The Persian Empire

by Kia, Mehrdad;

  Sasanian silver-gilt dish showing the Sasanian king of kings Ardashir III hunting moufflon. Ardashir III was the son of the Sasanian monarch, Sheroye (Kavad II), who murdered many princes of the Sasanian dynasty. Ardashir III was seven years old when he ascended the Persian throne. His reign lasted only one year and seven months. (CM Dixon/Print Collector/Getty Images)

  The young king and his regent faced an empire in rapid decline. Shiruya’s short and murderous reign had undermined the power and legitimacy of the Sasanian central government, which was being challenged by internal and external threats. The Persian nobility and provincial magnates who had accumulated enormous power refused to obey the authority of the Sasanian king. The Sasanian state lacked the means to impose its power and authority over the provinces. In many parts of the empire, the governors, powerful landowning families, and military commanders ruled as autonomous kings. In addition to this, tribal groups from the southwest (Arabia) and from the north (the Caucasus and Central Asia) continued to attack the empire.

  Under these chaotic circumstances, the powerful and capable Sasanian army commander, Shahrbaraz, decided to remove the young king and install himself on the Persian throne. At the time, Shahrbaraz was responsible for the defense and security of the Sasanian–Byzantine border. With the support and blessing of Byzantine emperor Heraclius, Shahrbaraz attacked the Sasanian capital of Ctesiphon. The Persian commander sacked the capital city and murdered Ardashir III, his regent Meh-Adur Gushnasp, and many courtiers and high government officials. In 630 Shahrbaraz ascended the Sasanian throne as the new king of kings, but he himself was murdered after only two months. Thus, the once-powerful Sasanian Empire had already begun to disintegrate from within several years before its armies were defeated by invading Arabs in the Battle of Qadisiyyah in 636 CE.

  See also: K&Q, Sasanian: Kavad II Shiruya; Khosrow II Parvez; Yazdegerd III

  Further Reading

  Daryaee, Touraj. Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. London and New York: I. B. Tauris, 2013.

  Frye, R. N. “The Political History of Iran under the Sasanians.” In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(I), edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 116–180. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

  Pourshariati, Parvaneh. Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran. London: I. B. Tauris, 2008.

  Shahbazi, A. Sh. “Ardašir III.” Encyclopaedia Iranica. 1986, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ardasir-iii-sasanian-king-r.

  Azarmidokht

  A Persian queen who ruled the Sasanian Empire for a short time in 630 CE, Azarmidokht was the daughter of the Sasanian monarch Khosrow II Parvez (r. 590–628 CE). Khosrow II was overthrown by one of his sons, Kavad II, also known as Shiruya (Shiroy), in 628 CE. Shiruya, who had initially promised to restore peace and reverse the harsh policies of his father, initiated a bloodbath by killing all of his brothers. He then ordered the execution of his father. The Sasanian Empire would never recover from this mad rampage. Having decimated the Sasanian royal family, Shiruya himself died a few months after he had ascended the throne. Shiruya’s successor, Ardashir III (r. 628–630 CE), who was very young and powerless, could not restore order and impose his authority over the army. The Sasanian commander Shahrbaraz, who had secured the support of the Byzantine emperor Heraclius, rose against Ardashir, killed the Sasanian monarch, and proclaimed himself king of kings. But Shahrbaraz himself was murdered less than two months after seizing the reins of power. After the short reign of Khosrow III for only a few months, because all the sons of Khosrow II had been murdered, a daughter, Boran (Puran) (r. 630–631 CE), ascended the Sasanian throne. Boran was credited for her commitment to justice as well as her compassion and generosity toward her subjects, which was reflected in her decision to forgive a portion of required taxes. She was also noted for her decision to mint new coins and repair roads and bridges. The queen, however, lacked any power to restore calm and order to the Sasanian Empire, which was disintegrating rapidly from within. Generals, courtiers, and powerful members of the Persian nobility continued to fight among themselves. As chaos and decline accelerated, Sasanian territory was invaded by the Turks and the Khazars. The powerless queen could not do anything to reverse the process of political disintegration. Boran died after a year and four months on the throne (Tabari: 2.783). She was succeeded by her sister Azarmidokht, another daughter of Khosrow II. Azarmidokht’s reign, however, proved to be short. According to the historian Tabari, Farrokh Hormozd, the military governor of the northeastern province of Khorasan, asked the Sasanian queen for her hand in marriage. Azarmidokht, who feared the powerful army commander, agreed to the marriage. When the queen and Farrokh Hormozd came together in the royal quarter of the palace, Azarmidokht had the commander assassinated. To exact revenge for the murder of his father, Farrokh Hormozd’s son Rostam attacked and sacked Ctesiphon, the Sasanian capital. Azarmidokht was captured and executed by the victorious Rostam (Tabari: 783–784).

