The historians' history of the world in twenty-five volumes, volume 08

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CHAPTER II. THE EMPIRE OF THE SASSANIDS

[228-652 A.D.]

Of the countries whose sovereigns were subject to the dominion (sometimes actual and sometimes merely nominal) of the Parthian “king of kings,” Persia proper itself was one. The names of some of the lesser kings of that country during the Arsacid period are known to us, partly through a reference here and there in literature, partly from their coins; but we do not know whether they all belong to one and the same dynasty. About the beginning of the third century after Christ, the country presented a scene of confusion. The power of the local kings had fallen very low, and the mountainous regions, cleft asunder by natural divisions, were full of petty tyrants. Papak or Pabak, a son or descendant of Sassan, was one of these. He came originally from the village of Khir on the southern shore of the great salt lake east of Shiraz, and succeeded in overthrowing the last prince of that dynasty, Gozihr by name, in whose service he had been, and gaining dominion first over the district of Istakhr, the ancient Persepolis. On coins and inscriptions his son gives him the title of king. According to tradition, which in this instance is certainly trustworthy, his lawful successor would have been his son Sapor, to whom the Arsacid king is said to have granted the crown at his father’s request during the life-time of the latter.

After his death, however, another of his sons, named Ardashir, refused to submit to his brother, and rose in revolt; about which time Sapor died—we can hardly suppose by accident. That Ardashir found his brothers in his way and slew them, is so definitely affirmed by well authenticated tradition that we cannot entertain a doubt that such was the case. The empire of the Sassanids begins with Ardashir, just as that of the Achæmenides begins with Cyrus, whose forefathers had likewise been kings. His name, of which Artachshathr is the older form, is the same as that which the Greeks rendered by Artaxerxes. It is a remarkable fact that in the native home of the Achæmenides, who are otherwise unknown to genuine Persian tradition, the ancient royal names should have survived in common use; for several princes of the pre-Sassanid period were named Artaxerxes and Darius (Darjaw, Darao, Dara). According to a fairly probable estimate, Ardashir’s first appearance as king should be assigned to the year 211-12 A.D.

[211-233 A.D.]

That he had hard work to exalt himself from prince of Persis to “king of the kings of Iran” is recognised by tradition. He first made himself master of the province of Carmania, which lies east of Persis, then of Susiana, then of the small kingdom about the mouth of the Tigris. The resistance which he had to overcome in the first instance was offered by local sovereigns, not by the Parthian king, whose power was restricted to an enormous extent by his nobles and vassals. Ultimately, however, Ardashir came into conflict with him also.

According to Dion Cassius,[c] a contemporary, we are led to believe that Ardashir defeated the Parthians in three battles. His decisive encounter with Ardavan (Artabanus), the last Parthian Great King, probably took place on April 22nd, 224 A.D.[30] Ardavan fell in the battle, and from that time forward Ardashir assumed the title of “king of kings,” which from ancient days had been borne by the ruler of the empire of anterior Asia. All the evidence points to the decisive battle having taken place in Babylonia or Susiana. This would fit in with Dion’s statement that the first expedition afterwards undertaken was directed against Atra, in the midst of the Mesopotamian desert, where a small independent state had come into being in the near neighbourhood of the Parthian capital. At first Ardashir beat in vain upon the walls of Atra, whose strength can still be seen from the mighty ruins that remain, but the place was soon taken and destroyed either by him or his successor. He succeeded in conquering Media, where he was opposed by a scion of the Arsacid family, and the greater part of the Iranian highlands; but not Armenia, whither sons of Ardavan had fled.

The Romans had watched the rise of Ardashir with apprehension. There is no question that he cherished the design of seizing upon as many of their Asiatic possessions as he could. He gained some successes at first, but was forced to give ground when Alexander Severus marched against him. The history of the empire of the Sassanids was conditioned from the outset by its relations with Rome. Peace was again and again concluded between the two, but they invariably looked upon each other as adversaries, and as adversaries of equal rank. Under capable rulers and tolerable internal conditions Rome (that is Byzantium) maintained the ascendency of the European over the Asiatic, but circumstances were frequently adverse, and the Persians heaped disgrace upon the Roman name. This struggle fills the chief place in the political history of the Sassanids.

SASSANIAN POWER

[236-260 A.D.]

Istakhr remained the capital in theory, as Persepolis had formerly been. There stood the Fire temple of the royal house, in which the heads of vanquished foreign kings were hung up among other trophies. But the real metropolis was Ctesiphon, the capital of the Arsacids, and Seleucia, which was divided from it only by the Tigris and which Ardashir restored under the name of Veh-Ardashir (good Ardashir). The rich country in which this double city lay was neither geographically nor ethnographically a part of Iran, for the deep valley was peopled principally by Semites; the choice of it as the seat of government was due to the precedent set by the elder empire and in part, probably, to its nearness to Roman territory. We cannot in all cases be sure over which countries Ardashir ruled at the end of his life, for the national tradition tells of some conquests really made by his successors, and others which the Sassanids never made at all. But Ardashir won and consolidated a great empire that held together for four centuries, giving a powerful blow to the system of vassal states, which had become more and more prevalent under the Arsacids, and reducing most of these states to provinces.

SAPOR FIGHTS ROME

The statement that he associated his son Sapor with him in the government gains a degree of confirmation from the existence of coins bearing a youthful head beside his own. He died at the end of 241 or the beginning of 242. Sapor I (older form Shahpur; among Occidentals Sapor or Sapores) was in all likelihood solemnly crowned on March 20th, 242. The mythical statement that his mother was an Arcadian princess whom Ardashir took to wife at the conquest of Ctesiphon is incompatible with the probably more correct tradition that he had distinguished himself in the decisive battle against Ardavan; nor is it likely that a child of thirteen or fourteen would have taken so energetically in hand the war against Rome. For Ardashir had resumed the struggle in his later years (in the reign of Maximin, between February, 236, and about May, 238), and had taken Nisibis (Nesibin) and Carrhæ (Haran), the two fortresses round which so many battles were fought in the course of these wars.

In 242 Sapor had pressed forward to Antioch; but there he was met by the emperor Gordian, and the latter, or rather his father-in-law Timesitheus, drove him back and retook the two Mesopotamian strongholds. He defeated the Persians at Reshaina, and purposed to march upon the Persian capital. Like Julian after him, he chose the way along the Euphrates; and somewhat below the junction of the Chaboras with the Euphrates, nearly on the frontier between the two empires, Gordian was slain by the commander of the guard, Philip the Arab (beginning of 244). The murderer had himself proclaimed emperor and hastily concluded a shameful peace with Sapor, by which he is said to have resigned Armenia and Mesopotamia to him.

There seems then to have been a breathing space of several years, but in 251 or 252 Sapor made a fresh beginning. This time he really occupied Armenia, which he had not been able to conquer before, and forced the king to take refuge in Roman territory. From the isolated and contradictory rumours that have come down to us we can hardly gather how many times the Persians invaded Syria during this period. Nothing but the frightful decrepitude of Rome could have rendered such a thing possible. On one occasion Cyriades, a Syrian, led the Persians right to Antioch, and under their protection assumed the title of emperor! At last the emperor Valerian marched against them. For a while the war was waged on Mesopotamian soil, but fortune turned against the Romans in the end; and the bitterest of all humiliations befell them, for the emperor himself was taken prisoner by Sapor (260). Under what circumstances this came to pass we cannot tell; it was certainly preceded by negotiations in which Valerian vainly tried to secure an unmolested retreat for himself and his army on payment of a sum of money. The Romans laid the blame of it on treachery or breach of faith.

THE WAR WITH PALMYRA

[260-293 A.D.]

After taking Valerian captive, Sapor pressed on towards Asia Minor, but there was met by successful resistance. Many Persians were slaughtered by Ballista, the Roman general. But the heaviest blow was dealt to the king by the hand of a romanised Oriental. Odenathus (Odhenat), the chieftain of the great trading city of Palmyra in the heart of the Syrian desert, is said to have offered to enter into alliance with him, and to have been completely repulsed. This is quite possible, for though Palmyra was a part of the Roman Empire, yet since the emperor was a prisoner and Rome’s dominion over the East was apparently broken, an ambitious Oriental might easily have conceived the idea of playing an independent part as an ally of the Great King. However that may be, Odenathus, on the watch for a favourable place and opportunity, joined forces with Ballista, attacked the Persians on their retreat, and inflicted a severe defeat upon them. Part of the royal harem fell into his hands, and he even besieged Ctesiphon once, if not twice.

