Some Avars, after being defeated in their homeland, had defected to Constantinople in 602, but Emperor Maurice decides against their returning home as is customary.

His orders the army to maintain camp beyond the Danube throughout the winter; the resulting hardships, which cause the army to revolt, give the Avars a desperately needed respite.

Maurice's accession in 582 had inaugurated a reign of twenty years marked by success against Persia and a reorganization of imperial government in the West.

His campaigns against Persians, Slavs, Avars, and Lombards have drained the imperial treasury and necessitated the collection of high taxes.

The major thrust of Maurice's efforts during the last years of his reign is to be found in the Balkans, where, by dint of constant campaigning, his armies have forced the Avars back across the Danube by 602.

However, in the course of these military operations, Maurice has made two mistakes: the first has weakened him; the second will destroy him together with his dynasty.

Rather than constantly accompanying his armies in the field (as his seventh- and eighth-century successors will do), Maurice has remained for the most part in Constantinople, losing an opportunity to engage the personal loyalty of his troops.

He could not count on their obedience when he issued unwelcome commands from afar that decreased their pay in 588 and ordered them to accept uniforms and weapons in kind rather than in cash equivalents.

Moreover, after the Avars had defeated the imperial forces in 598, taken a large number of prisoners, and demanded a ransom, Maurice’s refusal to pay and the resultant slaughter of the prisoners has caused consternation among the army.

Lest their requirements prove too great a strain on the agricultural and financial resources of the empire's provinces south of the Danube, he had required the soldiers to establish winter quarters in enemy lands across the river in 602.

Exasperated by this last demand, the soldiers rise in revolt, put a junior officer named Phocas at their head, and march on Constantinople.

The Blues and Greens, again becoming politically active, unite against Maurice, and the aged emperor is made to watch as his five teenaged sons are slaughtered before he himself is beheaded.

Phocas takes the imperial crown.

Al-Hirah begins to decline early in the sixth century, the Persians having brought about the collapse of the Lakhmid dynasty.

Al-Nu'man III ibn al-Mundhir, the son of Al-Mundhir IV ibn al-Mundhir and the enslaved Salma or Sulma, had succeeded his father in 580.

In later histories, he is celebrated for his patronage of numerous poets.

He is also the only Lakhmid ruler to convert to Nestorian Christianity.

According to Arab accounts, he assisted Khosrau II during his flight from the usurper Bahram Chobin in 581.

Nevertheless, according to creditable historical accounts, when Khosrau II demanded Nu'man's Christian daughter as part of his extensive harem, he refused the Shah's demand.

In response, Khosrau II had him crushed by elephants; however, according to a Syriac chronicle, Khosrau invited Nu'man to a feast where he was dishonored and trapped; another Syriac chronicle states that Khosrow captured Nu'man along with his sons, who then were poisoned.

This is the spark that will lead to the Battle of Dhi Qar in 609.

His destiny after his arrival at Ctesiphon is largely disputed, even in near-contemporary sources; he was either immediately executed or imprisoned for a period of time and then executed, but in 609 he was certainly dead and Iyas his ex-friend was installed, marking the end of the dynasty, although Nu'man's son al-Mundhir will attempt to revive the kingdom during the Ridda wars and will rule the Bahrain region for a short period of eight months until he is captured.

Al-Nu'man III ibn al-Mundhir is celebrated in later histories for his patronage of numerous poets.

He is also the only Lakhmid ruler to convert to Nestorian Christianity.

According to Arab accounts, he had assisted Khosrau II during his flight from the usurper Bahram Chobin in 581.

Nevertheless, according to creditable historical accounts, when Khosrau II demanded Nu'man's Christian daughter Hadiqah as part of his extensive harem of three thousand wives and twelve thousand female slaves, demanded as a wife Hadiqah, the daughter of the Christian Arab Na'aman, Na'aman refused to permit his Christian daughter to enter the harem of a Zoroastrian; for this refusal, he was trampled to death by an elephant.

However, according to a Syriac chronicle, Khosrau invited Nu'man to a feast where he was dishonored and trapped; another Syriac chronicle states that Khosrow captured Nu'man along with his sons, who then were poisoned.

This is the spark that will lead to the Battle of Dhi Qar in 609.

Augustine of Canterbury, meeting in 602 with the Welsh bishops at Aust near Chepstow, accuses them of not adopting the Roman Christian way of dating Easter and persuades them to accept the teaching of baptism according to the Roman Rite.

Prince Shōtoku of Japan establishes a twelve level cap and rank system and is said to have authored a seventeen-article constitution.

Emperor Wen has stabilized the unified Chinese Empire; the agricultural acreage increases greatly and shipbuilding technology reaches a new high level.

King Khosrau II, following the murder of his ally, the Emperor, launches an offensive against Constantinople, to avenge Maurice's death, his "friend and father,” and tries to reconquer imperial territory.

Narses, governor of Upper Mesopotamia, rebels against Phocas at the city of Edessa and requests aid from the Persians.

Khosrau sends an expeditionary force to Armenia and crosses the Euphrates.

Agilulf captures Mantua, and divides its territory between the Lombard duchies of Brescia and Bergamo.

Agilulf besieges Cremona and with the assistance of the Slavs the city is destroyed.