  See also: K&Q, Sasanian: Boran (Puran); Kavad II Shiruya; Khosrow I Anushiravan; Peoples: Sasanian Empire

  Further Reading

  Frye, Richard Nelson. “The Political History of Iran under the Sasanians.” In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(I), edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 116–180. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

  Rawlinson, George. The Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy or the Geography, History, and Antiquities of the Sassanians or New Persian Empire. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1882.

  Shahbazi, A. Shapur. “Sasanian Dynasty.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 2005, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sasanian-dynasty.

  Tabari. Tarikh-e Tabari, Vol 2. Translated from Arabic into Persian by Abol Qassem Payandeh. Tehran: Asatir Publications, 1984.

  Babak

  Babak (Middle Persian: Papak or Pabag) was the father of Ardashir, the founder of the Persian Sasanian dynasty (r. 224–651 CE). There are numerous but contradictory traditions and accounts regarding Babak and his relationship to Sasan, the ancestor of the Sasanian dynasty. The historian Tabari stated that Sasan was the father of Babak (Tabari: 580), but other sources contradict Tabari’s account. In his inscription at Naqsh-e Rostam in the southern Iranian province of Fars, the second monarch of the Sasanian dynasty, Shapur I, called Sasan a lord, while he referred to Babak as a king. The ninth-century Pahlavi text Bundahishn states that Ardashir was the son of Babak, and his mother was the daughter of Sasan. It also claims that Sasan was himself the son of Behafrid (Vehafrid) (Bundahishn: 31.30). Babak was most probably a local king who ruled a small kingdom in Fars in present-day southern Iran. The capital of this kingdom was Istakhr. Babak was a vassal of the Arsacid dynasty, which ruled Iran at the time. He apparently revolted against his Arsacid overlord but did not succeed in gaining his independence. After Babak’s death, one of his sons, Shapur, succeeded him. Only after the death of Shapur did Babak’s other son, Ardashir, emerge as the ruler of Istakhr. Ardashir defeated the Arsacid monarch Artabanus IV in 224 and established the Sasanian monarchy. Archaeologists have not discovered any coins dating back to the reign of Babak, although his image appears on the coins minted by his son, Ardashir.

  See also: K&Q, Sasanian: Ardashir I; Shapur I; Peoples: Sasanian Empire

  Further Reading

  Bundahishn. Edited by Mehrdad Bahar. Tehran: Tus Publishers, 1991.

  Frye, R. N. “Bābak.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1988, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/babak-3rd-cent-ruler.

  Frye, R. N. “The Political History of Iran under the Sasanians.” In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(I), edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 116–180. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

  Frye, Richard Nelson. The History of Ancient Iran. München: C. H. Beck’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1984.

  Tabari. Tarikh-e Tabari, Vol 2. Translated from Arabic into Persian by Abol Qassem Payandeh. Tehran: Asatir Publications, 1984.

  Bahram I, Bahram II, Bahram III

  The fourth, fifth, and sixth king
s of the Sasanian dynasty were Bahram I, Bahram II, and Bahram III. Bahram I was the father of Bahram II, and Bahram II was the father of Bahram III. As a name, Bahram appears as Wahram or Warahram in Middle Persian.

  Bahram I ruled from 273 to 276 CE. He ascended the throne after his brother Hormozd I died in 273. Bahram was the son of Shapur I, the second king of the Sasanian monarchy. During his father’s long reign, Bahram served as the governor of the province of Gilan on the southern shores of the Caspian Sea. Thus, his title was Gēlan Shah, the shah or king of Gilan. In his inscription on the wall of Ka’ba-ye Zardosht at Naqsh-e Rostam near Persepolis in southern Iran, Shapur I honored his sons by mentioning their names and titles. The names were listed as Bahram, the shah (ruler) of Gilan; Shapur, the shah of Mesene (also called Characene or Meshan, located south of Babylonia in present-day southern Iraq and Kuwait); Hormozd Ardashir, the great king of Armenia; and Narseh, the shah of Sakas based in Sistan in eastern Iran. The order in which the names of the princes of the Sasanian royal family were listed demonstrates that Bahram was the oldest son of Shapur I. Despite his age, however, Shapur chose Hormozd Ardashir (Hormozd I) as his successor. Bahram’s disappointment in this, if any, was short-lived, because Hormozd I died after a very short reign. Bahram succeeded his brother with support from Kartir, the powerful Zoroastrian priest.