Towards the end of Sapor’s reign a great change took place in the oriental dominions of Rome. He appears to have supported Zenobia, the widow of Odenathus, against Rome, though without lasting success. By the time the emperor took Palmyra (273) and restored Roman supremacy over those regions, Sapor was presumably already dead.

His son Hormuzd (Ohrmazd) I began to reign at the end of 272 or 273. As a prince he appears to have fought gallantly against the Romans, and is known to tradition by the surname of “the hero.” Among other legends of all kinds he is said to have been satrap of Khorasan (which included all the northeastern provinces) before his accession. As a king he had hardly a chance of doing great deeds, for he reigned only one year.

According to the evidence of an inscription, his successor Bahram (Varahran) I was not his son, as tradition has it, but his brother. He is reported to have been an indolent and voluptuous sovereign. Manes ventured to approach him, but by the machinations of the priests of Zoroaster he was slain and his skin was stuffed and hung up to public view. Bahram I reigned from about 274 to about 277.

Of his son, Bahram II (about 277-294), Persian tradition knows practically nothing. Two large rock inscriptions, unfortunately much defaced, probably date from his reign; they are religious, even hortatory in substance, and strongly hierarchical in tendency. The emperor Probus (276-282) concluded a peace with him on one occasion; of the struggles which preceded it we have no knowledge. Probus himself was assassinated before he could resume hostilities, but Carus carried out his design (283), advanced to the very capital of the enemy’s empire, and took Ctesiphon and Coche (a part of Seleucia). The sudden death of the emperor, who is said to have been struck by a flash of lightning, wrought deliverance for the Persians, for after it the Romans appear to have withdrawn without much fighting. It is expressly stated that the arms of Carus were favoured by civil broils among the Persians. Of such the period was undoubtedly prolific, but we have no exact information on the subject. In the year 291 a rhetorician referred to the revolt of Prince Hormuzd (Ormies) against his brother the king, in conjunction with barbarian tribes.

The youthful son whom Bahram II caused to be figured opposite his consort upon his coins probably never came to the throne. It seems likely that after his death two claimants fought for the succession, Bahram III, presumably a son of Hormuzd, and Narseh, according to an inscription the son of Sapor I. At all events Bahram III, who as prince had been satrap of Sakenland (Sagastan, now Sistan) in the southeast of the empire, and consequently bore the surname of Sagan Shah (Saken-king), reigned, or at least held possession of the capital, for a very short time only.

[293-339 A.D.]

Narseh reigned about 293-303. He trod in the footsteps of Sapor, and conquered Armenia. Cæsar Galerius took the field against him (probably in 297) but was defeated in Mesopotamia, between Carrhæ and Callinicus (Rakka). Under the wise direction of Diocletian, however, Galerius soon restored the lustre of the Roman arms. He completely overthrew Narseh in Armenia and took his wives and children prisoners. The negotiations for peace, concerning which we have somewhat more definite information, ended in a brilliant triumph; for Persia resigned all pretensions to Armenia and Mesopotamia, and even ceded certain districts on the left of the Tigris, extending as far as Kurdistan. The king willingly gave up the provinces in return for the restoration of his family. This peace (dating from 298) lasted for forty years. Narseh was succeeded by his son Hormuzd II (about 303). Of his reign we know nothing.

After his death his son Adharnarseh ascended the throne (beginning of 310), but after a very short time was deposed—on account of his cruelty it is said—and probably slain. The nobles, who then had the power in their own hands, disqualified for rule another (unnamed) son of Hormuzd II by putting out his eyes, and flung Hormuzd, the third son, into prison. They then nominated for the kingship the newborn or still unborn son of the queen Ifra—Hormuzd. All these events took place in the course of the year 310. The royal infant was named Sapor II, oppressor of Christians.

The state of things under the rule of his mother and the great nobles may easily be imagined. But the child developed early into a man capable of governing alone; he was one of the most famous sovereigns of the dynasty. Before he had grown to manhood Hormuzd escaped from captivity and fled to the Romans (323), amongst whom he remained till his death, fighting with them against Sapor, his half-brother, down to the year 363. Persian tradition, which has little of a historical nature to tell of Sapor II, gives us accounts of his adventurous campaigns against the Arabs, who had occupied or devastated various parts of Persian territory during his minority. These legends are highly exaggerated, not without an anti-Arab intention; but there can be no doubt that Sapor zealously devoted himself to the task of keeping the rapacious Bedouins out of civilised regions—a very serious problem for the rulers of countries bordering on the desert. The restoration of the ancient city of Susa is notable amongst the cities which he founded. The inhabitants had rebelled against him, and in retaliation he had them put to death and their city trodden into the dust by elephants; after which he built it afresh. Nishapur (properly Nev-Shahpuhr), one of the largest cities of the East down to late mediæval times, was founded either by him or by Sapor I.

During Sapor’s youth the mighty change had taken place by which Constantine procured for Christianity the victory over paganism in the Roman Empire. The Christians in the Persian Empire immediately recognised in Rome the Christian state par excellence, and were strongly disposed in its favour. When Sapor went to war with the Romans (337 or 338) they openly displayed their own sentiments; at least a homily of Aphraates, a Syrian bishop in the Persian Empire, written about this time, speaks on the subject in no ambiguous tone. In addition to this, Simon, bishop of the capital, indulged in such defiant utterances as no oriental monarch was likely to let pass, least of all a young and energetic sovereign like Sapor II. It was the signal for conflict, and a frightful persecution of the Christians began almost simultaneously with the Roman War (339-40). We have an animated picture of these events in the Syrian Acts of the Martyrs, which throw much light on other things and persons in the empire. The king was not actuated by religious fanaticism. The Jews were as obnoxious to his priests as the Christians, but he left them unmolested. Even in the Acts of the Martyrs he repeatedly appears as a man wholly without bias in purely religious matters. But, like Diocletian, he wished to annihilate that state within the state—the organisation of the church; and he therefore destroyed church buildings and took the most vigorous measures against both the superior and the inferior clergy.

A NEW WAR WITH ROME

[337-363 A.D.]

According to Roman assertions, the Persians began the war by an invasion of Mesopotamia. Constantine died before he could take the field against them (the 22nd of May, 337). But the king’s great preparations date from the year which begins with the autumn of 337. On the first and longer half of the war, which lasted with many vicissitudes and long pauses for twenty-five years, our information is but scanty. On parts of the second, on the contrary, we possess very full reports by contemporaries and even eye-witnesses. The king’s object was to deprive the Romans of their possessions on the upper Tigris, where it must have been exceedingly inconvenient for the Persians to have them on account of their nearness to Ctesiphon. Above all, he aimed at taking the strong fortress of Nisibis; and he further desired to bring Armenia, that old apple of discord between the Eastern and Western empires, into subjection to himself once more. Three times he closely besieged Nisibis (in the years 338, 346, and 350), but in vain. Sieges, on the whole, play a very great part in this war.

If Sapor did not in the long run succeed in gaining great advantages, it was through no merit of the emperor Constantine, who was invariably defeated when he took command in person, as, for example, in the famous battle by night at Singara (Shingar, Arabic Sinjar) (348 A.D.). The main reason was that the great emperors Diocletian and Constantine had put the fortresses into admirable condition and taken other excellent measures for the protection of the provinces exposed to attack. It was a great thing gained that the Persians, even when victorious, could hardly penetrate into western Mesopotamia. Moreover the king’s forces were not large enough for him to leave garrisons in all the fortresses which he took. Thus in 360 Amida (Amid), which Sapor had taken after a long siege and with heavy loss in the previous year, was found by the Romans unoccupied. The Romans were also favoured by the circumstance that the king was at the same time engaged in conflict with several barbarous tribes. The third siege of Nisibis had almost come to a successful conclusion when he was obliged suddenly to depart to Khorasan, where his presence was urgently required.

The wars in the East brought about a long truce (from 350 to 358), interrupted only by small predatory excursions. But by the time negotiations were opened on the Roman side (356-358) Sapor had concluded peace with his enemies in the East, and offered terms which it was quite impossible to accept. In 359 and 360 hostilities were resumed with energy, and Sapor took several important fortresses. Another interval of repose ensued; but in 363 a change came over the whole conduct of the war.

[363-379 A.D.]

