al-Nuʿmān III summoned by Khusraw — the deposit with Hāniʾ and death at Khāniqīn

Khusrau Parviz summoned al-Nu'man ibn al-Mundhir, king of al-Hira, after Zayd ibn Adi had whispered against him. Al-Nu'man asked for safe conduct at the two mountains of Tayy, but they refused for fear of Khusrau. He came down secretly at Dhu Qar among the Banu Shayban and left his household and his wealth with Hani ibn Mas'ud. The deposit included four hundred coats of mail, or some say eight hundred, and this deposit was afterwards the cause of the Battle of Dhu Qar. Zayd ibn Adi met him at the bridge of Sabat, and al-Nu'man threatened him. Zayd replied: "Go on, Nu'man; I have placed for you with him a tether that no wild colt could snap." Al-Nu'man was shackled and sent to Khanaqin, where plague broke out and he died of it. It is also said that he died choked at Sabat, as al-A'sha's verse has it. After him, Khusrau appointed Iyas ibn Qabisa al-Ta'i over al-Hira. ¹