to Charles Pellat, "as the historical reality of this personage and of the events [...] became blurred, legend made use of his name to fix the time of events displaced from their historical sequence, and of stories invented to explain proverbs which had become unintelligible".
[2] According to the medieval Arab historians, Amr's father Adi gained the hand of Raqash, the favourite sister of the Tanukhid king Jadhima al-Abrash, by a ruse.
When his uncle was killed in battle, Amr vowed to avenge his death; even after Zenobia denied him this chance by committing suicide, he stabbed her corpse.
[1][2][a] After his uncle's death, Amr broke away from Tanukhid overlordship and established the independent Lakhmid dynasty.
[1][6] Amr was the most prominent patron of Manichaeism,[7] and he gave shelter to the religion and managed to convince Narseh to put an end to the persecution of the Manichaeans.