Earlier Arab conquests into the Roman/Byzantine and Parthian/Sassanid empires?

The Arab/Muslim attacks on the Byzantine and Sassanid empires seems to have happened at a time where they had a very good chance to succeed. Were there any earlier Arab attempts to conquer for instance Syria or Babylonia that could have had any chance to succeed? I am thinking here with a POD after, let us say, Augustus.
 
The Arab/Muslim attacks on the Byzantine and Sassanid empires seems to have happened at a time where they had a very good chance to succeed. Were there any earlier Arab attempts to conquer for instance Syria or Babylonia that could have had any chance to succeed? I am thinking here with a POD after, let us say, Augustus.

Would the Palmyrene Empire count? It arose out of Persia's invasion of the chaotic Roman Empire in the 3rd century. Perhaps if Zenobia had been more politically asture and not bothered to officially break from Rome, its de facto independence could have evolved into real independence. The Palmyrene Empire though was mainly limited to areas that had been in the Roman Empire.
 
The Nabataeans get theirshit together, conquer Israel and most of the Armenian Empire before taking Parthia and then Ptolemaic Egypt.
 
The Arab/Muslim attacks on the Byzantine and Sassanid empires seems to have happened at a time where they had a very good chance to succeed. Were there any earlier Arab attempts to conquer for instance Syria or Babylonia that could have had any chance to succeed? I am thinking here with a POD after, let us say, Augustus.

There was really nothing unifying if Im not mistaken ?
 
Would the Palmyrene Empire count?

But the Palmyreans were not Arabs, were they? As far as I understand they spoke Aramean and were already living in the region.

There was really nothing unifying if Im not mistaken ?

You mean that the Arab were not unified enough? So, if Islam had unified the Arabs at a time when the Romans and Iranians were stronger, would Islam have been limited to Arabia?
 
I wouldn't count the Palmyrene Empire as Arab, they were based in the non Arab Syria, which in general was Aramaic with some Arab immigrants. However in a similiar time period we have the Tanukhids, Ghassanids and Lahkmids as major forces in northern Arabia. None of these had the ability by themselves to conquer either nation. Essentially, an Arab state needs the (in the context of Arabia) seemingly endless manpower of Yemen and the warrior culture prevalent throughout the Najd mixed with North Arabians (Lahkmids and Ghassanids). These combinations facilitated the Arab conquest, not even counting things such as Arab battle techniques such as duels which caught the disciplined and Sassanid and Byzantine armies off guard.

But, Islam as a religion I would say is not necessary to create a unified Arab movement conquering vast areas to the north. A great warlord on the level of Attila or such could rise and unite the Arab tribes for a time who could conquer vast amounts of land and then integrate into the systems the conquer. I could definitely see someone like Musaylama rise up and do the same conquest without a unified religious code. In essence, it is surprising that Islam was successful in its conquest since it taxed people who had never been taxed and greatly endangered its ability to effectively wage war against Byzantium and Sassanids.

If we go REAL early we could try the Qedarites lol.
 
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