Vigorous, ambitious, and proved in arms, Julian, now sole emperor, determined to follow the example of Trajan, Septimius Severus, and Carus, and march straight upon the enemy’s capital. On the 5th of March he left Antioch, went first to Mesopotamia, and thence proceeded rapidly down the Euphrates. He ravaged Persian territory with fire and sword, took several cities after a short siege, among them Mahoz Malka, one of the royal cities close to Ctesiphon. He even reached Seleucia; but realising that he was not able to take the strongly fortified city of Ctesiphon on the far side of the Tigris by storm, he turned to retreat along the left bank of the river. Here for the first time Sapor’s troops began to annoy him seriously. None the less he would certainly have led the army back into Roman territory without heavy loss, but he was mortally wounded in an engagement on the 26th of June, 363.

Jovian, who was chosen emperor by the army after Julian’s death, was by no means equal to the difficult position in which he found himself, and conducted both the war and the negotiations in such a manner as ultimately to bring about a shameful peace. After the death of his dreaded enemy, Sapor behaved with equal adroitness and moderation. He obtained the retrocession of the districts to the left of the Tigris, which Galerius had won, and part of Mesopotamia, including Nisibis and Singara. The Romans with much difficulty secured permission for the inhabitants of these cities to depart elsewhere. The cession of Nisibis was the heaviest blow of all, for in all subsequent wars it was a strong point of departure to the Persians for offensive and defensive purposes.

More shameful even than these cessions was the stipulation that the Romans should withdraw their support from King Arsaces of Armenia, who had sided with them and given him up to Sapor. The king, however, did not find Armenia easy to conquer. He got Arsaces into his power, but that did not give him possession, still less permanent possession, of the country, split up as it was by many natural divisions and ruled by numerous and almost independent feudal lords. The Christians of Armenia inclined in the main to the Romans; the Zoroastrians, of whom there were still large numbers, to the Persians; while the varying private interests of the great barons, who would have preferred to have no master over them, constituted a third factor in the situation. The Romans supported, first secretly and then openly, Papa, the son of Arsaces, who had taken refuge with them, but only that they might use him as a tool to convert Armenia into a Roman province. In Iberia (north of Armenia) the adherents of the two empires likewise came into collision. At the end of five years the country was practically once more in a state of war. In 371 the Persian king came to open hostilities with the Roman troops in Armenia, both parties trying to acquire the country by force or fraud. But however often the negotiations between them came to naught, the pressure of circumstances (in the case of the Romans, the troubles with the Goths) and the dictates of reason prevented the outbreak of a general war.

ARDASHIR II TO BAHRAM IV

[379-420 A.D.]

Sapor II, who by even late tradition is held in honour as a mighty king, died towards the end of the summer of 379, and was succeeded by his brother, Ardashir II. The elevation of this old man to the throne may have been due to the same kind of motives as had prompted the coronation of the infant Sapor. As prince-satrap of Adiabene (a part of ancient Assyria) he had taken an active part in the suppression of Christianity as long before as 344, and again in 376. After his accession, however, the persecution ceased, perhaps by deliberate intention, perhaps out of mere oriental indolence. Even the capital could have its bishop again. But, having taken forcible action against the great nobles and put several of them to death, Ardashir was deposed by them in 383 or 384.

His successor, Sapor III, the son of Sapor II, had no sooner ascended the throne than he despatched ambassadors to Constantinople, and there concluded a settled peace (384). He reigned only a short time, being murdered by the nobles in 388 or 389.

His son (or possibly brother) and successor, Bahram IV, who bore the surname of Kerman Shah, “king of Carmania,” because as prince he had ruled that province, remained on friendly terms with the Romans and was clement towards the Christians. In 390 the two empires divided Armenia between them by treaty, in such a manner that by far the greater part became a vassal state to Persia and the remainder to Rome. There were many complications still to come, but this division nevertheless remained in force down to Arab times. Bahram IV also died a violent death, being slain by the arrows of “evil-doers,” in the summer of 399.

THE RULE OF YEZDEGERD I

His successor, Yezdegerd I, a son of Sapor II or Sapor III, seemed to have been designated as heir to the throne or otherwise invested with some sovereign dignity even during the life-time of Bahram IV, for his name appears on coins in conjunction with the king’s.

For all that he was far from being a Christian, and did not scruple to visit with severe chastisement the blind zeal which led Bishop Abda of Susiana to violate Zoroastrian sanctuaries. But the measure of toleration which he extended to Christianity was enough to rouse the hatred of the Persian priesthood, while the warlike nobility were probably ill pleased by his earnest desire to maintain peace with Rome. In the summer of 408 he concluded a firm treaty of peace and alliance, by which he seems to have undertaken a formal guarantee for the reign of the emperor Theodosius II, then a minor. He set a trustworthy vassal king over Persian Armenia in the person of his son Sapor. We have every reason to regard him as a skilful ruler for his time and country. But he was not well pleasing to the god of Persia. Wherefore he caused him to die suddenly in marvellous wise in far Hyrcania. We prosaically interpret this miracle to mean that he was murdered by the despotic nobles (probably late in the summer of 420); even as his three predecessors had been violently deprived of their sovereignty, and two of them murdered.

After his death, his son Sapor hastened from Armenia to the capital, no doubt intending to become king of the empire, but was murdered by the great nobles, for the latter were so exasperated against Yezdegerd that they resolved to exclude his sons from the succession. They chose a distant relative of his, Chosroes by name, to be their king. But another son of Yezdegerd, Bahram by name, contested his claim to the throne. During his father’s life-time this son had lived, presumably in a sort of banishment, with al-Mundhir (Alamundaros) the Arab king of Hira (west of the Euphrates and on the borders of the desert), a powerful vassal king. The latter supported Bahram’s pretensions with all his might, and this is probably the first time that the Arabs effectively interfered in the course of Persian history.

THE ARABS AID IN WAR WITH ROME

[420-457 A.D.]

Mundhir, with vast hordes of Arabs behind him, was soon at the gates of the capital, which lay only three or four days’ journey distant from Hira, and no doubt the rightful heir to the throne could count upon a party among the Persians. A compromise was therefore effected between the disputants, Chosroes withdrew his claim, and Bahram ascended the throne, but under promise to rule differently from his father and to do the will of the nobles and priests. Bahram V, who bears the surname of Gor, “the wild ass,” is a favourite with Persian tradition, which tells absolutely fabulous stories of him. He was young when he became king, and to the end of his days he was jovial and much addicted to women. The change of policy was immediately signalised by two things—the outbreak of a systematic persecution of the Christians, and a war with Rome. Both sides could easily find pretexts for war, but it is most likely that the Persian nobles urged it on; the Romans would certainly not have entered on the struggle merely on account of the persecution.

The main theatre of war was in Persian Mesopotamia and the mountain tracts that bounded it on the north. The Persian commander was Mihr Narseh, one of the most powerful nobles. A vainglorious Persian tradition relates that he made a victorious entry into Constantinople, but we know that, on the contrary, he suffered a severe defeat at the very beginning of the war (August, 421). The Romans besieged Nisibis for a long time, but the approach of a fresh force compelled them hastily to raise the siege. Mundhir, to whom Bahram owed his throne, was eager to devastate Syria with his Arabs, but was forced to retreat with great loss. The war, concerning the progress of which we have no adequate information, enfeebled both sides to such an extent that they quickly became anxious to end it. In the terms of peace (422) the Persians promised to allow the Christians the free exercise of their religion, and the Romans undertook to do likewise to the Zoroastrians.

The desire of the Persians for peace was most likely due to the fact that they were again involved in warfare with the rulers of the Bactria of that day and the neighbouring countries, the tribe of the Kushan, Haital (Hephthalites), or “white Huns.” To this perpetual conflict the Romans probably owed their rest from Persian invasion in the fifth century. We are not bound to take the word of Persian tradition for Bahram’s brilliant victory over the Hephthalites.

In Persian Armenia yearnings after independence had asserted themselves during the war with Rome, but when peace was concluded Bahram could again install a vassal king there; the selfish Armenian nobles, however, went to such lengths that the Persians were finally driven to do away with the Armenian monarchy altogether and to convert the country into a province (429), as the Romans had long since done with their portion of it. In this the Persians had the assistance of a strong party among the Armenians themselves, though as a matter of fact the Persian satraps had no less trouble with the barons and priests than with the kings before them.

After the death of Bahram (438 or 439) his son Yezdegerd II became king. He persecuted both Christians and Jews, nor is there much to be set to his credit in other respects. He abolished the audiences, on the first day of every month, in which any man of consequence was free to lay grievances or petitions before the king. The story goes that he married his own daughter (though that was no crime in the opinion of the Zoroastrians, who considered such marriages positively meritorious) and afterwards killed her.

