ABSTRACT
This chaper examines the account of Khusraw II Parviz's rescue by Iyas b. Qabisa, chief of the Tayyi' tribe, when the young king was fleeing the rebel Bahram Chubin. The first case of accounts describes the last Lakhmid king, al-Nu'man III b. al-Mundhir's visit to the Sasanian court, and the follow-up embassy of Arab notables sent by the Lakhmid ruler in response to the ill treatment he had received from Parviz during his trip. The second is the account of the Battle of Dhu Qar, which is portrayed as a result of Parviz's liquidation of the Lakhmid state. The chapter discusses how the allure of power and luxuries caused the king to become oppressive of his subjects, decadent, and avaricious for the wealth of others, thus making him the model of the stereotypical monarchical tyranny conceived by Muslim critics of Iranian civilization. It examines the reports of his subsequent dealings with the Arabs, for whom he showed contempt.
