Battle of Dhu Qar
pre-Islamic battle fought between Arabs from bani wael and a Sassanid Persian army
The Battle of Dhu Qar (Arabic: يوم ذي قار), also known as the War of the Camel's Udder, was a pre-Islamic battle fought between Arab tribes and the Persian Sasanian Empire in Southern Iraq between 604 and 611 AD. The battle is remembered as a turning point in Arab-Persian relations, and a blow to Persian control over Eastern Arabia, though the battle may have been no more than a skirmish. The battle is sometimes understood as part of a more prolonged Arab rebellion against the Persians, which culminated in the early Muslim conquests a few decades later.
Background
In the sixth century, the Sasanian Empire ruled over the Lakhmid kingdom, a client Arab kingdom that played an essential role in projecting Sasanian power into Arab territories, and serving also as a buffer state that protected the Sasanians from nomadic Arab incursions. Seeking direct control over Arabia, the Persians deposed the Lakhmids in 602 AD. The Lakhmid king at the time, Al-Nu'man III, left his station in Al-Hira, the Lakhmid capital, to the royal court of Ctesiphon, the Sasanian capital. There, he was suddenly seized by the Sasanians and sent to a prison in Khanaqin, where he would eventually die of plague shortly before the rise of Islam. However, the decision to depose the Lakhmids would prove disastrous: in as few as two years later, it brought the Sasanians into immediate and direct conflict with the Banu Bakr, a major tribal confederation controlling large swathes of Arab territory.
Series of events
After the Persians deposed the Lakhmids from their East Arabian and south Mesopotamia territories, they appointed as governor over the area the leader of the Arab Tayyi tribe, Iyas ibn Qabisa. This quickly brought the Persians and their new Arab auxiliaries into a conflict with the Banu Bakr, a large Arab tribal confederation which also projected their power through southwestern Iraq and the eastern Arabian peninsula. The Bakris won the battle, despite the absence of effective coordination among member tribes. Traditional Arabic sources claim that the Persians and Arab auxiliary forces numbered 2,000 and 3,000 each.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2888408. Authority coordinates are 30.108, 44.945. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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