WAR WITH THE HEPHTHALITES

[457-489 A.D.]

Upon the death of Yezdegerd II (457) a quarrel seems to have broken out immediately between his sons, Hormuzd III, king (that is to say, “prince-satrap”) of Sagastan, and Peroz, who were the children of one mother, Dinak by name. Hormuzd, the elder, held his ground for a while, but at the end of two years Peroz supplanted him by the help of the Hephthalites and the active exertions of Raham, of the noble house of Mihran. He caused three others of his nearest kinsmen to be put to death, as well as his brother. He, again, was hostile to Christians and Jews, but he had political insight enough to favour the conversion of his Christian subjects to the doctrines of Nestorius, which had been banished as archheresy from the Roman Empire. At the synod held at Beth Lapat in the year 483 or 484, the ancient Christian church of the Persian Empire adopted the Nestorian confession; and being thenceforward separated by a great gulf from the Roman Christians, was consequently even less dangerous to the state than it had been before.

But, as a matter of fact, Christianity in Persia had never been really much of a menace to the country. The Armenians on the other hand joined the monophysites, who had a large party in the Roman Empire and often had the upper hand there.

Whether the Hephthalites wanted heavier payment for their assistance than had been previously agreed upon, or whether Peroz did not keep promises he had actually made, the end was that great conflicts ensued between them and the Persians. Peroz won some victories; but in the desert country east of the Caspian Sea the conduct of war is hampered by enormous difficulties. Twice he was compelled to conclude peace on unfavourable terms, once at least he himself fell into the hands of his enemies, and for two years his son Kavadh had to remain in the enemy’s camp as a hostage for the payment of his heavy ransom. Nevertheless Peroz was perpetually breaking the pledges he had given. In 484 he took the field with a large army. A tremendous battle ensued, in which Peroz perished among the unrecognised slain. His daughter was among the prisoners, and the king of the Hephthalites took her into his harem.

Evil days were now in store for Persia. The victors overran the country. For a time there was no king. Presently, however, Zarmihr, of the powerful house of the Karen, succeeded in restoring order in the empire. At the time of Peroz’s death this man had been in Armenia, which had rebelled again, and had almost completed its subjugation. He then hastened to the capital and installed Balash, a brother of the late ruler, as king. In all probability he afterward entered into negotiations with the victorious enemy, and bought him off with a yearly tribute.

A brother of Balash, Zareh by name, who likewise aspired to the crown, was defeated and slain. The king, however, had but little authority. He was obliged to induce the Armenians to submit by allowing them to exclude the state religion of Persia from their country altogether. The praise which the Syrians and the Armenians render to Balash’s clemency may perhaps have no other foundation than his disagreements with the priests of Zoroaster. The enmity thus aroused proved fatal to him. His treasury, of course, was empty, so that he could neither form a party among the nobles nor attach an army to himself; and in 488 or 489 the priests went so far as to have him blinded and so made incapable of governing. For according to the law of Persia no man could be king who was not whole and sound in body and mind.

KAVADH I

[489-506 A.D.]

His nephew, Kavadh I, the son of Peroz, was set in his place. He found the empire in a state of great disorder. We hear of revolts of savage mountain tribes, and of another rebellion in Armenia. Kavadh, who had no inclination to play the obedient servant to the tyrants who had raised him to the throne, adopted a dangerous method of weakening the power of priests and nobles; for he favoured Mazdak, a zealous preacher of religious-socialistic doctrines, who demanded in the name of justice that he who was blest with riches and possessed of many wives should give of his superfluity to those who were in want. Nor did he rest satisfied with the theory, for many of his disciples distributed their wives and goods. But the nobles and clergy united to depose Kavadh, imprisoned him in the “castle of oblivion,” and bestowed the crown on his brother Jamasp (about 496). Kavadh, however, escaped, and fled to the Hephthalites, among whom he had formerly lived as a hostage. The king gave him his daughter to wife, the child of that sister of Kavadh who had been taken in battle; and by the help of the barbarian prince he succeeded in overthrowing Jamasp and once more becoming king of Persia (498 or 499). His flight and restoration appear to have been favoured by some of the most powerful nobles. According to Persian tradition Zarmihr actually accompanied him into exile, but such testimony as we have concerning this man and the flight to the Hephthalites is so confused that we can place no reliance upon it. Certain it is that after his return the king visited his enemies with severe chastisement. Presumably he abandoned Zarmihr about that time, for he handed him over to his most formidable rival, Sapor, of the house of Mihran. It is not likely that Kavadh then resumed his experiment with the Mazdakites.

NEW CONFLICT WITH ROME

He had certainly reduced the empire to tolerable order by the time the war with the Romans began. There had been much treating over terms, both parties had violated compacts more or less, and the only question was whether either of them was desirous of finding a casus belli. This was the case with Kavadh. In the summer of 502 he inaugurated that era of hideous strife which so reduced the strength of both Persia and Eastern Rome as to make possible the subsequent victories of the Arabs. In August he took Theodosiopolis (Karin or Erzerum), the capital of Roman Armenia, without a blow. On the 10th of January, 503, Amida fell after a three months’ siege, and was frightfully punished for its resistance. Myriads of the inhabitants were slaughtered, as we know from the good accounts we have in existing contemporary Syrian sources.

In this war, of which very full contemporary accounts have come down to us, especially from Syrian sources, the Roman operations were conducted without the necessary energy, and lacked the direction of a single commander. Mesopotamia was fearfully ravaged. In 504 the Romans regained possession of Amida, after a long siege, by treaty, or more correctly speaking by purchase. After many battles and sieges peace was concluded in the August of 506, a peace which left everything in statu quo ante. The Romans once more undertook to pay an annual contribution towards the maintenance of the fortifications in the Caucasus. The Persians are said to have been induced to conclude peace by a war with the “Huns.”

[506-554 A.D.]

From the vague fashion in which the Greek authors of that time use the word “Huns” we cannot tell which of the tribes of northern barbarians is here meant. That Kavadh was at this time involved in serious difficulties at home or abroad may be inferred from the fact that he did not forcibly prevent a gross violation of the treaty of peace on the part of the emperor Anastasius, who converted the little village of Dara, close upon the frontier, into a great fortress intended to keep Nisibis in check. There was no further outbreak of hostilities during the life-time of Anastasius; but Justin I (July the 9th, 518-August the 1st, 527) appears to have intermitted the payment of the moneys stipulated to Persia.

In return Kavadh incited the Arabs to make predatory raids into Roman territory, and Roman troops once more invaded and ravaged Armenia. In addition, violent quarrels arose about the Caucaso-Pontic districts, over which both sides claimed dominion. This time, however, Kavadh was little disposed towards war; perhaps he had realised that he could hardly hope to gain any permanent advantage. In the perpetual renewal of negotiations he had only one main object in view; he was anxious to procure the succession for Chosroes, the best beloved of his sons and certainly the most capable of ruling the empire, although he was not the eldest; and for this purpose he wished for a kind of guarantee from the emperor, which should take the form of an adoption of Chosroes by the latter. Negotiations concerning this and other matters were carried on at Nisibis. If matters went as they are represented to have gone, the Romans acted most perversely; in any case the negotiations had no other result than to put both parties out of humour. The chiefs of the Roman embassy escaped with no worse than degradation, the Persians were executed, though personally they deserved well of the king. These negotiations took place in 525 or 526; the war began again before the death of Justin. There was hard fighting on the frontier as early as the summer of 527, the Romans making a vain assault on Nisibis, and the Persians an equally fruitless attempt on Dara.

EXPLOITS OF MUNDHIR

In these many years of war, with frequent pauses for negotiation, Belisarius first comes into prominence as a commander. One noteworthy event, among others, is Mundhir’s great invasion of Syria. This Mundhir was the Arab vassal-prince of Hira, of the same line as the prince of the same name. He seems before this to have grown so powerful as to rouse Kavadh’s apprehensions, and the latter therefore deprived him, either wholly or in part, of his dominions for a time, in favour of Harith, a member of the much-ramified family of the Kinda kings. The statement that this event bore some relation to the Mazdakite troubles is hardly probable.