  The reign of Bahram would have been viewed as short and uneventful had it not been for the king’s reversal of his father’s policy toward non-Zoroastrian religious communities. Despite his devotion to the teachings of Zoroastrianism, Bahram’s father, Shapur I, had adopted a wise and balanced approach toward non-Zoroastrian communities in his empire. While respecting the teachings of his own religion and supporting the Zoroastrian priesthood, Shapur had also allowed Jews, Christians, Buddhists, and Hindus to practice their religion without persecution. He also allowed the Iranian prophet Mani to preach in the Sasanian domains and even accompany the king during his military campaigns. Supported and encouraged by the influential Zoroastrian priest Kartir, Bahram reversed the policy of his father regarding the missionary activities of Mani. Shapur I and Hormozd I had granted Mani the right to travel and preach within the borders of the Sasanian state. Bahram I, however, rejected the policies of his father and brother and ordered Mani to present himself at the royal court. There, Mani was questioned and condemned. He died shortly afterward in prison. The suppression of Mani’s followers was organized by Kartir and the Zoroastrian religious establishment, who used the persecution of religious minorities as a means of increasing and expanding their immense influence. The Zoroastrian religious leadership viewed Mani as an eclectic thinker and a dangerous heretic who was introducing an esoteric interpretation of Zoroastrianism, one that had been infected by non-Zoroastrian (i.e., Jewish, Buddhist, and Christian) concepts and doctrines. With support from Bahram I, Kartir established the Zoroastrian state church, which tried to impose its unchallenged monopoly over the religious and cultural life of the Sasanian Empire.

  Bahram I is memorialized through a rock relief at Bishapur in southern Iran. The relief depicts the investiture of the Sasanian monarch who, while sitting majestically on his horse, receives the diadem of royalty from the great god Ohrmazd (Ahura Mazda). After he ascended the Sasanian throne in 297 CE, Narseh tampered with the rock relief and “substituted his own name for that of Bahram” (Shahbazi: Bahrām [2]).

  After the death of Bahram I, his son Bahram II ascended the throne and ruled from 276 to 293 CE. This succession most likely was controversial, because Narseh, a son of Shapur I and the king of Armenia, was a claimant to the Sasanian throne and must have felt skipped over by his nephew and his supporters. Among the most powerful of Bahram II’s supporters was the powerful and influential Zoroastrian priest Kartir. The power and influence of the Zoroastrian priesthood, led by Kartir, which had reached new heights during the reign of Bahram I, continued to grow during the reign of Bahram II. Bahram II showered Kartir with new honors and titles. This unwavering support from Bahram II allowed the Zoroastrian religious hierarchy to adopt an increasingly intolerant attitude toward the non-Zoroastrian religious communities of the empire, particularly the followers of the Iranian prophet Mani (i.e., the Manicheans), the Christians, the Jews, and the Buddhists.

  The most important challenge to Bahram’s authority came from his brother Hormozd, who was a governor in eastern Iran. The revolt of Hormozd against the crown ignited a civil war. While Bahram II moved east to suppress this rebellion, a large Roman army under the command of Emperor Carus invaded Sasanian territory through northern Mesopotamia. The Romans devastated Mesopotamia and eventually reached Seleucia-on-Tigris River in present-day southern Iraq. The city of Seleucia sat on the west bank of the Tigris opposite the Sasanian capital of Ctesiphon. These two defenseless cities offered little resistance to the Romans. Emperor Carus, however, died under suspicious circumstances shortly after his military victories, and the Romans withdrew their forces from the Persian capital.

  Sasanian rock relief at Bishapur in southern Iran, depicting the Persian Sasanian monarch Bahram I receiving the diadem of kingship from the god Ahura Mazda. The power and influence of the Zoroastrian religious hierarchy significantly increased during the reign of Bahram I, who persecuted the Iranian prophet Mani and his followers. (Richard Well)

  Meanwhile, Bahram II scored a decisive victory against the pretender Hormozd and installed his own son, Bahram (later Bahram III), as the king of Sakastan (Sistan), with the honorific title of Sakan Shah (King of Sakas). Bahram II returned to Mesopotamia, reclaimed his capital, and initiated peace negotiations with the Romans.

