Iyad (tribe)
The Iyad (Arabic: إياد, romanized: Iyād) were an Arab tribe which dwelt in western lower and upper Mesopotamia and northern Syria during the 3rd–7th centuries CE. Parts of the tribe adopted Christianity in the mid-3rd century and came under the suzerainty of the Lakhmid kings of al-Hirah, vassals of the Sasanian Empire. From that time, parts of the tribe settled in towns and villages along the Euphrates, while other parts remained nomadic and dwelt in the neighboring desert steppes.