On the outbreak of the war with Rome, however, Kavadh restored the whole of his former dominions to the tried warrior Mundhir. In the spring of 529 the latter invaded Syria, laid the whole country waste as far as Antioch, and carried off troops of captives that he might secure their ransom. He was a savage who in one day slaughtered four hundred nuns from a Syrian nunnery in honour of his goddess Zuhara (the planet Venus). In the same year his rival Harith went to war with him, and Mundhir caused a number of members of the princely family of Kinda, who had fallen into his hands, to be put to death at Hira. For half a century he was the terror of Roman subjects, troubling himself little to inquire whether peace prevailed or not, till at length he fell in battle against the Roman prince of the Arabs, Harith, the son of Jabala (June, 554), whose captive son he had likewise sacrificed to Zuhara.

[531-540 A.D.]

It was Mundhir who induced Kavadh, after an interval, to undertake a campaign in Syria itself (531). The Persians advanced far to the north along the right bank of the Euphrates, but were compelled to retreat by Belisarius. A battle was fought at Callinicus (Rakka), near the frontier that is, in which Belisarius was totally defeated; but the Persian commander was nevertheless obliged to return home. The Persians gained some successes in Mesopotamia the same year, and had almost reduced the great fortress of Martyropolis (Maiferkat, Arabic Mayafarikin) when tidings came of the death of the king, and brought about a truce.

A few years before his death Kavadh had brought the Mazdakites to a horrible end. The sect seems to have grown so powerful that it could no longer be tolerated; for, in spite of all its theoretic idealism it threatened to subvert the foundations of society and the state. The catastrophe, which was accompanied by lavish bloodshed, took place in 528 or 529, under the orders of Prince Chosroes, acting in agreement with the king.

Kavadh died on the 13th of September, 531, aged eighty-two. He certainly destined Chosroes for his successor; and according to a report we may well credit, he had him crowned on his death-bed. Chosroes I (Chosrau), who bears the surname of Anosharvan, “the blessed,” was undoubtedly a great king. It is true that he was by no means the ideal king that Orientals make him out to have been, but neither does he bear the title of “the just” without due reason.

CHOSROES “THE JUST”

The negotiation taken in hand on his accession led in the course of a year to an “eternal peace” (September, 532). The Romans agreed to make a large annual payment and other concessions, the Persians gave up some castles in Lazistan (the ancient Colchis, at the eastern extremity of the Black Sea). The conclusion of peace was evidently a matter of great moment to the Persian king. He probably availed himself at once of this breathing space to protect his frontiers from barbarians of all kinds. Tradition is certainly right in attributing to him comprehensive measures for the defence of the Caucasus and northeastern frontier, among which was the forcible transplantation of unruly tribes.

In a few years he felt himself strong enough to take up hostilities against the Romans once more. Perhaps he really feared that the result of the success of Justinian’s arms in Italy and Africa would be to make the Roman Empire too strong for him. No doubt the messengers sent by Witiges, king of the Goths, had painted the perils which would ensue to Persia from them in the liveliest colours. He probably found an incitement even more powerful in the fact that the Armenian nobles, who had rebelled in consequence of many acts of injustice, applied to him for aid although they were Christians.

CHOSROES ATTACKS ROME

[540-551 A.D.]

There was no lack of petty violations of the treaty by one side or the other; the Arabs on both sides alone took good care of that. At all events Chosroes was this time eager for war, and he therefore started early in the year 540 to invade Syria as Sapor I had done. He passed by the strongly fortified cities which bought him off by the payment of large sums, those which offered resistance he took. This fate fell heaviest upon Antiochia, the metropolis. The army left it laden with booty, which included many works of art. He burned the city and carried off its inhabitants. After advancing to the shores of the “Roman” Sea, he continued his victorious progress through northern Syria and Mesopotamia, from west to east. The fortress of Dara, which had always been an eyesore to the Persians because it had been built in contravention of the treaty, was obliged to purchase safety at a price. None went free without payment except the inhabitants of Carrhæ, who, being still heathen, might be supposed to entertain sympathy for the non-Christian empire. At the end of the summer he reached Ctesiphon again, without having encountered any open resistance in the field.

In the second year of the war Chosroes marched to Lazistan at the request of the inhabitants, penetrated to the Black Sea, and there took the strong fortress of Petra. The struggle was continued for several years in Mesopotamia with variable fortune. In 546 a truce was concluded for five years on payment of a large sum of money by the Romans. But Lazistan territory was excluded from the operation of the truce, both then and in 553, when the armistice was prolonged for a further period of five years. The Arabs of the two empires also continued to fight with one another. Not until 556 was the armistice extended to Lazistan, the Roman arms having made some progress in the meantime, and about Christmas, 562, a peace was concluded for fifty years.

The Romans again pledged themselves to pay a considerable sum every year, the Persians resigned their claims to Lazistan, but the question of who should possess the neighbouring province of Suania remained undecided. Our information concerning the articles of this peace happens to be exceptionally detailed; one important provision is that, though stipulating for full religious liberty for Persian Christians, the Romans recognise that they are prohibited from proselytising among Zoroastrians; and consequently that severe punishment inflicted for the infringement of this prohibition does not constitute a violation of the articles of peace.

In the attempt to conquer Yemen (about 570) we have in actual fact a somewhat wild undertaking. The country had been occupied in 525 by the Christian Abyssinians. A prince of Yemen besought Chosroes to aid him in delivering the country from the negroes. After some hesitation the king despatched a small force under Vahriz by sea, which actually succeeded in overcoming the feeble resistance of the Abyssinian army and bringing the country into subjection to the king. It remained nominally under the sovereignty of Persia until it became Moslem, but the empire reaped no advantage from this remote province beyond a certainly scanty and probably irregular tribute.

A country to which the sea offered the only convenient approach could be of no use to a race so utterly ignorant of navigation as the Persians, and we find no vestige of sea-borne traffic between Yemen and Persia. Chosroes may indeed have had some idea of diverting commercial advantages from the Romans and procuring them for the Persians, just as in other respects commercial interests play their part in the hostile and amicable relations of the empire; as was done, for instance, and to a very great extent, by the silk trade with the interior of Asia.

[551-578 A.D.]

The king was not exempt from strife within the borders of his dominions. About 551 his son Anoshazadh, who for some offence had been banished to Susiana, hearing that his father was seriously ill, proclaimed himself king and persisted in his rebellion. He relied upon the Christians, his mother’s co-religionists, but was soon overcome and taken prisoner. He was not executed, but merely rendered ineligible for the throne by a slight facial disfigurement.

In the later years of his life Chosroes was again involved in war with the Romans, who this time allied themselves with the Turkish chagan, now a formidable foe of Persia. The Persians did all they could to prevent intercourse between him and the Romans. The Romans likewise complained of the destruction of the Christian kingdom of Yemen. But these were secondary considerations. Even the refusal of the emperor, Justin II (November 14th, 565-6, to October, 578), to pay to Persia the sum stipulated by treaty would probably not have led to a direct rupture.

But the Persians could not tamely submit to see the whole of Armenia become Roman. Armenian nobles were once more contemplating rebellion; the clergy and the fanatical mob raised a tumult when it was proposed to erect a temple of Fire at Dovin, the capital, and Suren, a Persian, was slain (spring of 571). The rebels turned to Constantinople; the king of Iberia (to the north of Armenia) did likewise. The incompetent emperor imagined that both countries might fall to Rome again, and took them under his protection. It was the signal for war. Excellent as are the contemporary reports of this war which have come down to us, we have no complete and chronologically exact summary of its progress. At the very beginning Nisibis was besieged to no purpose by the Romans; Chosroes, on the other hand, took Dara after a six months’ siege (573), while his general, Adharmahan, invaded Syria by way of the right bank of the Euphrates, and there perpetrated ravages similar to those for which his master had been responsible in 540. He destroyed Apamea and carried the inhabitants away into captivity. After marching through Mesopotamia he joined forces with the king before Dara. Some of the captives he settled in New Antioch.

Tiberius, who directed the government at Constantinople in concert with the empress Sophia and was formally appointed co-regent on the 7th of December, 574, was anxious for peace. But even the conclusion of a truce for three years did not bring about real tranquillity, as Armenia was not included in the armistice. Early in the year 575 Chosroes marched through Armenia and penetrated a long way towards Cappadocia. He was obliged to withdraw before the Roman troops, who actually plundered his camp, but could not prevent him from burning Sebastia and Melitene and getting safely home. His Roman pursuers occupied a great part of Persian Armenia and wintered there, but were driven out of it in the following year.

