'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎76] (85/568)

76
HISTOEY
the dominant faith in the northern part of the country, (See further on
the origins of the present Christian sects in Mesopotamia pp. 128-30.)
Moreover the influence of Hellenism, after its first introduction by
Alexander, did not entirely die out in Mesopotamia, but survived
through the Parthian and Sassanian epochs and indirectly inspired
the best achievements of the older populations which became nomi
nally Arab under Arab rule and speech.
The wealth of Mesopotamia, its pasture-lands, and its rich cultiva
tion had long attracted the nomads of Arabia, and from time to
time, when the civilized governments of the country were weak,
Arab tribes had established themselves within its borders. In the
Sassanid age there were Bedawis in the steppes of the Jezlreh,
many of them subject to the emirate of Hatra (El-Hadhr). At Hira,
on the western edge of Irak near Nejef, Arab immigrants who had
given up their nomadic habits were ruled by a dynasty of Arab
princes. Thus the way was to some extent prepared for the most
notable of all the Arab invasions of Mesopotamia.
In a.d . 628 Mohammed sent to the Koman Emperor and to the
Persian king a summons to acknowledge God and His Prophet.
But for the remainder of his life Mohammed was occupied with
conquering Arabia for the Faith. His death in a.d . 632 was the
signal for fresh trouble in Arabia, but this was rapidly suppressed
by the Caliph Abu Bekr, and by the end of a. d . 633 Islam went forth to
attack at once the Roman Empire and the kingdom of the Sassanids.
These great Powers had recently been waging war on each other
for about a quarter of a century, and both were suffering from the
effects of this conflict as well as from internal troubles. In the Persian
Empire the murder of Khosrou (Chosroes II) in a. d . 628 had been
followed by a struggle among the nobles over the succession to the
throne, and this had not yet been settled when a Moslem army
under Khalid-ibn-Walid, the ' Sword of Cod ', invaded the lands along
the lower Euphrates. The Moslems were at first successful, and
then suffered a check, due to the withdrawal of Khalid with a part
of the Arab forces to assist in the conquest of Syria. But the fall
of Damascus in a.d . 635 set free reinforcements for Mesopotamia,
and in a .r>. 636 the Moslems utterly defeated the Persians in a most
stubbornly contested battle at Kadisiyeh, on the fringe of the desert,
15 miles west of Kufeh. This battle practically settled the fate of
the Persian monarchy. That it was a complete rout is clear from
the leisurely manner in which the Arabs proceeded to settle and
colonize Mesopotamia. Ctesiphon, with Seleucia, fell in a.d . 637,
and in the same year Kufeh and Basra were founded as Arab strong
holds, the latter superseding the Sassanian port of Ubuka for the