In 633, the Rashidun Arabs invaded the territories of the Byzantine and Sasanian Empire. By 637, the Arabs were in possession of the Sasanian capital Ctesiphon, all of Iraq, and large parts of Syria. One year later, they invaded the rich Sasanian province Khuzestan, which was part of the domains of the Iranian aristocrat Hormuzan, who had following the fall of Ctesiphon retreated to Hormizd-Ardashir, which he used as his base in his raids in Meshan against the Arabs.[1] The Sasanian king Yazdegerd III (r.