That the Romans displayed no more humanity than the Persians is clear from the fact that they carried off even the Christian inhabitants of the Persian border-provinces of Arzanene, and considered it a singular favour to assign dwelling-places to them in Cyprus (577). Negotiations for peace were set on foot again and again. After recent experiences the Roman claims to Persian Armenia and Iberia were readily renounced at Constantinople. On the point of honour that the temporal and spiritual nobles of Armenia who had taken refuge at Constantinople should not be handed over to the vengeance of the Persians, an understanding might also have been arrived at. Dara was still a great stumbling-block, the Romans insisting on its restoration, with excellent reason. For all that, peace would probably have been concluded if Chosroes had not died (about February, 579) shortly after Tiberius had become sole monarch (October 4th or 6th, 578).

HORMUZD IV

[578-590 A.D.]

The new king, Hormuzd IV, son of Chosroes and the daughter of the Turkish chagan, was haughty and enterprising. It produced an unpleasant impression at Constantinople that he sent no notification of his accession thither, for even in time of war announcements of this sort had been ceremoniously made by both courts. Altogether Greek authors criticise Hormuzd very unfavourably, and even Persian tradition testifies that he was spiteful and shed much blood. We know on the evidence of a contemporary that he put his brothers to death when he came to the throne, but the same authority states that this was a barbarous custom among the Persians. On the other hand, Persian tradition reports that he exercised strict justice without respect of persons, and zealously took the part of the common man against the noble. The weight of his severity fell upon the great. This agrees with the fact that he took thought for the soldiers in the ranks and treated the aristocratic cuirassiers with slight regard. He also incurred the wrath of the priests by a decision which does him the highest honour, for he ironically rejected their petition that he should place Christians at a disadvantage. In many points he seems to have resembled the first Yezdegerd, whose fate he likewise shared. It was his misfortune that he did not possess the intellectual superiority which enabled his father to control the nobles, both temporal and spiritual.

The war with Rome lasted through the whole of his reign, and the repeated attempts at negotiations came to nought. Sometimes one side was victorious, sometimes the other. To this war was added an unfortunate war with the Turks. Against them Hormuzd despatched Bahram Chobin. He succeeded in gaining a brilliant victory over them, or rather over one of their vassals, and took much booty; and even, as the story goes, converted the Persian tribute to the Turks into a Turkish tribute to the Persians. The victorious general was next sent (589) to the countries south of the Caucasus, there to aim a mighty blow at the Romans. Bahram, however, was totally routed. Hormuzd was then guilty of the folly of dismissing this experienced commander, the head of the house of Mihran, with ignominy.

CIVIL WAR

[590-592 A.D.]

Bahram retaliated by open rebellion. His army took his part. He very likely knew how disaffected the nobles were, and could count upon malcontents among the rest of the troops. The army in Mesopotamia, which had retreated to Nisibis after being defeated by the Romans and dreaded the vengeance of the king, mutinied and joined Bahram, though without resigning its independence. Bahram had advanced as far as the great Zab (not far from the Mosul of to-day) on his way to the capital, when he was confronted by a royal army. But this army likewise rebelled, not, indeed, in Bahram’s favour, but in favour of Chosroes, the king’s son. Some of these troops reached Ctesiphon soon after, whither Hormuzd had hurried from Media on receipt of the fatal tidings. The city was given over to tumult. Bindoe, whose sister was Chosroes’ mother, was imprisoned there (a fate most liable to befall an oriental noble); his brother Bistam (Vistahm) liberated him by force, and the nobles proceeded to depose Hormuzd and proclaim Chosroes king (summer of 590). He was on bad terms with his father, and the movement certainly did not come upon him as a surprise. How far he was implicated in the assassination of Hormuzd, which soon followed, we cannot tell with any degree of certainty; most likely he let that happen which he could not well prevent.

Chosroes II, surnamed Parvez, “the victorious,” tried in vain to win Bahram over to his side. The latter himself wished to reign either in the name of a prince who was not of age, or preferably in his own. Chosroes marched against him, but his army was not loyal. The famous general commanded more respect than the faint-hearted king, whose troops deserted him after the first serious engagement. Chosroes, with his family and a few faithful followers, fled into Syria, to the Romans. When he had reached the frontier city of Circesium, he wrote to implore the aid of the emperor Maurice (who had been on the throne since the 14th of August, 582). The latter was not adroit enough to take advantage of this extraordinarily favourable situation for the benefit of his empire, for he undertook to restore Chosroes without stipulating for a fair equivalent. A man of mean origin himself, he probably felt flattered by the mere fact of being called upon to reinstate a legitimate king of ancient lineage and being able to declare himself “father” of such a one.

Meanwhile Bahram, after some hesitation, had caused himself to be proclaimed king and had struck coins in his own name. He had also been fortunate enough to get Bindoe into his power. But Bahram’s was but a tottering throne from the outset. The nobles would not submit to a man who had been their equal. Even in the Parthian Empire, however, often kings were deposed and raised to the throne; it had always been accounted right that none but an Arsacid should wear the crown, and in the empire of the Sassanids the legitimist sentiment was much stronger. In the popular mind the “ancient royal majesty” (farrahi kayanik) was bound up with the house of Ardaschir, and no other could reign.

There was a rising even in Ctesiphon itself, which was put down by Bahram, though Bindoe escaped during the tumult, further to exert himself on his nephew’s behalf. By the beginning of 591 an imperial army was in the field to reinstate Chosroes. Martyropolis, which had fallen into the hands of the Persians through treachery, and had already been blockaded for a considerable time, was given over to the Romans by Chosroes; so was Dara. The Persian army at Nisibis went over to him, and increased from day to day by the arrival of Persian nobles, among whom were barons from Armenia. Bistam collected an army at Aderbaijan to march against Bahram; the main Romano-Persian army advanced upon him to the left of the Tigris, but before ever they came into touch with the enemy, a royal force which had been sent in advance straight through the Mesopotamian desert had taken the capital cities of Ctesiphon, Seleucia, and New Antiochia.

All men took the part of their lawful sovereign, and in the great battle that was fought near the Zab, Bahram was completely routed (summer of 591). He fled to the Turks, by whom he was received with honour, but soon afterwards assassinated. Chosroes was escorted to Ctesiphon by the Romans, and as a matter of course peace was concluded between Rome and Persia. Equally of course the payment of tribute was dropped; but the frontiers remained as they had been before the war, and Nisibis was left in the hands of the Persians.

Chosroes still felt so insecure on his throne that he begged the emperor to leave him a body-guard of one thousand Romans. His first thought was to rid himself of all dangerous characters, and especially of those who had compassed his father’s fall and his own elevation to the throne. Among others he had his uncle, Bindoe, put to death; but Bindoe’s brother Bistam was beyond his reach. When the latter saw that his death was determined upon, he followed Bahram’s example, assumed the title of king in Media, and had coins struck. He too was of ancient lineage, and he too could not gain the prestige of the legitimate line. He seems to have relied upon the remnants of Bahram’s forces, and to have entered into alliance with the Turks and Delamites. He withstood Chosroes’ troops for nearly six years, till he fell by treachery (probably at the end of 595 or the beginning of 596).

VICES OF CHOSROES II

[592-610 A.D.]

These disorders must have sadly distracted the empire, which had been sufficiently enfeebled before by the long wars in the east and the west. Nor was Chosroes II the sagacious, strong, and humane ruler whom it required under these circumstances. At best he was a very ordinary type of oriental prince. Weak at bottom, he was at the same time boastful and cowardly, and to ostentation and luxury he added the much more harmful fault of avarice. At his death the royal treasuries, which he had found empty, were full, while his dominions were impoverished by war. Some excuse may be found in the circumstances of the time for his conduct towards those who had helped him to the throne. In war he never distinguished himself, his victories are only those of his generals. He did indeed protect the Christians, he even treated them with distinction, and built churches for them; but he did it partly on account of the impression made upon him by the help of the Romans and (as he himself thought) the assistance of St. Sergius, the patron saint of the Syrians and Arabs in the Roman Empire, partly at the instigation of Shirin, his favourite wife, who was an ardent Christian, and of others, such as his Christian physician in ordinary, Gabriel. In later days Chosroes’ friendship for the Christians was turned into the opposite sentiment. And we know that he was a man of gross character.

After Maurice had been overthrown by a mutiny and slain, and the vile Phocas elevated to the imperial throne (November, 602), Chosroes looked upon himself as in a state of war against the Romans, in the capacity of avenger of his “father” Maurice, and protector of his putative son Theodosius, who had taken refuge with him. Furthermore Narses, who was in command at Edessa, appealed to him against Phocas. Chosroes, therefore, made a beginning by imprisoning the ambassadors by whose hand Phocas informed him of his accession. The actual war probably commenced at the beginning of 604. For twenty years the Roman Empire was overrun by Persian armies as it never had been before, so disordered was it by Phocas, so harassed by Avars and other barbarous tribes. Chosroes was present in person at the taking of Dara, after which he took no active part in the war. In a few years the Persian armies had pressed forward far on the road to Asia Minor, even reaching Chalcedon, opposite Constantinople.

