Note 80 — Chapter IV · HÎT TO KERBELÂ March 18-March 30
Reading edition
See Rothstein: Die Dynastie der Lakhmiden in al Ḥîra, p. 25. He gives reasons for believing that the art of writing Arabic was first practised at Ḥîrah. The population was largely Christian (the ’Ibâd of the Arab historians); Ḥîrah was the seat of a bishopric, and frequent allusion is made to churches and monasteries in and near the town.