  Bahram II ordered the carving of several rock reliefs at various sites in southern and western Iran. These reliefs depict the Sasanian monarch in his royal regalia in battle or surrounded by members of the royal family, the chief Zoroastrian priest, and high dignitaries. Bahram II died in 293 CE and was replaced by his son Bahram III. Though Bahram III enjoyed the support of a small group of court dignitaries and provincial governors, the majority among the Persian nobility and Zoroastrian priesthood, including the powerful high priest Kartir, opposed his accession to the Sasanian throne and instead favored Narseh, one of the sons of Shapur I, the second king of the Sasanian dynasty. Determined to depose Bahram III, they invited Narseh, who at the time ruled Armenia, to travel to the Sasanian capital of Ctesiphon and seize the throne. Narseh and his supporters marched from Armenia and met with their supporters at Paikuli, in present-day Kurdish-populated northern Iraq near the Iranian–Iraqi border. An inscription in Middle Persian at Paikuli provides the justification for Narseh’s revolt against Bahram III. From northern Mesopotamia, Narseh moved against Ctesiphon and captured the capital. Thus, after ruling the Sasanian Empire only for a few months, Bahram III was forced to abdicate in favor of Narseh. There is no information on Bahram III after he lost the Sasanian throne.

  See also: K&Q, Sasanian: Hormozd I; Narseh; Prophets: Kartir

  Further Reading

  Daryaee, Touraj. Sasanian Iran (224–651 CE): Portrait of a Late Antique Empire. Costa Mesa: Mazda Publishers, 2008.

  Daryaee, Touraj. Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. London and New York: I. B. Tauris, 2013.

  Frye, R. N. “The Political History of Iran under the Sasanians.” In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(I), edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 116–180. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

  Frye, Richard Nelson. The History of Ancient Iran. München: C. H. Beck’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1984.

  Shahbazi, A. Shapur. “Bahrām (2).” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1988, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bahram-the-name-of-six-sasanian-kings.

  Bahram IV

  A Sasanian king of kings who ruled from 388 to 399 CE. Bahram was either the son of the Sasanian monarch Shapur II (r. 309–379 CE) or a son of the Sasanian king Shapur III who ruled from 383 to 388 CE. During the reign of Shapur III, Bahram served as the governor of Kerman in present-day southeastern Iran. Thus, Bahram assumed the t
itle Kerman Shah (Kermanshah), or the king or ruler of Kerman. In 388 CE, Shapur III was murdered in a conspiracy hatched by a group of Persian nobles. After the death of Shapur III, Bahram ascended the throne.

  The conflict between the Romans and the Persian Sasanians was usually centered on control of Mesopotamia and Armenia. Shapur III had already negotiated with the Romans about the future of Armenia. Both sides had agreed to divide Armenia into Roman-controlled and Persian-dominated spheres. The agreement did not, however, survive Shapur’s death. In 389 Bahram IV tried to revive the agreement, which Shapur III had reached with the Romans by negotiating with the Roman emperor Theodosius. The two powers agreed to divide Armenia. In 394, however, Khosrow, the Armenian ruler of the Sasanian-dominated portion of Armenia, threw off Persian suzerainty, defecting and forming an alliance with the Romans. Bahram IV responded by imprisoning Khosrow and appointing his brother Bahram Shapur as the new governor of the Persian-ruled Armenia.

  In 395 the Sasanian Empire was attacked by nomadic Huns, who used the Caucasus region as a corridor to invade the northern provinces of the Persian state. After penetrating as far south as Mesopotamia, the Sasanian armies finally managed to contain and defeat the invading Huns. Bahram IV has been described as a weak and unpopular ruler, which usually means that he was disliked by the powerful members of the Persian nobility and the Zoroastrian religious establishment. Bahram IV was eventually murdered by a group of conspirators. One of the enduring legacies of Bahram IV’s reign is the present-day city of Kermanshah, which the Sasanian monarch founded. The city was named after Bahram IV, the former shah of Kerman who had ruled as the governor of Kerman during the reign of Shapur III. Kermanshah, which was situated on the main trade route connecting Central Asia and Iran to Mesopotamia and beyond, remains a vibrant urban center in present-day western Iran.