The fact that the power of the Persian Empire was not very firmly based for all that, is shown by an event, in itself insignificant, which falls within this period (between 604 and 610), the battle of Dhu Kar. Chosroes had abolished the kingdom of Hira, and caused Nohman, the last king, to be put to death. By this means the empire was quit of a vassal state which had often proved troublesome; but, on the other hand, it was henceforward far more difficult to gain an ascendency over the savage tribes of the desert, and prevent them from making raids upon the cultivated regions. After the fall of Nohman, the Bedouin tribes of Bekr ben Wail succeeded in inflicting a total defeat on an imperial army consisting of Arabs and Persian regular troops at Dhu Kar, not far from the Euphrates and a few days’ march from Ctesiphon, and holding the territory out of which the Persians wished to drive them. This victory of Arabs over Persians, magnified by national vanity, greatly encouraged the former in their self-esteem, and strengthened the confidence of the Moslems when they attacked the empire.

CONFLICT WITH HERACLIUS; FALL OF CHOSROES II

[610-628 A.D.]

The war with the Romans continued to make successful progress, after Phocas had been overthrown, by his able successor Heraclius (October, 610). The latter, seeing himself hard pressed on all sides, sued in vain for peace. Damascus was taken in 613. The surrounding country, which had never been trodden by Persian feet since the founding of the empire, was laid so utterly waste that to this day countless ruins bear witness to these ravages. In the June of 614 Jerusalem was taken. The whole of Christendom was horrified by the tidings that, together with the patriarch, the Persians had carried off the “Holy life-giving Cross” of Christ. Egypt was next conquered, and Asia Minor again overrun as far as to Chalcedon. Not till 622 was Heraclius able to take the field against the Persians. He took ship for the Bay of Issus, thence pressed forward to Armenia and the regions about the Pontus, and for the first time in the campaign inspired the enemy with respect for the Roman arms. The loss of church treasures must be reckoned as a heavy item in the cost of the war. On the 15th of March, 623, Heraclius at length started upon the great military expedition which led him again and again into the heart of Persian territory. The almost extravagant daring of his cross-marches and transverse marches, in which he was generally deprived of all communication with his base and must have had great difficulty in feeding his troops, prove him a great commander and a great statesman.

In the first year of the campaign he destroyed one of the most sacred sanctuaries of the Persians, the Fire temple of Ganjak, not far from the Lake of Urumiyeh; it was his reply to the destruction of Jerusalem. We find him now in the vicinity of the Caucasus, now in the east of Asia Minor, now, again, in Mesopotamia, never vanquished, often victorious, more often still, it may be, weakening or deluding superior forces by skilful movements. Chosroes, who felt the emperor disquietingly near at Ganjak, sent Shahrbaraz, the most famous of his generals, with a great army direct to Chalcedon to draw him off (626).

It was an anxious time for Constantinople, with the Persians on this side and the Avars on that (in the summer of 626), and the emperor almost beyond knowledge in the remote parts of Asia. But the Avars soon withdrew, seeing that the Persians, having no fleet, could not undertake concerted operations with them on the far side of the Bosporus. In retaliation Heraclius brought the savage Khazars, from the north of the Caucasus, into Persian territory. At length, in 627, he ventured into the chief province of the monarchy. He kept the “feast of lights” (January 6th, 628) at Dastagerd, only about three days’ journey from Ctesiphon, where Chosroes had held his court regularly for the last twenty years.

[628-629 A.D.]

The king had fled in terror, not feeling safe till he and his harem had the bridge of the Tigris at Ctesiphon behind them. Heraclius had naturally accomplished his tremendous march from the Caucasus with comparatively few troops, and was in no position to attack the capital, strongly fortified and protected by waterways as it was. On the contrary, before the king had collected a large army he withdrew, but only to Ganjak, thus remaining on the enemy’s soil; and in February and March traversed the Alps of Kurdistan amidst perpetual snow-storms, a feat which has not often been matched in the annals of war.

Meanwhile important events had been taking place at Ctesiphon. Chosroes’ tyranny and extortion had exasperated high and low alike; by his cowardly flight he had forfeited the respect of his people. In addition, he had designated Mardanshah—his son by Shirin, who still governed him wholly in spite of her years and his thousands of other wives—as his successor, to the exclusion of Kavadh. The latter was imprisoned in a fortress with most of his brothers. Some nobles, among whom was a Christian, Shamta, son of the deceased farmer-general Ezdin, now set Kavadh at liberty and proclaimed him king (February 25th, 628). Chosroes, deserted by all men, was dragged out of his hiding-place, put in prison, and, after a few days, executed (the 29th of February, 628). Thus miserably and horribly perished the man whose camps extended almost to the borders of the Achæmenid Empire. No hand was raised to defend or avenge him. The Christians above all—who, apart from other things, had suffered deadly insult at his hands by the carrying away of the True Cross—hailed with acclamations the parricide Kavadh, in whose elevation one of themselves had played no small part.

SUCCESSORS OF CHOSROES II

The first thing that Kavadh (II) Seroes did was to murder all his brothers (probably to the number of eighteen); the second was to send the emperor an urgent entreaty for peace. A truce was quickly concluded, but no peace as yet, Heraclius being in no hurry for it, since he was now to some extent master of the situation. All Persian troops received orders to evacuate Roman territory. Heraclius seems next to have introduced such order as he could into the affairs of the provinces so recovered, and of Mesopotamia in particular. On reaching Syria he learned that Kavadh Seroes was already dead. The wretched man had only reigned for about half a year. His reign was marked by a dreadful pestilence.

The party in power set his son Ardashir III, a child of seven, in his place; and an epoch of unspeakable confusion ensued, in which the children and women on the throne served only as a pretext for the ambitions of contesting nobles. During Ardashir’s reign the cross, which had been sent back from Ctesiphon to Heraclius through the head of the Nestorian church, was solemnly set up again by him in Jerusalem. The festival of the Elevation of the Cross on the 14th of September still keeps that joyful day in remembrance (629).

The government at Ctesiphon was powerless. The Khazars invaded and ravaged the empire. Possibly it was at this time that Chosroes, the son of Kavadh and grandson of Hormuzd IV, who had grown to manhood among the Turks, first tried to establish his throne in Khorasan. He was killed in a few months, but a mightier than he, the victorious general Shahrbaraz, grasped at the crown. In a personal interview at Arabissus in Cappadocia (June, 629) he seems to have secured the assent of Heraclius, who must have been deeply interested in weakening the hostile empire by fostering internecine discord. Shahrbaraz then marched with a small force upon Ctesiphon, and the famous defender of the empire took the city of its kings by the treasonable aid of some of the principal inhabitants. The city was given over to plunder, murder, and horrors of every kind; and the boy Ardashir was slain on April 27, 630. But on the ninth of June, Shahrbaraz himself fell a victim of the jealousy and legitimism of his compeers. His corpse was dragged through the street; and tradition heaps grotesque irony on the man who would be king and could not, because he was not of the legitimate line.

[630-633 A.D.]

A woman, Boran, the daughter of Chosroes II, was next raised to the throne. She seems to have formally concluded peace with Heraclius at last; on what terms we do not know, but probably the peace with Maurice was simply ratified anew. At all events, Nisibis remained Persian.

Boran only reigned until about the autumn of 631. She was succeeded at Ctesiphon, probably after the brief intermediate reign of a prince, Peroz by name, by her sister Azarmidokht. At Nisibis, however, the troops of the murdered Shahrbaraz set up Hormuzd V, a grandson of Chosroes II, who held his ground in that district for some time (in the years 631 and 632). Azarmidokht was overthrown by Rustem, the mighty hereditary crown-general of Khorasan, whose father she had caused to be put to death. From the confused accounts of this time of confusion we cannot gather with any certainty who was king or who pretender in the capital or provinces, nor determine the date or even the sequence of these “reigns.”

