ʿAmr b. Kulthūm was a sixth-century poet, author of one of the Muʿallaqāt , and chief of the Jusham branch of Taghlib. For the Taghlib of Islamic times ʿAmr was a very important figure, both as a symbol of their resistance to the rulers of al-Ḥīra and as the celebrator of their deeds against Bakr, their inveterate tribal enemies. Tradition makes him, through his mother Laylā, the grandson of al-Muhalhil, one of the originators of the War of al-Basūs. The main story (khabar) that survives about him