It is certain that after Azarmidokht one Ferrukhzadh (or Khorrezadh) Chosroes was for some time accounted king at Ctesiphon. He was probably a child, and according to some authorities was the only son of Chosroes II who had escaped the general butchery. But others of the men in power set up another child at Persis, Yezdegerd III, son of Shahriyar and grandson of Chosroes II, and crowned him in the Fire temple of Ardashir (in the second half of 632 or the first half of 633). He was presently acknowledged in the capital, Chosroes having been put to death. No lasting resistance appears to have been encountered in other provinces.

ANARCHY AND CHAOS

No one could now dream of a real restoration of the fearfully distracted empire; but at least a grandson of Chosroes, who did not trace his descent from the parricide Sheroe, was sole king once more. He was consecrated at Istakhr, the home of the dynasty; and the mighty Rustem stood at his side. A change for the better seems really to have ensued, but it was no more than a brief respite. A foe destined to prove more formidable than Julian or Heraclius was already knocking at the gates of the empire. In the internal disorders which had distracted Ctesiphon, the loss of Yemen, and a few of the empire’s possessions in northeastern Arabia to the Moslems, had probably passed almost unnoticed.

The Moslems, however, were soon close at hand. The Bekr Bedouins had made raids upon the royal dominions several times since the battle of Dhu Kar. After a while Muthanna, one of their bravest chiefs, became a convert to Islam, and with that force behind them their attacks grew bolder. Then (probably in 633) the mighty Khalid, after subduing the insurrections in Arabia, appeared with a small force on the lower Euphrates to conduct the operations of these same Bedouins. Persian Arabs and imperial troops were defeated in small engagements, and soon a number of border forts were in the hands of the Moslems. The inhabitants of the regions west of the Euphrates, who were all Christians, and, like all the Christians about the Euphrates and Tigris, felt little loyalty to the empire, submitted to the victors and even undertook to supply them with information.

ARAB INCURSIONS

[633-637 A.D.]

The Arabs were already beginning to rove on the far side of the Euphrates; they plundered Baghdad, then a village, while a fair was being held there, as well as other places on the right bank of the Tigris. But Khalid presently received orders (the commencement of the summer of 634) to start for Syria, the conquest of which was at the time a matter of greater consequence to the caliph. His successor, Abu Obaid of Taif, brought some reinforcements with him; but when at length a regular Persian army came on the scene, the Moslems, in spite of their heroic valour, were completely defeated in the “battle of the Bridge,” on the Euphrates, November 26th, 634. After their leader had fallen Muthanna had great difficulty in extricating the remains of his army. Most of the Moslem conquests were lost without further ado. After some hesitation Omar (caliph since August 23rd, 634) resolved to send more troops to Irak. He appealed simultaneously to the greed and piety of the Arabs, urging them in the same breath to win the treasures of Chosroes and the joys of paradise. A larger Persian army was now defeated for the first time (at Buwaib, 635 or 636); the commander, a member of the house of Mihran, was among the slain.

The Arabs were once more masters of the country west of the Euphrates. They found an energetic and cautious leader in Saad, son of Abu Wakkas, one of the first followers of the prophet. The lords at Ctesiphon now realised the great danger that impended over the empire. The news of the battle on the Yarmuk (August 20th, 636) which cost Heraclius, the conqueror of Persia, the whole of Syria, probably contributed to their fears. Rustem, therefore, took the head of a great army in person. As a token of the gravity of the struggle he bore with him the sacred banner of the empire (dirafshi Kaviyan), which was supposed to have come down from time immemorial. He also took with him a number of elephants, according to the Persian usage in war. At the approach of the advanced guard of the Persian army Saad evacuated his position and retreated to Kadisiya, on the verge of the desert (south or southwest of Hira). For months the armies confronted one another, with only a little space between. The Arabic force was certainly much the smaller of the two; they could not have fed a large army in that place, for they were dependent on the produce of their raids and such provisions as the caliph sent after them from Medina.

At length the great battle of Kadisiya (end of 636 or 637) was fought. It lasted for several days; Saad was ill, but nevertheless took the command. The Persians were, for the most part, much better armed than the Arabs, but the courage of the latter was wound up to the highest pitch. They were terrified by the elephants at first, but as they pressed on gallantly for all their fears, the animals appear to have got beyond control and to have become a source of confusion to the Persian ranks. The great majority of the Persians certainly behaved with cowardice, after their ancient fashion; but the Arabs had hard work before the foe was defeated, Rustem himself slain, and the banner of the Persian Empire taken.

ARAB CONQUEST

[637-652 A.D.]

The battle of Kadisiya practically decided the fate of the provinces on the Tigris. There were a few other fights, some of them in the vast territory of ancient Babylon, but the Arabs soon afterwards reached Seleucia, took it after a protracted siege, crossed the rapid stream of the Tigris, and quickly forced their way into Ctesiphon. The young king Yezdegerd had already fled to Holwan (on the border between Babylonia and Media). On their way thither, at Jalula, the Arabs won another victory over the Persians under Khorrezadh, Rustem’s brother, and Yezdegerd fled further into the interior. Meanwhile other Arabs had conquered the delta of the stream and thence advanced into Susiana. A very able resolute commander might still have saved the actual land of Iran for the Persians. Omar, who was very cautious in spite of his energy, was apprehensive lest the Arabs should extend their forces too far, and at first would not give orders for an advance into the highlands. At length he did so. A great Persian army had been collected at Nehavend, a little to the south of the ancient highway from Babylon to Ecbatana. Here a great battle was fought (in 640, 641, or 642), in which the Arabs—first under the command of Nohman and, after he had fallen, under Hudhaifa the Meccan—won a brilliant victory.

With good reason the Moslems called the triumph of Nehavend the “victory of victories.” It completely shattered the empire of Persia. The Arabs had a long contest before them, until they had really conquered all the provinces of the vast monarchy, but it consisted of isolated struggles in which there could be no doubt of the ultimate issue, as their enemies had lost all cohesion. Many towns and districts had to be subjugated again and again, because they were constantly rebelling. The most obstinate resistance appears to have been offered in Persia proper, especially about Istakhr, the cradle of the empire of the Sassanidæ and the centre of its religion. Many of the great provincial nobles and some of the lesser entered into friendly agreement with the Arabs. They one and all met them on the footing of independent sovereigns.

King Yezdegerd meanwhile led a wretched life. He could not summon up courage to set his life on the stake for his crown and empire. He fled from one satrap to another. He seems to have stayed longest at Istakhr, the home of his race. The outward pomp of royalty was left him, coins were still struck in his name, but as soon as he became a troublesome guest he was sent away. At length he took refuge in the extreme northeast, and there he was miserably murdered, in the neighbourhood of Merv. The circumstances of his death, which took place in 651 or 652, are not exactly known, but it seems tolerably certain that Mahoe, satrap of Merv, had a hand in it. [For the traditional account see page 154, this volume.]

The similarity of the circumstances under which the Achæmenid and Sassanid empires perished forces itself upon our notice, a similarity which, though apparently fortuitous, indicates a great correspondence in character. As the battle on the Granicus first fully showed the formidable nature of the enemy, as Issus cost the king his western provinces and Gaugamela rent the empire asunder without thereby making the victor master of all its several provinces, so it came to pass nearly one thousand years later, with the battles of Buwaib, Kadisiya, and Nehavend. And as the fugitive Darius was slain, in the northeast, not by enemies but by treacherous nobles, so it was with Yezdegerd, who was no more a hero than he. The Persian nobility did not exhibit so gross a lack of patriotism and loyalty in the case of the Arabs as in that of Alexander; the vivid consciousness of religious differences and the ruder manners of the Arabs made adherence to them more difficult; but there was no lack of traitors of high rank nor of renegades among the greater and lesser nobles. The complete subjugation of the Persian monarchy took the Arabs much longer than it had taken the great Macedonian, but on the other hand its effects were much more lasting; Hellenism touched the mere surface of Persia, but Iran has been thoroughly permeated by Arab religion and Arab characteristics.

[652-750 A.D.]

A fragment of the Sassanid empire continued to exist for some time longer. The hereditary crown-generals (Shahpat, Ispehbedh) of Khorasan, of the house of Karen, withdrew into the mountain country of Tabaristan (Mazanderan) and there reigned for more than one hundred years, though they occasionally found themselves under the necessity of paying tribute to the caliph. They remained faithful to the religion of Zoroaster. The era which they struck upon their coins begins, in all probability, with the death of Yezdegerd, and they thus seemed to have looked upon themselves as the direct succession of the last Sassanid king.[b]

FOOTNOTES

[30] [Or according to Von Gutschmid, 227; see chapter I.]

Bronze Hinge from Antique Chest

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